Archive for July, 2008 « Previous Entries

How Social Isolation Strikes Down The Best Of Us

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

As a self-employed consultant, I can honestly say that I suffer from social isolation. The definition of social isolation is roughly a lack of deep, meaningful relationships. Many consultants (and non-consultants) suffer from this problem and recent studies have shown that social isolation can shorten your life just as surely as smoking or alcohol abuse.
My [...]

Why Consultants Love Working In Coffee Shops

Monday, July 28th, 2008

Yesterday, I got an e-mail from a grad student named Jaspreet in the UK who is studying at Swansea University in South Wales. They stumbled across Coffee Shop Office – a site that I am peripherally involved in that is exploring how coffee shops have become work spaces for the self-employed, students, artists and anyone [...]

Let Steve Jobs’ Health Controversy Be A Wakeup Call

Saturday, July 26th, 2008

This week the media was all abuzz about the haggard appearance of Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple, in case you’ve been living under a rock) and how it might impact Apple shareholders. The problem is that Apple is Steve Jobs and Steve Jobs in Apple. Shareholders and customers can’t help but feel like the company [...]

Best Laptop Solutions For Consultants

Friday, July 25th, 2008

The modern consultant cannot afford to have sub-par technology at their disposal. In a previous article, I ran down the merits of different smart phone platforms. While having the right phone is important, having the right computer is equally important. This post talks about the different laptop platforms that are available to you and how [...]

Smartphone Showdown: iPhone vs Blackberry vs. Windows Mobile

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

A good friend of mine (Reg Nordman from Rocket Builders) e-mailed me the following question yesterday:
“Would you ever buy an iPhone? A Blackberry? Why?”
Since this is a question that a lot of my colleagues ask me, I feel compelled to answer Reg’s question in a rather public fashion. Reg didn’t ask about Windows Mobile devices [...]

How To Land Your First Client As An Independent Consultant

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

I talk to a lot of folks who are looking to transition from employee to consultant and one of the most common questions I get asked is “how do you land those first few clients?” It’s an excellent question and I’m going to outline how you get started consulting once you’ve decided to make the [...]

How to Write a Great Consulting Resume

Saturday, July 19th, 2008

Like many consultants, I was once a salaried employee that read job postings, applied for jobs and wrote cover letters. When you start consulting, you leave much of that song and dance behind you because you shift from marketing yourself from within the strict confines of formal job seeking to sales mode. Even consultants are [...]

HHO Redux - The Internet Has Arrived

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

I have been getting a huge spike in traffic for my blog lately and 90% of it has been for an article I wrote back in March about HHO Boost systems for your car. If you haven’t read the article, it’s basically a mini fuel cell that purportedly turns tap water into “brown’s gas” which, [...]

UBC Prof Says No More Subsidies to Fisheries

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

This is going to be a controversial post. Feel free to send me hate mail. It’s just my opinion. I have been accused by the Left of being a Conservative. I have been accused by the Right of being a Commie. I am neither. I’m apolitical in many respects. As someone who works in policy [...]

Stave Off Depression With Blog Plugin Maintenance

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

I was starting to get kind of bummed out about my readership levels. About a month ago, it looked like my readership took a nose dive. At the same time, the amount of spam comments I was getting on my posts skyrocketed. I kept writing but I was starting to lose my motivation. Just today, [...]

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