Many of us have an entrepreneur streak in us, and what we’ve signed may limit that streak. It’s good to know your rights just so when it comes up, you’re prepared.

I’ve had this disscussion a few times with companies, sometimes with lawyers involved because of faulty NDAs and other work contracts, and the result was a common sense three point discussion as listed below. Non-disclosure and non-compete agreements are a different topic, which I’ll probably cover at some later point after a hard drinks.

This is a quick guide to the topic.

If you work for them as a full-time employee, they own the work and the copyright

For example, if you are a programmer, and there’s a bunch of this nifty code that you’re writing up, and you want to use it on your own application, there’s a good chance that you could get sued or cause a lot of problems at your work. Since most of us are on laptops nowadays, even using their equipment to design and build puts you at risk, and I would recommend that you do any of that work on your own time and on your own system.

Some companies, like Apple, go so far as emphasizing that even during your off time they own your ideas (for the chance that you are going to solve world hunger while watching Letterman), so if you are working for one of those companies, it might be a good idea to limit your ideas to sleeping. The smart companies discuss plans for you to profit off of those ideas in a business startup environment.

If you work for them as a contractor, and you haven’t signed a work-for-hire agreement, you own the work and copyright, are giving them implicit license to use it

Wikipedia has a great article about work-for-hire, but the best description I can think of is this: If you develop this new system that solves world hunger, and you develop this system on your client’s dime, there’s nothing stopping you from selling your system that solves world hunger down the street, and even more so, your competitors.

If you have designed something that is really cool, and you want to protect it, I recommend that you register it with the U.S. Copyright Office even if you don’t intend on reselling it. It’s more to protect yourself from the client.

If you work for them as a contractor, and you have signed a work-for-hire agreement, they own it

Signing that agreement gives them all copyright ownership to it and the right to control whatever you do. Smart consulting and development companies make you sign this contract. For most applications, signing one of these agreements isn’t that much of an issue because, frankly, what we do probably replicates some business process or application that isn’t terribly unique, so even if we were to own the copyright, it wouldn’t really matter, because it applies specifically to that work.

However, if there was something you invented that was unique and valuable as a business process (and I don’t mean inventing a shopping cart), you could patent it, and prevent others from using it only if you haven’t signed the work-for-hire agreement.

If you have any questions, speak with a lawyer

there are many experts in copyright and patent law that have much knowledge than I do, and if you are working on an idea that’s got a lot of potential, it’s best to talk to them. the money is worth it.

You have this cool client that has this really great idea, and they want to turn it into a sure thing.

They approach you about joining their start up, and they have money sticking out of their pockets, just waiting to be given to you as a (gasp!) full-time employee where you can enjoy in the fruits of their idea that’s going to stop traffic and replace sliced bread as the next great invention.

As soon as you take off the rose-colored glasses, start ups are not all they are cracked up to be. I’ve been connected to a few of them, and they are your basic kill-your-own, do-it-yourself places where nothing is set up correctly, from the office cubicles down to the process of developing software. If you need structure, this isn’t the environment for it.

Here’s a few things I’ve learned over the years, some of them I learned by turning down jobs, some I learned through painful first hand experience. Start ups can be rewarding, at least what you learn, and maybe financially. Here’s a few tips.

Make Sure They Have Money

Very few businesses make money right away (we’re talking one in a million), so there needs to be some runway time to execute the idea. Whatever money they have, they probably need double to do it right, and most venture capitalists intentionally don’t give start ups enough money just to see how resourceful their management is, or to see how dedicated they are in making the idea work.

Make Sure They Have Money To Pay You

What that means is even if they have a decent sized budget, if they are offering you the low base salary and the high percentage commission or bonus (or a high number of stock options), the start up probably doesn’t have enough money to pay you.

If you do decide to join a start up with a high upside, get whatever agreement you have with them in writing, and pay for a lawyer to review it. Have them poke holes in it, just to make sure that you are going to get rewarded for your time, because you are going to be spending a lot of your time on their idea.

If they offer you something low, and they’re not going to show you a list of what everyone else is making, there’s a good chance they are low-balling you.

Make Sure That There’s A Market For It

There’s nothing worse with coming up with this really great idea, and there’s no market for it. Or they come up with this really great idea, and the market’s too crowded. Or they come up with this great idea, and you have three friends that have worked with start ups that have had the same great idea, and all three of their start ups have failed for the same general season.

Unless you’re Apple (and let me tell you, the idea for the iPod was not original), there are no more original ideas, just a twist or two on existing ideas. Having competitors that are profitable in the market is a good thing, because it proves that the basic idea works, and can make money.

Make Sure The Idea Can Work With A One Percent Penetration Rate

Really, really, really big ideas take really, really, really big bank accounts, so whatever idea they have should be reflected in the amount of money they have to spend. Even if they have the money to spend, there should be some thought put into, “will this idea work with a smaller market penetration rate.” If it can’t, or you don’t think the company can be made profitable if their penetration is half of what they are projecting (and they should be doing some market research, regardless), it’s time to run the other way.

There’s no shame in working for a smaller start up that’s poised to be a double instead of a home run, especially if the team is smaller, and you see a larger portion of the riches.

