You can see all the info here -

GSATC Press Release

or on the SwampFox.ws website too sans picture.

Guess that means I’m really really official now.

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www.bigbluehat.com

www.noisetrade.com

www.logforlife.com

www.digitalchalk.com

www.pinpointgeotech.com

These are some young start-up technology companies located either here in the Upstate of South Carolina or Western North Carolina that are creating products that are both functional, usable, and exciting. All of them are less than 5 years old I believe. All of them are having some great growth. All are changing the way we look at technology, use the internet, or live life.

This is a great time to be a part of the tech sector here in the Upstate and WNC.

I’m not affiliated with any of these companies in any means. I know some of the principals and have seen them grow over the last couple of years (or less).

Have a great weekend everyone!

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Being a relatively new person to the recruiting/staffing scene I’m no pro on what’s the best option for you or your company. I can only speak from what I know through my limited experience and from reading and seeing different trends on the market.

Many fast growth companies today are good at what they set out to do - sell a product, services, consult, etc. HR tends to be something that is the weakest part of a growing company (especially smaller companies). So HR functions fall on the owner, or a part-time person, or a couple of people. This can be frustrating cause now those people have to sift through resumes, screens, interviews, etc of a ton of people (with many being way under qualified) before finding that gem to hire.

Larger companies with full-time HR departments almost have the opposite problem. The HR people are so busy with benefits, policies, employee issues, etc. that they don’t have time to look through resumes and do the basic screening and interviewing. When you add a technical position on top of that the HR person really has no clue on how to screen that candidate.

That’s where we offer our value. We do all that dirty work. We sift through the resumes (many horrible, some good). We do the detailed phone screening with those candidates, and if they are local to our office then we bring them in for an in-house interview or go meet them for coffee or something. We do our due diligence so that when we present a great candidate to our client it saves them time and effort. All they have to do is schedule a phone interview and go from there.

When it comes to the contract side of staffing it’s a nice “try before you buy” model. We take the burden of payroll, benefits, time cards, scheduling, etc for those consultants on billing. If the company doesn’t like what they see they just tell us to swap out the candidate. No need for them to fire the candidate. We do it all. After 6 months or so (if it’s a contract-to-hire) that candidate then goes perm with the company. It’s a great win-win for both us as an agency and the company hiring the person.

We know trends in the industry. We’re out there calling candidates all day, talking to companies, researching on the ‘net. Many times we can spot a trend before it becomes huge. We can start building our ‘inventory’ of qualified candidates before they are needed.

We have a pretty quick response time. Many times we can fill a job for a client within 2-3 days depending on the job and who we have available. That’s a great value-add to a company looking to ramp up quickly.

I could go on and on but in a nutshell, you want to use an agency to get the job done right, to find that hard-to-fill niche, to help you make a great hiring decision, to leverage our network and expertise in hiring, and to get back doing the things you are great at and the reason you are in business.

Are our services for everyone? Probably not. Many times a start-up company has great needs but doesn’t have the budget. Sometimes a company wants to get great people but are too cheap to realize that to find great people you have to be willing to pay for them. It’s a candidate market out there right now. Especially in .Net, Java, and Flash technologies. Those consultants are a premium. If you want them,  we can get them, but be ready to pay for them.

Speaking of .Net and Java. If anyone out there is looking for a great gig here in the awesome Upstate. Let me know! I can get you something within days. It’s that hard to find great people.

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I’m hoping to get about 10 meetings for this week.

So give me a shout, I’d love to swing by your office and say hello. And drop a business card off. And get a tour of your cool IT facilities.

Oh, my placement from last month started his new gig at Nuvox today. I emailed him asking how things were and so far he’s been buried under that normal orientation and HR paperwork. I’m excited that he’s enjoying it so far (at least from what I can tell from his email). Helping someone find a great gig and improving the quality of their life is something that’s always satisfying.

Lastly, checkout NoiseTrade.com it’s a brand new music site that could really change the way consumers buy and listen to their music. Right now there’s a few indie bands listed and although I’ve not purchased any music from them yet I have been pretty happy with the selections and how everything works.

I’m not affiliated with the site at all but I do know some of the principals involved. Just wanted to spread a little viral marketing love for them.

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Ok, so it’s not a super hi-res version. I was experimenting with my Sprint Picture Messaging and wanted to see how it turned out.

This my friends is my new cube. Notice that hot looking thin client at the bottom? Eek! Not the best for video/audio but works great otherwise. I do like my big monitor, but I can’t change the resolution so it looks like I’m an 80 year old person with bad eyes. hehe.

If I remember to bring in my SLR next week I’ll try to take some better pictures and post them.

