We were lucky to catch up with Ted Weil recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ted, appreciate you joining us today. Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?

I got into database development work through other work. I was originally the production director for an audio production company that produced customized phone messages on hold and they had a small database system for tracking their clients and production schedule. When I started working there, I wanted to make some changes to the way it worked and expand it to do more for the company. The owner was very supportive and so I jumped in and started figuring out how to work with the FileMaker platform. When I left that company I started working in IT for a design company and they also had some databases in the FileMaker platform so I did some work on those for the next few years as well as adding a few new ones to help support IT and other departments.

After 14 years at that company they decided to outsource much of their IT work so I was out of work for a few months looking for my next chapter. On of my former employees at the design company had started doing IT work elsewhere and he called me on day and asked if I still did any FileMaker Development work. I said I’d continued to do some and was still comfortable doing that work. He told me about a company he’d done some consulting for that had a lot of development in FileMaker and that they needed someone for 1-2 weeks to make some updates and changes and asked if I’d be willing to do a little contract work for them. It seemed like a good change to brush up my skills and make a little money while I continued my job search.

That 1-2 week contract job turned into a year and a half of 40 hours a week development work with them. The company is Close The Loop, a recycling company, that tracks every recycled item that goes in and out the door in their databases. After a year and half I figured this was my career path now and started cutting a few hours with Close the Loop and adding some new clients. 11 years later I’m still working for Close the Loop at least 1 day a week and have a portfolio of clients spanning dozens of industries for whom I’ve build database system to help run their businesses.

Ted, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a database solution developer. I work with mostly small to medium sized businesses to help solve problems related to data and operations by designing customized software solutions using the Claris FileMaker platform. My approach is very collaborative. I work directly with my clients every step of the way to ensure that they solution we develop meets all their needs and makes them more efficient and accurate in their data tracking.

Custom software is a more expensive option than buying an off-the-shelf piece of software to run a business. For some companies, there are already solutions out there that meet their needs, but for others, off-the-shelf software ends up forcing companies to modify their business practices to fit the strengths and weaknesses of their software. For those businesses, custom development is absolutely the way to go because it gives them the opportunity to design exactly the right solution to run their business the way they want to.

Claris FileMaker is an extremely rapid development environment which is why I decided to focus on that platform for my work. I can usually develop a solution for about a quarter of the cost than most other platforms while still providing a completely customized solution that rarely has to cut corners in functionality.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

WhenI started expanding my business, I was fortunate enough to get connected to my local Apple Store by some of the sales staff from FileMaker corporate. They periodically did presentations about the software’s capabilities at Apple Stores around the country. We’re lucky enough to have a large Apple Store with a large business team who started introducing me to potential clients they thought might be able to benefit from custom software. Almost all of my early clients came to me through this relationship and it’s produced some long term client relationships for me.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

They say most business deals happen on the golf course. I don’t play golf but the point is that relationships are more important than the specifics of the deal. I have always tried to really get to know my clients and their needs. In doing so, I trust them and they trust me. We build a business relationship but also friendships because we tend to genuinely care about each other’s success. We look out for each other, treat each other with respect and genuinely like each other so we value the time we spend working together even if it’s under some kind of high-pressure constraints.

Those are the type of business relationships that last. And even when a job is done and you don’t have any regular contact with each other, you tend to think about each other when talking to other businesses and people…that’s always the source for referrals.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.datawranglersllc.com