I've been pretty busy the last few days -- not much time to think about blogging. For one of my clients, I'm working on putting together a fairly lengthy document that will ultimately be delivered to the government agency that has requested it. The document describes the contracting process and the services provided by my client to the agency. It will be used by the Contracting Officer to justify the agency's awarding sole source contracts to the company. The work is a bit slow going, since my client has sent me a lot of background documents and photos, portions of which need to be incorporated into the final document. But I am plugging along with it and will be sending a draft to my client tomorrow.
Also, by the end of the day tomorrow, I will have received revised drafts of all of the pieces of a proposal that another of my clients is doing for the UK Department of International Development. Over the past few days they have sent me several sections for my review and comment. Unfortunately, I had a lot of comments: things were out of order, incomplete or missing; the terminology was not quite right; and several subsections were just not on target. It really needs quite a bit of work. They called me about an hour ago to ask if I could "fix everything" over the weekend. Luckily, I have done a lot of work for this client over the past year and a half and know what they expect -- extensive re-writing, re-organizing, and new writing. Very time-consuming. Right after their proposal goes out on the 10th, I will be assisting them in preparing a Final Report for one of their other international projects.
I am still struggling with the workplan stuff. I called this client late this afternoon to talk about how things are going (not well). She has just gotten back from a 3-week vacation, so she's not up-to-date. She didn't have time to talk with me, but will call me tomorrow to discuss. Basically, I need to tell her that (1) after six weeks, I still don't have a contract; and (2) it has been nearly impossible for me to get the information I need for the plan because staff are unavailable and meetings don't take place. I am thinking about bowing out on this assignment, but will see what she has to say.
So that's pretty much it for today. I guess I won't have much of a holiday weekend.
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Hello,
I have visited the site a few times, and it seems you have made some improvements and updates.
I am currently employed as a full-time B2B proposal manager. I do a good job, and I make a decent living, too.
I am hungry to go off on my own, though, so I am starting my own proposal business. I am working up the website now and getting the legal paperwork filed.
Since I do not want to quit my day job until I am settled in and know what to expect as a home-based entrepreneur, I wonder if you wouldn't mind giving me some advice and predictions.
Assuming I do a reasonable job of marketing, can I expect to be full-time at home soon? Is it reasonable to think that for a short time, I could keep my day job and have my business at night? Am I going to be able to earn enough to support my family if I go full-time at home?