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I didn’t have access to a PC while out due to my laptop being dead so I was only able to check my Gmail from my phone (Gmail Mobile rocks btw) and do some Twittering as well. I will say that a surfing the web from a WAP enabled phone is horrible. It’s great for getting small tidbits of news or something but most sites out there are not WAP optimized and it’s still woefully slow.

I think a mobile phone being a killer ‘net device is still a bit out there.

I’m busy unpacking and following up on clients and setting up meetings. The new place is a good bit closer to home which is really nice. I’ll try to take some pics and get them uploaded to show ‘em off.

Now off to a GSATC lunch! Yum!

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It might not happen till I get back from the 4th. Headed out to visit some of the wife’s family up in PA and DE. Should be lots of fun. I get to go fishing (hopefully!) and maybe I’ll catch something worthy of taking a picture of…

This week is a short one for FGP. We are moving to our new offices about 2-3 miles away. Great for me as it’s about 3-4 miles closer to where I live. That translates to about $250.00 a year in gas savings (based on $3/gallon). I like closer.

Our new digs are going to be awesome. I’m going to try to take some pics and post them down the road.

Well, off to hit the phones and go meet a few potential clients today. Gotta pay the bills!

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On one end it’s been super great because my wife and I have found out that we’ll be having a baby boy come this November. You can read more about it on our family blog - http://allenandkaren.blogspot.com. We are thrilled beyond all measure and amazed that the life inside my wife’s tummy is our boy. I’m trying to queue up sleep but it’s not working.

On the other hand it’s been a sad week because a good friend of mine passed away last week and his funeral was yesterday. James Anthony Larsen was 31 years old and passed away from a cardiac arrest after playing basketball with some co-workers/friends last Friday. It was a shock to everyone in our church and to those that knew him from work (he worked at Nuvox Communications). I’ve known James for a couple of years and my wife and I have eaten dinner with him and his wife, Lori, in the past as well. They have two beautiful daughters who will now never get to know their dad like their mom or friends did.

The exciting thing about it all is that James is now with our Heavenly Father and we rejoice with the knowledge of that. It’s also a wakeup call to us younger people in that it’s brings the reality that our life is but a vapor as it says in James 4:14 - Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. (KJV) Without the hope of Christ and eternal life we have nothing.

The other reality is that it made my wife and I think about our finances and other things should something happen. Does she know where our accounts are? How to access them? Is our insurance up to par? Some questions were easily answered as we’ve been working on this for a while, some need to be answered soon.

What about you? Are you prepared for the unexpected? Both eternally and financially?

Remember the Larsen family as they go through this time of mourning and healing.

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Last night in the Startup Zone they had 2 companies. One was BigBlueHat.com. Ben Young and Brad Garrett were showing off their new Blue Ink CMS platform. I must say it’s very very cool. If you are looking for a great SaaS platform then give these guys a shout. I’m a little biased when it comes to BBH since I’ve known Ben for a good while now. I know his work, his entrepreneurial spirit, and his creativity. He thinks outside the box and their latest version of Blue Ink is definitely cutting-edge IMO.

The company was WeSeeYouMirror.com. Rick Matney, the President, was there showing off the product. Talk about cool! It’s one of those “Why didn’t I think of it before?” type of products. Check out their website for more info and to buy one for your car. I’m thinking that I’ll probably be getting one sometime soon (after November when the baby arrives…)

Anyways, that’s just a quick rehash of last night. Met some new people, networked a bit and got a few leads. Oh, and found out they server Coca-Cola too! Wee!

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This week is another big networking week for me. I have an IGNITE Greer event tomorrow night and a GSATC Tech after 5 event on Wednesday night. Hopefully I’ll be able to continue to find some good leads and meet new people at both events.

Going to all these networking events make for a very long day typically and I’m usually wiped out by time I get home. But it’s been enjoyable and so far I’ve been able to get a buzz on what’s new, what companies are the hot companies, and get some potential leads. Plus, most of the events are free to attend so that helps out a lot too.

I’m starting to make some traction in sales calls and getting meetings setup. This week I have a meeting with a large healthcare provider that does use our competition. Hopefully they’ll like what we can bring to the table and go with us instead! If so that would be awesome.

We’re about 2 weeks out from our move to our new offices. That’s gonna be awesome. I’m going to try to bring in my camera to take pictures (which reminds me, I need to take pictures of my current office). The new location is about 3 miles closer to my house. That’s 30 miles a week! Can you say $4.00 a week in gas savings? or roughly $208 a year? That’s like getting a Christmas bonus! hehe

Have a great week everyone! Keep aiming for those goals!

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