Man, I thought you only felt downcast and depressed when you failed to land the job or successfully navigate your way through the job interview!
My travels today took me to a job interview for PC support, sales and administration. A role in this small town, where there is limited competition and the business owner had kicked things off nearing 4 years ago.
The role itself sounded quite good, I was prepared to put my professional 100k a year career on hold while I basked in the quiet life of this small town for 12-18 months. That was 24 hours ago! The interview went very well, all was looking good - then came the slap in the face. The pay rate was $14 an hour!
So I could have the job, but had to accept $14 an hour! Seriously! I could kick back and write Smorty or PPP reviews and land between $6 and $10 US a post online for god sake. Such a shame that the local industry isn't paying well enough.
It has led me to start thinking about kicking off my own business. While the town isn't huge, their certainly is a need for decent, personal and web IT support. With the right approach and personal touch I think it could work; start-up costs would be low if I work from home and freelance initially and certainly coming from a big city - my sales skills will help get the new customers on board initially I hope...
Apart from the right paperwork and business name to start trading. Really only advertising and business cards should be needed at the absolute bare minimum startup stage I feel.
I do want to kick it off on a shoestring budget. Does anyone have any ideas or experiences they could share with me in this area?
Depressed after GETTING the job!
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Great article. Sad to hear they are not paying well in your area of expertise. I wish the best to you. I'd like to share my business opportunity with you. Check out my website, and see if it's something you can see yourself doing...cristal.usana.com. I am doing quite well for myself thanks to that company. Wish you all the best.
Thanks for the comment.
I did look at Usana a few years ago; health / vitamin market wasn't it? Has there been any new additions to the product range or network design?
I never like to focus on working locally - I would recommend you to take a look to offer your skills at www.rentacoder.com for example - and read the book "The 4 Hour Work Week":
http://www.semmy.name/index.php/89/the-four-hour-workweek/
Greetings,
Semmy Stumpp
www.semmy.name
more fun - more success - more money
Hi,
Here's a bit of info from my small town experiences and IT support. I was an economic developer in a town of 800 for a region of 6000 people. A young IT professional set up his business there and it was somewhat successful. There was definitely a need and he charged $45 an hour (back in 2004)but he had to work regionally. He covered about 8 counties, setting up his "route" within probably a three hour one-way trip to get clients' work done along the way and then home again.
Part of what has to happen in a small town with your marketing is to educate them to the need, and the specific benefits of what your services provide.
I wrote a monthly column for the local free publication which established me as the go-to-girl for business training, etc.
It can be done, but there's no free lunch and it depends on what you're willing to trade for the kind of lifestyle you want. I prefer the small town challenges to the city rush, but it requires being real creative regarding finding and expanding and targeting a market--especially for services.
Another note: some of the computer folks also offered classes, which of course increased their credibility and sales.
Hope it helps!
Belinda
www.small-town-biz.com
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