Found a great contract work site

Everyone

cyberguypr wrote: »

Oh my. I am toying with doing some consulting/small projects for 2012 and was looking into these people. Note to self: Start a consulting company instead.

Yeah no kidding... now if I only had the knowledge and time to attract customers willing to pay that rate on my own. If I thought I could line up enough projects to keep myself busy for even 20 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, at $200/hr, I'd quit my job and do it. Even after setting aside money for taxes, insurance (medical etc), and retirement, at that rate, I think I'd still be taking home a lot more than I do now.

Maybe in a few years. Now I know to ask for a lot more next time around.

Forsaken_GA

Everyone wrote: »

Yeah no kidding... now if I only had the knowledge and time to attract customers willing to pay that rate on my own.

Seriously, read this book -
Amazon.com: Million Dollar Consulting (9780071622103): Alan Weiss: Books

If you want to know how to do it, he'll tell you.

cyberguypr

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Seriously, read this book -
Amazon.com: Million Dollar Consulting (9780071622103): Alan Weiss: Books

If you want to know how to do it, he'll tell you.

+1. Read it this semester for a class and highly recommend it. I just gotta convince myself to give it a shot.

Essendon

cyberguypr wrote: »

+1. Read it this semester for a class and highly recommend it. I just gotta convince myself to give it a shot.

Read that book for sure, but also read Thrive! - also by the amazing Alan Weiss. It's given me a different perspective on things and has already given a positive spin to my life.

Everyone

I'm not one for reading hokey motivational/self helpish books, which was the first thing that came to mind, but after looking a little closer, I like the 3 pack deal they have, that book + "Getting started in Consulting" and "The Consulting Bible" all by the same author for $38.90... I sent my wife a link as a hint for a Christmas gift for me. :P

Definitely something I'd read, however not quite what I meant. I'm pretty good at making sales, closing deals, etc. If someone comes to me and says "we need to be able to do this", I'm really good at coming back with "Well here's the best way to go about doing it, and I can get it done for X amount". What I'm not good at is cold calling, which I imagine breaking into this would require a lot of. I can't see myself spending a bunch of time calling a bunch of local businesses and asking them if they need IT services that I am both interested in and capable of providing to them.

instant000

Everyone wrote: »

I'm not one for reading hokey motivational/self helpish books, which was the first thing that came to mind, but after looking a little closer, I like the 3 pack deal they have, that book + "Getting started in Consulting" and "The Consulting Bible" all by the same author for $38.90... I sent my wife a link as a hint for a Christmas gift for me. :P

Definitely something I'd read, however not quite what I meant. I'm pretty good at making sales, closing deals, etc. If someone comes to me and says "we need to be able to do this", I'm really good at coming back with "Well here's the best way to go about doing it, and I can get it done for X amount". What I'm not good at is cold calling, which I imagine breaking into this would require a lot of. I can't see myself spending a bunch of time calling a bunch of local businesses and asking them if they need IT services that I am both interested in and capable of providing to them.

One book I have read in the past is "The Sales Bible." It's a pretty decent read. No, I'm not a salesman, but nothing wrong with knowing the tools of the trade when you're trying to convince someone to invest in some type of infrastructure project/architecture (of course, it does help if you have your customer's best interest at heart).

Another good one is "The IT Career Builder's Toolkit."

Forsaken_GA

Everyone wrote: »

Definitely something I'd read, however not quite what I meant. I'm pretty good at making sales, closing deals, etc. If someone comes to me and says "we need to be able to do this", I'm really good at coming back with "Well here's the best way to go about doing it, and I can get it done for X amount". What I'm not good at is cold calling, which I imagine breaking into this would require a lot of. I can't see myself spending a bunch of time calling a bunch of local businesses and asking them if they need IT services that I am both interested in and capable of providing to them.

I understand. And my recommendation still stands. Alan is not hokey, or self motivational. He's very matter of fact and tells you how to play the game. He also teaches how to build yourself as a brand, and cold calling is not the way to do it. It's not easy or everyone could do it. To be frank, the books are more about manipulating people than self-help (not in a bad way, for dedicated self-interest, but in a way that is mutually beneficial to all parties involved.... good word of mouth is still the BEST way to build a brand, after all). The hard part that most IT geeks have is with the shameless self promotion part.

I also highly recommend Tribes and Linchpin by Seth Godin. And Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson. Those three books will teach you a ton about how to effectively market yourself.

I've been employing techniques I learned from all of these sources to pickup side consulting jobs for years, it usually nets me somewhere in the area of $15k to $30k additional income on an annual basis, and I fully intend to make it a full time career as soon as it's financially feasible (I disagree entirely with Alan's stance on using debt to get started in your practice)

themagicone

instant000 wrote: »

You're getting between $600 and $833 per week in side work, how many hours does this take? The offers I've seen, the math isn't there for me.

Anyone found anything legitimate in San Antonio yet?

