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I wish I could upvote this a hundred times. It's been a couple of years since I've consulted, but almost every piece of advice in this article is good. I take
by icey 18y ago
I wish I could upvote this a hundred times. It's been a couple of years since I've consulted, but almost every piece of advice in this article is good.
I take some issue with his finance section, but it looks like he's a set up as a Sole Proprietorship (it's a bad idea if you're consulting by the way; set up an LLC or a Corporation, and spend a few bucks on a CPA). It's risky to run all your personal accounts in line with your business accounts; I think most people here understand why (in case you don't, this is where "piercing the corporate veil" occurs).
Otherwise, there are tons of great pointers in here, including more than a few that I wished I had thought about when I was consulting.
If you're thinking about consulting I would seriously print this out and read it multiple times; I know it would have saved me some heartache when I was getting things figured out.
- Andys 18y agoI agree about setting up a company - I think if you're not prepared to separate personal and company accounts, you're not ready to do consulting.
- haxorize 18y agoThe Secrets of Consulting by Gerald Weinberg is also an excellent resource for consulting nuggets like those presented in the article.
- jon_dahl 18y agoOverall a great article, but I had a few issues too: 1. I worry about giving away some things for free. If you give away research time for free, or you chase a dead end and decide not to bill it, do you set a precedent that those things will be free in the future? 2. You're absolutely right on the financial front. Mingling your business and personal expenses, and not operating as an LLC or corporation, means all sorts of unnecessary risk. 3. He suggests that a consultant who only works regular hours is less valuable than a consultant who is willing to work 24/7, and so justifies lower rates. I think this is backwards: if I'm going to pay someone $100/hour, I want to know that they're thinking clearly and have slept. Otherwise, this is great advice. I wish I'd had it 5 years ago, when I started my first dev shop. The Warm Fuzzy Feeling (tm) concept right on; customers want a good relationship, and responsive communication, as much as they want technical skills.
- jbert 18y ago"If you give away research time for free, or you chase a dead end and decide not to bill it, do you set a precedent that those things will be free in the future?" I don't think so. You set a precedent that you will be fair to the customer. If you don't chisel them out of every minute, they'll trust you when you do bill them.