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Since 03/12/2005
Last Updated: 03/12/2005

How to get started ?

**********************************************
The Virtual Consulting Discussion List [VCDL]
http://www.TheVCF.com/vcdl.phtml

Monday, February 9th, 2004 Digest #12
**********************************************
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List Moderator: Michael S.DeVries DeVries@cris.com
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ...
---> [NEW] <---

#1 How to get started as a Virtual Consultant?
- Michael S. DeVries

#2 "MyDoom" virus and how to protect your computer from it.
- Nowshade Kabir, Rusbiz.com

#3 The New trend in computer viruses you MUST know
- Raza Jaffri

#4 The Secret to Keeping Your Customers
- Martin Gateshill & John Lavelle

---> [CONTINUED] <---

#5 How do you Network Virtually? -
On Line Sources For Leads
- Nancy Roebke

#6 Need Article Ideas?
- Bonnie Jo Davis

#7 What are your favorite / the best Virtual Consulting Tools?
Software Submission Tools
- Michael S. DeVries

---> [NEWS] <---

#8 VIRTUAL CONSULTANCIES.
(Big-five accounting/consulting firms versus small firms and solo
consultants)
- Industry Week , May 3, 1999, by Kristin Ohlson

---> [INTRO] <---
---> [HELP WANTED] <---
---> [ADMIN] <---

************* [NEW] ***************
#1 How to get started as a Virtual Consultant?
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Michael S. DeVries <DeVries@cris.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
Date sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Dear Fellow Virtual Consultants,

What would you tell someone who was interested in Virtual Consulting? as
to …
How to get started as a Virtual Consultant?

How did you get started as a Virtual Consultant?

Please share your “story” with us herein! :)
[Otherwise, I will have to “bore you” … Ooops! I mean share with you …
my story about how I ended up in Virtual Consulting, in the next VCDL
Digest, so …
How’s that for an incentive for you?! ;) ]

Did you have a mentor when you were getting started as a Virtual
Consultant?

If so, do you feel that this is a necessity for others to also get
started?
Why? Or Why Not?

If not, do you feel that this would have really helped
Why? Or Why Not?

What “Lessons Learned” are you willing and able to share with someone
just getting started in Virtual Consulting?

- What should they do? … that maybe you didn’t know “up front”
and/or you wish someone had told you when you were getting started?

- What shouldn’t they do? … That maybe you had to learn the “hard
way” and are kind and generous enough to help others avoid these “pot
holes”! :)

Do you know of any good references, e.g. books, articles, etc. that you
would recommend to someone wishing to get started in Virtual Consulting?

What else would you tell someone to do to determine whether or not
Virtual Consulting is “for them”? and if so how to get started off “on
the right foot”?

Let’s share and “pass on” our knowledge and experiences to others whom
may be interested in joining us in the ranks of Virtual Consultants and
just need somewhere to go and someone to help them get started! Ok?

This all benefits all of us in the long run! :) right?

Your "Virtual" Moderator,

- Michael S. DeVries

-----------------------------------------------------------
#2 "MyDoom" virus and how to protect your computer from it.
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: "nakosy" <julia@r...>
Date: Tue Jan 27, 2004 2:43 pm
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com

[ Dear Fellow Virtual Consultants – Given the new recent “onslaughts” by
several “nasty computer viruses, we thought it might be beneficial for
you all, if we Posted some recent helpful articles we have found to help
you protect yourself from and/or eradicate these viruses when they
“strike you”. We hope this all helps! - Your "Virtual" Moderator ]

"MyDoom" virus and how to protect your computer from it.

By Nowshade Kabir, Rusbiz.com

Remember the Sobig viruses of last year that wreaked havoc and
caused significant financial damage to corporation world? Well,
the first major virus of this year has potential to beat those
attacks easily.

What is MyDoom?

The new virus, which is actually a more virulent variation of
"Mimail" virus, is dubbed MyDoom by antivirus software maker
Network Associates Inc. and "Novarg" by rival Symantec Corp.

The virus, first detected around 4PM EST Monday January 26, 2004,
immediately started to create a mail storm through out the
Internet. According to experts, MyDoom virus is capable of
generating up to 8 million infected e-mails in the first 24 hours
if it is not slowed down. This is twice as much as the amount
produced by the Sobig.F virus, which at its peak last year
generated around 3.5 million e-mails on the third day of its
outbreak.

