Small Business

Bl8ckr0uter

Anyone here do any consulting (independent or a part of a company)?

nicklauscombs

i did previously with a company.

Bl8ckr0uter

I just wondering if anyone has struck out and started a company of any sorts. How much experience did they have when they did it and how did they know when they were "ready"....

nicklauscombs

there's obviously some level of expertise needed to venture on your own but i think questioning yourself before jumping in will happen no matter where you are at in your career/knowledge. you just gotta go for it if you want to.

Bl8ckr0uter

You are probably right. I am just very anxious to create my own wealth but I don't want to do anything half baked. I need to really sit down with some SBA reps.

effekted

I'd say you are more than competent enough to start consulting for SMB's. After I knock out CCNA and either MS or RH cert(s) I am going to start going around to the SMB's local to me and solicit network/server work. My colleague currently does work for a doctor (upgrades their application and any desktop support/networking) and just made $400 (he invoiced $300 and the dr told him it looked cheap and gave him an extra $100) for a half week or less of work.

Bl8ckr0uter

I think I need to beef up my linux knowledge (or server knowledge) before I go for it.

KenC

If you always wanted to do this type of work, then nothing is going to stop you from doing it (it is like an itch you just have to scratch at some point), so you may aswell get started sooner rather than later. That being said, you will need other skills sets apart from technical skills, so you will have to investigate further every aspect of going it alone.

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

I think I need to beef up my linux knowledge (or server knowledge) before I go for it.

When you have set up, you should have a training plan (it can be as formal as you want it to be) to keep upskilling, so I wouldn't wait, learn as you go.

Bl8ckr0uter wrote:

My colleague currently does work for a doctor (upgrades their application and any desktop support/networking) and just made $400 (he invoiced $300 and the dr told him it looked cheap and gave him an extra $100) for a half week or less of work.

If a fast buck is what you are after, then this is not the path to take.

And just in case you missed it, I'll repeat it again, if a fast buck is what you are after, then this is not the path to take.

TLeTourneau

I've done it, my advice is to incorporate and be sure to get liability and E&O insurance to cover yourself and any other people that may work for you. Figure out your expenses and then come up with a base rate to work from. Figure out a reasonable rate for your area, I had set my base rate at $85/hour but it could (and often did) vary depending on client circumstance and needs. It gives you a starting point for discussion. Before people jump on me about the rate I was working in a very rural area at the time. Don't try to get work by undercutting the competition either; you'll exclude yourself from some clients that think that you’re too inexpensive to know what you're doing. I also recommend not pricing by the job, price by the hour and give quotes that estimate the time involved with language describing allowing for a 10% pre-authorized variance for unforeseen problems and the process that will happen if the time needed exceeds the time quoted. Pricing by the job can lock you into an absolute that can quickly become unprofitable if things beyond your control go south. Also consider doing a scope of work document for all projects, it saves confusion about what is expected and allows you to do additional billing for add-on work.

In the half week (or less) example given by effekted, assuming it was a half weeks work (20hrs), I would have charged between $1000.00 and $1700.00 for that amount of time. The variance depends on a few things such as how long I've been doing work for the client (preferred client rates) or if the client pre-paid for a block of support hours.

That's what I've done and had there been enough work in that rural area I'd probably still be doing it but I was offered a position I couldn't pass up so I don't do that much consulting anymore but I still have the corporation and the insurances just to CMA for the consulting I still do.

effekted

TLeTourneau wrote: »

In the half week (or less) example given by Bl8ckr0uter, assuming it was a half weeks work (20hrs), I would have charged between $1000.00 and $1700.00 for that amount of time. The variance depends on a few things such as how long I've been doing work for the client (preferred client rates) or if the client pre-paid for a block of support hours.

It ended up only being like 5-6 hours of work over the course of a few days (after normal 8-5) and majority of that was on the phone with the vendor since the instructions for upgrading the application were totally wrong. Got to love instructions that vendors still provide to customers knowing that if you follow them it completely screws up the install.

TLeTourneau

effekted wrote: »

It ended up only being like 5-6 hours of work over the course of a few days (after normal 8-5) and majority of that was on the phone with the vendor since the instructions for upgrading the application were totally wrong. Got to love instructions that vendors still provide to customers knowing that if you follow them it completely screws up the install.

Well that's more in-line with what I'd expect...

(Not that what I think matters )

Bl8ckr0uter

Good information guys. This has actually sparked me to make some adjustments to my desired skillset. Thanks for the information .

cyberguypr

You may want to get a hold of the book Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss. Although not everything applies to IT, there's lot of valuable advice that will definitely be useful.

stlsmoore

cyberguypr wrote: »

You may want to get a hold of the book Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss. Although not everything applies to IT, there's lot of valuable advice that will definitely be useful.

Yea I'm currently reading that myself.

Bl8ckr0uter

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll be sure to check the book out.