7 Step Consulting

The Secret Clearance Process

To get a secret clearance, there are some specific steps you need to go through. They vary depending on the clearance, but to my knowledge the steps typically include:

1. a 10 year background criminal check (felonies, etc.) - you can’t have three outstanding warrants
2. a drug test — you can’t be on drugs, obviously.
3. a 7 year credit check

The credit check may seem odd, but it makes complete sense. If you are in serious financial hardship — say you have medical bills piling up, you are facing foreclosure, or you are about to declare bankruptcy — you would be much more likely to sell your secret/top secret information to another government or something along those lines.

And we wouldn’t want that now would we?

Some clearances may require the government to send out field agents to interview relatives, friends, former bosses and co-workers, etc.

It’s a long process, but as we’ve discussed can be well worth it with the money that can be made.

CardHub: The Ultimate Credit Card Search Site

As a consultant you had better be using a credit card or multiple Credit Cards for your travel expenses. I’m a big fan of having no debt, don’t get me wrong. I think credit cards can be used to protect you while you travel, earn some rewards, and also not cost you any money in interest charges due to financing. (Just make sure to pay off your bill every month.)

Debit cards may be a popular alternative, and that is understandable for people who simply can’t control their spending or are too busy to track minute details. However, you’re a consultant. You deal with big projects all of the time right? Those big projects have little details. So apply yourself here and it can pay for itself very easily.

That having been said, you need to find the best credit card for your specific situation. If you fly home every weekend, maybe you need an airline card. If you stay put for long periods of time, maybe you need a cash back card.

I ran a search at CardHub, which is designed to narrow down the cards presented to you based on what is important to you. I chose Excellent credit, personal (versus small business), rewards, then cash back rewards, then all available cards. I was left with 18 cards to choose from including American Express’ Blue Cash (which I currently use and love). So check out CardHub and find the right card for your consultant needs.

The Secret Clearance Payoff

Do you have a secret clearance? Generally folks who have just left the military will have one that can be reactivated within two years. Otherwise you pretty much need to be working for the government, or for a government contractor to receive one.

However, if you can jump through the hopes laid before you, the payoff can be great. Finding available workers with secret clearances (of any kind) is very difficult for some areas of the country. If you’re willing to move to a slightly undesirable location for 6 months to two years (depending on the contract), you can make some serious money.

Sprucing up the house

As I said we are working in the yard today. Working hard. If we were trying to sell our house in this market, you had better believe we would be doing every extra step to stage the house correctly. Pull up any weeds in the flower beds, plant flowers, mow and trim the grass, fix any poor looking paint, etc.

We might also consider buying new exterior shutters if ours required replacing. It’s a bit of a cost up front, but when you see brand new, shiny with new paint shutters on a house, you know they went the extra mile. And sense it is one of the first thing a buyer would see on your house, it makes a lot of economic sense to go the extra mile.

Yardwork is Glorious

Enjoying the weekend, some time off, and some yardwork. We’re digging up some of our backyard to plant some rose bushes and lilies. Only problem? Our ground here is made of hard, immovable clay. We seriously had a neighbor come out and ask if we wanted to use their pick ax because that’s what they had to do to get past all the clay and rock.

Oh, joy.

But it has worked wonderfully. Just a short break before I get back to it.

Enhance Your E-mail Marketing

In terms of e-mail marketing, you want your message to stand out from the crowd while also not annoying the users on your mailing list. If someone has agreed to receive messages from you, that e-mail contact is like gold. You’ve got to protect it while also… exploiting it… for maximum profit (in a moral and ethical way, of course).

So enhance your Email Marketing messages. Don’t send plain jane messages unless a user has specifically asked for plain text rather than HTML. Include graphics, but not too many that the images load slow and look weird. I have e-mail through Gmail, and it never displays images automatically. That’s kind of a pain in some instances. It’s a life saver with others. Be sure to use a software that will let you track how many messages are opened, and then correlate that with your web analytics to see how many click through from the e-mail to your website.

Would you ever…

Thinking of ways to promote yourself as a consultant.

Would you ever…

• put vinyl/magnetic signs on your car to drive during rush hour?
• send out an e-mail to a distribution list you bought rights to?
• ask for the business directly?
• sell door to door?
• ask people at your church?

Just some thoughts…

Ever lost a hard drive?

Has your hard drive ever gone bad a mission critical desktop or laptop? Or even on your personal computer at home… full of your e-mail, contacts, photos of friends and family… maybe you keep some work on there as well. Proposal documents, contracts, documentation.

Would be a shame to lose all of that, no?

I must admit. It’s happened to me. And not every time has it been because of a lost hard drive. I’ve reinstalled Windows a few times and neglected to save every single photo folder — thus automatically losing them during the reinstall. Try explaining that one to your wife! But I have also been the victim of the dreaded “click, click, click” noise emitted by drives right before they die. If you hear it… start saving your data. Or turn off the computer and let someone else save it for you.

Another option? Be proactive not reactive. Get online backup with IBackup - Online Storage.

The Scary Thing About Bed Bugs

I’ve remember reading some reports in the last year or so that there are some bed bugs that have proven to be resistant to the common chemicals used to treat the infestation. That’s where you get into the “burn everything you own” predicament. If chemicals won’t kill them off, they will eventually get into every article of clothing — not just your sheets. Sheets, clothing, towels, stuff in your closet, the carpet… and suddenly your house is ruined.

Makes me itch just thinking about it.

Eww, Bed Bugs!

One of the risks you take when you travel anywhere outside your home — say on a consulting assignment — is that the place you are staying at will have bed bugs. I don’t know much about these creatures other than the fact that if you get them you pretty much burn every piece of clothing and bed sheets you’ve ever had.

Like I said, you need a guide showing youhow to tell if you have bed bugs. I would read up on this just to be careful. And hey, they probably aren’t that prevalent… but you definitely don’t want them.