Working on:

• Might have a video coming. Depends on if the editor thinks I got him something useful.
• I am going to a gaaaalaaaa (fancy voice) in September. That should turn into a vlog. For the swedes it is Developer's Day (by Developer's Bay) and I am a finalist in Developer of the Year. It is all rather silly but I look forward to a fancy dinner full of nerds.
• Then I am planning a live episode of BEAM Radio for Code BEAM Europe in Berlin. That's October. Hope to also vlog that trip.
• Then I am speaking at Oredev which is a reasonably big deal and I am kinda nervous. That's November.

Library of the moment

chameleon
github | hex

By Todd Resudek.

This library gives you all the color conversion tools and utilities you should need. If you are dealing with color dynamically you will benefit from this. Typical example is controlling RGB  lights but there are many cases where this fits. If you didn't know about it, now you do.

Asking for it

I ask for a lot. I generally give a lot. At least as a business person. I will reach out to people, offer my services, suggest what I think they might need or ask for what they need. I will bother conference organizers about collaborating on video. I will attempt to get paid. I charge serious rates for sponsored video work. I negotiate firmly for software contracts. I also offer advice, ideas, connections, for free most of the time.

I do not generally get what I want. Sometimes I get part of it. Free tickets, permission to film, a different piece of work than I suggested. Many times there is no interest. A lot of the time I won't budge on price and that is where it ends.

A surprising amount of the time I do get exactly or roughly what I want.

The trick is in starting the conversations. No-one would have considered doing a video sponsorship with me if I did not suggest it. My channel is not large by any stretch. People would not be discussing conference collaborations with me if I hadn't started inserting myself as an option.

I have gotten a lot of "no thanks" from people and I don't particularly mind that. It either means they don't value the particular offer, don't consider me the right person to do it currently or consider the cost (in whatever shape they see it) to be too high.

Practice is where it is at. If you pull on a lot of levers. If you poke a lot of people you start to map the territory of what you can and cannot make happen with your current resources. In some situations you need more status, in some cases you'd need a lot of time, in many cases you need a better relationship and to earn more trust.

How people rise in a community, in an ecosystem or in business often looks simple from the outside. They build thing, people gather around thing, they get fame, glory and money. Done. But many things are built that no people gather around. There are many people that could give a great conference talk but never submit. Consistent work, proven track-record and good relationships are common underpinnings. And as with any work, any track-record and any interpersonal relationship these things are tricky, nuanced and complicated.

Daring to put yourself out there and then daring to put yourself forward, offering your participation in things, is one key to making things happen. The social aspects are as important as the work. Which is both fortunate and unfortunate. It filters in people that can behave themselves (mostly) but it also filters out people that are shy, anxious or struggle socially. It is just how groups of humans operate in the end. I don't think you can disconnect the social from the work.

Most relationships are not financial exchanges. I generally require payment or direct exchanges when dealing with companies. Because I'd rather put free labor in my own company than in theirs. I generally don't involve money when dealing with individual people that want advice, guidance or help. The recruitment thing kind of exemplifies this. I don't charge the candidate but I do charge the company for a successful recruitment.

I guess the lesson is not just "shoot your shot". But maybe rather to keep firing off things you want to happen and see what and how it lands. Figure out where your leverage is, where your strengths are and what you want to try and achieve with that.

This is similar to how I'd tackle salary negotiations as an employee. Something I repeat frequently is that it is not a negotiation if you aren't willing to say no, or walk away, or otherwise leverage the situation. Maybe it is "if I leave you don't have a product and I am unhappy with this offer", consulting your union or being clear that you will start looking for offers. You know what levers you are comfortable pulling. But if you aren't comfortable making things uncomfortable there is no negotiation happening. I've been terrible at it. I ever only got the standard raise. Not recommended.

Do you put yourself out there? Are things happening for you? Reply to this email or poke me on the fedi @lawik@fosstodon.org.

Thanks for reading. I appreciate and value the attention you spend here.