Cobblestone Solutions

Cobblestone Solutions officially launched in March, and since then I’ve already made a business model adjustment to account for new information, new findings, and the market reaction. Expect my plans to change regularly - the beauty of a small business is its agility. I wanted to give you a quick update on the new direction.

With the initial model, I wanted to solve two problems at once: many good companies need help with sales and marketing to grow and many good people are underengaged and looking for more work with good companies. I wanted to solve these market inefficiencies and serve as a matchmaking service.

But I ran into a few problems: 1) Legal: to place people at a client, you need to be very careful to ensure that they look like contractors not employees and the line got blurrier if I wanted to oversee their work at a client. In the end, my best bet was to hire temporary employees and act as a temp agency or hire full time employees and act like a standard consulting firm. Neither of these am I prepared to do just yet. 2) Financial: This plan was going to put me into debt and therefore at greater risk. I am not averse to debt but I realized it was a choice I was making and perhaps less than ideal. 3) Selling: I am pretty good at selling potential clients on what I can do for them. But selling them on what my network can do for them got harder.

All of these things added up up to me deciding to focus initially on building a more traditional sole-proprietor consulting practice rather than a placement firm. Fewer legal headaches, less financial risk and easier to sell. Longer term I hope to build in that direction - adding more people and consultants as my practice grows. And I also want to maintain a network of talented contractors (the Cobblestone Associate Network) to address client needs that are beyond my availability or capabilities.

So my consulting practice today focuses on working with early stage social enterprises and working with them on business development, sales and marketing.

I could say more - but get in touch with me if you’re curious.

Cobblestone Solutions helps socially and environmentally conscious businesses grow and achieve their goals. We focus on the areas of business development, marketing, communications, market research, and strategy. Rather than putting contractors and clients in ill-fitting bins, we work hard to combine good people with good companies.

To aid in this matching, we partner with many outstanding contractors from our Cobblestone Associate Network (CAN). Associates are chosen with attention to those who consistently demonstrate the skills and expertise to deliver top-notch results for each client. Our holistic method of matching contractor and client enables us to consistently deliver cost-effective, timely results, without the burden of hiring another FTE.

We currently have a diverse clientele as well as a growing cadre of Cobblestone Associates, but only one full time employee (Amie). Thus we need help in several areas, listed below.

We are an early startup, and we understand that building a functional team is more than collecting cookie-cutter resumes. As such, we are looking for people whose skills match our needs, not necessarily any preconceived list of job openings. The ability to tackle a diverse set of needs is an asset in the startup environment. As such, consider the laundry list of needs below, and feel free to pitch any and all roles that match your skill set. Our goal is to construct a functional team that meets those needs, empowers you, and is rewarded appropriately.

Though these are all contract roles for now, we plan to add benefits as the business grows.

Time Commitment: Part time (~10-25 hours/week), with long term availability desired (i.e. if we bring you in this early, we want to ideally keep you so no need apply if you have plans in the next year – best to join CAN in that case and apply here: http://bit.ly/demogV)

Compensation: Competitive hourly compensation. Start Date: ASAP Location: Soma district of San Francisco (some remote work is ok but work is preferably done from Bay Area)

General Requirements (for all 3 roles)

• You must have your own laptop and cell phone • Ability to get to Soma (bus, bart, bike, car). • Minimum 2 years work experience and Bachelors Degree • Passion for using business as a vehicle for social good • Easy going, proactive, self-directed, enjoys working in startups • Passion for growing a small, fledgling business into a successful consulting company

1) Accounting/Bookkeeping/Finance Manager

Profile

We are looking for a part time financial guru to get our finances running smoothly from the start. This will involve day-to-day bookkeeping, financial modeling for our business plan, accounts receivable, and accounts payable.

Responsibilities

• Manage all accounting and bookkeeping for small and growing startup consulting firm • Create and manage invoices for all Associates doing project work and for all clients being served • Manage payments to all Associates and Cobblestone staff • Strategic input to help determine optimal pricing strategy for clients and pay scale for Associates • Build financial projections for start-up • Create processes for making whole system more efficient and scalable – we’re starting with no structure and to grow we’ll need to automate a lot of this work

Requirements

• Finance background • Experience in start-up accounting • Enjoyment of numbers • Experience with financial modeling and business strategy a plus

2) Project Manager

Profile We need someone (will eventually be a team of people) to head up our client services. This person will be the main point of contact for all clients and interface between the Associates doing day to day client work and the client. You will basically be reviewing all work, and ensuring high quality deliverables. Since you’ll be the first one on the project management team, you’ll get the opportunity to shape the company and the way we work with clients.

Responsibilities

• Manage a team of contractors to deliver results on client projects; with high likelihood of handling many projects at a time • Ensure contractors deliver as requested, and client expectations are met and exceeded • Projects will include running business development, creating marketing campaigns, developing a social media strategy, building and managing a sales team, overseeing market research and more • Create processes for making whole system more efficient and scalable – again, not much structure in place and we’ll need systems and processes to simplify and streamline workload

Requirements

• Strong people managing skills • Excellent time management and highly efficient workstyle • Attention to detail, but ability to see the big picture • Experience with business development, marketing, social media, communications, strategy etc – the more the better, but not all required • Management consulting background is a plus

3) Community Manager

Profile

This could be included in the Project Manager’s role. This is not a typical community manager role. Rather, you will be tasked with building the Cobblestone Associate Network from a team of Amie’s friends and colleagues to a much larger, broader team of talented individuals, eventually including outside of the Bay Area, as our clients demand. You will have the ability to really impact the company and how we operate for the best.

Requirements

• Manage and develop our growing network of Cobblestone Associates (CAN) • Market the program to high potential groups and individuals • Recruit new Associates and manage application process • Determine criteria for acceptance and rejection in the Network • Create processes to make whole system more efficient

Requirements

• Same as Project Manager • Experience building networks and communities

TO APPLY: Email Julia Tran at cobblestonejobs@gmail.com with resume and cover letter.