Make Sure The Team Can Execute

Look at the team you’ll be working with — do you think they can execute? There’s nothing worse than working for a startup that has a few people that just can’t get it done, because that affects everyone’s bottom line. Additionally, most startups have friends of the founders they wanted to give jobs, but aren’t qualified to do those jobs. If you don’t think the team can execute, it’s not the right startup for you. There’s always the good first impression, but be realistic: can they get the job done and ship product?

Make Sure You Share Their Vision

There’s nothing worse than joining a start up, and finding out three weeks in you share a completely different philosophy than the founders. And you know what? No matter how much you are right, it’s their baby, and until the VC’s come in and replace them, it will still be their baby. Like any corporate environment, if you don’t share the vision (read this account of what’s going on over at Facebook), you’re going to be uncomfortable the whole time.

When you’re uncomfortable, it’s worse when you are working 60 hours a week, trust me.

At the end of the day, it’s just a job, maybe one where you can make a lot of money, but the reason they want there is that you can make a lot of money for them, and it will only flow downhill if they value your skills.

So why am I posting a Consultant Thursday blog late? Just because I haven’t posted in two weeks, I haven’t lost track of time. I just think the reason for my absence is a good blog topic: Burn Out. I’ve been juggling four different projects for the last two months. In order to make it work, I had to be very disciplined, efficient, and organized. My calendar was color blocked from 8:00 a.m. til 11:00 p.m on most days. If something doesn’t go according to plan, or if there’s a shift in schedule, then I’d work until the wee morning hours. There were a couple of days where I worked a straight 14 hours, sleep 3 hours, then get up and do it again. There are also days where I did nothing to give my brain a rest.

This is not out of the ordinary, really. It’s just part of being a consultant.

Projects never come in a steady rate. It’s either feast or famine. When times are good, you juggle multiple projects. You have to be able to switch gears from one moment to the next; all the requirements and production issues competing for attention in your head.

So why don’t I just turn down work?

I never turn down projects where:

• The team is stellar
• I have a chance to learn something new
• There’s an opportunity to develop a new relationship with a high profile company.

When you work for yourself, every relationship, everything you do is a business development opportunity.

Hearing all this talk about my crazy life as a consultant, most people would say why I do it. I don’t mind working hard as long as I’m learning. The money is good, but it’s not about the money for me. The sole reason why I am a contractor is because I own my time. I can work really hard when it counts. When there is down time, I can truly give my brain a rest, have the luxury of researching creative solutions, and not dwell in bureaucracy land. Or I can just take two weeks off without filling out a vacation request.

I believe that you have to work hard to be lucky. It’s a lot like karma.

I’ve been playing with the idea — so I can become famous or something. I know I don’t have a shot in hell of making a ton of money on the book, but it’s mostly to increase the bottom line for consulting and speaking engagements.

Good Experience has a great read on writing a book, and all the things no one tells you when you do it. Seth Godin also has some tips.

I’ve worked with my fair share of clients, coming up with something cool or snazy, presenting it to them, they look at it, and the first thing that comes out of their mouth is, “I don’t like it” or “I like this design over here,” pointing at another design produced by another designer. There’s the usual complaint of, “but our design is better” or you mutter something under your breath.

Smashing Magazine has an article on this too, but here’s a few truths to live with:

The clients don’t always pick the best design

The design you are presenting might be something rich and inviting, with all the bells and whistles you throw on there. The other design might be something clean and sharp, but not exciting. Not exciting sells, especially in certain less progressive environments, like governments or large corporations. The stakeholder or final decision maker probably isn’t a designer, so they really can’t tell the difference between rich and not rich, just what they like or don’t like. Some of the sites I’ve designed I hate, but the client loved, because it hit their target audience.

The clients are influenced by a local designer

There’s nothing like being there in person when showing off a design, and if you can’t do this, you’re already at a disadvantage — you can’t discuss some of your motivations for doing a particular design, or taking a particular angle. Sometimes you are set up to fail from the very start, and it’s best to recognize it and put your best foot forward, even if you know you aren’t going to be the winning design.

Sometimes the best design isn’t the most usable design

When I was working at Escrow.com, eBay was one of our partners. We redesigned the user interface of the site, and on every iteration, we made it look more like eBay. On every iteration, revenue increased. As much as the user interface designer I worked with hated it, we had to keep going that way. Many users might consider eBay one of the ugliest sites on the web, but when revenue rises, you keep going that direction. If you don’t, you are ignoring your users. Follow the obvious roadsigns.

Design is subjective

Totally true, but the best argument I’ve set for some of the clients is, “let’s try some A/B testing.” If it’s a simple website, and the site gets a fair amount of traffic, you’ll know quickly which design works better. Changing the colors of certain buttons in a design can affect the conversion rate. As much as you would like to tell the stakeholder they aren’t the audience, sometimes it’s best to do just that by involing end users.

This was over at On Money Making. How true:

• And cause I was a gazillionaire, and I liked doin it so much, I cut that grass for free.
• I’m not a smart man… but I know what love is.
• Stupid is as stupid does.
• When I got tired, I slept. When I got hungry, I ate. When I had to go… you know… I went.
• Momma always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.
• I gotta save Bubba!
• Jenny taught me how to climb. And I taught her how to dangle.

