For the past couple of days I’ve been looking at the software and services I pay for as I want to streamline costs where possible and reduce the amount of my money that ends up in the USA.

Whether you’re a designer, developer, or another type of web professional, successful client projects all begin with a killer proposal. While web design project proposals have no set format, effective proposals all outline the brief, deliverables and scope, timelines, and costs.

Since I launched Contract Killer, I’ve lost track of the number of times people have asked me to make a proposal template for web designers and developers. I’m not sure why it took me so damn long, but today I’m launching “Killer Proposals.”

A few weeks ago I was writing content for my speaking information for conference organisers page and I wondered about other speakers’ ‘terms of business’ and how much—if anything—they charged. To get a feeling for how people approach the business of speaking, I set up a quick survey.

Looking back, I’ve redesigned this website roughly every three years. Today I’m proud to show you the new Stuff & Nonsense.

Andrew Fairlie tweeted to tell me that he’d open sourced his company’s ‘Getting Good Feedback’ document.

Inspired by @Malarkey’s Contract Killer, I’ve started a “Good Design Feedback” open source project https://t.co/zVe6WPTCyX

Today Microsoft announced that end of support is coming for older versions of Internet Explorer. This is great news for designers and developers who suffer from having to support legacy versions of that browser and it prompted me to update the public version of my Contract Killer, the popular open-source contract for web designers and developers.

In the 1960s, advertising legend David Ogilvy offered advice on how clients should choose an agency in his book Ogilvy On Advertising. In it, he wrote:

Regular Unfinished Business co-host Laura Kalbag’s started to work with her partner Aral Balkan on their Indie Phone project. She wanted to hear about Sue and mine experiences of working together for sixteen years, so she emailed her some questions. I hadn’t heard her answers until Laura read them on the show, but I think that made for interesting listening.

We didn’t get through all the questions and answers on the show, so here are her complete answers. I think they offer some insight into what it’s like working together at Stuff and Nonsense for as long as we have.

The sudden closure of Five Simple Steps came as a shock to a lot of people, not least authors like me who are forced to decide on new homes for their books with no notice.

I’d been in Nottingham for the day, catching up with friends including Owen Gregory. Driving home, an idea started to develop. Owen and I worked together on client projects at the time and I trust him to give me an honest opinion, so I pulled the car over, called him and explained the idea. A book called ‘Hardboiled Web Design.’

Although there seems to be plenty of choice, I haven’t found any CRM software that tickles my fancy yet. I need to get better at keeping on top of prospective business though, so the first step was to make a spreadsheet. If it’s useful to anyone, I’m happy to share it. There are Apple Numbers and Microsoft Excel versions in a ZIP file. I’m keen to hear your suggestions for improving it, as well as your recommendations for CRM software/services.

Download the ZIP file

One of the things I was talking to Liz about this week on Unfinished Business—you know, the ‘Net Awards Podcast Of The Year’ nominated podcast— was how at Stuff and Nonsense, we devote twelve days every year to supporting good causes pro-bono.

Finally, yes finally, Anna and I get around to the first of two, maybe three, episodes about contacts. We talk about the ‘Contract Killer,’ why we think it’s important to always use a contract and why some people think otherwise. We discuss the essential elements that should go into every contract and why, on top of any legal benefits, how a good contract says a lot about how you do business and why writing yours should be a creative challenge you should relish.

(Don’t miss the gag wheel and ice-cream banter after the show. It’s a scorcher.)

Keith Devon wants to find out how freelance designers and developers handle contracts. So do I, so go spend a minute filling in his survey.

As it stands at the moment, 45% use something like my ‘Contract Killer’ (or the contract itself) and another 9% wrote their own based on it. Although responder numbers are small so far, that’s brilliant. I’m prouder of ‘Contract Killer’ than anything else I’ve ever done.

Keith Devon’s Freelance contract survey

Don’t be a jerk.

That about sums it up.

Would you offer a stranger a loan of £4,000 without any agreement in place? That is exactly what you are doing if you do £4,000 worth of work on the promise of payment.

Wise words.

Brian Suda’s post is the perfect compliment to episode two of Unfinished Business, out today. I may come back to add my take on Brian’s advice another day, time permitting

I know how hard it can be, waiting a whole week for a new episode of Unfinished Business. To make things easier, here are two more creative business related podcasts for you to try.

A fun interview about contracts, client relationships, debt collection and men with big dogs. All topics we will be talking about over the coming weeks on Unfinished Business.

Docracy’s Veronica Picciafuoco, a recovering lawyer, with a wide ranging article about contracts that very kindly mentions Contract Killer. Watch out for another of Veronica’s articles and an interview with me about Contract Killer and The Three Wise Monkeys NDA on Smashing Magazine, coming soon.

For the second year running, Cole Henley has compiled the results from his survey of freelancer demographics, rates and working practices in the UK.

Even within a business culture of openness and transparency, some things are meant to be kept secret. NDAs, non-disclosure agreements, are meant to help with this, but most NDAs are the opposite of open and transparent because they’re written in the same jargon-laden legalese that I avoided in Contract Killer. So I’ve written ‘Three Wise Monkeys’, a plain speaking, easy to read, open source NDA.