Shares and Customers

I’ve been doing work for my American customer Tuesday and today. I didn’t do anything yesterday because of a bad cold. Anyway, I wasn’t expecting to do anything before being physically in the US next week so this is good.

Yesterday, I got some papers from Jordans, the company I created my company through and who act as my Company Secretary for the first year. They are not the cheapest on the market but they really know their stuff so it’s all been pretty smooth working with them. The papers I got through the post were the share allocation ones, that I signed and sent back today. I originally created the company with 100 shares and decided to allocate 51 to myself and leave the other 49 in the pot, in case I want to issue more to potential future partners. It doesn’t really matter if it stays a one person company but you never know. So, at £1 per share, I am now the proud owner and director of a company with a capital of £100!

Back to potential customers, I had a long call with the senior technical guy from the company that has offices in Malta that I had been talking to before. It sounds interesting and what they require is right up my street. Maybe I’ll end up visiting Malta when I’m back from the US.

Then again, this is all speculation because I also had a phone call from the guys in Saudi Arabia. They need help and it sounds urgent. My contact there is actually flying out tonight to meet me tomorrow and flying back Saturday! That’s a return ticket Riyadh-London and a hotel room booked at the last minute to discuss a key project! Then again, he sent me the requirements document and I do understand why they’ve got a problem now. Nothing impossible, you understand, just… difficult. If I ever work on that one, I’ll need a bullet-proof contract before I do anything, as they do like to argue the terms of a contract after it’s been signed over there.

After 11 years in the IT industry, I have learnt to become pragmatic and take things as they come. The amount of work that is generated as a direct consequence of something going wrong and needing fixing is scary. It happens even if you are extremely professional and try to do The Right Thing™. But then, who am I to complain? It looks like direct consequences of unfortunate events are going to pay part of my bills for the months to come.

See more progress on: Start my own business