stogie1020

Seems like we should have a thread for any small business owners and self employed people.

NBP04TL4ME

I will be starting my first gig as an independent consultant next week.

stogie1020

Wondering if anyone has preferences for a small business bank?

I am currently using BofA, partly because my personal accounts are with them.

There used to a 800 number for small business customers where I would call and someone would answer and assist.

Now, when I call, there is a 10 minute phone tree of options that don't apply to me eventually followed by a notification that the hold times are 20-30 minutes and if I leave a telephone number, they will call me back.

They do call back, often sooner than 30 minutes, but I am getting pretty frustrated in the "diminishing services for the same fees" model of service.

thoiboi

I've been using Chase for my small business banking. Haven't used it for much outside of deposits though so can't give much advice on the support side of things.

Ken1997TL

Let me know if you find a good local bank or credit union! I'm very open to suggestions.

P.S. been doing consulting for a while, looking for something new/extra to do for a year or two. I've got a wedding to pay for

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Welcome to the world of self-employment!

For my part, had my own consulting business for 32 years and then decided to "Go Greyhound and leave the driving to us"; I took a full-time job with one of my clients, and geez, I kind of like it.

In the end, I enjoyed the best and worst aspects of being self-employed, and have a lot of great memories, but given the choice to go independent again or remain an employee of a Fortune 250 company, I'd stay as an employee. Why? Two basic reasons, my annual income is now well above my average for the ten previous years as an independent, and I R-E-A-L-L-Y like the company and what I'm doing.

NBP04TL4ME

I will be working for an old boss who is at a new company. He would love to bring me on as a permanent employee, but doesn't have the ability to do so now, so could be 12-18 months. Consulting will give me some flexibility with other things going on with the family at the moment. Like you, my preference would be a full time perm role, but this looks like it will work for the time being. Comp is very good and I can be remote, but no benefits..... Time will tell how this works out.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

I did nearly five years as a contractor to my current company over the course of two different consulting scenarios before they finally hired me. The group I reported in to as a contractor got a new director and the first time I met her she said, "Now let me get this straight, you are the only person supporting this entire product line; you do all of the defect resolution and at the same time all of the innovation for new aspects of the product. Did I get that right?"

"Yes."

"So how is it you are on a month-to-month contract when you are that key to the enterprise?"

"Probably politics;" I said, "your predecessor hated this product line."

"Well, that means we are at risk, even if it is the only thing I do for this company, I'm either going to tie you up on a long term contract, or I'm going to hire you."

I transitioned to a full-time-employee seven weeks later. The first reality check was, "So, tomorrow is a company holiday, and I actually get paid to not work?"

NBP04TL4ME

I believe your scenario plays out fairly frequently. Guessing now you have some pretty good job security as well. Congrats to you -

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Thanks my friend!

Funny thing back in 2015 I wasn't feeling all that secure; my company opted to ship the entire product to India. I spent the better part of six months *trying* to teach a team of 10 over there about the intricacies of the product, and by the end, I figure one person made it to about a 65% level of competency. Then in 2016 it was announced that company lost the contract due to non-performance and a new contract was signed to produce and support the product, and Company A was, by contract, responsible for all of the knowledge transfer to Company B. Yeah, about that, the one individual with more than a 40% understanding of the product promptly quit and it fell to the next in line to teach the new company about the care and feeding. Sorry to say, this individual had less brains than the Pet Rock my little sister had back in the 1970s. Here we are several years later and Company B has achieved about an 80% competency level for product support; for innovation they have yet to achieve a 10% level of competence. As much as I liked that product, my fervent wish is my company simply discontinues it.

After that product was shipped off shore I was moved over to a team which was creating the next great mousetrap, a product, which if it had ever lived up to its advance billing, would have long since replaced my original product (the one shipped to India). Having moved to the "Team of the Future" I figured my job was secure, and then they shipped that product off to India as well. Yikes! By late summer of 2017 I was seriously wondering if I was going to be on the street again. In early October of that year my boss said, "Bad news, you're being taken off the new team; great news, you're being moved to a new highly experimental team which we believe is the first in our industry and is very hush-hush!"

