Best Practices For Managing a Drupal Firm

Are you currently a sole practitioner providing Drupal services and would one day like to run your own firm? Are you a partner at an existing multi-developer firm looking for fresh ideas and suggestions? Are you interested in networking with other owners, who have a like-minded interest in building a practice around Drupal?

In this session, we will look beyond the technology side of Drupal and dig into the business end of what it takes to run a successful Drupal agency. We’ll touch on critical subject matter topics in areas like sales, recruiting, accounting, human resources, and how to effectively market your services. We’ll address questions like:

1. How much operating capital will I need and where do I get it in this economy?
2. Does a partial or all telecommute arrangement work? What are the best practices?
3. How do I find (and keep) customers without going through competitive bidding?
4. Where and how do I recruit good people?
5. What are the best practices for contracting for work?
6. How can I find out what I should charge for my services?
7. How do I effectively balance community and billable time?
8. Should I combine forces with other firms and how can I pick good partners?

We will explore answers to questions like this and take questions from you for our expert panel of owner/operators that are in the Drupal trenches. They will share their own firm’s experiences and give an insider’s view of how they handle common challenges. There will be a moderator to facilitate the discussion and keep things moving along in an orderly manner.