Just finished reading 90 Days to Success in Consulting by William McKnight

90 Days to Success in Consulting

It is a good book for those who want to start a consulting business, and most of the advice applies to any sort of fledgling entrepreneurship. There is an action plan in the end of each chapter. If you’ve been in business for a while, it may not be very interesting to you but some points are still worth thinking of or reviewing.

(Almost New Year) resolution

Talked to Ian G. today at Joey de Villa‘s birthday (Joey, thanks again for the great party!). Ian recommended this book titled Get Clients Now!
 It’s a 28-days actionable marketing program for professionals, consultants and coaches. So Ian and I decided to have something like a contest – each of us will follow the book and blog about it, and, of course we will exchange our impressions and basically help each other stay on the bandwagon. I have just ordered the book from the Toronto public library. I write here about it as an additional motivation. Shame on me if I don’t do the entire program! In this case, any of you may say that I don’t really fulfill my promises! 

P.S. Ian G. recommended this excellent one hour podcast (targeted at Rails consultants but broadly applicable) talking about Get Clients Now! and some other good books about consulting business development.
http://rubyfreelancers.com/the-ruby-freelancers-show-035-book-picks/

The only Russian textbook you’ll ever need

Russian Course by Alexander Lipson is the best Russian textbook ever. The author deliberately tells simple stories making surreal fun of Soviet propaganda cliches and combining the satirical absurdity with elegant grammatical analysis. What other textbook will teach you how to say, “Comrade director, nobody loves me. Nobody understands me. I’m alone. I’m alone”?

Technical writing in a nutshell

I finally got a round tuit!

Jokes aside, I have finally got around to revamping my business website: Russian Translation and Technical Writing in Toronto. You are very welcome to have a look.

Bonus: a picture of a Round Tuit and an explanation of what it is.

Maker to Making a Living

Maker to Making a Living is a workshop series designed to guide crafts-people through the process of under-standing, designing and building their individual businesses. CraftSmarts are the Ontario Crafts Council’s year-round series of professional development workshops. The program focuses on fostering the skills required to be successful as a small business owner, as an exhibitor, and overall, as a maker that needs to ‘make it’ in the greater cultural community.
Led by maker and award winning business leader Jacqueline Sava, attendees will be guided through an eight-part series of lectures, exercises and activities focused on the development of their own craft-based business practices.
For OCTOBER 2012 dates, please visit: http://www.craft.on.ca/Programs/CraftSmarts#making

Pan Am Toronto 2015 – information for would-be vendors

Learn more about business opportunities with the Pan Am Toronto 2015 games at http://www.toronto2015.org/. $300 million will be spent on suppliers ranging from cleaning, uniforms, food and furnishings, etc. There are opportunities for suppliers
Involvement resulting in a greater impact in the games. Learn how to apply for procurement opportunities at http://bit.ly/qGBk53.