Independent Computer Consultants Association, 933 Gardenview Office Pkwy., St. Louis, MO 63141; 314-997-4633. National organization that provides professional-development opportunities and business-support programs for independent computer consultants. For membership information, call 800-774-4222. Annual membership is $160.
The Global Entrepreneurs Network, operated by Information Exchange, PO Box 373229, Satellite Beach, FL 32937; 407-779-9161. Offers matchmaking services for technical consultants seeking strategic alliances and provides access to a database of soloists. Annual membership is $189.
THE ANTI-ISOLATIONIST
Maybe if she didn't work for herself, Vivian Shimoyama would have more time to worry about the isolation problem she's supposed to face. But the 36-year-old proprietor of Breakthru Unlimited, a jewelry business in Manhattan Beach, Calif., is so busy making contacts, joining groups, chairing meetings, collecting business cards, and augmenting her already voluminous database of names that she rarely has a spare moment to fret over it.
"I don't have time to feel lonely," claims Shimoyama, who belongs to 10 different associations, spends half of her 70-hour week widening her web of contacts, and boasts an electronic Rolodex of more than 8,000 names.
"I have a database of every person I've ever met at a conference or a meeting," she says. Consider that she attends at least five a week and tries to pocket 10 new business cards at each for a total of 50 a week, and her relentless pursuit of relationships takes on the quality of a rigorous workout.
You get a name. You follow up. You call. You meet. Release. Do it again.
If one organization or association doesn't work, then Shimoyama joins another. "But I don't expect to hit a gold mine of contacts the first time," she says. Forging relationships takes time. As with most investments, the return is seldom immediate.
"Plus, it's got to be reciprocal," says Shimoyama. "I have to be thinking about what I can do for someone else. To whom can I introduce them? Do I have information that might help?"
Although Shimoyama's regimen can get exhausting, she says, "without it, I don't believe I'd have a business." By her reckoning, her two-year-old business owes nearly every one of its 30 accounts to her tireless outreach.
"If you go solo and you're not willing to do this," she says, "you're not willing to be in business. You can't survive in solitary confinement." -- A.M.
THE LAST HURDLE
Cushy benefits packages keep more than a few would-be soloists clinging to lackluster jobs. But going solo doesn't mean forfeiting that safety net -- just paying a little more.
Health insurance: Companies with 20 or more employees are required to offer departing workers extended health coverage for up to 18 months through the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, or COBRA. But such coverage is expensive, since under COBRA coverage former employees are billed for 100% of their insurance premiums, plus a 2% administrative fee. Clinton's new tax law does restore tax deductions for health premiums paid by the self-employed.
COBRA may be the only option for people with "uninsurable" preexisting conditions; otherwise, there are several alternatives. The cheapest coverage is through a spouse's company plan. For more money, but a little less coverage, group plans are available through trade or small-business organizations. Individual health coverage (including health-maintenance organizations) usually costs the most and offers the least.
Dave Vienneau, president of Performance Based Solutions, in Hamilton Square, N.J., advises extending COBRA coverage for a few months while looking for new coverage; that way you're credited with any deductibles you've already paid. (Temporary health plans impose brand-new deductibles and generally offer catastrophic coverage only.) Start searching for coverage through a group plan with any groups you may be affiliated with. For example, a marketing consultant who also publishes articles should check with all local and national marketing, small-business, consultants', and writers' associations.
Life insurance: Company life-insurance coverage can be converted to an individual plan within 30 days after a worker leaves, but independent plans give better coverage for the money, says Vienneau. He recommends shopping for individual packages among insurance companies during that 30-day grace period, focusing on the type of corporate life insurance you're replacing. "Term" coverage is cheaper but doesn't build up cash value; "permanent" insurance costs more, but you can borrow against or cash in the accruing cash value.
Disability insurance: Corporate disability coverage typically ends the day a worker leaves a company, so group coverage and individual coverage are the only options for a soloist. Cheaper group plans aren't very flexible, typically paying a limited percentage of salary after six months. Individual plans can be written however you like, but be prepared to pay more the sooner the coverage kicks in, or the longer and more it pays. Whatever disability plan you choose, don't forget to secure enough coverage to handle business-overhead expenses during the period you can't work. -- Phaedra Hise
