One of the great things about working for myself is all the control I have over where my work comes from and what leads I choose to pursue. All of the work I’m doing right now comes from acquaintances and referrals. I have an RSS feed from some popular job boards, but I’ve responded to less than 1% of all the listings I’ve seen over the last 10 months. I keep a Craigslist feed in my RSS reader mostly for comic value.

Craigslist is one of the phenomenons of internet publishing in recent memory. They’re part of what’s putting newspapers on their heels by providing classified ads for free or a minimal charge, an area where most newspapers make their money. But that’s a separate discussion. Continue reading »

I don’t have a business plan (GASP!). I don’t have a mission statement either. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine strongly advised me to write a business plan and to come up with a mission statement, explaining how a mission statement is so beneficial to doing business and growing your business.

How’s this for a mission statement?

The Company’s primary objective is to maximize long-term stockholder value, while adhering to the laws of the jurisdictions in which it operates and at all times observing the highest ethical standards.

Continue reading »

It’s now been two weeks since I quit my job and started off on my own. Although you might be expecting a list of lessons about self-employment that I’ve learned in two weeks, things just have not been that crazy.

To be perfectly honest, things aren’t really that different—that might be a bit of an understatement. What’s different is that I love what I do, I care about what I do, and I’m excited about what’s to come. Of course, I can’t say that I haven’t learned anything in the last two weeks—I’ve learned a bit about myself and the world around me.

Continue reading »