Signs of life here in the valley?

Today I had a recruiter from a very well-known company here in the valley try to talk me into considering closing down the consulting business and coming to work for them. This hasn't happened to me in quite some time. Sure, I've gotten calls from recruiters about jobs over the past few months, but I haven't had anyone give me the hard sell about it in over a year. I won't say who the company is, but I will say that they have been thriving despite the downturn, and I would think they would have very little problem finding good talent right now. On top of this the package was very competitive - it isn't like they were trying to lowball candidates and couldn't get anyone to sign on.

I take this as a good sign.

Other good signs:

1.) I've gotten five or six inquiries for work in the past few weeks. (not all that meaningful by itself, but the fact that this is happening in July and August, which are usually completely dead, is an interesting data point)

2.) The Mercury News is actually beginning to publish some articles that are positive and would give the readership some hope.

3.) Almost all of the people that I know that had been out of work for a year or more have found reasonably good jobs in the past 2 months.

It'll be interesting to see whether things pick up after Labor day and going into the Fall...

The 280 Group is born...

After five successful years in the marketing consulting business I've decided to give the business a new name and expand the services that we offer. Actually, the former company name (Lawley Enterprises) was only intended to be a placeholder when I launched the business, but things were so busy for the first few years that I never had a chance to look back.

Why the 280 Group name? Well, it meets many of the criteria for a good name: short, memorable, story to tell around it, url was available, not trademarked, not too "cute", conveys (at least somewhat) the essence of what we do (working with hot companies in Silicon Valley). Along with all of this, 280 provides one of the most beautiful scenic drives in the world, while being right next to the center of the high-tech action. From Buck's to Sand Hill Road to Stanford to Crystal Springs to the San Jose skyline, there is nothing like it. Our hope is that our clients will feel the same way about the work we do for them.