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I’m a consultant and bootatrapped it into a profitable firm. First, understand the difference between a contractor and a consultant. Though not all differentiat

I’m a consultant and bootatrapped it into a profitable firm. First, understand the difference between a contractor and a consultant. Though not all differentiate the two, many do and that’s reflected in the market rates associated with them (consulting == contracting + hard-to-find expert advisory). Convert a single existing FTE role into a consulting engagement to get you started if you can. If not, your ability to sell yourself is highly variable and something you’ll need to try and fail at a few times — this is highly dependent on your personal social strengths and weaknesses in my experience making quality general advice hard to give. Have 3-6 months living expenses in the bank, at least. This will help smooth out cash flow inconsistencies. And perhaps the most important thing is to not waiver on your rates. There are many leads that won’t pay for value; avoid them for the many who will. It will seem at times that lowering your rates is necessary, but its far more likely to be a symptom of looking in the wrong place for the right clients; recognize this as a fail in the try/fail cycle, and try again. Happy to answer more questions if you can narrow down your ask to specifics.

deserted 5y ago
> Convert a single existing FTE role into a consulting engagement to get you started if you can Can you give an example of what this would look like?
- herewego 5y ago
  Often it’s as simple as requesting it. In my experience, the first few are less about being hard to convert and more about getting a 1:1 rate that is truly market rate and not just the equivalent of salary + benefits = rate. It should really be salary + benefits value + risk value (e.g. 100k/yr FTE salary is more like 100/hr contract rate, not 70/hr (need to include risk!). Also, push hard for a weekly rate and not hourly. Daily rate is second best but still much better than hourly. Again, remember the risk side. You need to compensate yourself for this and market rates usually take this into account, so don’t second guess why market rates are as high as they are (imposter syndrome can get in the way here for some, so keep that in mind too). If you’re at an enterprise, sometimes you can go to one of the major contract vendors used by the enterprise for placing contractors, start an LLC (or other legal entity), and subcontract through them. If you can, though typically less successful in the enterprise space when you’re one person or building a small firm (the space I operate in) unless you are highly valued by your target company, try to go direct as a vendor yourself. There are many long term benefits to having vendor status in an enterprise.
fultonla 5y ago
I'm also considering pursuing the independent consultant route and bootstrapping into a firm would be my end goal. Would you mind sharing what the steps in that process were for you?
- herewego 5y ago
  See my comment to deserted in this thread. Does that clarify the steps or is there something more specific you’re asking about?

deserted 5y ago

> Convert a single existing FTE role into a consulting engagement to get you started if you can Can you give an example of what this would look like?

herewego 5y ago
Often it’s as simple as requesting it. In my experience, the first few are less about being hard to convert and more about getting a 1:1 rate that is truly market rate and not just the equivalent of salary + benefits = rate. It should really be salary + benefits value + risk value (e.g. 100k/yr FTE salary is more like 100/hr contract rate, not 70/hr (need to include risk!). Also, push hard for a weekly rate and not hourly. Daily rate is second best but still much better than hourly. Again, remember the risk side. You need to compensate yourself for this and market rates usually take this into account, so don’t second guess why market rates are as high as they are (imposter syndrome can get in the way here for some, so keep that in mind too). If you’re at an enterprise, sometimes you can go to one of the major contract vendors used by the enterprise for placing contractors, start an LLC (or other legal entity), and subcontract through them. If you can, though typically less successful in the enterprise space when you’re one person or building a small firm (the space I operate in) unless you are highly valued by your target company, try to go direct as a vendor yourself. There are many long term benefits to having vendor status in an enterprise.

fultonla 5y ago

I'm also considering pursuing the independent consultant route and bootstrapping into a firm would be my end goal. Would you mind sharing what the steps in that process were for you?

herewego 5y ago
See my comment to deserted in this thread. Does that clarify the steps or is there something more specific you’re asking about?