Within one hour of its first attack Network Associates itself
received 19,500 e-mails bearing the virus from 3,400 unique
Internet addresses.

How does it work?

MyDoom spreads itself similarly as any other email-borne virus.
Unsuspected user after receiving infected email activates the
virus by opening the attached file. As always the virus
infiltrates only into Windows based PC. The attached file can
be of any of these extensions: ".exe," ".scr," ".cmd" or ".pif".

Randomized subject line of the infected message can have the
following texts among others: Mail Delivery system, Test, Server
report, Hello, etc.

The body of the email shows one of the several texts, such as:
"The message cannot be represented in 7-bit ASCII encoding and
has been sent as a binary attachment,"; "The message contains
Unicode characters and has been sent as a binary attachment.";
and "Mail transaction failed. Partial message is available."
The idea here is to trick users into opening the attachment.
The opened attachment looks like a simple Notepad text file,
which most of the people believe to be safe and incapable of
carrying viruses.

Once a computer gets contaminated with MyDoom, the virus along
with the Trojan embedded in it does the following things:

The virus resends itself using a built-in mailing program to
e-mail addresses from the address book of the infected computer.
It is capable to send out 100 infected email messages in 30
seconds to addresses stored in the computer. It also fakes the
sender's address and shows one of the e-mails randomly selected
from the computer's address book. So it appears that the virus
came from someone other than the person whose computer produced
this email.

The virus also copies itself to the Kazaa download directory
of the infected computer, on which the file-sharing program is
loaded. The virus camouflages itself, using one of seven file
names, including Winamp5, RootkitXP, Officecrack and Nuke2004.
Kazaa is a file sharing program widely used by teens to share
music among peers.

MyDoom also uses the domains of the emails addresses it finds
in the infected computer to make up numerous email addresses in
an attempt to spread itself. This tactic is commonly used by
spammers and called "Dictionary Attack".

Some experts claim that this virus also drops a file onto
infected computer systems, collecting sensitive data such as
passwords, user names and credit card information.

The infected e-mails are also programmed to start a denial of
service attack on SCO, the controversial software group which
claims that important components of the Linux open-source
operating system violate its Unix copyrights. A Denial of
Service Attack means in an attempt to shut down a server,
thousands of emails are sent to one single address. The attack
clogs the bandwidth and cripples the whole mailing system
of the company and forces them to either turn off the server
or change the domain name.

Finally, the virus also opens up communication ports of the
infected computer, allowing a hacker to manipulate the machine
remotely.

One hack of a virus, isn't it?

What to do?

If you take the following steps, your computer will be
virtually safe from any similar virus attacks:

- Get an Antivirus program and install it in your computer.

- Regularly update your Antivirus program.

- Get a firewall and install it. A great free firewall that you
can download and install is Zonealarm. You can download it from
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp

- Regularly get patches for your version of Windows and update.

- Use email filters similar to Eprompter. It gives you the
ability to delete unwanted spam or suspicious looking mail,
which might contain viruses. Get it free from
http://www.eprompter.com.

- Scan you computer for viruses regularly. A great free tool that
scans your computer remotely for viruses and eliminates them you
can find at
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

No doubt that Microsoft has to do a better job to protect us from
this on going slaughter. However, until this happens, Windows
users have to be more vigilant and do everything possible to
protect their machines.

About the author

Nowshade Kabir is the founder, primary developer and present
CEO of Rusbiz.com. A Ph. D. in Information Technology, he
has wide experience in Business Consulting, International
Trade and Web Marketing. Rusbiz is a Global B2B Emarketplace
with solutions to start and run online business.
You can contact him at mailto:nowshade@r...,
http://ezine.rusbiz.com, http://www.rusbiz.com

-----------------------------------------------------------
#3 The New trend in computer viruses you MUST know
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Raza Jaffri <mysubs@g...>
Date: Sat Jan 31, 2004 3:49 am
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com

The New trend in computer viruses you MUST know
Raza Jaffri, Editor, GulfJobSites.com

Do you know the latest trend in computer viruses? When they infect your
computer and start spreading dirty emails to everyone in your address
book and your inbox, they do not use your email address as the "From"
address.
You know WHY?
Because good people would alert you about the emails coming from your
computer. Your will clean your machine and the virus would soon be
killed.

The NEWER VIRUSES will randomly pick any one of the addresses found on
that computer and display them as the sender's address. This way, there
is no way to find who is the real source. Recently I received the
following automated virus alert from a mail server that had intercepted
an infected email. Someone's computer that had my email address in its
address book was infected and that virus is now shooting dirty emails to
all the addresses it can get hold of and they appear to be sent by me.

