So, here I am, one week later. What happened in week 3?

Basically it’s a week of closing deals. I’ve now got an office, a house (although not moved in yet) and a lawyer on-board.

Step 7 – The Office
You need an Office, it’s a fact. Why? say you, “it’s a new world, we can work from home!”. Well, the US is as much the high tech world as it is a “traditional” business environment, so you really need an office to create a local presence and build credibility, but it is also crucial for Visa purposes, since the Immigration services still live in another age.

There are 3 main routes to getting an office: A-Rent an individual office; B-Rent a shared office with someone else; C-Rent a time-share in something like Regus. Always look at which options are better budgets, image credibility and possibility to increase space for business growth.

I chose option B, renting with someone else. This is a tricky option and requires that you find a willing partner and a good location for both of you. The greatest advantage is that you can have a bigger space with a lot less money, and you won’t go nuts with having no one to speak to all day. There is a risk too, you may not work well together.

My new Office (with me in it). No, it’s not the whole building, just one office.

In the first option you get the all office for you, but it costs you more. In my opinion you have better places to spend your money, and 300 or more bucks a month buys resources, advertising and even communications. Again, it depends on your budget and even the corporate image you want to give out.

The last option is a time-share office, like Regus. This was the option I was torn over. They present a very interesting business model, allowing you to have a very fancy office in a high-end building and supplying you with everything: Internet, Phone, fully equipped desk and receptionist. The price was also low but there was an added cost of parking, which in big cities adds quite a lot of money.

But there were 3 key issues that made me choose the option B: Even paying for a full week I couldn’t have my office in the same building more then 3 days in a row, making me have to switch between building in a city if I wanted a full week; An office was never mine, so I couldn’t leave anything in the office or even have my own office stationary; Finally with the parking, mailbox and other expenses it was adding almost twice as much to the monthly rent.

Step 8 – The Visa
I guess this is the one step most of you are waiting for. I’ll start by disappointing you. It is not easy. Getting a Visa is like everything else until now, you need to do research, spend money and work hard.

The Visa I’m getting is called an L1-A, which is commonly refered as a management visa. The management visa covers a senior management position inside the company as a CEO, CFO or other C-class positions. Now, all of you rubbing your hands, thinking that you can easily create a US company (even online), make yourself manager and America here I come! Sorry cowboy, not so easy.

First of all, the goal of the US Government in giving out L1 visas is to assure that directly or indirectly you are bringing money and jobs in the Economy, so no one-man-shows. “How are you doing it then?”, may you ask. Well, the company is wholly owned by the Portuguese branch, so I’ve already got a team I’m managing. This is not enough though, they need to see that you are going to make money and in turn help boost the economy, how? The business plan!

Those dreaded words, business plan, had to come eventually. After all no one should start a business without one, right? Well, most of us do, but not here. So, two choices: make a business plan yourself or hire a company to do it for you. I chose option A, even though I’m not good at economy and no financial skills to speak of, I believe it makes more sense for 2 reasons: it’s cheaper (see i do have a financial side); it’s more personnel, encouraging you to reflect on the business you are going to do.It also doesn’t seem like a copy/paste the lawyer company would produce. But don’t be stupid, there are already pre made templates for business plans, so chose one and do the hard part: write.

So now you have the business plan, but your still missing the most important part: the lawyer. This is like going shopping. First look up online for emigration lawyers in the area you want to reside. After this, shop around, preferably online. Why? Because most lawyers charge you for that initially “get to know you” visit, and trust me, it isn’t cheap to get to know the lawyer. You can probably make almost all the shopping by e-mail and on the phone. You can easily get the prices and other usefull information, such as what exactly is the lawyer going to do for you. Example: The lawyer can draw up all the paperwork, submit it, consult with you thoughout the process or he can just submit the papers you give him. I would say that you can find lawyers who will do both, but in this very sensitve case, I wouldn’t go necessarily for the cheapest.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you should go for the most expensive lawyer you find either, or event the one with the most “features”. Make a decision based on budget, availability (it is important that they are ready and quick to answer your questions) and specially give you a sense of comfort that they can handle your case. This last one cannot be explained, it’s just either there or not. Be ready to spend something between 3500 and 10.000 for the Visa (including expenses for the paperwork in the Government side).

Think of your family as well, not just you. Some of the Visas don’t allow family members to come along and place restrictions on family working (such as your wife). Research well before you make your decision, and if possible consult with your attorney on this before selecting them (not all lawyers have the experience with all kinds of emigration visas).

