Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with consulting

What IT systems would Jesus use?

allkindsoftime — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:50:28 -0800

Looking for a IT consultant for a largish-church in NYC - please help? Asking for a friend, who manages media / communications for a large church in NYC. They need to conduct and evaluation of their current hardware / software environment for:

1) Church office internal systems
2) Church website hosting / management / design (site already exists but they want to pursue some new direction as well as plan an intranet)
3) Data storage / security / etc.

Further, they need to develop a strategy / vision for where their systems need to be in the future for more optimized operations.

The church currently has ~15,000 "clients" (for lack of a better word) that it communicates with regularly through snail and virtual methods, and does not feel their systems are up to speed with what they need for management of information exchange (church communications, demographic surveys of the clients, etc.). The data in its current state is fragmented, with some departments having certain information but others not having access to it, etc..

The church is looking to contract an IT Consultant that can help them with this evaluation and strategy development. I work in consulting but my firm deals primarily with large (for-profit) clients, so what we're looking here for specifically is a consultancy / firm that works with smaller clients, and (if possible) for non-profits in particular.

There's no formal RFP in process yet, they're just currently looking for someone capable for this effort before confirming scope / budget / scheduling. Any ideas?

TIA.

have Mac,will travel

D-ten — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:22:12 -0800

How can I get a Mac consulting gig off the ground as quickly as possible? I used to live in a major metro area with a lot of Mac users. When my ISP-employer went belly-up, I purchased the right to service the Mac consulting clients. With this start I built up a substantial business through word of mouth.

Fast forward...I moved to another town, a smaller regional population and to make a long story short, am considering returning to my original location. My original clients are mostly gone by now, though some might call me if I was available.

Whether I stay or go, the question is...what are the secret ingredients to getting a consulting business going, what's the most important ten steps to uptime, especially marketing?

I've already done the dance, I just don't have any sense of how to get the music playing again.

Some steps seem obvious. Quality website, craig's list postings, cell phone, business cards. I'm sure there are other things to do that would help. Post in tabloids? Send out flyers...what to do?

I've considered calling a bunch of Mac consultants nationwide and just polling them on what they did. I might still do that. I'm starting here.

If you have some ingredients to offer, thanks a bunch, especially if you've been there, done that. Mac guru for hire...how do I get the word out?

Help me use my powers for good. I've had enough evil for now.

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:09:24 -0800

What are the best places to work as a consultant for nonprofit and/or charitable organizations? I work as a management consultant at what I can only vaguely refer to as a major global firm. I’m a few years out of business school, but still young enough to have a long career ahead of me. I’ve worked hard, made good contacts and am really happy with the income and accomplishments I’ve amassed since I’ve been here. But I’ve recently been feeling disappointed that I’m not doing something more “meaningful” (for want of a better word) with my skills, my training, and my job. So I’ve decided to look into moving jobs, and try to find a new position doing consulting for the nonprofit world. I love the kind of work I do; I’d just really like to work for clients who are doing valuable things for the world.

But the problem is that, for all of my experience in the private sector, I really don’t know anything about the biggest and best firms that offer nonprofit consulting services. Google helped me find
http://www.putnamcic.com/
and
http://www.groundspring.org/
...but that’s about it.

Does anyone out there know who the major players are in the world of nonprofit consulting? Any advice about where I ought to start making connections before I begin firing out resumes?

Looking forward to hearing what you guys think - and thanks for helping me keep my identity, my city, and my firm confidential. No one knows I'm planning to leave, and I'd really love to avoid getting "outed" before it's absolutely necessary!

Please, help me figure out how to find short-term work that fits a very narrow range of variables.

dubitable — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:59:17 -0800

Please, help me figure out how to find short-term work that fits a very narrow range of variables. Here's my situation:

I've been freelancing for about four months after quitting a full-time job in a state of frustration and massive stress. This may not have been wise, I won't debate that, but generally I'm a lot happier now (despite my current situation). More to the point, I don't have a lot of savings built up yet.

I'm moving to a new city in a little while, about a few weeks. The city isn't so far apart that trips back and forth will be impossible or difficult, but it will make consistent hours for the next month or so hard and of course I won't be able to go to an office on a 9-5 sort of schedule.

I may have a new job lined up in the new city, which is part of the reason I'm moving. That may come together by the time I get there, in about a month or around there.

To top it all off, I've found out I've gotten into some grad schools, and the deadline for telling them I want to attend is mid-April. That means that if I want to take it seriously I've got to buy some plane tickets and pay for some lodging.

All my clients have dried up...temporarily. I've got a lot of potential clients. It's kind of absurd right now actually; I've got a lot of folks saying something like "we might have a job for you soon, really!" It's sort of pissing me off, actually, I just know they're all going to ask me to start doing stuff for them at the same time right when I don't need the work or can't do it. Not their fault, of course, and I'm grateful I've even got potential clients, it's just annoying.

