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How I went from $100-an-hour programming to $X0,000-a-week consulting

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Re: How I went from $100-an-hour programming to $X0,000-a-week consulting

#61

Post by zem »

bmelton wrote: post #17
sown wrote: post #11

So what do I do if I don't have a blog or any real friends to refer me? I don't know anyone at all here in SV and no one seems to want me anyways. On the flip side, I suppose that there are people that could use me but they don't know how to find consultants. The only time this has happened was when a potential employer and I didn't quite work so they let me name a price for the time I worked and they paid (rare in c…

"So what do I do if I don't have a blog or any real friends to refer me? I don't know anyone at all here in SV and no one seems to want me anyways." Change that. Go to conferences. Go to meetups. Leverage whatever professional network you currently have to expand it. Start a blog. Post to it. Establish yourself as an authority on something. If you can't do the above yet (because you aren't an authority on something),…

and if you aren't comfortable speaking or attending conferences, don't let that stop you from becoming an authority. find a topic you are interested in and start learning it in depth. identify common issues beginners struggle with and blog about them. move on to more advanced articles. you should gain recognition pretty readily.

Re: How I went from $100-an-hour programming to $X0,000-a-week consulting

#62

Post by mbesto »

danso wrote: post #37

Excellent article. 1. I would be interested in learning more about what a programmer brings to the table in the consulting field. I mean, besides raw programming knowledge. The OP mentions Fog Creek as one of his first clients, a place that obviously is not short on programming insights. What does a consultant with programming chops bring that a non-programmer doesn't? Better ideas? Better tailored ideas? 2) Pedantic…

I would be interested in learning more about what a programmer brings to the table in the consulting field.

Simple, reduced risk. Patio11 has built his personal brand very successfully. (not overnight mind you) So much so, that you know exactly what you expect to be delivered when you would engage with him. Much of the content that he produces (especially that which is consumable by you and I) gives a very good indication what you would expect if you worked with him.

Re: How I went from $100-an-hour programming to $X0,000-a-week consulting

#63

Post by SwellJoe »

pknerd wrote: post #55
patio11 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get a blog and start making new business acquaintances. (Being in the Valley should not exactly have you hurting for options on that score.)

And what about those who not even in US and belong to a "3rd world country" where one wish to give work only because it's Cheap?

Do the same things. Get a blog, become well-known for being awesome. I've hired several "third world country" developers at US market rates (not Silicon Valley rates; more like midwestern rates, like $30-$50/hour) because they were good. And, I've passed on $10/hour developers because they didn't convince me they could do the job. It's about value, not price.

That's not to say you aren't at a disadvantage, if you're wanting to charge very high rates while being in a third world country, but it's not impossible. Doing the same things suggested by this post, and by other comments, is how you raise your value. You may be raising it from a lower starting point, but it can be raised, and there isn't really a firm upper bound on how high it can go.

Re: How I went from $100-an-hour programming to $X0,000-a-week consulting

#64

Post by bdunn »

debacle wrote: post #7

What if you're already a consultant, but are tired of Internet marketing (and its related accoutrements)? Is there a pivot for that?

You can help businesses create or optimize internal tools that make current positions unnecessary (cut costs) or make tasks that take 5 hours a day take 5 minutes (increase efficiency.) This won't involve conversion rates, lifecycle mailing, customer-facing split testing, or other marketing standards.

Re: How I went from $100-an-hour programming to $X0,000-a-week consulting

#65

Post by jasonswett »

TallboyOne wrote: post #23
flurpitude wrote: post #10

Sigh... I'd settle for someone giving me $100 per hour.

If you don't have a large variety of jobs to pick and choose from, you're not doing it right. I'm going to rant here a moment... The secret to getting more work than you can handle (and charging $100/hr, which is not difficult)... DONT SUCK. I swear to god, 95% of people out there suck, your competition. Send emails to your phone, and answer them right away when you're out and about, even on weekends or when you're o…

You might be right about that. I'd like to offer another perspective, though: if you get into the habit of quickly replying to all emails, I think your clients will develop an expectation that you'll always quickly reply to emails, which it's not always possible or desirable to do, at least for me.

Also, if you immediately attend to every email that hits your inbox, that means you probably won't have contiguous chunks of real productivity in your workdays.

I usually wait a good couple hours to reply to any email, even if I'm not particularly busy when I receive the message. This a) sets an expectation for responsiveness that I can live up to, b) allows me to have contiguous chunks of productivity (I often close email entirely, which my clients know), and c) demonstrates to my clients that a certain level of discipline: I'm not jumping on every email, tweet, etc. that comes my way right when I see it (not that I think that's what TallboyOne is suggesting - he's talking about work-related emails).

None of this is meant to be a criticism of anything TallboyOne has said. What works for him might work better for some people than what works for me.

Re: How I went from $100-an-hour programming to $X0,000-a-week consulting

#66

Post by ronyeh »

Two important points I learned was: 1) charge by the week, and 2) charge by the value you will be providing, rather than how much your time is worth.

Charging by the week allows you to not have to keep track of what's billable and what's not (e.g., you chatted with the customer on the phone for 34 minutes).

Charging by the value you provide avoids the conversation of "Hey, you're charging $200 per hour... that's more than I make. And that's like almost $400K per year! Can we get your rate down to like, $90?"

Instead, the conversation becomes, "We want to get at least $40K of value out of talking to you, but have only budgeted $10K for this exercise. How much value can you provide us over how many weeks?"

That was definitely an interesting writeup!

Re: How I went from $100-an-hour programming to $X0,000-a-week consulting

#67

Post by nhangen »

I ended up here on accident, but I can vouch for this system's value.

I WAS freelancing at between $75-$100/hour, but having to work very hard for every contract. On the side my partner and I were building software, selling a nice amount but nothing that was going to allow us to retire in a year.

However, suddenly people starting emailing us after purchase, asking if we could build custom versions for them. Most turned out to be duds, at first, and then something changed. Suddenly we're charging weekly retainers and working on near six-figure projects, all on business that sought us out because of our software.

Will this work for everyone? I'm not sure, but it did for us, and we didn't even see it coming.

Re: How I went from $100-an-hour programming to $X0,000-a-week consulting

#70

Post by debaserab2 »

SwellJoe wrote: post #63
pknerd wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what about those who not even in US and belong to a "3rd world country" where one wish to give work only because it's Cheap?

Do the same things. Get a blog, become well-known for being awesome. I've hired several "third world country" developers at US market rates (not Silicon Valley rates; more like midwestern rates, like $30-$50/hour) because they were good . And, I've passed on $10/hour developers because they didn't convince me they could do the job. It's about value, not price. That's not to say you aren't at a disadvantage, if you're…

Midwestern rates for a decent programmer should not be lower than $80/hr. If you're finding good programmers in the midwest that are less than that, they don't understand their value in the local market.

Source: I work in an office co-share with a dozen or so web developers in Minneapolis.

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