Yup - it's the business model of the 21st century. I've written product manuals for Elecraft since 2001 but I, too, am NOT an Elecraft employee and live 600 miles north of Watsonville on the Oregon coast. In addition to handling most of Elecraft's manuals I have handled international training and business studies for some of the big tech companies working on a daily basis with teams in Japan, Europe South America and Africa using the VOIP and video conferencing, as well as doing sales training and marketing support for local businesses.
Instead of sitting in a cubicle after driving to work every morning, I get to listen to the surf pounding below my house after commuting 30 feet from the coffee pot in my kitchen and I only need to put on a shirt and comb my hair before a video conference (no video below chest level, just like the anchors on TV!). The downside includes occasionally being "at work" at 11 p.m. or 3 a.m. when working with international teams or pulling an "all-nighter" to support a disorganized client's deadline. This is a revolution in working that Elecraft and other innovative companies have embraced. It's something that will likely expand tremendously in the future as more companies understand the benefits of a flexible work force because we don't get paid for "showing up" - we're paid only for benefits delivered. And we are not limited to the challenges (and dangers) of only one source of income. But as I'm quick to point out to everyone who dreams of self-employment, understand that, when self-employed, the employee has the most miserable, demanding boss in the world, and that boss has the laziest employee in the world. They do deserve each other, Hi! 73, Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- Actually I'm not an Elecraft employee. I work on a contract basis from my home here is Santa Rosa, about a three-hour drive north of Aptos. Elecraft has a number of employees and others like me working under various arrangements and scattered all over. Even one of the principals (Wayne) does not physically work in the plant. This kind of business model is one of the changes made possible by the arrival of the Internet. When I was still working at HP/Agilent I was on several design/development projects with engineers located at other divisions in Japan, Korea, Scotland, and Idaho. The projects were tied together with lots of emails and phone calls as well as occasional video-conferences and trips to the other plants. Alan N1AL ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
