[Baypiggies] Thoughts on starting a career as a consultant?

[Rami Chowdhury]

On Tuesday 22 June 2010 12:30:49 Elizabeth Leddy wrote: 
> Oh and be prepared for people to not pay on time. I've had clients that
> were on the mark and paid days later and others that dragged it out for 6+
> months. Really business/money saavy clients know how to string you along.
> Keep a keen eye out for these types and make sure the payment terms are
> strict and clear, with penalties.

+10 to this, too. Unbelievably frustrating. 

I've been freelancing since February, and while I can't speak to some of the 
other concerns as I'm only doing this till I go back to school this August (so 
skimping on health insurance, getting most of my work from people I met months 
ago, etc) the late payments thing is really nerve-wracking.

> 
> On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 11:07 AM, John Withers <grayarea at reddagger.org>wrote:
> > I can handle a couple of these, others I don't know so much about.
> > 
> > Note that I have been w-2 for the last 7 years, so my thinking might be
> > somewhat out of date.
> > 
> > 1. Hook up with a good designer who understands code and dealing with
> > clients. This a must or you are going to severely limit the range of
> > your possible contracts. In my experience about 50% of the people you
> > run into are going to need the whole shebang. Or, as I have seen more
> > than once, they start with a designer, realize they don't actually like
> > what is happening, and start casting about. If you have one in your
> > pocket, your stock shoots up. You can email me personally if you want a
> > reference to someone I think is quite good and have worked with.
> > 
> > 2. Healthcare and taxes are brutal. Spend some time getting to know
> > about these issues. Then sit down and start drawing up how many hours
> > you have to work at what for you seems a slightly low rate, a medium
> > rate, and a high rate. Then compare your rates with others who are
> > working as freelancers and see how they stack up. Too many people don't
> > do this before they leave a W-2.
> > 
> > 3. Attracting those first few clients is a pain, in my experience. After
> > that, it just kind of rolls on its own if you do good work. Being good
> > at speaking and promoting is a definite plus. Donna, on this list, is
> > really exceptional that that. I don't know if she still does, but she
> > used to speak at the drop of a hat.
> > 
> > Speaking and writing for groups that aren't all tech heads brings in
> > money. In an entirely different field, I once wrote a set of articles
> > taking down pretty much verbatim some stuff from a guy who was good at
> > sandblasting. Got them published in a sign magazine. I rapidly became an
> > acknowledged expert in the field of sandblasting signs. I didn't know
> > crap about sandblasting; I knew about writing. But that exposure and a
> > couple of grants put me through college. I dropped the whole thing once
> > I was done with school, but I could have made a whole mediocre career as
> > a writer/expert in the sign trade.
> > 
> > 4. Managing client relationships is a nightmare, period. Scope creep
> > happens. Random crap happens. I have been on both ends of this. Right
> > now I am being a nightmare client for a designer/developer team. It
> > isn't really my fault and more the organization I am embedded in, but it
> > is ugly. A two month project has stretched to almost a year. And my
> > developer is handling it brilliantly. He blocked the time at the start
> > of the project, charged a low amount for blocking it, and then when we
> > ran over, he allowed as how he was still on it, but that he couldn't
> > guarantee turn around times anymore and very nicely made it obvious that
> > was on us. And kept billing in dribs and drabs as we actually made
> > decisions. By being flexible and chill and putting up with our crap, he
> > is going to end up making at least half again what was originally
> > spec'ed.
> > 
> > Moral of the story from me watching him handle this better than I used
> > to: be totally flexible, but when the project goes sideways require your
> > clients to go to some kind of regular hourly billing and a lowered
> > turnaround expectation. Put this in your contract and everyone ends up
> > happy.
> > 
> > Hope this random rambling spew helps.
> > 
> > -john
> > 
> > On Tue, 2010-06-22 at 10:35 -0700, Stephen Lacy wrote:
> > > Hey all,
> > > 
> > > I've been a software engineer for well over 10 years, mainly C++, but
> > > Python for about the last year, and I'm really enjoying it.
> > > 
> > > I'm getting more and more interested in transitioning from a
> > > full-timer at a large company to being a Python+Django freelance
> > > consultant.  My background is mainly in engineering, not design, but
> > > of course I'm fully versed in HTML+CSS, I'm just not the best person
> > > to be designing interfaces from scratch or doing complex visual design
> > > & graphics.
> > > 
> > > Has anyone here made this transition before?  How did it go?  My
> > > biggest fears are:
> > > 
> > > - How am I going to attract clients? (Although this list, and sites
> > > like djanggigs.com seem like pretty good sources to start.)
> > > - Am I good at managing client relationships?  How hard will this be?
> > > (billing, scope creep, missed deadlines, etc.)
> > > - What about the graphics/visual design side of things?  What do you
> > > usually do for this, or has the client already outsourced a design and
> > > they just need implementation?
> > > - Maybe I just want to get a FT position with a web design&build firm
> > > instead?  What are the pros/cons of that approach vs. freelancing?
> > > 
> > > Any thoughts or experiences from people who have done this transition
> > > would be great.  Thanks!
> > > 
> > > Steve
> > > 
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----
Rami Chowdhury
"Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice."
-- Grey's Law
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