Business Advice

Dave, I’m not sure where to turn so I’m going to ask you: how much do I have to worry about what people who are part of my far-flung “virtual” corporation do when they’re not working directly for me? I can’t share too many details because the situation is touchy, as you might expect, but basically I have someone working for me as a writer, contributing material for my blog, and I have been hearing that he’s writing some pretty far out, offensive material on other sites. Do I need to worry about it?

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Dave, this is a simple question, but profound: how come almost every new tool that Google releases stays in “beta” forever?

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Dave, I am the guy in our little town that everyone calls when their computer won’t work. I don’t know anything about the hardware end of it except I can usually tell when a piece of hardware isn’t functioning. It is usually always a matter of not tended to updates or spyware & virus problems.
Here’s the question: Sometimes I spend hours or even days getting these machines back to good working condition and the people want to pay me for the service. I don’t have any what you would call qualifications for the kind of service I’m performing except a love of computers since my first Timex 2k machine (do you remember that one) and mostly common sense. I don’t feel I have a right to charge with this kind of background. Do you have an idea what program I could take that would give me some kind of certification in this area of computers? Or am I alright charging a reasonable fee for services rendered as I am now? Thanx for your kind input.

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Dave, I’m interested in proposing a partnership arrangement with a Japanese firm but don’t really know how to go about it. What kind of things should I make sure are included in my letter? Is a letter the best way to contact the firm? Etc., etc. I feel a bit like I’m up a creek without a paddle. Can you help me out?

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Dave, I’ve been reading all this controversy about the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and how it costs companies tons of money to come into compliance, and how it gives too much control to the government, etc etc. At the same time, not a day goes by without some company delaying or restating financial reports. As an investor, this is driving me bonkers! Can you tell me a bit about Sarbanes-Oxley so I can get a handle on it? Thanks.

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I got the following email message this evening, but something about it seems wrong: “Hello, I am interested in buying your domain xxxx.com If you are interested in selling it, please reply how much would you want for it? We can make the domain transfer operations safely, over escrow.com. I can pay for the cost of domain transfer operations. Thank you in advance for your time. Techweb System Co. LTD.” Is it legit, or not?

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Dave, as a hiring manager at a large almost Fortune 1000 company, I constantly find myself looking at resumes and trying to weigh the relative value of degrees from different colleges. Does someone with a computer science degree from MIT or an MBA from Stanford but less relevant experience beat someone with a similar degree from Unknown U., and multiple years of directly applicable work? What do you think?

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