Re: Photodiode amplifier noise

On Mon, 04 May 2009 12:48:51 -0700, Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Phil Hobbs wrote:
Joerg wrote:

[...]

You could carve out a niche catering to the fiber optics scientists,
an area where extreme profit margins are customary. But it depends
where you live. California is currently too biz-unfriendly for me to
start anything where I'd need employees or where sales are involved.
If you live in NY state it could be the same.


That thought has come up in conversation. Stay tuned.


Interesting! BTW, it would be good if your web site states a few more
details about exactly what kinds of projects you feel competent to take
on, experiences and so on. If a client needs a consultant in the optics
area I would know where you'd be a good match but I found that a lot of
people come to my web site out of coincidence, and then call. No
referrals or anything. About half of those "inverse cold calls" result
in actual consulting. Some of them really interesting, the usual analog
stuff but totally new markets for me.

When you open a real brick-and-mortar kind of business which you almost
have to if you produce anything, watch out for overregulation,
over-fining and stuff like that. Even if it's just you and a couple of
techs some day they might hit you because one bathroom isn't 100%
compliant with some law or the lettering on some poster was too small.
Best to do that in a state that's very biz-friendly and also won't tax
your biz into oblivion.

We haven't had a lot of interference, here in San Francisco. We're
across the street from the Building Inspection Department and four
blocks from City Hall.

The fire department inspects us once every year or two and checks the
fire extinguishers and tests the alarm system. The State Disability
folks check our paperwork every couple of years... no problems so far.
No hassle about bathrooms or posters or other nuisance stuff. Of
course, state and fed taxes are horrible.

Graffiti is a nuisance. The city writes us up if there stuff on our
building. We'll get a fine if we don't paint it over within something
like 60 days after the notice, which is silly since we get tagged a
couple of times a week. Of course, nobody arrests the taggers, because
if they do the judges dismiss them.

I don't blame companies who "offshore" their manufacturing to Alabama
or Mexico. That would export a lot of expensive problems.

John

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