Building & running a successful research business : a guide for the independent information professional / Mary Ellen Bates ; edited by Reva Basch.
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Medford, N.J. :
CyberAge Books,
c2003.
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Table of Contents:
- Where Independent Info Pros Come From 2
- Getting Started as an Independent Info Pro 3
- Now That I've Started, Where Do I Go? 4
- Getting Down to Research 5
- Chapter 1 What's an Independent Info Pro? 9
- What's This Business All About? 9
- So What Do You Do, Anyway? 10
- Focus, Focus, Focus 16
- Where Will I Find My Clients? 17
- Real-Life Examples 18
- Frequently Asked Questions 19
- Endbar: Independent Info Pro Reality Checklist 23
- Chapter 2 A Day in the Life of an Independent Info Pro 25
- My Typical Day 25
- Your Typical Day 29
- Issues We All Face 29
- Endbar: Eternal Verities in the Life of an Independent Info Pro 30
- Chapter 3 The Joys and Frustrations of Being an Independent Info Pro 31
- The Thrills of Being an Independent Info Pro 31
- Sidebar: It All Depends ... 32
- The Chills of Being an Independent Info Pro 35
- Sidebar: With a Little Help from My Friends 37
- Endbar: The Best and Worst of Being an Independent Info Pro 39
- Chapter 4 Are You a Potential Independent Info Pro? 41
- The People Skills 41
- The Entrepreneurial Skills 42
- The Business Skills 44
- The Information Skills 46
- Where Can You Get Help? 48
- Endbar: Checklist of Key Independent Info Pro Skills 49
- Chapter 5 Understanding Your Competition 51
- Who Am I Up Against? 51
- Sidebar: "Can You Find That on the Web?" 54
- Working with Your Competition 55
- Sidebar: An Example of "Coopetition" 56
- Looking for Competition 56
- Making Yourself Competition Proof 57
- Endbar: Lessons Learned About Competition 58
- Chapter 6 Structuring Your Business 59
- Incorporating or Keeping It Simple 59
- Sidebar: Protecting Your Social Security Number 61
- Sidebar: My Newly Incorporated Life 63
- Going Solo or Playing a Duet 64
- Hired Help or Ad Hoc Subcontracting 66
- Endbar: Deciding on the Structure of Your Business 67
- Chapter 7 Before You Launch 69
- Business Plans and Other Pipe Dreams 69
- Sidebar: Business Plan Checklist 71
- Your Marketing Plan
- Getting Clients to Beat a Path to Your Door 72
- Who Are Your Clients? 73
- What About My Steady Paycheck? 76
- Just Do It! 79
- Endbar: Checklist for Launching Your Business 80
- Chapter 8 Setting Up Your Business 81
- Who Am I? 81
- Sidebar: Are You My Employer? 84
- What Am I? 84
- Where Am I? 85
- Office Equipment Checklist 87
- Sidebar: Shopping Perils, Pitfalls, and Precautions 90
- Other Office Expenditures 91
- Your Public Face 92
- Sidebar: Tackling That To-Do List 93
- Staying in Touch 93
- Setting Up Office Procedures 96
- Paying Your Dues 98
- Endbar: Final Thoughts on Setting Up Your Business 99
- Chapter 9 Software for Your Business 101
- The Nice-to-Haves 106
- Other Cool Tools 109
- Endbar: Software Lessons Learned 110
- Chapter 10 Work and the Rest of Your Life 111
- Living Abundantly 111
- Time Management, or "I think I'll take a little break now" 112
- "The Info Pro Is In" 113
- Sidebar: Take a Day Off 113
- Creating a Good Office Environment 114
- Going on Vacation 115
- Sidebar: E-Mail Vacation Message 117
- Business Coaches: Help, I Need Somebody 118
- Endbar: Life Lessons Learned 119
- Section 2 Running the Business
- Chapter 11 Managing Your Clients 123
- Monogamy vs. Playing the Field 123
- Is Any Client Too Small? 125
- Sidebar: Working for the Cause 126
- Tire-Kickers, Lookie-Loos, and Low-Ballers 126
- Sidebar: Free Samples, Anyone? 127
- Let's Not Do Lunch 129
- Handling RFPs 130
- Sidebar: Government Contracts the Easy Way 131
- The Art of Proposal Writing 132
- Sidebar: A Sample Proposal 134
- Get It in Writing? 135
- When to Say "No" 137
- The Project from Hell 138
- How to Fire a Client 140
- Endbar: Top Tips for Managing Clients 142
- Chapter 12 Money, Money, Money 143
- Financing Your Business 143
- Accounting 101 144
- Billing and Collections 146
- Sidebar: "Will That Be Visa or MasterCard?" 148
- Cash Flow 152
- Sidebar: Overhead vs. Cost of Goods Sold 153
- Paying Yourself 154
- Paying the Tax Man 154
- Endbar: Living Large, or Managing Your Money 156
- Chapter 13 Setting Rates and Fees 157
- Setting an Hourly Rate 157
- Hourly Rates or Flat Fee? 160
- Estimating a Project 161
- Sidebar: What'll It Cost? 163
- Sidebar: Working 9-5, Monday-Friday, Period 165
- Can You Get the Money Up Front? 168
- Recalibrating Rates 169
- Endbar: Top Tips for Rates and Fees 170
- Chapter 14 Subcontracing, or I'll Scratch Your Back if You Scratch Mine 171
- How Does Subcontracting Work, and Why Should I Share? 171