===Email alert received===

This e-mail is generated by the Eureka Technology Partners (ETP) Mail
Server to warn you that the e-mail sent by <you> to <omitted> is
infected with virus: win32/bagle.a@mm.

If you are the sender:
-------------------
the scanned e-mail has your address in the <from> header field. Either
your computer is infected or someone's computer having your e-mail
address in the address book has been infected.

Eureka online offers a service to protect your computer from viruses.
Please contact <omitted> for further details.

===Email alert received===

Quite obviously, my immediate response was to double check my anti-virus
and internet firewall's status. Everything was intact and at maximum
security that I always observe. However, the source of those emails
remain unknown. I am receiving similar alerts and bounced emails every
day since then. Excluding very high level of IT forensic skills, there
is no way to reach the source and kill the virus. We can only pray that
the owner would check his computer, detect it and clean the
contamination.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL.

IMAGINE THIS:
What if a virus starts sending those TOP CONFIDENTIAL files from your
computer to addresses in your address book or your inbox including your
bosses, or perhaps your competitor?

READ THIS:
Once, I continuously received such emails for more than a week from the
CEO of a company I was negotiating a deal with. And to my utter
surprise, I received copies of their internal emails in which they
discussed profit margins and new clients they were working on. Can you
afford that?

Therefore, these steps should be helpful:
1. Update your anti-virus regularly, at least once every week! I
strongly recommend Norton Antivirus because of its built in Live Update
feature that keeps its database updated at all times through the
internet. When you read about any major threats in the media, update it
every day!

2. In addition to a good anti-virus, Internet Firewall is increasingly
becoming a necessity now. Because there are far more ways for viruses to
get in and out of your computer these days. Chat, Browsing,
Conferencing, Instant Messengers are just few of the channels. There are
"trojan horse" viruses that can puncture a virtual "hole" in your
computer and keep passing data to outside sources.

3. Simply installing an anti-virus and internet firewall is not
sufficient. They must be updated. REGULARLY. There are several hundred
new viruses released every single day. If you updated your anti-virus
last month, it is still not capable to block the viruses that were
launched since that day.The situation is that BAD!

4. Update your anti-virus and scan your computer TODAY.

5. Follow a practice NOT to open any file attachments you may receive
even if they appear to be from a known sender. Specifically clarify from
the sender that he did actually send you a file.
Even when you receive a clarification, its good practice to scan the
file attachments you receive.
WHY?
Because the sender may not be as cautious and as aware you would expect
him to be. Many people don't know that their computer is already
infected. I have personally received such emails too.
If the scanning says its infected, do not take chances. DELETE it
immediately and inform the sender.

6. More and more ISPs and email service providers are now offering mail
server based anti-virus scanning of incoming emails. This acts as a good
first line of defence. If your service provider does not offer this
facility, consider switching to another provider. However, you should
NOT consider this as sufficient. You still need all the protection on
your computer as well.

Survival from viruses comes from common sense and preventive measures,
not pure luck.

========================================================

About the Author:
Raza Jaffri is the founder and editor of www.GulfJobSites.com, the first
ever independent directory and search engine of job and employment
related websites from the Arabian Gulf / Persian Gulf region covering
Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq
and Iran.

Copyright © 2001-2004 GulfJobSites.com. All rights reserved.

-----------------------------------------------------------
#4 The Secret to Keeping Your Customers
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: "Martin" <martin@d...>
Date: Fri Jan 23, 2004 10:08 am
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com

Keeping Your Customers
by Martin Gateshill with John Lavelle of Visual Accounts
http://www.visual-accounts.co.uk

Let me ask you a question.

What is it that makes your customer decide to purchase from
you?

I hope you know the answer, it will be different for each
of you and it's something every business needs to
understand in order to flourish.

Just as important though is another question which, chances
are, you won't know the answer to...

What is it that makes one of your customers STOP buying
from you?

Too many businesses depend upon their ability to generate
new customers and fail to realise the dramatic impact on
their bottom line if they could just stop losing the ones
they already have!

Don't get me wrong, winning new customers is vital and no
matter what you do you will lose customers. Every business
does. What you need to do is limit this loss. There are
enormous business payoffs if you do. Even if you win more
customers than you lose, you are still missing out on a
major growth opportunity.

