MODx Kudos and Crits in new CMS Survey Report

Again thanks for keeping the ball rolling Jay, I can only nodd to what you said !

Case studies are indeed key to credibility and I agree that having designers / developpers testimonies will also do a lot for MODx not only because it will encourage them to try MODx but because clients rarely come to you in terms of a particular CMS but (in the best cases ) with a set of requirements/needs.

This means the main business referrers will come from designers/dev "selling" MODx, all the more reason to build spread.modxcms.com and work on specific "kits" to help people spread the word ! This is one of the focus of the work we’ve done preparing the future modxcms.fr. I’ll probably be able to be of some help here

It’s great to have so many things in store for MODx marketing
I hope I’ll be able to be more of a help soon, unfortunately still struggling with my freelance activity, trying to raise rates to work less - you can only keep up the "starter’s" rythm so long... *sigh*

unfortunately still struggling with my freelance activity, trying to raise rates to work less - you can only keep up the "starter’s" rythm so long... *sigh*

I have been in the same process of raising rates, filtering jobs, and trying to make my product value better. However, I am not sure if I am being successful. Lately I have lost quite a few deals due to budget issues (my fees being over what the client was expecting). My international clients have dropped quite a bit and the local clients have lowered their budgets, in turn competition has increased. The only market that I am in that is increasing is directly related to MODx specific development (MODx, the gift that keeps on giving).

I am going to stick to my plan, for now, but the global economy issues are making raising rates an issue. My fees are raising at the same time that the global rates are lowering.

I am interested in how you are pulling this off and how your existing and potential clients are accepting it.

"Glad" to know I am not the only one... It’s been almost three years and the workload is not going down, vacation is not plenty (about 3 weeks a year) and money is short. My problem as you say is global economy which makes east europe a real competition here and they charge about 1/3 what the average french web agency does. This is especially harsh on us french since we have a very high level of taxes (VAT, income, various mandatory taxes... believe me there are lots of them !).

The way I go about it is select clients from niche markets which are more concerned with close relationship and trust than price alone (I’d say quality but frankly the guys from eastern europe are getty pretty darn good ). Also I try to make support response time and quality a factor, but this also means I don’t have hours and I have to keep in touch even on vacation... From day one, I had no troule convincing clients but I can’t afford to be as cheap as before as I am not exonerated from some taxes anymore + I have been clocking some serious overtime compared to estimates.

One of the issue is that almost no french company is willing to pay you by the hour, you have to charge globally for a contract and that’s not really to your advantage. Now that I have been clocking every minutes, I know what my rate is and aside from the last 2 projects, it’s not pretty.

I have missed the last two deals due to higher rates, but I am starting to get more deal from specific markets who accept those higher rates (I am starting a bit of a "thing" with parisian notaries - it’s a protected profession here in France, with "Numerus Clausus". 3rd MODx website under way Given that there are 400 of them in Paris and only 40 have a website - most of them lousy - I can take a share of this profitable market.)

Still, I don’t know how this will turn out and I sure need to diversify the markets or I’ll end up losing skills and interrest too...
Not easy !

But let’s not hack this thread
I am really concerned that I have less and less time lately to give to MODx
I think I’ll be able to turn the tables on the last 3 months but I have had my doubts...

Thanks for sharing. Here in Brazil I also pay taxes up the wazoo. The difference is that here we get no benefits from the taxes due to wide spread corruption..but this is an issue for another forum

Finding a good niche market is a good way to go.