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Businesses The Almighty Buck IT

So You Want To Be A Consultant 260

Posted by michael from the billable-hours dept.
Stephen Friedl writes "I've been a self-employed consultant for almost 20 years - I still have my first customer! - and I'm asked often about the business by those who are considering it. It's not for everybody, and there are often surprises, so I've written up a Tech Tip that recounts my experiences and provides advice for the n00b. Executive summary: It's much more about customer service than it is about technical skill."
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So You Want To Be A Consultant More

So You Want To Be A Consultant

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  • are you going to pay me? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 30, 2005 @02:10PM (#11521116)
    Even if you regularly invoice at the start of every month, customers have their own schedule for paying, and this can be nerve-wracking to deal with

    I think that's the reason why I wouldn't do consulting/contracting. A friend of mine recently decided to be self employed as a consultant and the biggest problem is getting people to pay him in an orderly fashion. When you are your own business you end up putting up money for various things, and when your incomming payments start to lag, you can end up in serious trouble.

  • Re:So true ... customer service keeps me in busine (Score:2, Informative)

    by jth213 ( 795679 ) on Sunday January 30, 2005 @02:34PM (#11521282)

    Be available. This includes evenings, weekends, and vacations.

    This is exactly why I STOPPED being a consultant.

  • Re:One of the most debased professions... (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 30, 2005 @02:55PM (#11521419)
    True, true, very true....

    2005 marks my 18th year in the busines.. One thing I've noticed is that when I started, it was all about technical skills. Now I'm more of a managerial mercenary, shopping my skills to whoever will pay. I haven't done much technical work in the past two years, but have been contracted to manage upgrades, deployments and new software (purchase, training).
  • > Working for a consulting company is an entirely different ball of wax.

    This is absolutely true: being just one guy has a whole different set of dynamics than being a firm. One of the nice things about being solo is that overhead is generally so much less, but your customers don't see much depth for backup. I'm sure the list of difference is long and distinguished...

    Steve

    P.S. - I'd love to know what else you disagree with, either here or privately.

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