Name: Jean Graef
Title: CEO of Virtual Company
Location: Western Massachusetts
Years as an Independent Contractor: 10

Monster.com: What kind of independent contractor are you?

Jean Graef: I am not exactly an independent contractor. We are a "virtual company" offering products and services to domestic and foreign companies. In addition to the two full-time employees in Montague, we also have several part-time staff members and use writers, researchers, and software developers in other locations. We help large companies figure out how to use the 'Net and Internet technology to share information, create publications and do business intelligence research. Our clients are knowledge-intensive companies, big five accounting firms, pharmaceutical companies, technology-based manufacturing companies and others. We do custom research for companies that want to improve how their IT functions to support their product development and other functions. Through research, surveys, trade journals, talking to suppliers, personal contacts and customers, we show our clients how other companies with similar situations have solved the same problems.

Mc: What (or who) pushed you to go solo?

JG: I am not completely on my own -- I went into business with my husband, and he has been an important part of the team since day one. He has a long history of working for himself in the employee benefits business. I started at a large state university, then went to a company that supplied a service to the university, then I worked for a start-up. Someone came up with the idea, someone financed it and I figured out how to make a business out of it. I stayed three years and then realized [that] if I was working this hard I should go off on my own.

Mc: At what point did you realize that you could actually make a living on your own?

JG: After we started doing it. We've been making a living for ten years and we've been profitable from the beginning. I had a lifestyle that I had made a commitment to and I couldn't go back.

Mc: What differentiates you from other people doing similar work?

JG: My partner and I are good at figuring out what the next best IT thing is -- anywhere from six months to five years ahead -- and helping companies implement it. Before the Web was commonplace, we worked with a university to show them how to create an information profit center where they could sell information services and access to an electronic library. We are not just theorists; we show people how to do it.

Mc: What's the biggest mistake you've made to date?

JG: There are two. Before the Web, we invested a lot of money in print. We over-invested in print marketing -- buying color brochures, color newsletters and giving them away for nothing. It dawned on me that I should be selling these items. Early on we were selling a unique product -- an executive briefing, a white paper, covering employee benefits and how this concept would benefit an executive. So we started selling them for $15.00 a piece. CFO magazine (http://www.cfonet.com) announced the briefing, and we started getting checks in the mail. We still do executive briefings -- 30 to 50 pages [in] full color, and you also get a password to a private Web site with access to source materials. The price is now $125 and up.
The second mistake was listening too much to other people. Early on we spent a lot of time talking to people about partnering and sometimes got off track. We are still open to working with affiliates, but we have a much better idea of what the relationship should be, and we have more products and services available for licensing to affiliates.

Mc: Tell us about your most memorable project.

JG: Our most memorable service -- we are a boutique product and services company -- is the Society of Knowledge Base Publishers. My partner had been urging me to start a membership organization for a long time. I resisted because I thought it would be a lot of work -- every month another newsletter to pull together, etc. In the summer of 1997 I finally gave in. The Society combines several of our activities -- a monthly newsletter, executive briefings, seminars and "virtual library" software -- and is a renewable source of income. It's good for clients because it allows them greater access to our intellectual capital and that of other Society members.
In the winter of 1998 we started a series of informal roundtable discussions where Society members could meet face-to-face, exchange ideas and demo their projects. This winter we introduce the Knowledge Base Publishing Library, an electronic "card catalog" that lets members organize articles on their own hard disk. Society membership is growing, members are renewing and we are continually adding new membership benefits.

Mc: How has working as an independent contractor affected your personal life?

JG: Being in business for myself has allowed me to work at my own pace, enjoy my family to the max, work in the garden whenever I want and deduct the cost of new computers from my income tax. Actually, trying out new hardware and software is an essential part of the service we provide.

Mc: Any advice for your fellow soloists?