Shoptalk: The Fine Art of Selling
July 2006
David Garrett
Selling is hard. It’s also distasteful to most IT experts who prefer to interface with motherboards, not people. But if you don’t sell, you don’t eat, so we’ve assembled a few tips to help you put food on the table.

  The Lost Art of Presentations
June 2006
David Garrett
When speaking, be brief. It makes for a good presentation, and good presentations drive sales. It’s just one lesson in the lost art of presenting.

  Personal Knowledge Management: A Bold Tool
May 2006
David Garrett
Personal knowledge management has long been popular with MBA students, corporate bigwigs and others who prize learning as a performance catalyst. And although it might sound arcane, it can help you know more, do more and earn more with ease.

  Start Well, Finish Fast
April 2006
David Garrett
How you start a project can predict how you finish it—if you finish it at all. The right planning and project design can stave off failure.

  Keeping Your Clients In the Know
March 2006
David Garrett
Ah, the network. I don’t mean servers and routers, but people. If you can’t afford to advertise, then your network—your expanding circle of colleagues, clients and prospects—is your best route to new business. The question, of course, is how to work it and how to make it grow. There’s good news: Mining your network for new business is not only easy, but also cheap. There are new and not-so-new technologies to do it.

  A Consultant’s Guide to the Next Year
February 2006
David Garrett
I’m just guessing, but I’ll bet you’ve already broken at least four of five New Year’s resolutions you made. That puts you one step ahead of me—I’ve broken all five. But I’m still planning on making 2006 a banner year.

  Taking the Plunge…Without Risking Your Neck
January 2006
Gene Zaino
Today I ask that you set your entrepreneurial energy aside briefly and consider a critical facet of a consultant’s life: benefits. If you have a health condition, a family or a lackluster retirement savings history—even if you don’t—you shouldn’t walk away from the security of a full-timer’s benefits until you understand the options available to independents.