Wow. It is amazing how time flies. I just realized how long it has been since my last post. Here is what happened since then:

October 2012 - I landed my first real opportunity... Telecom company asked me to take on Channel Management role and help them expand their business across Canada.

January 2013 - After finding about 50 potential resellers and about 10 very promising ones, I realized that company I was helping is not truly ready to take on new resellers. To get them to be more serious about this expansion, and to make sure my time is now wasted, I demanded $3000 per month stipend for my time and expenses. They agreed and my first revenues rolled in. 

February 2013 - After having to chase my money and realizing that company in question is still not ready to the primetime, I decided to sever my relationship with them. I just did not feel comfortable promoting their business when they are so damn slow in responding, providing necessary documentation and finally - paying their bills. 

As I am currently trying to start my own business, while working full time for another one, I had to figure out how to run my business from remote location and with limited availability, all the while creating the impression of a fairly serious full-time business. At the same time, since I am financing this business from my savings, solution had to be cheap, scale-able (both up and down) and semi-permanent (no long contracts). To do so, I again leaned heavily on the modern technology. This is how I did it:

When I started my venture, and remembering struggles I had in my other life with accounting and billing, my goals for billing/accounting were clear:

1. It must be mobile (reachable from anywhere).
2. It must be simple to set-up and run.
3. It must be smart.

After some research, I discovered FreshBooks (not also known as Cloud Accounting). Here is why this product is so awesome:

Couple of months ago, my goal was to start new company, try to buy a current one, and maybe look for another job. Things have crystallized since then, and here is my new list of goals:

My three-pronged approach to the rest of my life was to keep trying to buy my existing company, start my own company and look for a job (especially if it included growth and ownership potential).

Here is where I stand today, 60 days into my adventure:

Among other things, I decided to try Google and Facebook advertising for my new venture. Without going into many details, my business is to provide consulting services to medium-to-large businesses. While I did not expect much from Google and Facebook advertising (I mainly did it to improve my search engine position), results were below my modest expectations.

Here is what I found out:

After using Facebook advertising and corporate Facebook page for 2 weeks, here are my most recent findings in a negative category:

Just finished $100 Startup - great book filled with many inspiring examples of people starting businesses with nothing. Written by Chris Guillebeau, himself a great example on how to start, promote and grow your location-independent, successful business, this book will inspire, make you think and maybe even drive you to take that step towards owning your business. Highly recommended!

If you did not read my first couple of posts, I had decided to start pushing 3 different paths:

1. Try to negotiate purchase of the company I currently manage
2. Start new company and try to test the waters
3. Look for new job - preferably with ownership opportunity

This is where I stand right now:

After well-documented struggle to get my Facebook Advertising account going, I am finally able to advertise and thus, share my first impressions...