Why?, because on average every company will churn
approximately half of their customers every five years. So
there is enormous room for improvement. Bain, the American
Consulting Group has demonstrated that if you can hold on
to an extra 5% of your customers every year you could
double your profits!

It's vital to keep your existing customers as well as
winning new ones because;

1. It costs a lot less to retain a customer than find a new
one.
2. Loyal customers know you and your service and don't
always put price first, whereas new customers often do.
3. Loyal customers usually place larger orders.

So what is the secret to keeping your customers, how do you
discourage them from defecting to the opposition, and how
do you persuade others like them to buy more?

To begin to understand this we must know why customers
defect?

The most important reason is indifference to complaints.

Approximately 96% of unhappy people will not tell you that
they are unhappy. They just stop buying.

Worse than that, they will tell between eleven and twenty
other people that they are unhappy with you. Only about 4%
will complain to you, so you must have systems in place to
"maximise the customers' opportunity to complain."

So your strategy should be to make sure you are listening
to your customers. Contact them regularly. When they order,
ask if there is anything else you can do for them. Send out
questionnaires about the service they are receiving.
Conduct "Satisfaction surveys". Most importantly, take
swift action to resolve the complaints and criticism.

What proportion of complaining customers would probably buy
from you if you dealt with their complaint efficiently and
effectively?

Believe it or not it's an amazing 95%.

Philip Kotler of Northwestern University, claims that, of
all the customers who register a complaint, between 54% and
70% will do business with you again if their complaint is
satisfactorily resolved. The figure climbs to a massive 95%
if the customer feels that the complaint was resolved
quickly.

If you can effectively and efficiently deal with complaints
you can retain about 80% of your complaining customers.
What is more, customers who have had their complaint
satisfactorily resolved will tell, on average, 5 people
about the treatment they have received.

So the secret to keeping your customers is simple, listen
to your customers, communicate regularly and deal
efficiently and effectively with any issues they may have.

------------------------------------------------------------
Martin Gateshill is an On and Off line business Veteran
trading successfully since the early 90's. Visual Accounts
is an accounting package he helped to design that does a
lot more than just count your money!

To find out more about Visual Accounts go to
http://www.visual-accounts.co.uk
------------------------------------------------------------

[ Dear Fellow Virtual Consultants ,

What do you all think of Martin’s advice herein about how to “keep your
customers” (/clients)?

Let’s talk about it for our mutual benefit! :) ok?

Hope this helps,

- Your "Virtual" Moderator ]


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************* [CONTINUED] ***************
#5 How do you Network Virtually? -
On Line Sources For Leads
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Nancy Roebke [execdirector@profnet.org]
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
Date sent: Wed 1/7/04 11:24 AM

On Line Sources For Leads
Nancy Roebke mailto:execdirector@profnet.org

If you're like me, you spend a lot of time online- learning and
teaching. And if you are also like me, you got on the Internet
to make money. Leads are the start of the money-making
process. Leads turn into money. Leads are a firm's life blood.
Where can YOU find leads on the Internet?

1. ON LISTS. Participation in e-mail lists will generate TONS
of leads for you. But you have to watch for them. Read other
posters' posts...AND their sigs. Especially read every
introduction that is posted to a list. I send an electronic post
card to every person who introduces themselves on the lists I
participate on. They say the following:

Welcome to the MB-List. I saw your introduction, and look
forward to reading more of your posts. Perhaps I will be
able to refer some business your way in the future.

I then keep these introductions sorted by state or country.
When the time comes that I am opening a new Chapter in a
certain area, I have all those leads from that area.

2. LEADS FROM YOUR SIG. The right sig can generate more
leads than you can handle. My current sig offers a free report
on how to stop cold calling. This report is set up on an
autoresponder that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
When someone requests the report, I am notified of that
request.

The mere fact that someone requests that report means they are
interested in what I do for a living. Perhaps they would like
to join a Profnet Chapter or even start one. That is one way
they can stop cold calling.

My current sig reads:

Nancy Roebke
mailto:execdirector@profnet.org
Executive Director, ProfNet http://www.profnet.org

How To Stop Cold Calling ... And Get MORE Business!
Free report tells you 10 secrets of getting referrals. Get
your copy by emailing mailto:secrets@profnet.org today!


3. WRITE ARTICLES-SHARE INFORMATION. I currently
write for several online and offline publications. These articles
generate a lot of interest in my firm. I get calls on my toll-free
line almost every day from people who read one of my
articles.