My process is ongoing (a lot of work), but according to the lawyer, it has an almost certainty of success, so let’s wait and see. I will keep you updated.

So, that’s it for today’s post. I’ll be moving to my new house next week and will also continue to develop local contacts and partnerships. Expect more posts in the following days.

First off, thank you for the surprising amount of interest and positive feedback I got from last nights post. Up’s the pressure for this one

So, without further ado, Let’s continue our adventure.

Note: I forgot to mention in the first post, one of the things you really need to take care of fast, a cellphone. Calls are expensive and you still can’t get a post-paid plan cause you don’t have credit history or a social security card (only available to you when you have a VISA). So, buy a prepaid and use it only when absolutely necessary, it is expensive and you pay to make and receive calls.

Step 4 – Don’t loose touch

First couple of days in the new country and everything is nice and shiny, but don’t loose touch back home. Both with your family and office, since it get’s easy to be distracted with all the work and tasks you must do, but people back home are too far and poorly informed that it makes the distance that much greater. Try to keep in touch with your office as well, since they need to understand all that your are going through, specially if you want their support.

Take lot’s of pictures. It helps people back hope visualize what is going on, since most of them don’t know the US, least of all the US in a business perspective. Try to write progress reports and keep your boss in the loop: if it wasn’t for your company betting on you, it would be hard to be here in the first place.

Another possible outlet is blogging, like I’m doing here. It doesn’t replace official progress reports or at least e-mails to your company, but is still an outlet and a way to communicate. Trust me, you need outlets. Doesn’t really matter how social your are and easy to make friends, this is a new country and you’ve just parachuted yourself here. Talking to someone is vital to maintain your sanity. Luckily there are numerous ways to communicate now a days: Skype, MSN, E-Mail, etc, so use them.

Step 5 – The House

I hate hotels. Some people can live in them, but for me, it’s awful. No sense of “yours”, no privacy and specially closed close quarters. I can’t wait to get out of this room. I’m currently waiting for the house I’m going to rent to vacant, in the meanwhile it will be a full month of hotel room.

Shopping around for a house to rent is not easy. I can sugest a few places, such as rent.com but if you want to avoid real estate premiums on top of your rent, craigslist is the best. You should look at many houses before you make your selection, but there is a lot to consider when renting.

Location, Location, Location – Seems like a joke, but it is probably the most important aspect. What you need to know when researching the best location:

• Schools (if you have kids)
• Transport accesses
• Crime rate
• Coverage (Internet, TV and Cellular)

Most of this information you can get online and nothing like visiting the location prior to searching home. Also, in the US neighborhoods mean a lot in terms of price, so it is not hard to find the perfect zone, but it is hard to find the perfect balance between rate and living conditions.

I would recommend that you start by finding a 6 months furniture rental place, hopefully behind a closed condominium that can assist in the move. Sure, it is not going to be perfect, but it will give you enough time to get out of the hotel, take care of business and VISA and a first place for your family to move in. When your family arrives, take some time with your wife to look around other places.

Step 6 – The Car

Let me start by saying, your are probably not going to buy a new car straight away. Why? You don’t have credit history and a new car is expensive. Good news though, cars in the US are CHEAP!!

Yep, a lot of stuff in the US is expensive (telecom, banks, houses) but cars, man, are they cheap. So, decide what kind of car you need (note: need not want) and move in to purchase it upfront, cause you won’t have another option. Again, google is your good friend, but Craigslist is your hommie. Nothing quite like it to help in this first stage, so search, search and buy.

Some places will say you need a US drivers license, you don’t. I bought my car and took it off the dealer with my passport, Portuguese drivers license (I recommend getting the international one though) and money. After this, take care of the insurance. It is not an obligation to be insured in the US, but I would highly recommend it. Again, no credit history, no US drivers license and no social security, work around it! I went to 3 ou 4 online auto insurances, found one that allowed me to complete the process without the drivers license (I mistakenly placed the license plate ID in my US drivers license fields). They called me back cause they couldn’t very my data, I said I made a mistake and didn’t have the US drivers license yet. No problem, give the International drivers license and make sure you are taking care of the US drivers license. As long as you tell them it’s ongoing, no problem!

So now you have a car, let’s get an office and a VISA.

Tomorrow we continue.

First of all, I know it’s been a while since I blogged here. I don’t have any magical explanation to why I didn’t blog, but time is short, ideas are shorter and I’m just not a good writer. The last one is particularly important for the post I’m going to do, since I’m not an organized writer.

