I thought I would give you a quick update on where things are going with my new venture.
Set up
I have a company and name. Inspecht.
I have engaged a graphic designer to create a logo. I got some initial concepts last night, current favourites are:
Web site is coming, the content has been drafted and once we get the logos and stuff done I will let you know where to find all the goodness. Still working on a tag line, not sure I like the “Connecting Your People”, thoughts?
Business focus
The business will have three main areas of focus. Pillar one will be HR Technology, pillar two Online Recruitment and pillar three Enterprise 2.0. My primary activities across all three areas will be around strategy development, feasibility studies, program definition, project management and change management. I will also be looking to run workshops across all pillars and activities. Finally there might be some software sales as well.
Progress to Date
Very slow. I have had lots of initial meetings as part of my market research to sort out what I will be doing. So far no actual work, but then I have not really tried to get work. This will now change as I have an entity to work through.
I ran an unconference session at PubCamp this week which has generated some good discussions, hopefully some work might fall out of it. I have also got a speaking gig lined up in August for AHRI, and couple of possible writing items, more details to come.
I have also been preparing a series of documents to help with my customer engagements. These are templates, check lists and general business artefacts to help increase my productivity.
Next Steps
Finalise the logo, and web presence. This will allow me to begin branding the business and actively pursuing customers. Advertising is also on the cards. I also need to finalise my documents so when I do begin working I can add value to my clients immediately.
Further updates later.
Michael Specht 
Hi Michael, congrats on the progress, and the big step. I like the first logo, btw & fwiw.
Good luck!
Hi Michael, I prefer the second logo.
For business cards there are some very good and economical on-line printing outfits such as http://www.clickbusinesscards.com.au – they sent me a pack of samples which were very good quality. There are others too if you do a search.
Cheers,
Kevin
I’m split on the logos but so far feedback (here, twitter, F2F etc) has been more for the 2nd logo, just awaiting some revisions from the designer.
@Des, thanks if you get down to Melbourne we should try and catch up.
@Kevin ahhh yes the business card bit, thanks for the link.
Michael, I’m not sure “Connecting Your People” is going to have the cut-through you’ll need with management in some of the companies you are probably targetting.
Its a logo that’s going to appeal to the HR people, but for line managers focussed on the bottom-line, they probably just wont get the link between connecting people and improved performance.
Shane yes you are right to a point, but neither do many of the line being used by organisation out there. I am also toying with the idea of dropping it altogether as crystallising things into 3 or 4 words is very difficult.
I really like “expertise within reach” but IBM has that for their Lotus Connections product :-).
Other ideas have been Performance through people, Productivity through connections, Sharing what’s importan, Creating momentum within your organisation, Preparing your organisation for the future, Faster Execution, Dynamic connections. But none really sit well.
Thanks Michael. Will look forward to it.
Hey Michael, love the name!