Happy Holidays 2022…

Pricilla says —  Is Santa Here Yet??? Thank you for your interest in my work at both JumpToConsulting and EMIGURU.  Wishing you the joy, peace, and happiness of the season… and all the best in 2023! From our house to yours — Uncle Daryl, Mary, and “Silly” the Shih Tzu. Yes, we lost little Sami […]

Happy Thanksgiving 2022…

This quote struck me as particularly appropriate for these times. Best to cultivate at “attitude of gratidude.” Weary of all the whiners and complainers. Be happy instead. “Be thankful for what you have; You’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever, have enough.” Oprah Winfrey Best wishes […]

Consulting Workshop – Phoenix AZ…

You are invited to attend a one-half day consulting workshop on the Arizona State University campus on November 12, 2022. Cost is minimal ($25) and includes lunch. This event is sponsored by the IEEE Consultants Network, of which I am a long time member. This is a kick-off to reactivate the Phoenix chapter. Everyone is welcome… […]

Four Pricing Rules…

Here are four pricing rules I shared as a comment a Blue Penguin Marketing, a favorite blog I follow. –Always set your fees to make a profit — that way you can’t go broke –Never cut fees — cut scope instead –Don’t be greedy — a happy client will often come back for more –If […]

A Marketing Gimmick That Worked…

Although not a big fan of marketing gimmicks, here is one that proved successful for us. Beer was involved… The back story. When I moved to AZ in 1996, I ended up with a 602 phone number, while my business partner in MN had a 612 number. Furthermore, we had an answering service (also 612), and […]

Happy Independence Day – 2022…

As you know, this blog is more than just about consulting — it is about Independence — Ocupational, Financial, and Locational. Here is a clip from the 2014 movie, the Gambler, where John Goodman expounds on being in the position of  “F*** You.”  I could not say it better myself. –WARNING —  If crude language offends […]

Knowing when to say NO…

This post was sparked by two recent events — both resulting in happy endings… Event # 1… A firm I greatly respect recently announced they were seeking a part time coach for consultants. Eight to twelve hours a week, as part of a paid program to help struggling consultants take their business to the next […]

A response to marketing SPAM…

Do you get unsolicited and unwanted canned emails touting how they can “help” your business? If so, here is a response I borrowed from fellow engineer and long time direct marketing consultant/copywriter Bob Bly. Most of the time I simply delete the offending emails, but when Bob mentioned this in one of his email newsletters, I […]

From the Mailbag… Final Reports and Security…

Here is a recent question from blog reader regarding client reports: I’m looking at moonlighting, and have been enjoying digging through your blog. So far I have one quick question – did you have to deal with securing your data or reports? Was it was ever a concern for you? Did you just send any documents […]

A Humorous Pearl of Wisdom…

Since light travels faster than sound, some people seem bright – until you hear them speak. — From fellow engineer and blog reader Bob Hofmann

Troubleshoot like a doctor…Differential Diagnsosis

This is the second in my new series on troubleshooting – a very important skill for all consultants. The next several posts are from a magazine article for my engineering colleagues, which I have broken into several smaller easy to digest pieces. Early in my electrical engineering consulting career, a client asked me to explain […]

Food for thought…from 2500 years ago…

Socrates on Stupidity… Smart people learn from everything and everyone… Average people from their experiences… Stupid people already have all the answers. Thanks to RJ, a fellow blogging engineer!  Interested in resurrecting the FREE monthly teleconference? If so, please let me know.   

Troubleshooting with common sense…

This post was inspired by a favorite story of my late business partner. It captures the essence of troubleshooting.  As a young man, Bill’s nephew was a radio technician in the Air Force. Which was pretty amazing, as he knew very little about electronics. Nevertheless, he was quite successful as a primary troubleshooter. When an […]

2021 Annual Review…

Another year has flown by, but I suspect many of us are happy to move on to 2022. Here is hoping better times lie ahead… Got this idea years ago from The Art of Nonconformity, and have done it each year since. As always, I’ll review three categories: JumpToConsulting (www.jumptoconsulting.com) EMI-GURU aka Kimmel Gerke Associates, Ltd. […]