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Want to start work as a consultant – what should I watch out for?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Want to start work as a consultant – what should I watch out for?

#11

Post by redtexture »

The contract specifies that any knowlege or work you did prior to the contract that you used to fulfill the contract is owned by the company. This is a method to become impoverished, and have all of your related prior knowledge and work owned by the company, causing you to be unable to do similar work for anyone else. There is no future to any of your knowledge and work related to work you did for the company, except by the permission and whim of the company.

Do not agree to this contract.

  "Consultant agrees that all...conceived, discovered, 
  authored, invented, developed or reduced to practice by 
  Consultant...prior to or during the term of this
  Agreement...and arising out of, or in connection with..."

Re: Want to start work as a consultant – what should I watch out for?

#12

Post by tptacek »

Don't bill hourly.

Incorporate.

Never reduce your rate; cut project scope instead.

Every project worth doing is worth writing a statement of work.

A good SOW includes acceptance criteria.

Don't expect to work on your own paper; clients will require you to sign their contracts.

Get a lawyer, have them review every contract you sign. (This is why there are MSAs and SOWs.)

The lawyer advises, they don't decide.

If a lawyer is too expensive, your rates are too low.

Also, your rates are too low.

Don't position yourself based on tech stacks. "Node.js consultant" is a crappy differentiator.

Don't set your rates based on your previous full-time salary. Your rate is barely even related to your salary.

Get health insurance.

Do not fuck around on taxes. You owe them quarterly.

Serious consultancies don't demand up-front payment. Do what you need to until you get serious, though.

Finally: you need a lawyer to evaluate that clause. It could be a boilerplate IP assignment, or it could be a blanket concession that your client can file a difficult-to-dismiss lawsuit against you any time for all time.

If this project isn't worth the $200 that will cost you, it's not worth doing at all.

Re: Want to start work as a consultant – what should I watch out for?

#13

Post by yellow_and_gray »

tptacek wrote: post #12

Don't bill hourly. Incorporate. Never reduce your rate; cut project scope instead. Every project worth doing is worth writing a statement of work. A good SOW includes acceptance criteria. Don't expect to work on your own paper; clients will require you to sign their contracts. Get a lawyer, have them review every contract you sign. (This is why there are MSAs and SOWs.) The lawyer advises, they don't decide. If a law…

This is useful advice. Thank you.

How important are references or building a portfolio? And what do you tell clients to convince them to pick you and your rates?

Re: Want to start work as a consultant – what should I watch out for?

#15

Post by MalcolmDiggs »

If I've never worked with the client before I always ask for 50% up front. No exceptions. Once we have a relationship I may lower that, but it's not guaranteed.

Price yourself so that: if that 50% turns out to be the only money you ever receive from them, the job will still have been worth your time.

Keep your clients at arms-length. They are not your friends. Never allow the scope of a project to be changed based on a conversation or a phone call, anything that could get you sued needs to be in writing. Be very strict about this.

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