There is a group called Freelance Austin if you are interested. It is different than what Caldecon is suggesting. But, a great group. I have spoken for them on several occasions.
Let me know if you need a contact. -- Here's to your success! Jan Triplett COO Business Success Center City of Austin Certified Green Business twit...@jantriplett www.runitright.biz (web) www.ownersview.com (blog) www.ownersmba.com (courses) On Dec 29, 2009, at 5:14 PM, Jamil Lawrence wrote: > Hi Mark, > > I was going through some old emails and saw this one, and it caught > my eye. I was curious if you were able to get any sort of > cooperative going. I'm a web applications beginner trying to learn > all I can, so I thought it would be great if I could learn something > from people in an organization like this. Thanks for your time. > > -Jamil > > > > On Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 11:50 AM, Mark Stephan > <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello All! > > Over the past couple of months I've been passing around the idea of > creating a RoR Cooperative/Development Community/Knit Group of > Freelancers with a Purpose/whatever you want to call it. (Ultimately > it might expand to include designers etc.. but we're not to that > stage yet.) > > The concept is that there are a lot of freelancers (or individuals > with a lot of free time) out there trying to make it on their own. > They love the benefits of independence, but really don't like the > negatives of independence. > > Especially with the current economy as it is, perhaps banding > together might not be such a bad idea, and while developing this in > a bad economy, I believe in a good economy such a model will > flourish and can grow. I already have parties interested in Dallas, > Houston, and beyond. > > Calcedon has been playing with idea for several months now, and > really wants to move forward with it. > > Read our blog post about it here: > http://blog.calcedon.com/2009/02/13/community-and-corporate-entities > > Our goal in doing this is to play the role as an umbrella corp that > handles the sales, legal, branding, marketing, and other aspects > that many developers don't like, and allow developers to work on > projects that they find interesting, able to turn projects down they > aren't interested in, send projects to the coop and get commissions > for that, build teams in the coop to complete projects they can't do > or don't have time to do themselves, build community, mentor others, > and be mentored. > > I think this is an awesome opportunity for those who are trying to > build their own products, but want to work within a community to get > extra work/mentorship/and build community. > > Our hope is to build an environment that developers find exciting > and beneficial to them, while keeping some independence, not selling > their soul to a company working on stuff you really aren't > interested in, and sometimes signing contracts that keep you from > working on your own products. > > Right now I'm trying to pull together those who are seriously > interested in such a concept. > > I don't think this would be a fit for people who just want work, but > no community. Community as defined by you not only taking, but also > giving back to the community helping make it better for everyone > involved, whether that takes the form of mentoring others, building > tools that helps everyone, evangelizing the community to others, > etc... > > Whether this ends up as an official "cooperative" or just a well > organized tight-knit group of freelancers, I'd love to hear from > anyone intrigued by the idea. > > I'll be starting some mailing lists to start initial discussion > about this. So if you want to be on it, please let me know. > > Also I am willing to meet with anyone interested as well. So email > me if you'd like to catch a coffee/lunch. > > Thanks, > Mark Stephan > > ---------- > Mark E. Stephan > > Managing Partner / Founder > > <Calcedon logo sig.jpg> > > > Ruby On Rails Web Application Development Services > Austin, Texas > > Http://www.calcedon.com > > Austin Office: +01-512-961-6059 > > Email: [email protected] > > IM: markestephan (Skype) > IM: [email protected] (MSN/YAHOO) > IM: markestephan (AIM) > IM: [email protected] (Gtalk) > IM: 63071782 (ICQ) > Twitter (Personal): http://twitter.com/mstephan > Twitter (Corporate): http://twitter.com/calcedon > > > > -- > Our Web site: http://www.RefreshAustin.org/ > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Refresh Austin" group. > > [ Posting ] > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > Job-related postings should follow http://tr.im/ > refreshaustinjobspolicy > We do not accept job posts from recruiters. > > [ Unsubscribe ] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > > [ More Info ] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Refresh-Austin -- Our Web site: http://www.RefreshAustin.org/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Refresh Austin" group. 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