In a case of reverse off-shoring, I was put on a team led by a group if Indians considered to be the "experts" in the field. Over the next several months I struggled mightily to figure out what the hell they were doing, and raised numerous concerns about the engineering model they were using for the product, only to be told, "We're the experts, shut up an learn." Yikes, the pendulum swung back to me wondering if I needed to update my resume or go back out on my own. The good news (for me) was the first version of their product was beyond a disaster; the team over in India suddenly scattered to the four winds leaving me to pick up the pieces. It was yet another struggle, but I partnered with a 24 year old kid in Bangalore, an individual also dumped upon by the former team, and he and I rebuilt the engineering model and now, a year later, are if anything, victims of our own success. These days I'm working six to seven days plus evenings and weekends just trying to keep one nostril above water, however, one very slow row-boat will cause me to drown.

Long story short, yeah, my position is pretty secure, and if they do ultimately ship this job off shore as well (I'm thinking not real likely), the skills I've developed over the last year surrounding imbuing products with limited artificial intelligence and limited conversational capabilities (currently only in English), should see me gainfully employed until well into my 70s.

stogie1020

I need a outside opinion...

I rent office space in a Managed Office center. There is shared common spaces, lobby, and a manned front desk. The front desk answers my inbound telephone line. I pay extra for them to screen my calls (they take the call, place the person on hold, call me and see if I want the transfer). I, and they, just noticed that they have forgotten to charge me monthly for this service for a while. The noticed it because I complained about them not manning the phones enough and my calls were going to voicemail.

Here is the issue: They just invoiced me with the charge on this month's bill, AND a retroactive fee for the service for the past six months (back to Jan 1). The money is not the issue, I had planned to pay for the service, I just didn't notice it wasn't on the account. My problem is that they forgot to charge me, and are now retroactively charging me.

Should I fight this with a "your mistake, your problem" approach (happy to pay the monthly fee going forward), or not say anything since I was receiving the service anyway?

Ken1997TL

I'd look for a compromise of some sort. Pay back the missing months but be firm and mention that it IS their mistake and ask what they can do. Put the ball in their court.

stogie1020

^Thanks. I am dancing around the "don't shit where you eat" issue.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

I would make just enough noise to make sure it doesn't happen again. Something along the lines of, "Cash flow is king, you do this again and you ain't gettin' paid."

nfnsquared

Meh, if they provided the service, you should pay. It's their fault for not billing, but it's also your fault for not paying attention to your bills. Let it go and move on. Lesson learned on both sides...

stogie1020

Anyone use Harvest time tracking software?

stogie1020

I pay about $220/mo for Cox business internet 100/20 service. I just spoke to CenturyLink and they are offering Business Fiber at 100/100 with no install fees for $168/mo. I really need better upload speeds.

I don't have any early termination fees for Cox, but I have been very happy with their service (at office and at home).

I gave Cox a chance to match the CenturyLink offer but they were way off and could not come close.

Anyone have any experience with CenturyLink Business service?

Ken1997TL

I had it in Portlandia at one point and it was as advertised. I use Cox Fiber at home in Gilbert-ia with zero complaints.

Stapler

Yes, but it wasn't their fiber service, and most of the issues I had to talk to them about (for a client, I have cox) were for aging copper connections that needed to be serviced. I would think if you had fiber to the door you would be fine. The phone support was pretty normal, long waits and just answer all the questions right tell they send somebody out.

What I'm most angry at them for is continually sending me a flyer that fiber is available in my area, then being told on the phone that it's not.

stogie1020

Thanks. I have Cox fiber at home too and it's awesome, and I love their customer service, but this price difference is too much to pass up.

OK, thanks!