4. TEACH AN ONLINE COURSE. I have taken the articles and
used them to develop a mini course in networking- soon to be
available in its entirety to participants of this list. The
graduates of the course might want a place to use their new-
found skills. Becoming my client would be an option for them.

5. HOST AN ONLINE CHAT. Schedule a chat session on the
topic you have expertise in and you will have a captive
audience. The questions that are asked of you will all be useful
in determining possible clients.

Using the Internet to generate leads is a very cost-effective
procedure. The volume of persons I have access to on a daily
basis far exceeds the number I could personally "see" in any
given day. Be sure to follow up with those leads, though. They
do no good if you get them and do nothing with them.

Copyright c Nancy Roebke

[In the next VCDL Digest we will learn more from Nancy on Virtual
Networking regarding “Ok, I Found My Prospect Base Online- Now What?”.
To learn “tons” more about Networking both online and offline …
We Highly Recommend! That you subscribe to Nancy’s NetworkInk networking
newsletter by emailing to: networkink@aweber.com
]

-----------------------------------------------------------
#6 Need Article Ideas?
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: "Bonnie Jo Davis" <bonniejodavis@earthlink.net>
Date sent: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 13:24:42 –0800
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com

[ The following is a follow up article, from Bonnie Jo Davis, to her
“How Can I Market With Articles If I Can't Write?” article Posted in
VCDL Digest #11 ]

Need Article Ideas?

Writer's block...need I say more? Every writer experiences writer's
block at one time or another. For a writer using the marketing with
articles technique the block often starts with trying to generate a new
article idea. There are many creative ways to discover article ideas no
matter what your topic and we'll cover several of them below.

Your first step in finding article ideas should be to create a "swipe
file." Copywriters initially used swipe files for collecting examples
of outstanding copywriting techniques.
Swipe files included clippings from magazines, direct mail pieces,
copies of e-mails, web site copy, etc. For the marketing with article
techniques our swipe file consists of
a file in your favorite word processing program. In this swipe file you
will collect article ideas for future articles. Begin by typing in any
article ideas that you may have already.

Then build your swipe file using the following suggestions:

Chat Rooms - Participate in these online forums where you can chat with
others by typing messages, which are instantly displayed. Choose a chat
room in your topic area that is frequented by your target audience and
discover the hot topics everyone is discussing. You can find chat
rooms by visiting http://chat.yahoo.com/, http://web.icq.com/icqchat/
and http://chat.msn.com/.

Forums/Message Boards - Users communicate with each other in these web
based message centers by posting text messages that can be viewed using
a web browser. Some forums and message boards allow you to follow a
topic by asking for e-mail notification when a new posting is made.
Find threaded conversations on hot topics in your niche by visiting
http://messages.yahoo.com/index.html, http://www.ivillage.com/boards/ and
http://www.delphiforums.com/.

Newsgroups/Discussion Lists - Classified by subject matter these
communication driven groups are categorized by topic and can be read
on-line or via an e-mail newsreader (often included in your e-mail
software). Hot newsgroups and discussion lists can be found at
http://groups.google.com/, http://groups.yahoo.com/ and www.topica.com.

Article Directories - Sites that archive article submissions by topic
are gold mines of ideas for article writers. Read articles written for
your target audience to obtain ideas but never plagiarize the actual
articles. Ideas can be gleaned from the list of the most popular or
newest articles (if offered). My favorite article directories are at
http://www.opportunityupdate.com, http://www.goarticles.com and
http://www.articlecity.com.

Newspapers - You can obtain a wealth of article ideas by reading your
daily newspaper. Keep a notepad with you while you read and jot down
topic ideas. Many newspapers offer on-line versions that can be found
by visiting http://www.allyoucanread.com/newspapers/,
http://broadcast-live.com/newspapers/ and
http://www.localfreepress.com/.
Calendars - There are hundreds of holidays and special occasions every
year. Search through http://www.holidays.net/dailys.htm,
http://www.earthcalendar.net/_php/countrysearch.php and
http://www.madmanmike.com/us_events_dates.html. Using holidays tied to
your niche will impress your readers and show that you are current and
up-to-date with your article topics.

Surveys - Conduct surveys with your web site visitors or newsletter
readers. Ask them what topics they would like you to cover and always
have a field asking for questions. Surveys can provide you with a
wealth of topics that are sure to please your audience. Use free survey
generators such as http://www.ezquestionnaire.com/ or
http://www.surveymonkey.com/.