It hasn't been worth my time to go repair the POS in Gamestop, or to repair a dot-matrix printer. I'd rather spend my time working on this Task 4 Paper for LHT2 (Cyberlaw) that I've been working on for what seems like two months now ... or watching videos for CEH. The money isn't justified yet for me.

I do it full time so it isn't side work for me. It seems like a lot but I can't keep busy so once again I've had 2 slow weeks. If you really want to get into it you have to be upfront. I tell every company that contacts me that the first job is cheap, next one isn't. It lets them and myself get a feel for each other. Most of the time I do an excelent job and after they are willing to pay me what I ask. Not true for Tolt... don't get me started on those ####ers.

Cpl.Klinger

How long did it take for you guys to have jobs show up? I only work 4 days/44 hours a week, so a few side jobs here or there isn't going to mess too much up. I just signed up tonight and got the profile most of the way done, waiting to earn some cash before I plunk down for a drug test/background check.

Everyone

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

The hard part that most IT geeks have is with the shameless self promotion part.

Oh I have no problem with that, I let people know how awesome I am all the time. I have a hard time supporting other shameless self promoters though. Think about it, the authors of these types of books have the biggest scams going. They are consulting consultants. "Buy my book, and I'll tell you a bunch of things that should be common sense but most people probably take for granted". They aren't making money doing IT consulting, they're making money selling books and giving talks telling other people their opinion on how to be successful in consulting. The success rate of people taking the advice probably doesn't even matter to them. Any failures can be brushed off as "oh that person didn't try hard enough, or didn't do it quite right. Buy my other book, or come to my other seminar, I'll help you learn what you did wrong and maybe you might do better the 2nd time." Successes are highlighted so people go "Oooh it must be awesome, I should buy into it too!"

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

good word of mouth is still the BEST way to build a brand, after all

You have to start somewhere. Unless you were already working as a "consultant" for a company with a lot of clients in your area before going out on your own, how is anyone going to know about you? Even in that case, you're likely to have a non-compete clause in your contract that will prohibit you from competing with the company you're leaving for a few years.

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

(I disagree entirely with Alan's stance on using debt to get started in your practice)

I disagree with that too, I'd rather take the approach of doing some side jobs to build some savings, and then use that savings to get started. Besides that, it isn't as easy to get big loans like that these days. When those books were written, things like second mortgages and home equity loans were really easy to get (I saw that mentioned in what was available on the preview on Amazon).

Cpl.Klinger wrote:

How long did it take for you guys to have jobs show up? I only work 4 days/44 hours a week, so a few side jobs here or there isn't going to mess too much up. I just signed up tonight and got the profile most of the way done, waiting to earn some cash before I plunk down for a drug test/background check.

Jobs were showing up within hours of putting my profile up. However it took months before anything showed up that was worth my time at all. I haven't bothered with the drug test or background check yet. If fixing POS devices or repairing consumer laptops and PCs is your thing, then you can easily bring in the range that themagicone said he's been getting without even bothering with the drug test of background checks. I get offers that add up to approximately that amount every week, I just don't accept them because they aren't worth my time.

cyberguypr

Everyone wrote: »

I disagree with that too, I'd rather take the approach of doing some side jobs to build some savings, and then use that savings to get started. Besides that, it isn't as easy to get big loans like that these days. When those books were written, things like second mortgages and home equity loans were really easy to get (I saw that mentioned in what was available on the preview on Amazon).

As part of my class I had to write about things I disagreed from the Weiss book. The debt thing was one of my main points. Another was leveraging Facebook, LinkedIn, et al. He says that you have to do everything in you can to spread the word about your services but then dismisses social networking as not being "business-like." I understand that the latest revision of the book was a couple of year ago but come on!

I was also reluctant to read it at first. I still say go ahead and read it. You will dislike some things and for some you will go "dang, how come I never though about that."

Forsaken_GA

cyberguypr wrote: »

As part of my class I had to write about things I disagreed from the Weiss book. The debt thing was one of my main points. Another was leveraging Facebook, LinkedIn, et al. He says that you have to do everything in you can to spread the word about your services but then dismisses social networking as not being "business-like." I understand that the latest revision of the book was a couple of year ago but come on!

Well, Alan's main point about social media and a website is to use it properly. Investing large amounts of time in social media is not going to give you a very good return. He's absolutely correct in saying that the people who can write the checks don't search on the internet for people, they tend to take word of mouth referrals. So using a website and social media as a marketing tool is foolish, that's not it's purpose. Instead, they're credibility tools. They're something that someone will go look at after they've already heard of you.

And honestly, I think he's right. He's not saying social media sucks, he's saying be careful of falling into the time trap. Since his advice is aimed at helping folks create a seven figure practice, and he believes that true wealth is discretionary time, it naturally follows that the wise use of the time you do spend working is what will generate that income, so focus on the things that have the best return for your practice.

Think about it this way - Chances are pretty good that you've never run into someone who landed a big contract because of their Facebook page, or something they tweeted. But you probably have run into someone who landed a big contract because of a book/paper they wrote, or a speech they gave.

