My 1st year as self-employed consultant at PHL Consult
October 20th, 2011One year ago I started as self-employed consultant at my own company PHL Consult after having worked for IBM for 16 years - and what a great year! Starting on my own has proved to be one my of my best decisions ever.
It has been a year of classic Lotus Notes application development work, XPages development work, teaching courses and much more. I started with one customer and have since then been doing work for 10 other paying customers and been involved in proposals for a handful more. Furthermore, I reviewed David Leedys XPages cheat sheet, and reviewed the IBM course "Modernizing Lotus Domino 8.5.2 Applications".
This year I also became member of the boards at NotesNet, DanNotes and OpenNTF.
The following are public sites that I have implemented for customers during my 1st year:
- startdithjerte.dk: a portal (in Danish) on heart failures and defibilator products with a related web shop where you can buy automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and accessories. I implemented the solution using XPages.
- mediaplus.dk: a company web site with a backend CMS. I implemented the web site using XPages and brought the proposed web design to life by extending the OneUI CSS.
Lessons learned (and assumptions confirmed):
- Networking is important: several of my customers have chosen me for their work because we were connected in some way.
- Advertising helps: I advertise my business services on the Google advertising network and know for a fact that some customers came to me via that channel.
- Being social: I am a strong believer in blogging and social networks and the impact that it can have on you and others.
I look forward to the next year and what it will bring me of interesting work and projects.
One final advice: pursue your dream!
Tags: DanNotes, freelance, Lotus Domino, Lotus Notes, Notesnet, OpenNTF, PHL Consult, XPages
I am an independent web developer at 
October 20th, 2011 at 09:20
Congratulations once more, Per. Looking forward to hear your achievements for the upcomming year.
PS. This comments field is cleared if you don't write the right captcha word below :o/
October 20th, 2011 at 09:22
Thanks John!
- with regards to reCaptcha clearing the comments field: ouch! will look into that 🙂
October 20th, 2011 at 11:41
Fantastic! 🙂 see ya in notesnet.dk !
October 20th, 2011 at 20:38
Per, congratulations. It has been almost 20 years since I worked in the corporate environment. It has its ups and downs, but I do not regret starting my own companies.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:00
Hi Per - even though we miss you at IBM, I am really pleased to hear that your business came off to a good start during the first year.
October 24th, 2011 at 06:59
Great to hear that you started of well. Keep up the momentum