The last days of 2025 are flying by now. One would think I should be getting a ton of things done since I’m not employed, but make no mistake…I’m working! Or at least trying to.
A little follow-up from my last entry regarding the consulting gig. I sent an email with consulting fee options to the owner of the company. I once again outlined my expectations from the agreement and that they’ll need to cover all of my travel expenses in addition to either a retainer or an hourly fee. Their original bid is pretty sparse and I wouldn’t be able to spend a lot of hours on this project, so I gave him a menu. Anything over the hours I have plotted out based on the retainer proposal will be billed hourly. I haven’t yet heard back from him, but they’ve already booked my flight and my hotel.
And yes, the hotel looks like a decently nice boutique hotel (honestly, I think there’s only one boutique hotel in Tupelo, ha!). I was reminded by a fellow PBer that I had been booked into a horrid hotel the last time I let another company book my hotel reservations (in Utah). This time, I think these folks have a little higher expectations of me - they are picking me up and taking me to dinner upon landing, and rolling out the semi-red carpet.
The flight into Tupelo should be interesting, too. It’s a regional airport, and I’m flying an airline I’ve never heard of before: Contour Airlines. They are small but look completely legit and just fine.
I’m looking at this trip as an adventure as well as possibly an interview with two different companies: (1) the original company that approached me to work on this project, and (2) the giant company that wants the project done.
The giant company is based in California but has an office in Tupelo. I’ll be representing the smaller company, presenting the proposal of my expertise and their (the smaller company’s) capabilities.
The giant company has alllll of the sales and marketing peeps in place - they have the BIG, BIG customers and the big, big brands already. You know these brands. They sell hundreds of thousands of units of products to the big retailers in the United States (and maybe Canada and other parts of the world? Need to research this). They just don’t have the expertise of the type of product that I’ve worked on. And that’s where my edge comes in!
Of course, I’ve got to impress them! The good news is, I already know one of the guys who works with the big company - we were connected via The Line That I Created and have met at big corporate events before. I think he put in a good word. Ha. And the President of Giant Corp. has been reviewing my LinkedIn, so I just went ahead and requested a connection, and he obliged, so we’re now connected.
And the greatest thing about ALLLL of this is that I beat out my old dick of a boss who I used to work for in the past! Apparently, he’d approached the Giant Corp. from another angle with another smaller company, but we beat them out as far as I know…or maybe this is the bid for the project?? Oh boy, I just realized that I might actually be interviewing FOR this smaller company!
Anyway. Enough of that. I’m sure I’ll write about how it goes next week.
Today I have to prep for my “Crafternoon Delight” with my mom tomorrow. I have all of the supplies for about three projects that she can pick from and we’ll make some fun things to give as Christmas presents.
I’ll get them all organized, pack them up, and plan for a quick up and back trip tomorrow. I’ll put Martini in daycare since I’ll be making the 3-hour there and 3-hour back trip…ughhh. And then I just have to cross my fingers that she’s in the mood to even DO some crafting tomorrow.
I hope, I hope!
And I am thinking about a new plan for yet another 75 Hard Challenge in the new year. The last couple of times I’ve tried to do 75 Hard, I’ve had to start over and ended up not finishing (my very first try in 2024 took me 131 days instead of the original 75 days, but I did it!). I’m not going to write out the details until I’ve figured out my whole plan, but just know that something is brewing!
Okay, better roll. I have gotten my workout done and a couple of cups of coffee in my belly. Now my entry is written and I gotta get back on the networking and application process before packing for tomorrow. Duty calls!
xox,
GS
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