I am a professional grant recipient!

This is a piece of news that I actually received back in August, but I wanted to make sure it was publicly announced before I said anything about it! (And now that it’s been made public…)

Back in June, I came across a professional grant program sponsored by my fraternity alumni association. Having just started my own LLC, I thought this was something that could help my endeavor. So, I threw together an application package and submitted it for consideration.

I’ll be honest. I wasn’t thinking anything of it. I figured that getting the grant would’ve been nice, but I also figured that there would be other recipients with more impressive resumes than my own. I sent my application with the mindset of, “let’s put in for this and see what happens. What do I have to lose?”

I didn’t think anything more about it until August, when I received an email saying that I was one of the grant recipients!

My profile, along with the other grant recipients, appeared in the September issue of the alumni association’s monthly newsletter!

The grant money will go toward professional memberships to help support my LLC and my professional interests. Part of it will be used to reinstate my membership with STC (I had been a member several years ago, but I let it lapse, primarily because it was starting to get too expensive for me to maintain). The rest will likely go toward membership in some business networking group to promote my LLC (most likely a Chamber of Commerce; I had looked into BNI, but it’s too expensive, even with the grant offsetting it. I’m still trying to figure out where the rest of the grant money will go).

So I guess that it just goes to show: if you see a program that interests you, go ahead and apply for it. You never know what’ll happen!

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I’m speaking this upcoming Saturday, October 3 #SQLSaturday #SQLSat1003 #SQLSatMemphis

This upcoming Saturday, October 3, I will be speaking at SQL Saturday #1003, Memphis. Of course, because of pandemic restrictions, I will not actually be traveling to Memphis; SQL Saturday #1003 is virtual, and I will be presenting from my home office in Troy, NY.

(In a way, it’s too bad I won’t be in Memphis. I’ve heard good things about Memphis barbecue!)

A lot of people (myself included) have lost their jobs during the pandemic, so it’s especially apropos that I will be presenting my session titled, “I lost my job! Now what?!?“

If you want to check out my (and other great) sessions this Saturday, use the SQL Saturday #1003 link to register.

Hope to see you virtually this Saturday!

My company logo on a shirt

I was poking around VistaPrint‘s website the other day (this is the site I use to make my business cards). Of course, with any business that sells promotional items, I was greeted with the proverbial “try your logo on this product” popup window.

One of the items that came up was shirt designs. I decided to have some fun with it, and came up with the design that you see above.

I thought it came out pretty well! I decided to order two shirts, one for my wife and one for myself. I plan to wear it whenever I go to the gym and whenever I attend networking events, or events where I’m presenting, such as SQL Saturday.

If you like this shirt, you can order one, too; just click this link! I’m not getting any money for shirt sales. My payment is you walking around advertising my business!

Alas, I don’t yet have a large marketing budget where I can buy a hundred shirts and give them out for free. Hopefully I’ll get to that point, but I’m not quite there yet.

Selling your business on LinkedIn

Yesterday, I got into a conversation with a friend of mine who told me that he disagreed with me about my LinkedIn networking practices. He, like me, has his own business. He told me why he disagreed with me, and what he told me was very intriguing.

I’ve been using LinkedIn primarily as a networking tool, and I continue to use it as such. That said, LinkedIn can be used for a number of purposes, including one that hadn’t occurred to me — and that reason was why my friend disagreed with me.

“As a small business,” he said (and I’m paraphrasing here), “I don’t have a lot of money to spend on things like marketing and advertising. I read what you wrote about not connecting with someone because she was into sales and you’re not. The thing is, when you own a business, by default, you’re a sales person. It’s great that you’re networking on LinkedIn, but how much are you going to sell to your existing network? You shouldn’t just be connecting with people you already know. What you should be doing is selling your business to people you don’t know. LinkedIn is, essentially, a free advertising tool.”

He definitely has a point. When I was working for an employer, I used LinkedIn primarily as a networking tool, but that narrative changed when I became a business owner. Before, I was looking to maintain contacts as a source of “hive mind” knowledge, public speaking opportunities, and potential job leads in the event that I lost my job (which, I did). Now that I own my own business, I also need to generate leads for my business. LinkedIn can help me do that.

So to my friend, if you’re reading this (which he probably is — he did say that he reads my ‘blog), thank you for that insight. I’ve long said that networking is about building relationships, which it still is. Those relationships also extend to selling your business as well.

Networking your business

As I come up on two months of my LLC being in business, I’m learning a lot of things as I go along. A lot of it is the boring administrative stuff that comes with running your own business. But another thing I’m finding out is how critical it is to network when running your own business.

As of today, I currently have two clients, and I’m hoping to pick up some more. What’s important is how I got those clients. I got them both by networking. One was a friend with whom I worked at a previous job, while the other was introduced to me through a mutual friend. To me, this drives home the point of just how critical networking can be if you’re running your own business.

I started looking into business networking resources, and came across this article. Of course, the article lists groups such as BNI (which, I understand, is a very good group; however, I’m not sure if I’m ready to pay the steep membership fee just yet. Maybe at some point down the road, when I’m better established). It also lists groups that didn’t occur to me, such as the local Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, and Kiwanis. I also found a link for local Meetup groups (this link lists groups local to me here in the Albany, NY area; you might want to check similar groups for where you’re located). I am going to make it a point to look into these resources and see if I can tap into them.

