I recently finished a project for a customer and sent him the invoice. He was flabbergasted at the price and also the fact that he did not own the rights to the software (whatever that means to him). He was under the impression that I was going to develop the software for him at no charge and he was going to sell it to others. He didn't even figure in an amount for me. So basically I develop software for him to start a software business and I don't get anything.
What was this guy thinking?!? I realized that I had become complacent regarding my proposals. I have always used them and a signed proposal became a contract. This was a deal where we were good old buddies making a deal over a latte and a handshake. He did not remember all of our verbal arrangements. So I basically wrote up an engagement letter, a history of my company and a proposal and said let's start over. I googled around and looked for software engagement letters because I decided rather quickly that I was going to get back to basics. I quickly found a great article about engagement letters as well as example language. Fantastic! Guess what? It was from a book "The Software Developer's Guide, Third Edition" by non other than our old friend Whil Hentzen!!!! Guess what else? It is only two feet away from me on my book shelf! In the spirit of the holidays and looking forward to doing better next year, please look through your library and check out the books that can help you get back to basics. I have a whole library of Whil's books and they all contain valuable information that I can't find anywhere else. If you don't have all of his books, check them out and you may find one that will help you with your business next year. Whil, I want to thank you for everything you have done for me and the community (FoxPro, Linux, etc.) and personally wish you a Merry Christmas! -- Jeff --------------- Jeff Johnson [email protected] (623) 582-0323 www.san-dc.com _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