As most of you that know me personally may know, I’m on a new stage in my life were I’m moving to the USA with my family to start a new company in the TOBE-Group. This decision wasn’t easy and was taken considering many items in our life, but mostly down to 3:

• I want my kids to have the best future possible, and I don’t see that happening in Portugal.
• I’m getting stale in my professional career and see no real progress opportunities in Portugal for me or my wife
• I’ve got an agressive and adventurous spirit that makes me jump, when maybe I should walk.

This last one is particularly important, as it makes me take the right and wrong decisions a bit on impulse. This is the “american gene” in me. I will explain it a bit later, but regarding this step in our lives it is still early to say if this adventure is right or wrong move, but I feel it is the right one.

Anyway, enough about “reasons”, who cares about that! I want to use this post to comment on HOW I am doing this. I’m writing this mostly to provide my inside view on how to create a US company and move over here. Hopefully it will amuse most of you and maybe even challenge a few.

As I’ve written before, I am not an organized writer, so I cannot number the steps I’m taking in establishing the company and our new life, but I guess we will all know when I’m done.

Step 1 – Believe

Yep, charming header. When I say believe I should probably say convince. You have 3 major “persons” to convince. First and foremost, yourself. It is a big step and most of you will not want to take it. You are either happy the way you are, or believe it is too much of a challenge/hassle. You have to see if this is right for you and then get over your fears.

Then (and this is my particular scenario, not applicable to everyone) convince your boss this is the right decision. Again, it depends on many different cases and may not even be the right decision. In that case and if you really want to move, consider job-hunting or investing a cool half-a-million in establishing your company. Otherwise and unless you have US relatives, VISA are a real problem. In my case, I do believe the company made the right decision as the US are a land of opportunities, where in every corner there is a new product or project.

Third, convince your family. They must see the advantages and not be pushed because of your whim. Here, I didn’t have to try too hard, as my lovely wife understood the main reason for this leap is the great future we both want for our children.

Step 2 – Get crackin

Yep, starting a company is A LOT OF WORK. You first need to do research online to where you want to incorporate. It is tricky as many states have many different advantages, but you should choose the one that is right for the company and for yourself. I’ve chosen Seattle, WA. Great place to live and excellent IT related companies (Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Expedia, etc) and Telecom business (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc).

Make a budget! Understand what you are going to spend and where. Luckily there are a few places that have online budgets and can assist you in setting up, the Internet and checking prices online to the rest. Be realistic, you don’t want to come up short.

After you have selected the place, learn the laws and taxes. Yes, more research. Know what you have to do and what are the benefits. Understand procedures. Americans are BIG on following procedures, but for every obstacle you face, there is a workaround. When you educate yourself a bit, hire a lawyer company to take care of the paperwork for you. Sure you can do it alone, but prone to mistakes that will never leave the company as long as it exists.

If you aim to have the L1 VISA, for managing the company, there are 2 cardinal rules:

1. Don’t OWN the company. They don’t like it that your are incorporating just to come over.
2. Make sure the owner is the parent company and that you are there for a few years now.

After this step you should now be holding the Certificate of Incorporation of your US company.

Step 3 – All Aboard!

And here it begins, going to the USA. Kiss your wife and kids goodbye, you are going to be away for a couple of months. It does take time and hassle to start the company and it’s not going to help you or them to stay in the hotel upset. You have a lot of different things to take care of in this first 2 months.

Money. Yep, you need it. Enough to buy a car, rent a house, rent an office and cover expenses for the first few months. To have money, you need to open an account. Ah, first problem: They don’t like you to come here and just open an account without being “here”. In our case we have the company registered in Delaware (for tax benefits) and I’m in Washington. They didn’t want to let me register the account of the company because I wasn’t in Delaware. They treat each state as a different country. After arguing with the bank manager for 1h saying it was ridiculous, I wound but going to another bank and they took care of it. So, first cardinal rule of the US-company-starting-bible:

“You are going to face many obstacles and lack of documentation. There is ALWAYS a way around it, and it usually involves people!”  - Me

(I know, smart-ass quoting himself)

But this is true. Just finding the right person to talk to will get you around a lot of red tape. It is always up to YOU. Here is where our “Portuguese” ways come in handy. We are first and foremost handy-men, where we take whatever is available and “fix” the problem. You can’t quit at the first bumps, cause there will be lots of them. Try and find solutions, look online, research. If all else fails, talk to a lawyer (costs money).

