Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 16:01:06 +0800 From: a Friend (I didn't ask him if he wanted my reply to this list). While I have lots of technical experience, I have no small business experience. There are books that can help with such things, in particular, books on starting a business in *your state*. Get one. Also get a copy of Don Lancaster's book, Incredible Secret Money Machine II. It's available from Synergetics, 602-428-4073. I am writing you in hopes you may be willing to share/discuss, via email or telephone, your experiences. In particular I seek your counsel on: 1) making sure your income stream supports your family, This is always a concern. Before you jump ship, make sure your ducks are lined up. I had developed sufficient reputation in the industry so that I had multiple standing job offers. So dumping the day job was risk-free for me. Have cash on hand. Lots of it. At least three months worth, *bare* minimum. Why? Because business affairs always go slower than you think they should. Even if you have complete trust that you'll get the first job/sale/whatever, it'll take a month to get it arranged, presumably you'll take some time to do the work, and up to two months to get paid, even if your invoice says NET30. 2) conducting business in a manner faithful to God and still taking into account the secular views of the people you do business with, Get and read _Your Money or Your Life_, by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez. Then do the steps. It's not a religious book in any sense, but it tells you how to deal with money in accordance with your values. and 3) whatever experiences and lessons you'd like to share. One thing I haven't seen mentioned much: if you're dealing with corporate America, be prepared to deal with people movement. Cultivate multiple contacts everywhere, if you can. Don't hesitate to give out business cards. Always have a few cards in your wallet. Enhance your reputation as much as you can. If you haven't written a free program or two or a dozen, do so. There are hundreds of programs needed, at all skill levels. But once you've written the program, you also have to support and market it. Promote yourself shamelessly -- no one else is going to do it (not at first anyway). Even if all you're looking for is a new/different job, reputation helps. Consider that Linus Torvalds could walk into nearly any Unix house unannounced, and have a job within minutes. Lots of room for free business applications. Businesses can justify spending money, and often they don't have the expertise to do their own programming. Support is an absolute necessity for business (payroll, accounts receivable, etc) applications. If you can out-support the proprietary software, you've got a hope of suceeding. Be lucky. That always helps. -- -russ <nelson@crynwr.com> http://www.crynwr.com/crynwr/nelson.html Crynwr Software | Crynwr Software sells packet driver support | ask4 PGP key 11 Grant St. | +1 315 268 1925 (9201 FAX) | What is thee doing about it? Potsdam, NY 13676 | What part of "Congress shall make no law" eludes Congress?