When I first met Pierre, I couldn't have foreseen what the next three years of our friendship would be like. I had just come back to Montreal. Twice I'd failed to get a place in Toronto. My dream of traveling in a van had also fallen apart. So I rented a U-Haul and went to pick up my furniture from a storage unit. Pierre helped me unload it at the coliving house he had just started up. For Pierre's birthday in February, I made a short film from our first trip together. We found what we mistakenly thought was Crown land and went there to camp. I brought my camera along. I had no intention of filming anything. I was looking to get away, and so was Pierre. The most memorable thing wasn't getting kicked out of someone's private lake, even though I can hardly forget that. It was the chat at the campfire the night before. We talked about our worries and our hopes. About what would become of us. The meaning of it all. Girls, too, obviously. That campfire was where our friendship truly began. I hope the film speaks better than my words can. I love you, Pierre. I wish you the best.

Yesterday, I traded sun, beach, and a beautiful warm sea for a cold, gray sky and a pair of wet shoes. I still can't believe I did it. The constant winter overcast was reason enough to leave Canada and never look back. When I finally left, I had bought a ticket to a never-ending summer. It felt magical. Yet I am here in the cold again, and I couldn't be happier with my choice. I arrived in Marseille this morning. Dressed in light pants and a summer shirt, flip-flops on my bare feet, I stepped out of the airport. Cold rain got under my collar and ran down my spine. I held my small backpack over my head and ran to the bus station. There I bought a ticket to Aix-en-Provence. After four years of waiting, my France chapter has finally begun. I could, perhaps, write about this weird obsession that I’ve had with France for the last four years. About the language, que j’adore. The petit café I had this afternoon followed by a risotto served with the freshest baguette, as if it were the only way to serve risotto. But I’ll keep my message simple: don’t stop dreaming. It's not about some bucket list with three hundred items in it. Nor New Year's resolutions that you regret telling everyone about. But a childish, almost feverish “What if one day I…” sort of dream. Something that you are ashamed to dream of, perhaps because it's so silly or so trivial that you don't know why you should even bother. But you dream nonetheless simply because you can. I remember my first such dream. Back in school, I watched Sean Penn's Into the Wild. I'd never wanted to go to Alaska. And it didn’t seem realistic, living on the opposite side of the world. But it had planted a seed in the back of my mind until more than ten years later I landed in Fairbanks. And today, arriving in Aix, another itch got its long-deserved scratch. I walked into a grocery store and listened to the radio that reminded me of my favorite Café Montréalais on Spotify. I strolled the narrow cobblestone streets and pretended I was the main character of a new episode of Dix pour cent, filmed in Provence for a reason known only to me. It was a dream. But then again, I was living it. Be a fool. Dare to have foolish dreams. They might, after all, come true.

On December 31, I went to Wat Suan Mokkh in Thailand and registered for a ten-day silent retreat. I scribbled these notes on eight scraps of paper given to us for questions on days six and ten. Neither electronics nor diaries were allowed for “creative writing”. And because my writing isn't that creative anyway, here we go: Day -1 Day 0 Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 -- P.S. A ten-day retreat somehow turned into a two-week-long adventure and will likely take a year to process. But what an experience it was!

Always sign a contract for any job Charge by project, not by hour Give a quote properly Charge 1/2 upfront Don’t start until the payment goes through or is wired and in transfer Do your work well. Go the extra mile. Underpromise but overdeliver Never complain to the people you work with unless you will be working with them for a long time If things don’t go as planned, learn lessons and apply them to the new contracts Extra: If not a contract, have things in writing. Confirm the scope, the time, the budget, and the deposit, all in one message. Confirm that you start working when the deposit is wired. Have the client reply yes to your message. do your work well Your work is your reputation. People won’t remember you for great communication or the biggest smile, but they will remember you for the product of your efforts. You may have heard your friend or your client say about someone else, “He is a nightmare to deal with, but he's the best I’ve ever seen.” People will put up with you as long as you are great at what you do. That being said, don’t be a jerk. Avoid conflict and drama at all costs. Be kind and patient. Listen carefully before you do anything, and don’t rush proposing solutions. You don't compete on who does the job the fastest. But you do compete on price and quality. Prioritize quality. Promise it and deliver no matter the actual cost. Your work is also your portfolio. Your potential clients will see the results of your work. Word of mouth is your best marketing strategy. If clients don’t refer you to other clients, your quality is not high enough. underpromise but overdeliver Focus on the minimum work the customer needs. Ask for exactly what they want and quote just that; be specific. Don’t upsell because what you are upselling is never the client's priority, and any money you ask for it is always too much. Do what the client wants first. Be quick and dirty — enough so your product does the job. Focus on details only if you have time left. But don’t neglect those details because that’s where you find an opportunity for quality and great results. never complain The person complaining is the person not working. Seek to do extra work as opposed to complaining about extra work. Requirements change and often — it’s not ideal but that’s real life — so embrace it and handle the changes professionally. But don’t let your clients take advantage of you. That’s why you should charge upfront. Clients change their minds. They cancel work. They expand scope. So don’t let it be at your expense. Try to accommodate the changes. Get in the client’s shoes and see if you can have it done. Ask for more money if needed. Return money if the scope shrunk and you can afford it. And never hesitate to walk out if you can’t do what the client asks for. Don’t feel bad to keep the money already paid. As far as the changes go, confirm everything in writing. Restate the original instructions, the proposed changes, your understanding of the reasons, the updated budget, and the new timeline. Ask the client to say yes. more on charging upfront There’s a lot of unpaid time in contracting. Meeting with the client. Formulating requirements. Negotiating the scope. Preparing the mockups / designs / contracts to sign. All this could be a missed opportunity with another prospect. Imagine you are in the house renovation business. After two weeks of going back and forth with your client, you finally understand their needs. You shake hands and start working on a big project to rework the entire floor of one of their vacation houses in the area. Then three days later they find you on-site, sweaty and focused with a roller in your hand and paint splattered across your pants. They tell you they decided to upgrade another house instead, the one closer to the beach, because that area is rapidly gaining popularity. They want to rent out the place as soon as possible. The house is similar in size, but the hallways have arches and narrow spiral stairways and the rooms have uneven ceilings and other intricate details. It’s twice as much work, but the client insists on keeping the original budget and timeline because the floor is about the same size as in the first house, even smaller. Charging upfront keeps your head cool because you can leave with no strings attached and not feel bad as if you are being tricked. Maybe you are, but that’s not your problem anymore. It also helps your client make up their mind before you start working. When real money is at stake, people behave with caution. They calculate risks. They assess and reassess. So charge upfront enough that the client won't change their mind. And prepare that they will. things I didn’t mention price Charge whatever you think you are worth. There’s a market for every price. Don’t look at the average number unless you are only getting started. In that case, charge the average but add 20% more. The discomfort of the extra money will motivate you to finish the job and to do it well. deadlines They can be missed and they often are. Nobody dies from a missed deadline unless you are in a high-risk, high-responsibility industry. Apply your best judgment to how important the deadline is to the customer. But always do your best to deliver on time. If you miss a deadline, learn from the mistake of your poor judgment and extend the delivery time of your next contract. Work done on time is the second most important metric after quality. But quality comes first. inspired by Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson How to Do Great Work by Paul Graham My previous contracts P.S. I’m open for contracting software work. You can check my past projects here and email me at [email protected]