Client woes: a question to ask yourself...

[Charles E Vermette <cvermette -at- juno -dot- com>]

Before entering contracting (or expanding your current business,) there's
one question to ask yourself. Don't bulls**t yourself with the answer:

- What kind of business sense do you have? 

You can be a skilled writer or a knowledgeable "techie", but if you don't
have a good business sense, you'll constantly be skipping across
minefields. Even with experience, you step on land mines from time to
time. You hit a lot fewer if you think of yourself as a business person
first, and a tech writer second (or more specifically, a vendor in the
*business* of technical writing.)

- If you have a business sense, you know exactly what I'm talking about. 
- If you don't, I'd recommend you get some management/operations
experience from an employer (or have a *large* amount of capital to cover
your mistakes...)

Lastly, If you have business savvy/experience, but wind up getting
burned, you ignored a basic business principle somewhere along the line.
Figure out what it was, learn for it, and move on. 

Chuck Vermette
85 Washington Park Drive
Norwell MA 02061
781-659-1836
e-mail: cvermette -at- juno -dot- com

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