Mark,
I understand your thoughts but they make no sense from a business
perspective. Unless on lives in a vacuum, everything one does or obtains has
a cost associated with. The whole premise of a free economy is that people
will pay only what they believe something is worth. Poor products go away
because nobody buys them and the companies that make them die. From a
business perspective, common sense dictates that one estimate a product's
sales potential, analyze the market and sell the product for as much as the
market will bear. If by chance it costs more to produce the product than the
selling price, the business is in dire trouble and might as well give it up.
If the product is great and sells for too little, the company will have no
resources by which to improve the product and they will fail.
You see the result of poor business planning and strategy daily. Just look
at all the failing DOT COMs! They provided products or services that may
have seemed wonderful but were in reality not viable for the long term. They
sold their products way under value (or gave them away) and spent way too
much on marketing. Their customer base - companies getting on the Web -
expected something for free or at little cost and sought to get rich quick.
The customers' ignorance and desire to get rich quickly with little effort
didn't help matters any. You see, good business practices have not changed
much. The ground rules for developing a good business model are not much
different than they were a hundred years ago. Just the tools and the means
to reach and serve the client has. Basically a lot of these DOT COM's have
pissed away a fortune on marketing with the sole goal of building a large
client base in a short time and selling out. How can anyone expect but to
lose by betting on their stock? They have a poor, short-term business model
and are nothing but self-serving in the end.
I get tired of so-called developers bitching about the cost of things when
the cost is totally reasonable. You say you started out with absolutely
nothing but your view on money tells me that you will end up that way too.
Why? Don't you value your knowledge and abilities enough to charge your
clients what you are worth? If potential clients bitch about our prices, I
don't apologize. They can either pay and get the work done right (most do)
or go somewhere else. They will either be my client today or somewhere down
the road. The $500 you are talking about can be made in about 4 to 5 hours
of programming work. We fully understand our operational cost - i.e. what
does it take to run the business per hour. We charge that plus a reasonable
profit. That only makes sense. (FYI - we grew by about 60% last year and
made about 22% profit)
Its time that the techies in the Web and Internet business understand that
simple principle and live by it. It will drive away the bums and help
enhance the integrity of the industry, increase its profitability and
legitimacy and give smart businesses the confidence they need to embrace the
technologies and opportunities that the Web and Internet present.
Allaire understands this. While I agree that their software pricing is a bit
steep, the Allaire Alliance Program is a great value. We have gotten more
than a 1000 fold return on our investment. We made the money back in the
first week. Its all bout taking advantage of the opportunity that the
partnership provides. This is true with the Chamber of Commerce and other
organizations as well. You cannot expect them to do all the work for you any
more than you can expect a Web developer or hosting company to market and
drive customers to your Web site for no charge. Its stupid to think
otherwise.
My company gladly pays for Chamber memberships and volunteers time for
community organizations. There is no better way to develop a strong positive
image within the marketplace. Techies have to realize (an I can say this
because I am one) that clients buy from people they like and they only buy
for 2 reasons - to increase their pleasure or decrease their pain. They
could really care less about all the intellectual bullshit and bells and
whistles. That only matters after you have provided a solution to their
pain. Clients buy emotionally - not intellectually. Learn it and live it and
you will prosper.
I wrote this to convey some of my thought regarding the bitching that many
techies seem to do regarding the cost of doing business. Don't take it
personally. Its obvious to me why people bitch - they have not money and a
poor image of their ability to make it. Don't. Get back the basics of
business. Remember - what business is McDonalds in?
Its not making and selling hamburgers. Anybody with half a brain can make a
better burger. They just have a process for doing it the same all the time
and provide a high level of customer service.
Well, enough spouting. There is great opportunity for those willing to take
advantage of it. Lead, follow or get the hell out of the way!
Jim Nitterauer
http://www.creativedata.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Warrick, Mark [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2001 12:51 PM
To: CF-Community
Subject: RE: Allaire Partners (was ColdFusion Newsgroup)
Perhaps this is low for you, but for people like myself who started out with
absolutely nothing, it's a lot. When you have to decide between car
payments, rent payments, and paying Allaire 500 bucks for a "listing" I
think you can see where I'm headed with this discussion.
The Chamber of Commerce doesn't think that the $295 per year fee they charge
is low either.
Nor does the Better Business Bureau with their $475 per year fee.
Of course these fees are all tax-deductable, but you've got to earn the
money first!
Allaire is already making out big time from the developers supporting their
product. If Allaire gave a crap about their developers, they would make the
point of entry for us FREE. It costs them next to NOTHING to accept a
developer's contact information and have that info available on their site.
---mark
--------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Warrick
Phone: (714) 547-5386
Fax: (714) 972-2181
Personal Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Personal URL: http://www.warrick.net
Business Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Business URL: http://www.fusioneers.com
ICQ: 346566
--------------------------------------------------------------
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David E. Crawford [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2001 10:13 AM
> To: CF-Talk
> Subject: Re: Allaire Partners (was ColdFusion Newsgroup)
>
>
> This is not true. You can become a consulting partner for $500
> or so. That
> gets you Not For Resale versions of everything from CF to JRUN for all
> platforms. That is a very low entry point IMHO.
>
> DC
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Warrick, Mark" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "CF-Talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2001 11:43
> Subject: RE: ColdFusion Newsgroup
>
>
> > Allaire caters to big businesses. That is evident by the high sticker
> price of being a partner with them. They don't offer any sort of
> partnerships with individual developers (last time I checked).
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------
> > Mark Warrick
> > Phone: (714) 547-5386
> > Fax: (714) 972-2181
> > Personal Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Personal URL: http://www.warrick.net
> > Business Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Business URL: http://www.fusioneers.com
> > ICQ: 346566
> > --------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Michael [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > > Sent: Monday, January 15, 2001 9:40 PM
> > > To: CF-Talk
> > > Subject: Re: ColdFusion Newsgroup
> > >
> > >
> > > Nice point, but ????????????????????????????????????????????
> > >
> > >
> > > "Warrick, Mark" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> > > news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> > > > I think the fact that Allaire doesn't do this is a perfect
> > > example of how
> > > they treat individual developers.
> > > >
> > > > And that's WHY this list exists, and it's why my business
> > > exists as well!
> > > >
> > > > ---mark
> > > >
> > > > --------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > Mark Warrick
> > > > Phone: (714) 547-5386
> > > > Fax: (714) 972-2181
> > > > Personal Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > > Personal URL: http://www.warrick.net
> > > > Business Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > > Business URL: http://www.fusioneers.com
> > > > ICQ: 346566
> > > > --------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > > From: Michael [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > > > > Sent: Monday, January 15, 2001 5:36 PM
> > > > > To: CF-Talk
> > > > > Subject: ColdFusion Newsgroup
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > I am NOT knock what we (coldfusion developers) have with this
> > > > > list, and
> > > > > group BUT what and why doesn't someone or Allaire start
> > > something in the
> > > > > regular newsgroups? This is somewhat baffling at times,
> > > the have a
> > > > > dynamite product line, the forums on Allaire are OK kinda
> > > slow, but Ok.
> > > > > I mean why not.
> > > > >
> > > > > Thanks
> > > > >
> > > > > Michael
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
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