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INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | | DECEMBER 24, 1999 DEAR DIARY God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen — but Not in December The year winds down with an embarrassment of riches and chores
 Many people think of December as a leisurely time for business. That depends on your definition of leisure. (Holiday business parties don't qualify.) The week before last, we hired a recruiter, added two big accounts to our roster, actually got paid for services rendered, hit four or five soirees, met with two potential investors — oh, I almost forgot — and set up an office in Manhattan.
I've been talking about a New York City office for a year, but I finally screwed up the courage to do it. We open after the first of the year. My editorial staffing company is still based on Long Island, in the suburbs, but we're thrilled to have a presence in the midst of this magnet for media companies and job seekers. O, city of opportunity and expensive lunches! We also rub shoulders now with some of our larger competitors in the staffing industry. I plan to get to know them a whole lot better now that we're neighbors. Our new place is small — just big enough for two desks and one full-timer. I have a few thousand things to do before it's ready, not least of which is bringing in enough business to pay the rent. The next-biggest challenge is making sure this expansion doesn't make the company database explode. I'm clearly going to need a server (price tag: $3,000) to make sure both offices can be in sync. Right now, my computer serves that function, but I can't go on living with the risk that it could blow up and paralyze us. So I'll buy the server, hire a whiz kid to set it up, and pray it works. Also on my to-do list are the DSL line, the fax machine, file-sharing arrangements, etc. Whatever happened to the days when all you needed to open an office was lug in another typewriter, plug in a phone, plant a coat rack in the hall, and start working? Technology was supposed to simplify the way we do business. I must be missing something. Hey, who am I to kvetch? I'm projecting that my company's revenues will double this year. Plans for an online recruiting arm are going like gangbusters. Things look pretty good. You don't get very many weeks like this past one. Happy 2000. George.  George Giokas is the president and CEO of StaffWriters Plus, a specialty agency that places writers in temporary and permanent positions with corporate and other employers. It also provides editorial consulting work. His database includes 2,500 writers and editors specializing in more than 60 categories. His Web site is located at www.staffwriters.com, and you can E-mail him at george@staffwriters.com  | | |
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