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Ask HN: Resources/Steps for Becoming a Consultant?

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Re: Ask HN: Resources/Steps for Becoming a Consultant?

#111

Post by stockkid »

tptacek wrote: post #76

* Raise your rates. You need to charge _way_ more than your FTE rate. _Way_ more. * Say "no" to prospects that don't fit your practice/price. * Avoid freelancing/matching sites. * Don't bill hourly. Don't track hours. * Specialize. * Be prepared for clients to be very late on payments. * You can't stop selling when you hit capacity. Be intentional about smoothing your utilization out.

> You can't stop selling when you hit capacity. Be intentional about smoothing your utilization out.

Could you explain more?

Re: Ask HN: Resources/Steps for Becoming a Consultant?

#113

Post by runako »

stockkid wrote: post #111
tptacek wrote: post #76

* Raise your rates. You need to charge _way_ more than your FTE rate. _Way_ more. * Say "no" to prospects that don't fit your practice/price. * Avoid freelancing/matching sites. * Don't bill hourly. Don't track hours. * Specialize. * Be prepared for clients to be very late on payments. * You can't stop selling when you hit capacity. Be intentional about smoothing your utilization out.

> You can't stop selling when you hit capacity. Be intentional about smoothing your utilization out. Could you explain more?

Not the OP, but after consulting for many years, I could make some educated guesses.

If you stop selling (networking, outreach, etc.) when you're fully utilized now, you will impair your ability to stay utilized later. If you have a project that you expect to wind down in 90 days, communicate that to prospects without pushing them away.

For example, we overestimate what a start time of "now" means in business. Sometimes, it's "today." Other times, "now" means "right after I get back from vacation, roughly 3 weeks from now" or "this quarter." Depending on the client, contracts + background check and other on boarding can take weeks of (unpaid) calendar time.

I've seen people turn away work slated for a start date of "soon" because they were on a project for another few weeks. A better move would have been to let the client know the existing project was winding down but let's get the paperwork started now for a quick start later.

Re: Ask HN: Resources/Steps for Becoming a Consultant?

#114

Post by sgillen »

msadowski wrote: post #10

I have been working as a consultant/contractor since May last year. I found my first jobs on UpWork, where Robotics is quite niche field. Being a niche field there are not many jobs available (I'd estimate there are 2-3 a month that fit my skill set) but also there are not so many freelancers doing Robotics. Starting on any freelancers platform you need to start building reputation, which can mean you will need to se…

Can you speak at all as to what skills are in most demand for robotics? It’s such a broad field it’s hard to know what to focus on in order to be marketable.

Do you think your education matters? Do people want to see a masters/PhD or is gaining more experience the important thing for landings these sorts of jobs.

Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Resources/Steps for Becoming a Consultant?

#115

Post by msadowski »

sgillen wrote: post #114
msadowski wrote: post #10

I have been working as a consultant/contractor since May last year. I found my first jobs on UpWork, where Robotics is quite niche field. Being a niche field there are not many jobs available (I'd estimate there are 2-3 a month that fit my skill set) but also there are not so many freelancers doing Robotics. Starting on any freelancers platform you need to start building reputation, which can mean you will need to se…

Can you speak at all as to what skills are in most demand for robotics? It’s such a broad field it’s hard to know what to focus on in order to be marketable. Do you think your education matters? Do people want to see a masters/PhD or is gaining more experience the important thing for landings these sorts of jobs. Thanks!

That's true that the field is very broad. I'm mostly focused on software (doing a lot of ROS in R&D setting at the moment). From what I heard there is quite a de,amd for integrators of robot arms (at least in Europe) but I can't really say anything more about other Robotics related skills.

I have a master's degree and don't know if it affects anyone's decision about hiring me for a contract. My feeling is that the companies I work with now value my experience much more than my degree but personally I learned so much studying Mechatronics/Robotics that I'd highly recommend doing it if you are not experienced in Robotics and want to start working in the field.

Re: Ask HN: Resources/Steps for Becoming a Consultant?

#116

Post by thisismyswamp »

punnerud wrote: post #99

It's all about creating value for your customer. "Don't give me some trend analysis, give me actionable insight ". Recommend watching this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2SdmYuMMIg I earn $180000/year, recently raised my rate to $280/h and working 40h/weeks. Feel I create way more value for my customers than my cost, so I started several small projects in parallell the last months to move away from consulting. Mos…

Any ideas for lucrative side projects?
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