Need some advice

[gthopkins]

Hi all,
Thanks for all those great posts.

I have been a consultant/sales support engineer for 23 years. Oct. 2001, I was laid off. Since that time I have been doing contract work, but the pay is no where near where I had been. My background is in telecom/datacom. I spent 17 of my 23 years employed by big blue. I have designed LAN/WAN/VPN networks, traffic sizing, PBX configuration, sales support, customer relations, Internet services, messaging, contact center design and benchmarking, and much more. I just can't seem to find a job.

I was considering getting an A+ cert and starting a sort of onsite computer repair type of business as a part-time way to earn additional income. I do repairs, but don't have the business in place. Just do it by word of mouth and personal networking.

Has any one done this? Any advice? Is this even worth considering?

I have been told by one outfit that provides A+ training and business training, that this is the best way to go, by starting my own business. I'm skeptical.

Thanks for your help.

-Greg
Looking for work in CT, and figuring out what to do next.

 

[sleipnir214]

There have been other mentions of companies offering things similar to what you describe. But I'm skeptical, too.

The A+ cert is not hard to get -- with your experience, you should be able to buy a study guide, get a good bead on their vocabulary, and take the test.

I would find out exactly what kind of business training they are talking about before I'd give them any money. If the advice is a lot of courses on marketing and generating sales, the advice may not be of much use to someone who is only considering word-of-mouth advertising and part-time income.

If you are only going to do it part time, but want the legal protections a formal company can give you, I would find a CPA or lawyer who can take you through setting up your company and its books, then hand out my shingle.

Questions you need to settle on with your CPA or lawyer are things like the type of business to create (for example LLC, Subchapter S incorporation, or sole proprietorship -- they all have their pros and cons), settling on a name for the company and getting that name registered in your state, the nature of your corporate bylaws, what your initial investment in the company will be (it can be at least in part sweat equity).
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