The best (A+) students often end up working for the good (B) students.

I laughed when I read that, but the more I think about it, the more I realize the accuracy of that statement! Several of my colleagues fit this theory, and I myself am a college dropout–with two Masters Degree holders among those on my payroll.

Curious if others can attest to similar circumstances?

It’s a good way to beat a morbid fear of failure: Don’t set easy goals, but don’t set impossible goals.

But seriously, good post.

I consider myself a perfectionist and I don’t want to lose this perfectionism ever, but I think it can be bad sometimes. So the most important thing is probably “doing the job”.

I’ll certainly think about this a lot later.

No more kakorrhaphiophobia! =P

When I’m trying to launch a product (or service) I always want it to be as close to perfect as possible. When I see that we are closing to the deadline and delaying launch could mean we are missing the opportunity, we start to think about cutting features… delivering something that works.

Although we do this from time to time, we are always careful that whatever we released is A+ quality. This is where I disagree a little. No matter how little is what we do, I always expect A+ quality. Less than that I feel it is mediocre :(

What do you feel about this? What are your standards for services/products you buy? Do you feel ok about receiving a website soon, with all the functionality, but bloated with bugs? would you prefer less functionality to achieve the deadline with the minimum ammount of bugs?

I get most of my business from sites such as RentACoder, Elance, etc. My question is, in these cases, how long should the bid request be?

Whenever I bid at a project, I think of a few questions to ask about the client’s requirements, and comment on those questions, make suggestions etc.
But often that backfires, as I go to comment on the questions, I go on and on and the comments are pretty big. Hence, the bid request gets about 1-2 pages long.

Do you think writing long bid requests at the first correspondence is a good thing, or a bad thing?

I can only answer for me. When I post a job on those sites, I ask for two things:

1. Specific URLs developed/designed by the bidder.

2. Their thinking on how they will approach the job (e.g. development platform).

Inevitably I get these types of responses:

1. Those that “answer the mail” with answers to questions that I asked but aren’t right for what I want.

2. Those that don’t even bother to answer my questions, and/or who post a generic portfolio so I have to do the work of sorting through their work to find potential sites that are relevant. It’s remarkable how many people there are who do that!

3. Those that answer the mail and might be right for what I want.

The third category is who I contact for more info. I am a bit analytical, and like to go back and forth. But I also like concise answers.

The problem with bidding sites is you never know how serious a client really is. So my advice is to start by being brief and showing how you can meet their requirements.

Then, if they get back to you, concisely answer their questions.

Frankly, the odds of winning any single bid on these sites is pretty low. Those that get my business typically only do so after a phone call, after presenting excellent references/sites, and after a good proposal (for larger jobs).

So that gets to another thought: Learn the fundamentals of trust- and value-based marketing so that these sites become only a small part of how you get business. Get most of your business by being a visible thought leader, referrals, etc.

Best,

Andrew