Dear Robert, In reading one of my e-mails I noticed a job opening that may interest you. It is for a software engineer in San Carlos, CA for a company that started in 1999 called Open Harbor which has 90 employees and is a provider of global trade management software. Their website to find out more is:www.openharbor.com. I heard the great news today that you sold your house and are moving to be with Noelle this Wed. Gail ----- Original Message ----- From: "robert" <http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert> To: "Gail" <http://www.cox.net/~g3> Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2:28 AM Subject: Re: consulting > > > To: "Gail" <http://www.cox.net/~g3> > > > From: "Gail" <http://www.cox.net/~g3> > > Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2003 22:41:11 -0700 > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "robert" <http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert> > > To: "Gail" <http://www.cox.net/~g3> > > Sent: Monday, April 21, 2003 3:50 AM > > Subject: consulting > > > > > Is this so you can incorporate? What exactly is the purpose of this? > > > > Robert, no, the purpose of the Business Plan is not to incorporate. I would > > be a sole proprietor if I decide on the idea of the independent contractor. > > For me it would have a dual purpose. Since I'm a volunteer SCORE small > > business counsellor on Wed. mornings, a lot of what we do is help clients > > write their Business Plans. Thus, doing one for myself would make me a more > > effective counsellor. I already did one as a project when I was at Antioch > > as a student. For many people a Business Plan is needed in order to get > > funding or a loan. But it also is just plain valuable planning so the > > entrepreneur knows where he/she is heading. It's like a map. It covers all > > aspects of the business including marketing and all the financial stuff one > > needs such as cash projections, Balance Sheet and Income Statement > > projections, break-even point, etc. > > OK. I don't know if my book mentions this strategy -- I've only got > half-way through so far. (I sent my resume to a guy seeking someone for a > freelance project; he says that things haven't yet been worked out > regarding who'll be doing the hiring. But, of course, given the current > level of competition, it's doubtful that anything will come of it. That's > why I started reading that book on computer consulting that you gave me > for X-mas.) > > > > I think accountants are in higher demand than technical people right now. > > > The finance person at my last company went to another company. The very > > > fact that she could do that indicates to me that things are different for > > > CPAs. > > > > I'm not a CPA, but it's true about the accounting field. You can always feed > > yourself. If you can't find employment, you can always start your own > > business pretty easily as an independent contractor. I did this 12 years ago > > when I was laid off at an accounting firm. I just started my own at home for > > awhile. One of my clients was my present employer, SBIG. Don's CPA > > recommended them to me. Later SBIG hired me full-time and that same CPA is > > SBIG's outside CPA for the corporate income tax returns. Networking helps > > Well, I do meet with a "Job Seeker Networking Group" every Thursday > morning. I've also had my former co-workers and friends submit resumes to > their companies on my behalf and nothing has come of it. I think even > networking doesn't help at this point in my field. (The unemployment rate > for Programmers is now at 7.5% and for Engineers is now at 7.0%. For Software > Engineers, it's only 6.5%, but that's still pretty high -- about 3 times > what it has been historically.) > > > and so does keeping positive, thinking creatively, and working hard to get a > > job trying every possible avenue and spending as much time as a regular job > > takes, in my opinion. > > Well, there is still just not much out there. I was reading an article > that said that the technology sector hasn't been this hard hit since 1959. > (I have been trying to find out what was going on in 1959 to try to > understand why this might be, but I haven't found any info so far.) > > > Good luck, > > Gail > >