<html dir="ltr"><head></head><body style="text-align:left; direction:ltr;"><div>The modern co-op is the LLC-partnership.</div><div><br></div><div>Yes. Large groups want to use only large groups. Small groups are intimidated by the large group consultant team. I was looking for a way to have a virtual front office to masquerade as larger to chase the longer term contracts when I did consulting.</div><div><br></div><div>I enjoyed being the "does everything" IT dept. I frequently sat in with the owners as their contract CTO/CIO person and helped steer the IT side of their business. I was very clear about the potential conflict of interest in my role and made certain they understood the why of a purchase and not just the dollar amount approval. </div><div><br></div><div>This could work in a more modern setup with primary and secondary support and a virtual office with live office admin. There are services that can do phone answering for multiple business names and route calls based on rules. I don't know if such a thing exists for sales.</div><div><br></div><div>The big disadvantage with being the small shop is "the wearing many hats" eats time where as the external paid services eat cash. Have to find the balance of diversity of abilities and single-capability shop.</div><div><br></div><div>On Mon, 2019-05-06 at 09:44 -0500, Neal Rhodes via Ale wrote:</div><blockquote type="cite" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex; border-left:2px #729fcf solid;padding-left:1ex"><pre>My reply may be a bit late; been out of the country with nothing but a </pre><pre>cellphone.</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>We are retired after running a 2 person consulting company as a S-corp </pre><pre>for decades. I don't understand the legal arrangement you describe as </pre><pre>a "co-op".</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>We had a specialty within Unix/Linux - Progress Database development and </pre><pre>admin of turnkey systems. Still, we found that there is a size issue - </pre><pre>large corporations do NOT contract with 2 person firms - they contract </pre><pre>with large body shops. Most of our business was with firms under 100 </pre><pre>people. Larger body shops have marketing people.</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>Also, large corporations expect you to have your own Worker's Comp, </pre><pre>Liability Insurance, have ISO-something audited financials, and various </pre><pre>hoops which are costly/time-consuming.</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>We did several long gigs with large clients that initially engaged us </pre><pre>through a body shop, then we went direct after 6 months and cut the body </pre><pre>shop out. (with no ill feelings)</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>Our specialty was scarce and in demand - I am skeptical on whether local </pre><pre>firms would be willing to get past their gag reflex on a small </pre><pre>contractor if it was for generic linux work.</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>OTOH, if you get a local client, and are omnivorous, it can work. In </pre><pre>our early days, we'd do whatever the client needed. Yes, I put in the </pre><pre>server and the manufacturing software and database. But if they needed </pre><pre>a terminal on the loading dock, yes I'd get on a scissors-lift and pull </pre><pre>Cat-5 through the factory ceiling 40 feet up and terminate it and check </pre><pre>the terminal worked. As long as it made economic sense for the client, </pre><pre>and we made our hourly billing rate, we'd be their one-stop shop. They </pre><pre>saw our "no finger pointing - we don't leave until it works" as a </pre><pre>positive value.</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>I would do it over again to avoid commuting, be able to raise children, </pre><pre>have the S-corp pay legitimate rent for the basement office, etc. But </pre><pre>running an S-corp is a non-trivial amount of work.</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>regards,</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>Neal</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>On 2019-05-02 09:56, maddog via Ale wrote:</pre><blockquote type="cite" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex; border-left:2px #729fcf solid;padding-left:1ex"><pre>Ever considered forming a co-op consulting service?</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>It allows for greater coverage of skills and people rather than "lone</pre><pre>wolf". Share fixed expenses.</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>You can start off small (just you), and pull people in as you see fit.</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>md</pre><pre><br></pre><pre><br></pre><pre>Sent from Xfinity Connect Application</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>-----Original Message-----</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>From: </pre><a href="mailto:ale@ale.org"><pre>ale@ale.org</pre></a><pre><br></pre><pre>To: </pre><a href="mailto:ale@ale.org"><pre>ale@ale.org</pre></a><pre><br></pre><pre>Sent: 2019-05-02 8:50:18 AM</pre><pre>Subject: [ale] consulting climate?</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>Guys,</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>I might find myself out of work soon, so I'm thinking of what to do </pre><pre>next. I</pre><pre>used to run a consulting business years ago in New Orleans and enjoyed </pre><pre>it</pre><pre>quite a bit.What's the perceived climate these days for a Linux </pre><pre>freelancer on</pre><pre>the northeast side of town (though I wouldn't completely rule out a </pre><pre>good did</pre><pre>in Cobb)?</pre><pre><br></pre><pre>_______________________________________________</pre><pre>Ale mailing list</pre><a href="mailto:Ale@ale.org"><pre>Ale@ale.org</pre></a><pre><br></pre><a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale"><pre>https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</pre></a><pre><br></pre><pre>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at</pre><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo"><pre>http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</pre></a><pre><br></pre></blockquote><pre>_______________________________________________</pre><pre>Ale mailing list</pre><a href="mailto:Ale@ale.org"><pre>Ale@ale.org</pre></a><pre><br></pre><a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale"><pre>https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</pre></a><pre><br></pre><pre>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at</pre><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo"><pre>http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</pre></a><pre><br></pre></blockquote><div><span><pre><pre>-- <br></pre>James P. Kinney III
Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you
gain at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his
own tail. It won't fatten the dog.
- Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain
http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/
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