Inara: You don't have to die alone. Mal: Everybody dies alone.

'Out Of Gas'


Buffista Business Talk: I wanted simple, I wanted in-and-out, I wanted easy money.

A virtual watercooler where Buffistas in business can talk, share, exchange, bemoan, exult and assorted other power verbs associated with all areas of running/starting up a business. For existing or potential Buffista business owners of all types. Spamming is NOT ON. A list of our Buffista owned businesses is on our links page.


Strix - Jun 06, 2011 2:45:39 pm PDT #75 of 1416
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger

Random writerly: Anyone know off the top of the head, if you buy a book and review it, if that can be counted as a business deduction?

I'm swamped this week, but want to read and, I think, review Mira Grant's Deadline book, next week, and I thought, "Wait, can I CLAIM that?"

I'll look it up later, if no one knows, but it's just a sudden thought.

(I AM going to get an accountant, I just can't afford it yet. So I'm trying to do my best on my own for a bit.)


Ginger - Jun 06, 2011 3:54:36 pm PDT #76 of 1416
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda

Anyone know off the top of the head, if you buy a book and review it, if that can be counted as a business deduction?

Yes.


§ ita § - Jun 06, 2011 5:59:19 pm PDT #77 of 1416
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

So, I found when I'm looking for a job, people ask me for examples of work product. As a project manager, most of my work product is property of my prior employers. And I'd think it's a really bad idea to show a potential employer/customer someone else's stuff, because it could be them you're robbing next.

Do you guys have a stack of sample docs, if you're in a field like mine? Project docs? Sample project plans are easy enough to come by--they just have to be a list of milestones of varying levels of granularity, but communication plans and requirements analyses, etc, what do you do for that shit?

I can never even find good templates (my current job doesn't have a standard) for most project deliverables.


Dana - Jun 06, 2011 6:24:27 pm PDT #78 of 1416
"I'm useless alone." // "We're all useless alone. It's a good thing you're not alone."

As a tech writer, I had trouble for my first two jobs because the stuff I'd worked on was confidential. Couldn't take any samples with me.

Can you use something from a previous job, but redact identifying bits?


§ ita § - Jun 06, 2011 6:27:38 pm PDT #79 of 1416
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

They're so specific, though. The work product is so in every line. Its not easy to describe a piece of software and miss the point and get across good writing,


Dana - Jun 06, 2011 6:33:23 pm PDT #80 of 1416
"I'm useless alone." // "We're all useless alone. It's a good thing you're not alone."

Can you use us, or is that too far in the mists of time?


§ ita § - Jun 07, 2011 6:15:38 am PDT #81 of 1416
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

I would have to sit down and actually write this site up, but that could be a good exercise.


Strix - Jun 10, 2011 8:55:36 am PDT #82 of 1416
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger

Oh, thank God, the Monday deadline is for ONE section of this current big project.

Oh, email, you are my friend today!!


Calli - Jun 10, 2011 10:16:36 am PDT #83 of 1416
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs

As a tech writer, I had trouble for my first two jobs because the stuff I'd worked on was confidential. Couldn't take any samples with me.

I had a similar situation when I applied for this job. I ended up sending an article I'd written for a freelance job 10 years earlier. I think the hiring manager had to check a box marked "writing sample sent in," and that got it done.


Jesse - Jun 17, 2011 6:21:04 am PDT #84 of 1416
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

FYI, here are some suggested guidelines for editorial freelancers: [link]