Hoaxes - There are enough hoaxes and old wives tales in just about any
topic that can give you plenty of article ideas. Explain or dispute the
hoax or tale and relate the story to your topic area. You can find
hoaxes and old wives tales at http://www.snopes.com,
and http://www.stiller.com/hoaxes.htm.

Conferences - Meeting planners are charged with the task of bringing in
speakers and arranging roundtables on the hottest topics for their
target audience. You can take advantage of their hard work by checking
out conferences in your field and making note of the workshop and
keynote topics. You can find conference listings organized by topic at
http://www.tsnn.com, http://www.allconferences.com and by searching
http://www.Google.com.

Get started today building your swipe file and add to it on a daily
basis. This will help you become more organized and will ensure that
you never run out of article ideas!

© 2004, Davis Virtual Assistance. All rights in all media reserved.

About The Author:

Bonnie Jo Davis is the publisher of the Articles That Sell Update
monthly newsletter that focuses on marketing with articles. Visit
http://www.ArticlesThatSell.com/newsletter.htm for your free
subscription today!


-----------------------------------------------------------
#7 What are your favorite / the best Virtual Consulting Tools?
Software Submission Tools
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Michael S. DeVries <DeVries@cris.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
Date sent: Sunday, February 8, 2004

Dear Fellow Virtual Consultants,

Many of us may produce varies types of software for our Virtual
Consulting engagements and you may already or may begin to offer some
forms of shareware and/or freeware versions of your software products,
right?

Offering these types of freeware and/or shareware versions of your
software may be another marketing tool to increase the “exposure” of
your software products to at least some potential prospects within your
target markets, yes?

We were also recently “clued in” to the fact that at least some of the
sites which accept submissions of freeware and/or shareware
applications, also accept the submission of freeware / shareware
E-Books. Therefore, he are also some other ways and places you may
submit and promote your business via submitting your E-Books to these
sites and/or using these Software Submission Tools, right?

Further, it was shared with us that generating and using a PAD (Portable
Application Definition) file for these software submissions is a great
way to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of getting your software
quickly and easily submitted to the various sites which accept such,
particularly via some of the Software Submission Tools which support the
automated import of such PAD files, so …

We have created a specific link to a Free PAD generation tool we found
for your Free download, use and benefit at:

http://www.thevcf.com/vccenter.phtml#PAD

You may also find links to several Software Submission Tools, we have
found and used thus far, many which offer free downloads, at:

http://www.thevcf.com/vccenter.phtml#SWSUBMIT

Finally, you may find additional listing of sites to which you may and
additional tools you may use to submit your freeware / shareware
software products via the links we are beginning to compile for you at:

http://www.thevcf.com/vccenter.phtml#SHAREWARE

What other Software Submission Tools and/or Sites have you had
experience with?

Which ones would you recommend to use or to stay away from?
Why? or Why Not?

We look forward to hearing from you for our mutual benefit.

Hope this helps!

Your "Virtual" Moderator,

- Michael S. DeVries


************* [NEWS] ***************
#8 VIRTUAL CONSULTANCIES.
(Big-five accounting/consulting firms versus small firms and solo
consultants)
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: Michael S. DeVries <DeVries@cris.com>
Reply To: Virtual-Consulting@topica.com
Date sent: February 9, 2004

Dear Fellow Virtual Consultants,

I recently also found the following, in my search for articles on topics
related to Virtual Consulting to share with you, that I hope you will
find interesting and a good source of discussions herein! :)

“VIRTUAL CONSULTANCIES.(Big-five accounting/consulting firms versus
small firms and solo consultants)” published in Industry Week , May 3,
1999, by Kristin Ohlson at:

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m1121/9_248/54629246/p1

What do you all think of the statements and assessments made in this
article regarding Virtual Consultancies?

Given that this article was originally written and published in 1999 …

Is the information in this article still valid today in 2004?

What has changed for Virtual Consulting / Consultancies versus the “Big
X accounting / consulting firms”…
- For the “worse” (for us)?
- For the better (for us)? …
Since 1999?

Do you know of any other articles and/or sources of good articles on
topics related to Virtual Consulting that you would like to share and/or
see in the Virtual Consulting Discussion List?

Please share these all with us for our discussions and mutual benefit,
ok?

We hope that this all helps! :)

Your "Virtual" Moderator,

- Michael S. DeVries

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