Goines On: Entrepreneuring

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Goines’ conversation with a young man he met at a family gathering in Virginia stayed with him as he drove himself and Mrs. Goines home on Sunday afternoon. The young man’s profession was business consulting, helping businesses “solve problems and develop strategies.”
    The word “entrepreneur” hadn’t come up in the conversation, but now Goines found himself thinking about his grandson, who wanted to be a successful entrepreneur. His grandson was only a few years younger than the young business consultant, and Goines got to wondering whether the consultant ever counseled young entrepreneurs. Might he be willing to talk with Goines’ grandson?

My Life [5]

From contract programming to software ownership

By Jim Rix

When I began contract programming, around 1980, computer software lagged far behind computer hardware. Skilled programmers were consequently in high demand, and contract programming was quite lucrative. I contracted with companies like Advanced Micro Devices and Intel, two semiconductor manufacturers, as well as companies with federal aerospace contracts.

A thrilling story (but sadly untrue)

[Not really] from The London Times:

Outside England 's Bristol Zoo there is a parking lot for 150 cars and 8 buses. For 25 years, its parking fees were managed by a very pleasant attendant. The fees were £1 for cars ($1.40), £5 for buses (about $7).
    Then, one day, after 25 solid years of never missing a day of work, he just didn't show up; so the Zoo management called the City Council and asked it to send them another parking agent.
    The Council did some research and replied that the parking lot was the Zoo's own responsibility. The Zoo advised the Council that the attendant was a City employee. The City Council responded that the lot attendant had never been on the City payroll.
    Meanwhile, sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain (or some such scenario), is a man who'd apparently had a ticket machine installed completely on his own; and then had simply begun to show up every day, commencing to collect and keep the parking fees, estimated at about $560 per day -- for 25 years. Assuming 7 days a week, this amounts to just over $7 million dollars!
    ...And no one even knows his name.

My friend who sent me this commented that, "unlike the Madoff scheme, no one was financially crippled by this guy." Especially since he (apparently) never existed.