Reflecting on 1 year in business

It doesn’t feel like it’s been a year since Taking the Freelance Plunge was published but time flies.

Overall Thoughts

Overall, the experience has been positive. I can’t remember being happier and less stressed, professionally or personally, despite the occasional “where’s my next client coming from” setbacks. My only ~~regret~~ wish is that I had started sooner. A few years ago, my employer had kindly arranged a career coach to interview me to figure out what I’d like to do. While speaking to her, I said “start my own business” and it just felt right. I didn’t get into freelancing until a few years later though. Oh well.

Want tips on getting started yourself? Check out Tips Getting Started in Freelancing. Also, feel free to Contact Me privately and I’ll give ya feedback.

Want tips starting your own Salesforce Blog? Check out Bob Buzzard’s Starting Your Salesforce Blog by the one and only Bob Buzzard.

What’s New

Awesome Client Still

Still have an awesome client. They are great to work with, the work is interesting and varied, and I’ll keep working with them as long as they’ll have me. I hope I get to be onsite again soon.

If I ever felt like being a full-timer again, I’d seriously consider these guys too.

Part-Time Work Halted

For a while, I was doing part-time as needed work for a client but they haven’t needed my services for a while. It’s a bummer because they had some very interesting and challenging technical work and are also great to work with. That’s ok though because the work I can’t take on, I usually forward to them along with potential job candidates because if full-time appeals to me again, I’d seriously consider working for them.

More Lightning

I’m now feeling comfortable with Lightning aka over the hump. It still feels like a beta to me because of the amount of developer plumbing needed to make simple things work but that’s ok. Also, I’m starting to like Javascript again but I’ll save that rant for possibly another blog post.

Contributing to Open Source

I’ve always contributed to open source projects occasionally. My focus lately has been contributing to Boostr for Salesforce, which is a Chrome Extension that enhances the Salesforce experience in various ways. “View Offending Process Builder or Flow” Link in Lightning and Field History Tracking Counter Configurability are two features I’ve implemented that are now released. It feels good to know that I’m contributing to the Salesforce world and helping others out. Getting some recognition and thanks is icing on the cake.

What’s Next

Aspiring To Becoming a Salesforce MVP

Recently, I started seriously researching what it takes to become a Salesforce MVP. I even reached out to two of them that I know and they gave me some really good feedback. Essentially, they said to contribute to the community and be very active in it too through whatever means you like such as blogging, social media, user groups, open source, or some combination.

This is a long-term goal and may take years but I think I’ll eventually get there. To help accomplish this, my plan is

Increase blogging frequency
More active in the community with social media, other blogs, user groups, etc.
More open source projects

Through these activites, I’ll be also accomplishing the “Keep Expanding the Network” that I’ve been writing about for a while.

If you have other tips on becoming an MVP, please let me know.

Also, if you feel like nominating me, please do so at Salesforce MVP Nominations which are open through August 7th.

More Open Source Contributions

I’ve been having a blast contributing to Boostr and am going to focus on some other projects too. Stay tuned…

How’s your business or professional goals going for 2017 and how will you reach them? What’s your experience with freelancing been like?