On the flipside of that, I'm willing to bet there have been contracts lost because of what people posted on Facebook or Twitter because they weren't paying attention to the fact that people will go look you up once they've heard of you now. If they get a recommendation for you, and then go look at your Facebook page and see the picture you posted of you with 6 foot tall bong, they might just think twice.

Forsaken_GA

Everyone wrote: »

Oh I have no problem with that, I let people know how awesome I am all the time. I have a hard time supporting other shameless self promoters though. Think about it, the authors of these types of books have the biggest scams going. They are consulting consultants. "Buy my book, and I'll tell you a bunch of things that should be common sense but most people probably take for granted". They aren't making money doing IT consulting, they're making money selling books and giving talks telling other people their opinion on how to be successful in consulting. The success rate of people taking the advice probably doesn't even matter to them. Any failures can be brushed off as "oh that person didn't try hard enough, or didn't do it quite right. Buy my other book, or come to my other seminar, I'll help you learn what you did wrong and maybe you might do better the 2nd time." Successes are highlighted so people go "Oooh it must be awesome, I should buy into it too!"

Actually, Weiss is very candid about what his books have done for him. He understands and freely admits to the fact that having been published makes it easier to publish even more, and that publishing provides another revenue stream, as well as goes towards establishing credibility.

Believe me, I understand the skepticism. I don't like the type of book you're describing either. But I'd heard enough good things about the book that, for less than 10 bucks on the digital download, it was a no brainer for me to pick up. The book is an excellent collection of good advice and common sense, tempered by years of experience, and arranged and presented in a good format. I try and make it a habit to profit off of other peoples advice whenever possible, and the tip to offer a discount if your entire fee is paid up front was worth the cost of the book all by itself - I never would have come up with that on my own.

Anyway, I'll stop preaching. All I'll say is this, I believe Weiss is the real deal, and I think he's got alot of things to say worth listening to and considering, even if you decide ultimately to never implement any of them.

Tackle

I signed up. Doesn't look like there are many people around my location (3 people in neighboring cities), the rest towards the Twin Cities.

I put my available times for evenings and weekends, think I'll get many hits? There was a printer assignment for 11:30am today, no way I could make it.

I could handle some doing some pc/server repairs at night or on the weekends.

cyberguypr

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Well, Alan's main point about social media and a website is to use it properly. Investing large amounts of time in social media is not going to give you a very good return. He's absolutely correct in saying that the people who can write the checks don't search on the internet for people, they tend to take word of mouth referrals. So using a website and social media as a marketing tool is foolish, that's not it's purpose. Instead, they're credibility tools. They're something that someone will go look at after they've already heard of you.

And honestly, I think he's right. He's not saying social media sucks, he's saying be careful of falling into the time trap. Since his advice is aimed at helping folks create a seven figure practice, and he believes that true wealth is discretionary time, it naturally follows that the wise use of the time you do spend working is what will generate that income, so focus on the things that have the best return for your practice.

Agree with not investing much time. You can spend time creating case studies of projects you have performed, product/service reviews, or other similar content. Updating FB to promote those can't be a bad thing. If I want a 7 figure consulting practice I have to start somewhere. I'll take all the help I can get.

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Think about it this way - Chances are pretty good that you've never run into someone who landed a big contract because of their Facebook page, or something they tweeted. But you probably have run into someone who landed a big contract because of a book/paper they wrote, or a speech they gave.

True. However, I am not talking about my personal Facebook page. I am talking about a business page or whatever they call it these days. If I'm starting up I'll do anything that can help spread out my message. An intelligently done FB presence can definitely add some value. Many small and medium sized consulting firms have FB presence. Even Deloitte, Accenture and CSC are on FB. To which extent each of them leverages the platform is different but again, in the worst case it brings exposure.

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

On the flipside of that, I'm willing to bet there have been contracts lost because of what people posted on Facebook or Twitter because they weren't paying attention to the fact that people will go look you up once they've heard of you now. If they get a recommendation for you, and then go look at your Facebook page and see the picture you posted of you with 6 foot tall bong, they might just think twice.

Again, personal FB and business two separate things. Up to everyone to distinguish between those.

Everyone

cyberguypr wrote: »

Again, personal FB and business two separate things. Up to everyone to distinguish between those.

Only my wife and I like my business FB page.

Forsaken_GA

Again, personal FB and business two separate things. Up to everyone to distinguish between those.

Unless you go to pains to hide your identity on your personal Facebook page, the potential employer/client may run across those as well. I've adopted the policy of just not saying on a public feed that I wouldn't want my boss or mother to see. Keeps things much simpler.

CmptrFrk

Has anyone paid for the background check?

joshmadakor

CmptrFrk wrote: »

Has anyone paid for the background check?

Yes, anyone does this? Or the drug test? Also, what about the linking of the bank account?

veritas_libertas

I joined and I'm getting constant job offers. Unfortunately most of them are during my work hours.