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Career Management

Stay In Touch With Your Network

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After you've received a job offer--or while you're happily employed--it's easy to let your network grow cold. As I've said many times, since 75% of good jobs come from friends, that's a mistake. This newsletter is designed to help you keep in touch, even if briefly. It could be personalized with inside name, address, and salutation; that would be better.


BRUCE D. ROBERTSON, CPA
4325 Buffalo Road | N. Chili | New York 14514 
 H: (716) 594-2766 | C: (716)595-2269 | brobertson@yahoo.com
 

Kelly Weitz
Vice President
Georgia International
5500 Interstate N Parkway, Suite 500
Atlanta, GA 30328
O:  (404) 952-4727
F:  (404) 952-4814

  
Dear Kelly,

Many exciting things are happening in my life since I wrote you last spring. First, I have become a facilitator for the Management Roundtable (TMR).

TMR, a national organization headquartered in Denver, Colorado, consists of groups of 10-15 CEO's or Senior Level Managers. I like that TMR provides such a great opportunity for these individuals to meet monthly for issue resolution, management development, enrichment/education, and mutual support. I am organizing TMR's first group in Rochester, New York. CEO's will start meeting early next year.

I have just begun my second year of teaching at Roberts Wesleyan College. My favorite courses last year included Strategic Planning, Managerial Accounting and Motivation, Money and Banking, and Income Tax. This fall I initiated a job-search workshop class for all business seniors. Each student develops and manages his own MBO's for resume preparation, job network-building, and practice interviewing.

This summer, I spent a month visiting Colorado and western New York. In Colorado, I was again part of the Breckenridge Music Institute's choir workshop. We premiered a two-piano piece by Berger based upon Psalms l18 & l19. Rafting down the Colorado River was my risk-excitement for the summer. In New York, my sons and I visited many parks. We found the waterfalls in the western New York area fantastic. Brian loved Niagara Falls. (Sorry Colorado, nothing there comes close to these beauties.)

As to the future, the first meeting of The Management Roundtable in Rochester will be held January 20th. In addition, my parents and I are planning a business/pleasure trip to Europe, May & June. I will also be offering a new course this spring entitled International Business. With my special interest in international affairs, I am really excited about this new offering.

May you all have a blessed and successful fall and winter.

Bruce D. Robertson

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William S. Frank, M.A.,
            President/CEO
25 Reasons I love consulting.
by William S. Frank
  1. Brand. You are your own brand, and you can define it any way you want. For many years, I provided outplacement to the ex-employees of Schlumberger, the world's largest oilfield service corporation. When departing employees left the company, they didn't request outplacement in their severance package. They said, "I want Bill Frank."
  2. Demand. The world will always be full of terrible problems that need solving.
  3. White Hat. I can be a helper and get paid for it.
  4. Pay. I can be paid to do things I'd gladly do for nothing.
  5. Variety. Every day is different.
  6. Happiness. At this stage of my career, I only work for people I respect and care about. If a client micromanages me or is otherwise no fun, I complete the assignment and replace them.
  7. Talent. I'm using 110% of my talents and stretching myself to the max.
  8. Change. I can change my focus any day I want. If you're a McDonald's franchisee, you don't say, "Hey, I've got this great idea for a meatball sandwich—let's try it out today." In consulting you can adjust your focus hour-by-hour, as long as your clients still understand and appreciate what you do.
  9. Income. No one else would pay me as much as I pay myself.
  10. FUN. I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing.
  11. Retirement. I can write and consult as long as I am physically and mentally capable. Peter Drucker worked into his 90s, and when asked which book was his best, he said: "My next one."
  12. Job Security. Although clients come and go, no one can come into my office and say, "Pack up your stuff . . . You don't work here anymore." In 29 years, I've only had one employer: ME.
  13. Travel. I don't have to travel unless I decide to. I travel if it's both FUN and profitable—or at least FUN.
  14. Commute. I live five minutes from my office, a corner office in an upscale six-story tower. In winter, I leave a heated garage at home and drive to an underground heated garage at work. There's seldom time to hear even one song on the radio.
  15. Vacation. Consulting is more fun than vacation (except on Wailea Beach in Maui).
  16. Friends. I have developed hundreds of close acquaintances and several lifetime friends.
  17. Time. I can work as much or as little as I like: four-hour days or 18-hour days. (Of course, my income will reflect that.)
  18. Employees. I can work with employees, subcontractors, partners, or alone—I've done it all.
  19. Passive Income. I've developed several products that provide "mailbox money." I earn while I'm sleeping.
  20. Ethics. I've never had to violate my values or personal code of ethics. I've never had to lie, purposely deceive or harm others, or promise things I can't deliver. I go to bed with a clear conscience. That doesn't mean there's never any conflict. But the conflict is conducted according to generally accepted business practices.
  21. Virtual. My career is fairly portable. With the Internet, e-mail, cell phone, and FedEx, I can work nationally, even internationally from my office—or anywhere in the world.
  22. Purpose. I make a difference in peoples' lives every day. I see it in their faces, hear it in their voices, and read it in their thank-yous.
  23. Experience. Every painful or joyful life experience makes me a better consultant. So does every person I meet or book I read. Grey hair can be good in consulting.
  24. Structure. I have to work very hard, and the clients expect superb results—but I get to structure my days, weeks, months, and years.
  25. Boss. Most of the time, I love my boss.
As I was posting these letters online, I realized I want to communicate my love for consulting. It's just a great business. The single letters, taken together, may create a picture of enjoyment, but in a burst of creativity I listed some of the reasons consulting is such a good fit for me—and perhaps for you, too. They are not prioritized; this is just how they came out.