|
| Establishing a Business at a Distance
|
I found your column on distance job searching to be most interesting. I
obtained Richard Germann's book (Bernard Haldane Associates' Job and
Career Building, a link to buy at Amazon.com) and found his chapter
on job searching
at a distance to be helpful. Unfortunately, although my goal is to
relocate, I do not want to get a job. I am self-employed and would like
to move my business. Do you have any suggestions for me?
Independent and proud of it!
PLEASE NOTE: With the permission of the client, I have described a
strategy below. To protect confidentiality a number of details have
been altered.
Although you mention your particular profession, I have chosen to delete
it from your letter both for purposes of confidentiality and because I
feel that your situation is generalizable to a wide range of
professionals. Essentially, it is generalizable to those who sell their
time. I have in mind attorneys, accountants, therapists and other kinds
of free-lancers. These people sell not only their time but also their
reputations. Unfortunately, reputations are often local; and, you want
to move beyond your present community.
Therefore, I suggest that you consider ways in which you might establish
a reputation in the community in which you plan to live. A first step
is to consider how you currently obtain your referrals. Do you network
with colleagues? With people in adjacent professions? Do you give
workshops? You may be at a stage in your career where you receive your
referrals exclusively from satisfied clients. If this is the case,
think back to how you originally obtained your first referrals.
As you may be aware, I have begun to provide career coaching via
telephone. An estate attorney, to whom I provided consultation, built
his practice by providing workshops on estate planning for accountants.
With help from an accountant friend, he familiarized himself with the
tax code in this area. In his workshops, he described a number of
estate planning strategies and commented on the tax implications for
each. Also, he wrote several interesting pieces, on this important
topic, for a local accounting newspapers. He published these articles;
and he did not relinquish his right to republish them. This led to
many interesting referrals and contacts. In fact, a number of the
seminar participants referred themselves to him. They found him
helpful; and, referred their clients to him.
When he was ready to relocate, I suggested that he update the articles
(the tax code had changed) and resubmit them to journals in his new
locale. Once again, the referrals started flowing.
Of course, you either want to make sure that you have income to support
yourself in the interim. Alternatively, you may want to consider an
interim job or consulting position. I have no idea whether this strategy
will work for you but it may be worth a try. Please let me know how
things work out. Also, once again, I will ask the readers if they have
any additional suggestions for you.
Good luck,
Dr. Friedman
|
Write Dr. Lynn Friedman