Steve Smith from ASPAlliance and I moderated another very lively birds of a feather session called Going Solo at TechEd last week. There was a great mix of solos and "solo curious" and even someone who had just gone back to a W-2 job after 12 years of being self-employed.

What's interesting about having this discussion in this format is that although most of the questions are the same (where do you find clients, how much to charge, what about contracts, lawyers, incorporating etc) the experiences of the various Solos and therefore their advice covers a wide range.

There was one guy who was adamant about putting bombs in his work for hire - just in case. I think the majority of the room disagreed and questioned his faith in humanity. :-) On the other hand, I shared one of my big lessons from many years ago where I naively got involved in a programming gig working for a guy who was a con-artist. I was in very good company as he had pulled the wool over the eyes of many county leaders at the same time. Eventually, I realized I wasn't going to get paid and had some help in handling this.

Within days of returning home from TechEd, I coincidentally had emails from two different people asking me advice about going SOLO and I wished I could have replayed the BOF for them.

One way to talk to others about going SOLO as a programmer is through the General/Business Management listserv on ASPAdvice. Although there are nearly 200 people subscribed to this list, it has been quiet for a while. Yet I know that there are many people with questions who are seeking out advice from those with some experience in this area.

So if you are "solo curious" or would like to share some thoughts on what you've learned as a SOLO, subscribe to the Business Management list on ASPAdvice. You need to be a registered user. Start by going to http://aspadvice.com/lists, sign up, then subscribe to any of the many active lists that are there.