- The Challenges of Subcontracting 174
- Sidebar: Points to Ponder 175
- Following the Golden Rule 176
- Sidebar: What About Referral Fees? 178
- Running a Subcontractor-Based Business 180
- Endbar: Top Tips for Subcontracting 182
- Chapter 15 Ethics and Legalities 183
- IANAL 183
- Ethical Quandaries 184
- Handling Conflicts 185
- Client Confidentiality 186
- Reading the Fine Print 186
- Sidebar: Playing by the Rules 188
- Contracts and Agreements 188
- Sidebar: Dangerous Words 190
- Keeping Your Word 190
- Copyright Perils 191
- Recycling Results 193
- Legal Collections 194
- Endbar: Top Tips for Remaining Lawsuit-Free 196
- Chapter 16 Professional Development 197
- AIIP: Your Secret Weapon 197
- Associations Galore 199
- Hi, My Name Is... 200
- Sidebar: Getting the Most Value from a Conference 201
- Staying on Top of the Industry(s) 202
- The Invisible Network 204
- Endbar: Top Tips for Maintaining Your Expertise 205
- Chapter 17 Strategic Planning 207
- Getting a Yearly Check-Up 207
- Sidebar: Saying "Thank You" 208
- Sidebar: Planning to Plan 210
- Taking Time to Think 211
- Building a Brain Trust 212
- Sidebar: Listening to Your Clients 213
- Expanding Your (and Your Clients') Vision 213
- Finding a Sounding Board 214
- Endbar: Top Strategic Planning Tips 215
- Section 3 Marketing
- Chapter 18 Marketing Do's and Don'ts 219
- Who Needs You? 219
- Sidebar: Information-Hungry Professions 221
- Know What the Client Needs 222
- Think Globally, Not Locally 223
- You're Always "On" 224
- "Can You Do This for Me?" 224
- Ten Mistakes New Independent Info Pros Make 225
- Endbar: Successful Marketing Techniques 231
- Chapter 19 Your Business Image 233
- Here's My Card 233
- Sidebar: Business Cards and Logos That Work 236
- Your Brochure 236
- Your Telephone Image 238
- Answering Your Phone 239
- Creating a Marketing Kit 241
- Endbar: Checklist for Polishing Your Business Image 243
- Chapter 20 Marketing on the Web 245
- Establishing Your Web Presence 245
- Creating a Web Site 247
- Sidebar: Publishing Your Rate Sheet 249
- Getting Listed in Search Engines and Directories 250
- Getting People to Visit Your Site 251
- Sidebar: Tracking Your Web Visitors 252
- Marketing with E-Mail 253
- Participating in Electronic Discussions 255
- Endbar: Top Tips for Marketing on the Web 257
- Chapter 21 Print Marketing 259
- Starting Your Mailing List 259
- Mass Mailings: Directly to the Wastebasket? 260
- Targeted Mailings 262
- Client Newsletters and Postcards 263
- Sidebar: Tickler Files 268
- Directories 268
- Print Advertising 270
- Endbar: Top Tips for Print Marketing 271
- Chapter 22 Marketing by Writing and Speaking 273
- Author, Author! 273
- Speaking Your Piece 279
- PowerPoint Tips 281
- Sidebar: Public Speaking Pep Talk 282
- Endbar: Lessons Learned as a Writer and Speaker 284
- Chapter 23 Starting the Word of Mouth 285
- Promoting "Brand You" 285
- "What Does Your Company Do?" 286
- "How Did You Hear About Me?" 287
- Working the Associations 288
- Maximizing Your Exhibiting Dollar 289
- Asking for Referrals 291
- Leads and Networking Clubs 293
- Viral Marketing 294
- Endbar: Top Tips for Starting Positive Word of Mouth 295
- Chapter 24 Public Relations 297
- Doing Something Newsworthy 298
- Writing a Press Release 299
- Sidebar: Sample Press Release 301
- Getting Noticed 302
- Sidebar: "According to Client X" 303
- Becoming a Certified Expert 304
- Building a Press Kit 305
- Giving Good Sound Bites 306
- Endbar: Public Relations Checklist 308
- Section 4 Researching
- Chapter 25 The Reference Interview 311
- Steps in a Reference Interview 311
- Sidebar: Getting at the Underlying Question 313
- Sidebar: Am I Giving Away My Secrets? 317
- Sources of Ambiguity 318
- Endbar: Top Tips for Negotiation 319
- Chapter 26 Thinking Like a Researcher 321
- Ready, Fire, Aim 321
- Seeing Horizons and Setting Limits 324
- Sidebar: Working for Free 326
- Mapping Out a Large Project 327
- Tutorials on Research Techniques 328
- Endbar: A Researcher's Checklist 329
- Chapter 27 Approaching Online Research 331
- It's All on the Web for Free, Right? 332
- What's Missing? 333
- Free vs. Fee 334
- Boolean Basics 335
- Adjacency, Truncation, and Other Power Tools 336
- Endbar: Top Tips for Online Research 338
- Chapter 28 Web Research 101 339
- How Search Engines Work 340
- Getting the Most from Search Engines 342
- Web Directories and Guides 343
- The Invisible Web 344
- Discussion Forums and Lists 346
- Sidebar: Mining Yahoo! Groups for Gold 347
- Evaluating the Reliability of Web Sites 348
- Searching Efficiently 350
- Endbar: Top Tips for Internet Research 351
- Chapter 29 Professional Online Services 353
- "This Costs How Much?!?" 354
- Cheaper by the Dozen? 354
- The Big Three (Plus a Few) 355