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Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?

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Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?

#41

Post by gexla »

petercooper wrote: post #30
gexla wrote: post #9

Sorry, you are not going to get away with it that easy. This is like going up to that hot girl you have been eyeballing and saying "I really want to go through the whole dating process because I really don't understand it, can we just skip all that and get straight to serious relationship?" This question is nearly impossible to answer and a very personal decision. Nobody here can tell you how much you are worth. For…

Remember that you cannot get eight billable hours out of an eight hour day. You can (and do) if you go on-site, and you can if you actually work eight hours for a single client in any capacity. You can't bill for doing your office paperwork, promotion, eating lunch and such, but that's not part of an 8 hour "work" day (like your commute isn't part of your work day either).

Sure, some are able to get a better ratio of billable to non billable hours than others. Dealing with fewer clients in one day helps this. The point still remains. You have to take the down time to maintain your business at some point and you have to plan for that when you are figuring out what you need to keep food on the table.

Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?

#42

Post by jcl »

gexla wrote: post #9

Sorry, you are not going to get away with it that easy. This is like going up to that hot girl you have been eyeballing and saying "I really want to go through the whole dating process because I really don't understand it, can we just skip all that and get straight to serious relationship?" This question is nearly impossible to answer and a very personal decision. Nobody here can tell you how much you are worth. For…

All the freelancers I know are overworked. Often any one of them need help and I can't help them because I am overworked as well.

Not to be obtuse, but if everyone is overworked, why don't they charge a little bit more so that there is less demand and therefore a more reasonable workload?

Is there perhaps a fixed ceiling above which no one will pay? Or do clients get angry if you keep changing your prices to meet market conditions? Or do companies in your line of work only hire consultants for projects in crisis, such that the only work available consists of high work loads over short periods of time?

Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?

#43

Post by run4yourlives »

ovi256 wrote: post #39
edw519 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Network, network, network, network, network! (Sorry, I cannot overemphasize this.) You are your own marketing department. All the time. No, you don't have to be one of those Amway pests, but don't be afraid to say what you do and to volunteer your opinion about something computer related. You're not doing it to get business; you're doing it because that's who you are. Even if nothing happens now, it could 6 months la…

>He said he had a friend who owned a pawn shop with a computer Unethical to aid a pawn shop, especially if you are a Christian. But hey, who am I to judge. Edit: pawn shops are unethical from a Christian viewpoint, as they charge interest. And the parent said he was doing Bible study. But again, who am I to give advice on such topics as an heathen. Just downmod and show me I'm wrong.

Sorry, what? Pawn shops are unethical?

Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?

#44

Post by ovi256 »

run4yourlives wrote: post #43
ovi256 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>He said he had a friend who owned a pawn shop with a computer Unethical to aid a pawn shop, especially if you are a Christian. But hey, who am I to judge. Edit: pawn shops are unethical from a Christian viewpoint, as they charge interest. And the parent said he was doing Bible study. But again, who am I to give advice on such topics as an heathen. Just downmod and show me I'm wrong.

Sorry, what? Pawn shops are unethical?

For a Christian, they are, as they charge interest. And the parent said he was doing Bible study.

Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?

#46

Post by gexla »

jcl wrote: post #42
gexla wrote: post #9

Sorry, you are not going to get away with it that easy. This is like going up to that hot girl you have been eyeballing and saying "I really want to go through the whole dating process because I really don't understand it, can we just skip all that and get straight to serious relationship?" This question is nearly impossible to answer and a very personal decision. Nobody here can tell you how much you are worth. For…

All the freelancers I know are overworked. Often any one of them need help and I can't help them because I am overworked as well. Not to be obtuse, but if everyone is overworked, why don't they charge a little bit more so that there is less demand and therefore a more reasonable workload? Is there perhaps a fixed ceiling above which no one will pay? Or do clients get angry if you keep changing your prices to meet mar…

Sure, they probably need to. I probably need to also. I'm actually somewhat new to freelancing so I am still doing a lot of adjusting.

Perhaps a lot of freelancers have a hard time asking for higher rates. Pricing is a difficult subject.

Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?

#47

Post by mixmax »

ovi256 wrote: post #39
edw519 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Network, network, network, network, network! (Sorry, I cannot overemphasize this.) You are your own marketing department. All the time. No, you don't have to be one of those Amway pests, but don't be afraid to say what you do and to volunteer your opinion about something computer related. You're not doing it to get business; you're doing it because that's who you are. Even if nothing happens now, it could 6 months la…

>He said he had a friend who owned a pawn shop with a computer Unethical to aid a pawn shop, especially if you are a Christian. But hey, who am I to judge. Edit: pawn shops are unethical from a Christian viewpoint, as they charge interest. And the parent said he was doing Bible study. But again, who am I to give advice on such topics as an heathen. Just downmod and show me I'm wrong.

Come on guys - modding down is OK, but -12? It's an opinion, not a charge on someones children.

Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?

#48

Post by petercooper »

gexla wrote: post #41
petercooper wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember that you cannot get eight billable hours out of an eight hour day. You can (and do) if you go on-site, and you can if you actually work eight hours for a single client in any capacity. You can't bill for doing your office paperwork, promotion, eating lunch and such, but that's not part of an 8 hour "work" day (like your commute isn't part of your work day either).

Sure, some are able to get a better ratio of billable to non billable hours than others. Dealing with fewer clients in one day helps this. The point still remains. You have to take the down time to maintain your business at some point and you have to plan for that when you are figuring out what you need to keep food on the table.

That is very true. However, I would suggest that anyone in that position would not include this necessary legwork within their "eight hours a day." If you have several hours of non billable maintenance to do, it should not be a central part of your work day, which should be entirely billable.

Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?

#49

Post by mixmax »

norcalgrrl wrote: post #32

I don't know why people are dancing around this issue. I'll name some dollar amounts for you. As a LAMP consultant, I charged $100/hr. USD take-home and worked W-2. I'm now looking to get into independent (non-W2) consulting and will be charging from $50-$100/hr. USD on a sliding scale based on the type of work and the ability of the client to pay. Not all small businesses can pony up $100/hr., but mid-to-large corpo…

Here are my numbers:

I do project management, usability, and generally make sure everything is on track - so it might not be exactly what you're looking for. But for what it's worth I charge $150 an hour, and can be negotiated down to around $100 if it's more than 2-300 hours.

My experience is that you shouldn't sell yourself too cheaply, since your customers then will regard you as being not very good at what you do.

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