At some point in your IT career you have probably been asked by a family member, close friend or some other acquaintance to help them with a computer problem they are having on their home/work computer (this is the IT equivalent of having a pickup and always being asked to help friends move). Even if the problem is something totally outside your realm of knowledge; because it has to do with a computer, you are the first one that they think about. If you do this enough, you may start thinking about making some money at it by declaring yourself as a consultant. With the economy and job market the way that they are this is not a bad way to keep you skills set sharp for that next job, or gaining the experience that most companies want you to have. Before you get business cards printed up and start dreaming of all the work that you are going to have pouring in, there are some things that you should know first.
- 1. Get everything in writing. This means that when you go into a customer’s office (whether they are a new customer or old makes no difference) and you start describing what tasks you are going to perform; write them down. At the end of the conversation, review what you talked about, what you are going to do and what the desired outcome is going to be. Get the customer to sign the document. This will prevent them from coming back later and trying to get you to do more than you bargained for (chills are going up my spine because this happened back when I first got started…not a good situation).
- 2. Always search for new business. You may think that your customer base is going to support your consulting business into your golden years and allow you to retire to that grass shack in Tahiti, but if you are doing your job properly, at some point in your relationship with the customer, they won’t have anything left for you to do. Don’t just rely on work of mouth to expand your consulting business, actively seek out new opportunities to expand…the worst thing that can happen is that you have to hire help to meet the growing demand (not always a bad thing).
- 3. Organize your workspace. Chances are, starting out at least; you are going to be working from home. Make sure that you (and your family) know that when you are in your office, you are in your office and working. A lot of times if I have a deadline for a project I have to go to the library or lock the door to my office because if I am visible at my house…the honey-do list rears its ugly head or the kids need me to take them somewhere. Working from home should be no different than going to an office.
- 4. Stay focused. This actually is a continuation of the rule above. If you have distractions in your office; games, TV, or anything else not supporting the project that you are working on, it gets very easy to slack off because to be honest, those distractions are a lot more fun than working. Let me give you a public service announcement about being a consultant…If you don’t work, you don’t get paid; pretty simple really.
- 5. Stay up with new technology. This can be really hard to do, once you get a number of clients, we as consultants tend to reuse the same tried and true technology that we are used to because it is easy to take something that you have already done and modify it for a different situation (even though it may not be the best solution). Now you can say that you will read about new technology on the web, or in magazines; or maybe you will say that you will have the time to take training classes, but remember the moral to rule number 4, if you take the time to read, or take classes, then you are not working and therefore, not getting paid. So how can you stay up on technology and still be working? Join any one of the professional organizations in your area. Not only do they bring in speakers to tell you about what is going on outside your little world, but it is a chance to meet prospective clients that need some help with a project that they are working on and is a good fit with the experience that you have.
- 6. Get everything in writing. Okay so I have already said this, but from my experience this is really the most important thing on the list. As I mentioned before, when I started as a consultant, my word was the only contract that I thought that I would need. Unfortunately not everyone thinks the same way that I do; I had a custom programming project for a customer and since we (I) did not write anything down they were able to keep coming back and add new ‘features’ that they wanted, but didn’t want to pay for. I finally had to let the project go (for no compensation on my part) just so that I could have the time to work on projects that I would get paid for. Since that time, I have always had the customer sign a contract (you don’t have to have a lawyer write one up for you, but it would not be a bad idea to have one look over a template that you could use).
So I hope I didn’t scare you off from being a consultant, but I do hope that I gave you some ideas of what not to do. For the record, when I first started as a consultant 15 or so years ago, I did every one of the things that I have told you not to do…sometimes that learning curve can be a real bear.
The Leader in Network Knowledge
Get it in writing...yep..
I had a "great" consulting gig lined up about a year back, when I put it in writing that was the last I heard from the customer. That was no problem to me, as the last thing I wanted was scope creep to the vanishing point of profit. Worth turning down jobs if the customer won't sign. The other issue that it brings up in liability. You touch an accounting system, for example, and it crashes, guess who might get sued? Holding liability insurance is worth checking into.
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