Click here for the full list.

Where I work at, we have this phenomenal client list, but there’s a good chance you’ll never see it. Most of the work we do is intranet work, and it’s boring.

It also pays well. Very well.

A lot of consultants want to work on only the most exciting projects, where I’m trying to angle for less exciting government and corporate clients, because they have work no one else wants to do. Smart consulting companies do well with these clients, because they aren’t competing with many other clients.

For example, tons of agencies pitch websites for Paramount movies.

Few agencies or firms pitch intranets at Paramount because, well, it’s boring. No one’s going to see it. Yet, on my company’s client list, we list Paramount as a client, and our work may be more important to Paramount than a website for a single movie.

The website for the movie has to be built only twice.

That intranet for Paramount goes on forever.

I spent most of last week in Alaska (Anchorage specifically), and it was very, very cool. I played golf at 10:30 p.m. during daylight, took dusk photos at 1:45 a.m., and generally enjoyed myself for a few days while working for a great client. There’s nothing like sitting in a bar at 11 p.m. and thinking that it’s still light out, and you have another 4 hours to stay out when it’s actually late.

However, travelling for work usually isn’t as enjoyable as it would seem.

If you think it’s all globetrotting, here’s a few truths:

More often than not, you are going to go somewhere that isn’t so much fun.

I’ve been to New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Anchorage, Seattle and Boston for work trips, and I even moved to Philadelphia and San Francisco for short periods of time. However, the inbetween trips included Wisconsin (not so bad), Phoenix (I’ll pass) and the yawn of all yawns, Connecticut.

How bad is Connecticut? I asked a co-worker what was fun to do there, and he said drive to New York.

I’ve been to Alaska in winter, Chicago in zero degree weather, Sarasota in 100 degree weather. Which would you pick?

You never get to choose where you get to go, and sometimes, it’s not the vacation spot you would want it to be.

More often than not, the hotel you picked isn’t going to be a bed of roses.

The Howard Johnson I stayed in Alaska, which was a scramble spot because all the hotels were booked, had all of the excitement of the Bakersfield bus station at $170 per night. I can’t say enough bad things about the Westmark in Anchorage, and there’s a Red Roof Inn near Shelton, Connecticut that was better served as a drug dealing spot than a hotel.

Occasionally, that flight you picked won’t get there on time.

Do you really want to spend four hours in Sea-Tac? How about six hours at Atlanta-Hartsfield? The best way to describe the experience of flying across the country is to watch the first 30 minutes of the movie Fight Club. I have a list of airlines that I’ll never fly again (America West was at the top of the list), and a list of favorites, but there’s always delays.

Travelling is hard on your health.

Where are you going to eat?

It’s probably going to be a decent restaurant, but all the food has to go somewhere, and it’s not nearly as healthy as eating (and cooking for yourself) at home. Depending on your company’s travel policy, stretching the dollar so you aren’t eating at a Denny’s or your hotel’s breakfast buffet is sometimes tough.

This is in addition to usually having to fly on a day off and getting up early to catch a flight that usually has at least one or two layovers before you get to your destination. There’s the usual sleep deprived moments

The clients are usually pretty cool.

I don’t know why, but every time I’ve done the traveling thing, the clients were grateful to be paying consultant rates plus travel expenses for us. I’ve always been treated much better traveling out of state than at local clients (go figure), maybe because they are paying more for your services.

In the movie, The Shawshank Redemption, Morgan Freeman described inmates who have been in the prison system too long as being ”institutionalized.” In my opinion, this phenomenon also occurs at large corporations, where departments become silos and team members use bureaucracy to hide their shortcomings and inefficiencies. In a word, everyone has become institutionalized. People forget how to work together and function as flexible, dynamic project teams. In these instances, clients don’t really hire UX consultants to solve a design problem. Rather, these companies get into a rut and they just want some fresh blood to shake things up a bit.

From my experience, the best products don’t come from one individual or department. Rather, it takes an iterative process with input from various angles of expertise. Even if a forward thinking manager proposes a scrum approach, it becomes like a begrudging behavior change and not a true conversion in attitude. This type of situation can be volatile for a consultant. You have no idea of the political landmines you’re walking into or whose toes you’re stepping on, and those with crushed toes are too willing to throw you under the bus.

So what’s a consultant to do in these situations?

• Do your homework. Conduct careful analysis and research to justify your design decisions, because they will drill you and throw you under the bus. Get ready to be roadkill!
• Provide the service you were paid to do and sidestep the politics.
• Be a consumate professional, but speak your mind. There’s a reason why you were hired. I am known to be very direct and I believe companies hire me for my brutal honesty.
• Have a sense of humor. Sometimes humor is needed is to buffer egos from constructive criticism and makes for easier negotiation.

Don’t expect that your design will prevail in the end. Realize that you may just be the catalyst that change the process. When in doubt, tell yourself, “At least I don’t have to work here full time. At least I’m not institutionalized.”

Great article. Concise. Wish I had written it.