I also spoke to a friend who also has his own consulting business about possibly establishing some kind of relationship that would be mutually beneficial to both of our businesses. While neither of us had work for the other, we agreed that some kind of business relationship could be beneficial for both of us. We might look into something later down the line.

Of course, there are the other resources that I’ve been preaching all along, such as user groups and conferences.

I’ve written before about how important networking is for an individual’s career. I’m also discovering that networking is important for business as well. It might very well be key for keeping your business afloat.

My #JobHunt presentation is online #PASSProfDev @PASS_ProfDev @CASSUG_Albany #SQLFamily #ProfessionalDevelopment

If you missed my job hunt presentation, it is now available on YouTube. Click here to view my presentation!

Additionally, my presentation slides can be downloaded from here!

Join me for my #JobHunt #ProfessionalDevelopment presentation — next Thursday, 5/28/2020 #PASSProfDev @PASS_ProfDev @CASSUG_Albany #SQLFamily

Reminder: my presentation is tomorrow at noon (EDT). Come join me and Paresh Motiwala for my presentation and our discussion!

Welcome to Ray Kim's 'blog

This is a reminder that next week, Thursday, May 28 at noon EDT (click this link for your local time), I will do my presentation for the PASS Professional Development Virtual Group about unemployment and the job hunt, titled “I lost my job! Now what?!?”

To register for the event use this link.

I’ll touch on these topics during the presentation:

• Dealing with your emotions
• Taking stock in yourself
• Resumes and interviewing
• Resources you can tap
• Networking
• Weathering the storm

In addition to my presentation, we will also have an open discussion with Paresh Motiwala (PASS ProfDev moderator and host) and myself. You are welcome and encouraged to take part!

I’ve done this presentation for SQL Saturday; now, you get to see it online. See you next week!

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Building my company — what I’ve learned (so far)

My new LLC is now just a little over a month old, but in this short time, things have started moving! I had already been working with one client; this particular client was what prompted me to start my LLC in the first place. This morning, I reached a verbal agreement with a second client! While I’ll stop short of saying that my job hunt is over — I haven’t yet declared it as such — this particular client has enough work for me to keep me busy for a while. It might be enough to sustain me so that I can keep food on my table and a roof over my head (and maybe even more). There might be something to this self-employment thing after all!

That said, this is all still new territory for me. When it comes to owning and running my own business, I’m still getting my feet wet. I’m still tinkering with my website. I spent some time on the phone today with my bank where I’m still trying to establish my business account. There were some issues with my application, but they appear to be resolved, and my new account should be active within a few days. I also created a new Facebook page for my business; you can check it out here! (This article, by the way, will be the first ‘blog post to appear on my new page!) I also finalized newspaper publications for my LLC; it turns out that New York — my home state — is one of three states that requires an LLC to post a legal notice in its home newspapers. The law says that I need to place the notice in two papers — one daily and one weekly — that service my home county. They need to appear for six weeks — after which I need to file another piece of paperwork called a Certificate of Publication.

Let me go back to the bank account and mention one of my issues for a moment. I had been told that, if I’m a single-person LLC with no other employees, I can use my own social security number for tax purposes, which is true. However, the bank still requires an Employer Identification Number (EIN). The bank was kind enough to supply me with a link where I could easily apply for and obtain an EIN in a few minutes.

Several weeks ago, if you’d told me that I was going to start my own business, I would have laughed at you. At the time, I said that I didn’t know the first thing about starting my own business. Yet here I am, doing it! I’ve said before that getting ahead means stepping out out of your comfort zone. I still have a lot to learn, but in the past month, I’ve learned quite a bit. While I’m not yet ready to declare my job hunt over, I’m seeing enough happen with my new business to think that I might be able to make this work!

Stay tuned!

Join me for my #JobHunt #ProfessionalDevelopment presentation — next Thursday, 5/28/2020 #PASSProfDev @PASS_ProfDev @CASSUG_Albany #SQLFamily

This is a reminder that next week, Thursday, May 28 at noon EDT (click this link for your local time), I will do my presentation for the PASS Professional Development Virtual Group about unemployment and the job hunt, titled “I lost my job! Now what?!?”

To register for the event use this link.

I’ll touch on these topics during the presentation:

• Dealing with your emotions
• Taking stock in yourself
• Resumes and interviewing
• Resources you can tap
• Networking
• Weathering the storm

In addition to my presentation, we will also have an open discussion with Paresh Motiwala (PASS ProfDev moderator and host) and myself. You are welcome and encouraged to take part!

I’ve done this presentation for SQL Saturday; now, you get to see it online. See you next week!

Job hunt virtual presentation — Thursday, May 28 @CASSUG_Albany @PASS_ProfDev

In light of the jobs being lost throughout the COVID-19 crisis, not to mention my own ordeal with joblessness, I offered to the folks who run the PASS Professional Development virtual group to do my presentation about unemployment and job hunting — an offer which was accepted.

Therefore, I will do my presentation titled: “I lost my job! Now what?!?” on Thursday, May 28 at noon EDT. It will include an interactive session with Paresh Motiwala to discuss the job search.

If you are interested in this session, use this link to sign up.

I’ll talk to you on May 28…