This link has been bookmarked by 343 people . It was first bookmarked on 02 Mar 2006, by Dan McCrea.
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A "consultant" typically has multiple customers at a time, and it's more about a long-term relationship than it is about a specific project.
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The single biggest surprise to prospective consultants is when I suggest that their technical skills will not be their biggest asset.
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- Retainer
- There are many variations of retainer arrangements, but one version is where the customer purchases a guaranteed minimum number of hours per month (at a substantial discount), and they are worked off as the month goes on. These are particularly popular for outsourced IT departments, where you form a remote help desk, servicing issues as they come up.
- They are good for the customer, because they get a significant discount for a consultant, and good for the consultant, who has a predictable income stream every month.
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Happily, though: consultants are generally earning the most when they are thinking about money the least: By focussing on your customers and your skills, you make yourself the most valuable
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Consultants should always act in the best interests of their customers even if it's not so good for you.
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10 Jul 12
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16 May 12
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salesperson
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vendor I did business with
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she was not even close to being as technically competent as I was.
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I figured she'd never make it because of the "lack" of those skills.
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to take care of what was in front of her
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was ferociously dedicated to taking care of her customers
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The Warm Fuzzy Feeling™ is central to a good customer relationship.
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It didn't take long before her subject-matter skills were as good as her customer-service skills,
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ithin a wide range of problem space, they would rather pay her to "figure something out"
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Mentally
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start a timer
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ind a long line to reach a teller
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frustrating
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the longer the timer goes the worse of an experience it is
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12 Aug 11
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- Taxes
- Taxes are much more complicated for consultants, because Schedule C (Income from Self Employment) is much more complicated than Schedule A (Itemized Deductions). Every expense you have that contributes to earning income is deductible — software, auto use when traveling to customers, a good portion of your internet use — but this requires substantial recordkeeping.
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It's tempting to just get a good tax guy, but the taxes are not the hard part: it's the recordkeeping that categorizes which of your expenses are properly business expenses. It's not fair — or at least a bad idea — to drop off a box of receipts to your tax guy and have him try to read your mind. Good tax guys are not cheap, and you want to pay him to prepare your taxes, not do your bookkeeping.
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, getting into good habits of category and class will go a long way to taking care of this:
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Be Easy to Fire
There are several reasons why a customer might find it difficult to fire a consultant:
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- He does great work and is a tremendous asset
- He has passwords for everything: will he give us the list?
- He has all the source code: will we get it back?
- He has access to everything: will he do bad stuff to us?
- He hosts our DNS: will he screw with us?
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Only the first is a valid reason to keep somebody around, and customers are unnerved by the subtle fear of "what happens if...?" for the other
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Ian WilkerGeneral tips from someone who's been doing it a long time.
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Rashid Al-YahyaiWhy work 8 hours/day for someone else when you can work 16 hours/day for yourself?
I've been a consultant of one form or another since 1985 when I started my old company, V-Systems, with a friend from college, and actually did bits and pieces of consulti -
23 Jul 08
mandarineWhy work 8 hours/day for someone else when you can work 16 hours/day for yourself?
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Rekha Murthyvia cshirky. fantastic.
freelancing consulting business howto productivity lifehacks process essay for:gpeditto
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09 Jun 08
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ianmayogood article on being a practising consultant - long series of maxims to work by
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Martin KelleyVery readable personal tips from a long-time technology consultant.
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19 Mar 07
Ivan RiveraSo you want to be a consultant...?
# *** consulting business career consultant howto work job Project ProjectManagement toread
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riveraivanSo you want to be a consultant...?
# *** consulting business career consultant howto work job Project ProjectManagement toread
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04 Feb 07
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20 Dec 06
highrollerTech Tips So you want to be a consultant...? * Contact * About * TechTips * Tools&Source * Evo Payroll * Research * AT&T 3B2 * Advisories * News/Pubs * Literacy * Calif.Voting * Personal * My Weblog [Consultant Graphic] Or: Why work 8 hours/day for someon
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12 Dec 06
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Isaac RuizSo you want to be a consultant...?
business ideas learning life management opinion personal project tips
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15 Nov 06
Pete McKinstry
e is hiredto write a communications controller, build a website, or modify somesoftware, and at the end of the project: you're done and you move on.Most contractors work on one project at a time, which surely allows agreat deal of focus, and though ther-
- e is hired to write a communications controller, build a website, or modify some software, and at the end of the project: you're done and you move on.
- Most contractors work on one project at a time, which surely allows a great deal of focus, and though there is a often a bit of hanger-on work after the project has finished (say, helping the in-house staff integrate your work), once the contractor has moved on, the focus goes with him.
- This is not to say that you won't be back: doing a good job on the first project certainly means you'll be given more consideration for a subsequent project, bu
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This is the easiest to manage: you work an hour, you invoice the customer for a hour. For occasional or ill-defined work, it's hard to use anything but hourly billing. The customer bears the brunt of projects that get out of hand, and the customer is really at the mercy of the consultant for being fair. This makes many customers nervous for fear of project-creep and "churning" (defined belo
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Lux VitaeWhy work 8 hours/day for someone else when you can work 16 hours/day for yourself?
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