IEEE West Michigan Consultants Network Meeting

THURSDAY MARCH 28 MEETING INFORMATION:

In addition to our usual networking and passing out of business cards, we will have an open discussion on the steps necessary to break into the business of consulting. We will open up our discussion around the article "Time to Fly Solo?" by Dr. Stuart G. Walesh in the Summer 2001 edition of The Bent of Tau Beta Pi. (https://www.tbp.org/pages/Publications/BENTFeatures/WaleshSu01.pdf)

This article begins "Is Your Job Security Fading? Is the corporate bureaucracy getting you down? Are you increasingly concerned about how much you work and how little you earn? How about how hard you work and how little you learn? Are you tired of talk about pay for performance? Are you stagnating intellectually? Do you want autonomy? Do you increasingly think, 'I could do it better?' Are you retired but still 'have the itch?'

Then maybe now is the time to 'fly solo' to go out on your own - to start a sole proprietor, individual practitioner, or free-lance consulting business that builds on your experience and vision. Remember, you go around only once.

'Going out on your own' as a consulting engineer is a major undertaking. As part of your 'go or no go' decision, you should consider many factors. Four of the most important ones are: reasons to consider flying solo, characteristics of successful sole proprietors, marketing and the possibility of failure."

Take note that we are meeting at the GVSU Eberhard Center downtown in the engineering conference room, 718EC. Thanks to Prof. Bogdan Adamczyk at GVSU for reserving this room for our use.

If you send email to david DornerWorks.com by the end of Tuesday March 26 that you would like to go, your name will be included on a security list so that you may park in the faculty/staff Eberhard Parking lot right in front of the building. Otherwise, don't worry, you can simply park in the public ramp just across the street (for a small fee).

Please see https://www.gvsu.edu/tour/grcampus.pdf for a map that outlines GVSU's downtown campus. The Eberhard lot is clearly marked and is off of Front Ave. The public ramp is the green lot just across the street.

We will be meeting for dinner at Friday's restaurant in downtown Grand Rapids at 6:00pm with the meeting following at 7:30pm. I would suggest parking at the Eberhard Lot and then taking the pedestrian walking bridge just across the river which will dump you right at Friday's restaurant. Then we can walk back for the meeting. You can see the walking bridge on the map as well. The bridge begins at the Eberhard Center and dumps out on the other side of the river right behind the BOB, which is where Friday's is located.

Hope to see you all there!

IEEE