Freelance Consultant's Diary

If you recall, I discussed the enormous anxiety I went through for months when my only client did not pay me any money for almost six months .  The work was done and the ultimate client was very happy but as a subcontractor to the consulting company I still did not get paid because of their own internal financial challenges.  Since the company is essentially two partners with a few employees, I was afraid that they could file for bankruptcy and simply tell me that they did the best to save the company but ultimately they lost.  I know how this works because as a management consultant I have helped many of clients actually shut down their operations. A lot of time when I went through this 6-month period of not knowing if I was going to get paid, I wondered if this was somewhat usual.  I could not find an answer online and I told myself that if I asked someone about it they might ask me to sue (as another consultant in a similar situation did and got paid) or st...

You see my wife and I are educated, professionals with an upper-middle class life.  We almost never bothered with lottery tickets because mathematically it made no sense to us, and at least here in America, I thought that only poor people seemed to buy them.  Then, in November 2011, I heard how the jackpot went to three asset managers based in Greenwich, Connecticut.  I wondered if three brilliant and filthy rich dudes buy lottery tickets, there is something wrong with my thinking.  It was then that we started to buy lottery tickets, though, we have yet to win anything except a buck or two here and there. The important thing to remember is that if you are as financially comfortable as I am, $2 spent on PowerBall or $1 spent on MegaMillions when the potential reward is tens or hundreds of millions of dollars is worth spending.  I don't buy every week, and often miss even when the jack-pot is enormous, but if the prize is going to be huge and I happen to be pumpin...

One of the biggest challenges of being self-employed and/or small business owner like I am and starting off as an independent market research consultant is that I have to work for more established companies while I build my client-base (I guess those of you who have a client base already before starting have an advantage).  For last year or so, I have been subcontracting with a relatively small but established consulting company and while I love the work (though, the pay is smaller than I would like), I have had a hard time getting paid on time.  Some of the delays are standard for this type of situation -- they don't pay me until they get paid (which is not fair because that is not an excuse and neither legally valid) -- because they always have that excuse.  In this case, however, because of their internal problems, I have not been paid a penny for over 6 months and I even had to pay from my pocket for a few business trips (those invoices also remain unpaid, even thoug...

Being an independent business consultant has its interesting moments and I have always wondered if folks in my situation or those who aspire to have a career or an independent business want to find out what it is like to do this on a daily basis.  I am hoping that I can give you some insights on what it takes to be a business consultant and hopefully hear from others who have similar experiences.  And obviously, I have my frustrations and this will allow me to share those here.

We almost never eat at Indian restaurants because the food is way too calorie-rich.  Once in a while, though we do it just for the sake of variety.  So when we asked our Indian friends for recommendations of good restaurants the Boston suburbs, two names popped up: Masala Art in Needham and Singh's Cafe in Wellesley Hills.  Last year, we went for dinner at Masala Art and while we ate way for calories at dinner than we typically do, it was a reasonably good restaurant with good food and service. Today, we ended up at Singh's Cafe for their Sunday lunch buffet. Now, because we watch our calories very carefully, we really should never step inside a restaurant serving it, but for some reasons that I am yet to figure out, like many Chinese places, Indian restaurants also seem to serve buffet for lunch.  The decoration is a bit cheesy and the fact that you eat in a basement is a bit disappointing because why would anyone eat without seeing natural light at noon in the subu...