Ask HN: How do I start being a consultant?

#1

Post by ajushi » Sun, Jul 15, 2012, 2:55 AM UTC

I've been a PHP developer for 4 years (not in the US), doing typically normal web development stuff. I was wondering if someone could give me advice on how to break out and start a consulting practice. I love working with people and another motivation for me is to stumble upon a problem that I can build a app for.

I'd really appreciate your advice and suggestions. I hope to be successful with this and forge my future. Thank you in advance.

Re: Ask HN: How do I start being a consultant?

#2

Post by tirrellp » Sun, Jul 15, 2012, 3:22 AM UTC

How I started: - Called up past employers and let them know what I was up to. Asked if they "needed any help" - Reached out to local startups and asked if they "needed any help" - Trolled craigslist for projects, built POCs quickly, then responded to the ad with a link to the proof of concept.

My first three clients were an ex employer, 2 local startups (reaching out to startups), and a real estate company (craigslist)

Re: Ask HN: How do I start being a consultant?

#3

Post by trg2 » Sun, Jul 15, 2012, 3:28 AM UTC

I highly recommend working for free for 1-2 months.

I've been in SEO for the last 4 years. I do in-house enterprise stuff now, but I had started a consulting gig for a little while a few years ago. I spent 1 month telling everyone and anyone that I was doing free SEO consulting in exchange for a great testimonial (read: Yelp review). Got 8 or 9 free clients. Two insisted on paying me after the work was done, and the rest wrote me fantastic testimonials and sent me referrals for months. Afterwards, your testimonials and Yelp reviews will be the catalyst for more business in the future. My 2 c's.

Re: Ask HN: How do I start being a consultant?

#4

Post by mindcrime » Sun, Jul 15, 2012, 3:35 AM UTC

There's a guy named Alan Weiss[1], who is widely regarded as an expert (maybe the expert) on consulting. He has written several very popular books, including Million Dollar Consulting[2] and The Consulting Bible[3]. You may find his work useful. However, note that he would probably not classify what you're talking about (if I understand correctly) as "consulting" at all.

His take is that consultant is someone who shares their knowledge of process and works strategically with the client's decision makers... not someone who is knee deep in doing the work of implementing a project. If you're talking about writing PHP code, you may be more setting yourself up as a one man staffing agency, not as a consultant. I'd suggest reading Weiss, think hard about what you really want to do, and go from there.

[1]: http://www.summitconsulting.com/about-alan/

[2]: http://www.amazon.com/Million-Dollar-Consulting-Alan-Weiss/d...

[3]: http://www.amazon.com/Consulting-Bible-Everything-Seven-Figu...

Re: Ask HN: How do I start being a consultant?

#5

Post by riledhel » Sun, Jul 15, 2012, 3:38 AM UTC

trg2 wrote: post #3

I highly recommend working for free for 1-2 months. I've been in SEO for the last 4 years. I do in-house enterprise stuff now, but I had started a consulting gig for a little while a few years ago. I spent 1 month telling everyone and anyone that I was doing free SEO consulting in exchange for a great testimonial (read: Yelp review). Got 8 or 9 free clients. Two insisted on paying me after the work was done, and the…

Please don't work for free. Offer an awesome discount or accept something instead of money (a computer, a telephone, anything), but don't offer your services for free. Establish, from the very beginning, that your services are valuable.

Re: Ask HN: How do I start being a consultant?

#6

Post by yolesaber » Sun, Jul 15, 2012, 3:57 AM UTC

tirrellp wrote: post #2

How I started: - Called up past employers and let them know what I was up to. Asked if they "needed any help" - Reached out to local startups and asked if they "needed any help" - Trolled craigslist for projects, built POCs quickly, then responded to the ad with a link to the proof of concept. My first three clients were an ex employer, 2 local startups (reaching out to startups), and a real estate company (craigslis…

How is being a consultant different than being a freelance developer? Is it just nominal?

Re: Ask HN: How do I start being a consultant?

#7

Post by invalidOrTaken » Sun, Jul 15, 2012, 3:59 AM UTC

riledhel wrote: post #5

trg2 wrote: post #3

I highly recommend working for free for 1-2 months. I've been in SEO for the last 4 years. I do in-house enterprise stuff now, but I had started a consulting gig for a little while a few years ago. I spent 1 month telling everyone and anyone that I was doing free SEO consulting in exchange for a great testimonial (read: Yelp review). Got 8 or 9 free clients. Two insisted on paying me after the work was done, and the…

Please don't work for free. Offer an awesome discount or accept something instead of money (a computer, a telephone, anything), but don't offer your services for free. Establish, from the very beginning, that your services are valuable.

Remember this above all else:you do not want clients who are persuaded to take you on because you're cheap. You want clients who are persuaded to take you because you're good. If you're good, there are lots of ways to show it besides doing free work. If you're not good, don't do consulting.

Re: Ask HN: How do I start being a consultant?

#8

Post by jonhohle » Sun, Jul 15, 2012, 4:02 AM UTC

mindcrime wrote: post #4

There's a guy named Alan Weiss[1], who is widely regarded as an expert (maybe the expert) on consulting. He has written several very popular books, including Million Dollar Consulting [2] and The Consulting Bible [3]. You may find his work useful. However, note that he would probably not classify what you're talking about (if I understand correctly) as "consulting" at all. His take is that consultant is someone who s…

> you may be more setting yourself up as a one man staffing agency…

Also known as a contractor.

Re: Ask HN: How do I start being a consultant?

#9

Post by DrJ » Sun, Jul 15, 2012, 4:03 AM UTC

mindcrime wrote: post #4

There's a guy named Alan Weiss[1], who is widely regarded as an expert (maybe the expert) on consulting. He has written several very popular books, including Million Dollar Consulting [2] and The Consulting Bible [3]. You may find his work useful. However, note that he would probably not classify what you're talking about (if I understand correctly) as "consulting" at all. His take is that consultant is someone who s…

I think the "How do I become a consultant/start a consulting business" comes up every few months. Here is what I've taken from those posts. There is a difference between consulting and freelancing. Consultants are people who come in and help make decision and Freelancers are people who make those decisions happen (aka contractors).

(I personally do both, and honestly have more fun 'freelancing' than 'consulting').

Re: Ask HN: How do I start being a consultant?

#10

Post by proexploit » Sun, Jul 15, 2012, 4:18 AM UTC

riledhel wrote: post #5

trg2 wrote: post #3

I highly recommend working for free for 1-2 months. I've been in SEO for the last 4 years. I do in-house enterprise stuff now, but I had started a consulting gig for a little while a few years ago. I spent 1 month telling everyone and anyone that I was doing free SEO consulting in exchange for a great testimonial (read: Yelp review). Got 8 or 9 free clients. Two insisted on paying me after the work was done, and the…

Please don't work for free. Offer an awesome discount or accept something instead of money (a computer, a telephone, anything), but don't offer your services for free. Establish, from the very beginning, that your services are valuable.

Free is not good but it's actually better than cheap. As long as you are accepting a client's money, they are going to have expectations and a lot more things can go wrong. Free at least frees you from those expectations.