Ok..for now this is it. Tomorrow I’ll talk about what are the priorities after you get your money (house, car and office).

But can we also have too much experience? Is there a time where we are so caught up with what we already know that we lose our drive to know more, and ultimately lose our biggest asset? It is tough to know our own and even tougher to have the corporation tell you. Why? Mostly because of something called the Peter principle. The Peter principle tells us that in a corporation we keep rising inside the organization until we reach our level of incompetence. So, if we keep rising until we reach a management position where we are no longer good, who is going to tell us that we are no longer driven to knowledge or even just plain good. It is not going to be the people under us, since they are scared to lose their jobs. It is not going to be the people above us, since they placed us here and most likely don’t really know us. So we are left with nearly no chance to get out of this hole, but to do inner analysis and know we have reached our “Peter” otherwise someone up there will know and the consequences will be worse.

To finish this post I would like to highlight what would be the natural place for a experienced operator. The consultancy position is the most indicated. A position of transmission of knowledge, advice support for the operational staff and provide an mid-management overview of the project evolution. Unfortunately these positions are taken by young kids out of college that offer no experience and just another pair of hands to work.

Is this really the right way and if so is it enough? Can the value of the project really be measured only by adding expenses and invoices? What about knowledge? Image? Good relationship or even the added capabilities in the company portfolio.

I’m sure no director will choose to do a project simply based on raw figures, but if this is true for choosing to do a project, shouldn’t it be true as well when it comes time to evaluate he results?

We should try to break free of merely analitical matters when judging the sucess or failure of projects and see them for all that they really are. Who did the project? Is my resource a better employee now? In the next project will I get more productivity from him/her? What added knowledge or company visibily did it bring? At the end of a project, all these scenarios have to be taken into account to validate the outcome and what should be done to improve.

Finally (and this one is for all you managers out there), talk to your group members, collaborators, customers and bosses when you judge the project. Don’t talk only to the accounting department. Odds are, they don’t even know what your company produces.

As you can see from pointy hair manager, there is always the need to account the facts that you can't read in the excel sheets.

Really, what this means is that companies get to make money from the existing contracts, scheduled income, while not taking any new risks in development. This will allow them to fire employees, cut problem divisions and overall clean up house.

The problem is not cutting the undesired departments, but that this overall affects a companies purpose to invest, explore and most of all take risks. It’s a mental state, because after all, if you are firing me, how can you spend money on new projects and ideas?

It is time to cut the “depression” and realize that to some extent we should always be cutting and growing. Cutting the fat, growing good ideas and valuable assets.

Nothing is going to change until the day we stop looking at the oil price or the interest rates to determine if a project is a good idea or not, instead of just looking at the project. If there is something the past has shown us in multiple people and companies is that in order to stand out, be innovative and sucessful you HAVE to take risks.

Weird. I can’t seem to see that definition apply to many of the “consultants” and consultancy companies I’ve met in my life. It used to be that you hired a consultant to provide you advice in something that wasn’t your core business. You hired him, because there was a challenge in which you didn’t know all the facts, all the business angles and then you “rented the expertise” of someone else for the duration of this project.

Nowadays it seems we are hiring consultants to do the core business tasks and jobs of the company, as you would hire a worker. When is it that we trust more a consultancy company with no “emotional” bound or real feel for our business then we trust a human being, surely flawed but also someone that can grow inside the company and became truly a part of it.

We should reevaluate our business ideals and realize that when we outsource the heart of the operation to “mercenaries” then we cannot hope to have a company running it’s business with any “love”. If that happens, we are just another company in the mix..and then, we are just gone..

My name is Luís Rosa and I am a 30 year old IT professional, currently in the management seat of a small BSS/OSS software development company for the telecommunications world. With a strong technical background, I now see the world in a more overview position which leads me to this blog.

These days, corporate business is at an all time low, in my humble opinion. Greed, dishonorable conducts and lack of vision make the corporate strategies that lead to such chaotic decisions as buying stocks on high risk mortgage housing or having a fully productive factory closed because it will make more money elsewhere. Big corporate mergers such as Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia-Siemens or even Sony-Ericsson have proven that the simple concept of more isn’t necessarily better.

I want to bring these issues as well as everyday events to this blog, to share with you my concerns on how the world of corporate business is working, but also to provide you with my views and values of what should be done.

Hope to keep this interesting and updated so you keep coming back.

See you later