: Charles Edge
: Build, Run, and Sell Your Apple Consulting Practice Business and Marketing for iOS and Mac Start Ups
: Apress
: 9781484238356
: 1
: CHF 24.00
:
: Betriebssysteme, Benutzeroberflächen
: English
: 455
: Wasserzeichen/DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: PDF
Starting an app development company is one of the most rewarding things you'll ever do. Or it sends you into bankruptcy and despair. If only there was a guide out there, to help you along the way. This book is your guide to starting, running, expanding, buying, and selling a development consulting firm. But not just any consulting firm, one with a focus on Apple. 

Apple has been gaining adoption in businesses ranging from traditional 5 person start ups to some of the largest companies in the world. Author Charles Edge has been there since the days that the Mac was a dying breed in business, then saw the advent of the iPhone and iPad, and has consulted for environments ranging from the home user to the largest Apple deployments in the world. Now there are well over 10,000 shops out there consulting on Apple in business and more appearing every day.

Build, Run, and Sell Your Apple Consulting Practice takes you through the journey, from just an idea to start a company all the way through mergers and finally into selling your successful and growing Apple development business.

What You'll Learn
  • C eate and deploy grassroots as well as more traditional marketing plans
  • Engage in the community of developers and companies that will hire you and vice versa
  • Effecively buy and sell your time and talents to grow your business while remaining agile
Wh This Book Is For

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Business owners looking to grow and diversify their companies as well as developers, engineers, and designers working on Apple apps who would like to branch out into starting their own consulting business.

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Charles Edge has worked in consulting most of his adult life. He has worked with large, multi-national consulting firms, started consulting firms, worked to sell firms, and helped to develop offerings and business in both large and small firms. He's worked hourly, on retainers, and even converted customers from an hourly consulting firm to managed services. Along the way, he's earned a lot. He has been working with Apple products since he was a child. Professionally, Charles started with the Mac OS and Apple server offerings in 1999 after years working with various flavors of Unix. Charles began his consulting career working with Support Technologies and Andersen Consulting. In 2000, he found a new home at 318, Inc., a consulting firm in Santa Monica, California which is now the largest Mac consultancy in the country. At 318, Charles leads a team of over 40 engineers and has worked with network architecture, security and storage for various vertical and horizontal markets. Charles has spoken at a variety of conferences including DefCon, BlackHat, LinuxWorld, MacWorld and the WorldWide Developers Conference. Charles' first book, Mac Tiger Server Little Black Book, can be purchased through Paraglyph Press. Charles recently hung up his surfboard and moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his wife, Lisa. Charles can be contacted at krypted@mac.com. 
Table of Contents4
About the Author15
Acknowledgments16
Introduction17
First, Let Me Talk YouOut of This 22
Chapter 0: The Joy of Being a Sole Proprietor24
Chapter 1: Build the Offer29
Before You Get Started: Take Care of Yourself30
Research What Should Be in an Offer32
Pricing35
Building the Offer39
The Hourly Offer39
The Retainer Offer41
The Managed Services Offer42
The Fixed-Fee Offer44
Build the Contract46
Service Level Agreements49
Server Uptime50
Time to Resolution and Average Response Times51
Net Promoter Scores52
Remedies53
Does This Pass the Sniff Test?!?!54
Funding Your New Adventure55
Growth Requires Capital56
Conclusion57
Further Reading57
Chapter 2: Beyond Services59
Reseller Accounts60
Selling Mobility62
Should You Sell Cloud Services?65
If You Do Sell Cloud69
Evaluating the Security of Cloud-Based Solutions71
Referrals vs. Selling75
Providing Hardware and Software75
Providing Infrastructure Services77
Further Reading80
Chapter 3: Hiring and Human Resources81
Decisions, Decisions81
Before You Hire84
Where to Post Your Jobs85
Writing Job Postings87
Reviewing Resumes88
Interviewing90
Phone Screening91
In-Person Interviewing92
Making Th