I've looked on Craigslist and there are a lot of short-term gigs doing what I do...for absurdly low amounts of pay ($20 an hour for an "experienced, passionate" programmer? Sorry, no), or for no pay (sure, I'll build you an entire social networking site for nothing...hahahahaha). Point being, I'd love to find somewhere else that would have short-term gigs that aren't insultingly cheap for someone who's got the experience I do. Like, yesterday.

I've got nothing in terms of easily available credit. My (thankfully) only credit card is maxed out. Not that this would be a good idea anyways, but...

All of this adds up to mean that I am getting real broke real fast because of the costs of moving and taking trips to see schools, I cannot take any long-term gigs, I can't take any gigs that require me to be in any one place or have regular in-person meetings, and I don't know how I'm going to eat next month. I am not the absolute best person at what I do (which is for the most part web development and Linux system administration, although I've got a lot of other things going on too...) but I'm pretty damn good, really experienced, and great at getting to the bottom of what people need without wasting their time and without cutting corners. I also, unfortunately, don't have a lot of sites to show people as I've been working full-time for the last few years, and most of my clients I've made through connections with people I've worked with and who know I'm great. But my reh-zoo-meh isn't bad.

I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking of taking some of my retirement money (which I don't have a lot of anyways) and using that to fund the next month or so, but I'd rather not. I know things will work out somehow but I'm in a really stupid situation right now with money and any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Work for myself, or the man?

splatta — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:37:50 -0800

Should I go back to work for the huge corporation, or stick it out and try and work for myself? Back in December of 2007 I was laid off from a large corporation. I was given a pretty good severance, and left on good terms. At the time I was very excited to start a consulting business of one, and get to work. However, one of the terms of the severance was that I can not contract work for The Company for six months (which will be this May).

I've found that finding work in my field that's not for The Company has been difficult. I've been doing a lot of talking, but not a lot of billing. Lots of con-calls, and meetings that promise something will happen, but seem to stagnate.

Since the separation I have been called by a couple of contacts who still work for The Company letting me know that I have a few positions to choose from if I want to come back. I told them that I'd like to explore what it's like out here, and that I'd get back to them by summer. I've also been getting a few calls from other contacts asking if I could do contract work, but I've been forced to tell them I can't until May.

Some things about me: I'm very good at my job, and my skill-set is not very common. I am a Unix systems storage specialist with a focus on high-performance next-gen filesystems, and disaster recovery. This means I can bill a good amount of money per hour. I live in Philadelphia, which seems to be a good location near NYC, NJ, and Delaware. I'm bad with paperwork, if something doesn't interest me, it gets put on the back burner. I'm not a manager, and do not know much about, nor do I care much about running a business. I have excellent inter-personal communication skills, and can be very charming in person. I bought a house last year, and have a mortgage with my long-term girlfriend. I am 28. I do not have a college degree, which has never seemed to be an issue in this job market. I'm finding that I'm more anxious about work now that I'm on my own than I ever was at The Company. I get very nervous that I'll mess up, or not be able to deliver.

Now I'm at this crossroad, trying to figure out my life from here on out, with the economy moving down, and my house payments not going anywhere...

Options:

1) I can continue trying to get work on my own, and in May this might ramp back up when I'm allowed to do contract work for The Company. Deal with the minutiae of running a business, and sink or swim. Possibly make more money than I ever did working for The Man, and feel really good about being self-made.

2) Go back to The Company and be very comfortable; receive a nice regular paycheck, 401k matching, stock options, bonuses and paid vacation, but always wonder if I could have done better on my own.

3) Some unknown option where the business stuff is all taken care of for me, and all I have to do is concentrate on getting work, and completing jobs.

It would be extremely helpful if anyone who's been here could help me out with advice, or tips?

What are appropriate rates for computer surveillance work?

Jack Feschuk — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:37:08 -0800

I'm currently running a business where I monitor computers for people. I use custom made software that gets by all the anti-malware scanners and through the firewalls. I have been charging $40/hr for the first hour, and $45 for each hour after that. Since most of work may only take 1-4 hours per client I've been told that I'm charging too little. Figures have been thrown at me by friends, family and even clients that I should charge $60, $75 or even $100. What is a fair amount in this business. Yes this involves spying on people at the workplace, churches and spouses. My first question. I've searched mefi for similar stuff and came up empty.

It hit the fan - now what?

um_maverick — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:57:36 -0800

Based on my career experiences so far, I think I'd be pretty good in a role focused on crisis management (ahh! everything's broke! fix it!) and crisis prevention (situation normal, let's keep it that way). The question, then, is how does one get into this field? I've done some googling, but resources seem to be spread pretty thin. There are a bunch of companies that claim to perform this type of work, but none of the ones at the top of my search results seem to be of the larger, established type. There are also several schools that offer degrees or certificates in "Crisis Management", "Emergency Management", or something similar. My background is in IT consulting with a major firm (just over 5 years, mostly focused on IT security), and I just wrapped up my MBA. I've been involved in crisis management both internally, fixing engagements that are way off course & repairing client relationships, and externally, assisting clients responding to "cyber incidents" and dealing with other matters.

So where do I go from here? Are there consulting organizations I should look into? