While most employees daydream from time to time about quitting the old corporate IT job and striking out on their own, those who are seriously considering taking this plunge should ponder a few points beforehand. Conventional wisdom on starting a business -- and setting up shop as an independent consultant surely falls under this heading -- dictates that you meet certain requirements before cutting ties to a regular paycheck and benefits.
Before making the transition from employee to independent consultant, consider the following:
Beyond the business basics, you'll have to look yourself in the mirror and decide if you've got the right temperament to succeed as an independent consultant.
Necessary traits
First and foremost, you have to be a self-starter. Next, you have to be sufficiently organized to keep work flowing, but you must also keep up with billing, accounting and prospecting. (None of these tasks pay the bills, but they're necessary if you're going to build a viable consulting business). You have to be sufficiently motivated to go out and find work and keep yourself as busy as you can stand to be, without overdoing things.
One of the hardest lessons you must learn if you're to succeed as a consultant is when to say "no" to incoming work. If a job doesn't pay enough, if you really don't have time to do it, or if your gut tells you something's not right about a prospective job, you're probably better off turning such work down. It may hurt, but you have to understand that not all work is good work, nor
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are all jobs profitable.
Finally, you have to understand what your time is worth -- and don't forget that if you work 40 hours a week, you're unlikely to be able to bill more than 25 hours in that week. Make sure your income repays your efforts, your expenses and the time you put into earning a living.
Resources for prospective consultants
Some of the best resources for prospective consultants can be found online. There are also a few gems in print. Here's a short list of some tools and resources that no consultant should be without:
A little digging using your favorite search engine on the Web will turn up lots more tools and resources. Remember, the more you invest in your future consulting success, the more likely a successful future in consulting becomes. Good luck!
About the author
Ed Tittel is the vice president of content development at iLearning.com and the author of more than 100 books on computer-related topics. He's been more or less independent -- responsible for keeping the bills paid anyway -- for over 10 years now, and he is still working.
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RESOURCES
Read Ed Tittel's story on budgeting, billing and collections in the November 2002 issue of Certification Magazine.
