Message-ID: <7275301.1075852815709.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 15:13:58 -0700 (PDT) From: dolson@smileatyou.com To: klay@enron.com Subject: Advice Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: "Derek Olson" @ENRON X-To: KLay@enron.com X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \KLAY (Non-Privileged)\Inbox X-Origin: Lay-K X-FileName: KLAY (Non-Privileged).pst Kenneth Lay Enron Corp. The reason I'm writing you is because I'm in a position of looking for advice from someone who's already 'been there, done that'. And you have achieved what I am looking for which is to lead a company to success. I started an online company in 1998 and about a year ago I decided to quit my 'normal' job and go after my dream. This last year has been an incredible learning experience in starting and running a successful business. The main problem I'm facing today is that one year with minimal profits has eaten into my financial cushion to the point that I am now faced with a very big decision. In order to support my new family I need more cash-flow to simply pay the bills. Of course I can always go work for another company since I have an Engineering degree from the Colorado School of Mines as well as 5 years of running an IT department in addition to my last few years of Entrepreneurship. I know in my heart that my place in this world is to lead the way and succeed in the business world. And while I have achieved great success working for other people I know it isn't where I'm supposed to be. But when it comes to supporting my family I sometimes need to place my dreams and desires on the back burner. I have considered writing programs on a consulting basis to assist in funding my company. My skills as a programmer have led to a very different way of designing applications in the sense that I have a great feel for the bigger picture of what the program needs to accomplish and I'm then able to put the code together in a very organized and timely manner. So I guess that explains my situation pretty good. I have a few choices: 1. Continue my company using a few untapped financial resources such as my retirement. 2. Continue my company part time and write programs and develop web and e-commerce solutions for other companies. 3. Go work for another company. And while I don't have any specific questions for you, any thoughts, suggestions or guidance would be greatly appreciated. I would love to see us playing golf together someday at a big CEO conference. Here is a link to a few pictures so you know who you're talking to: http://www.smileatyou.com/wedding.html Sincerely, Derek Olson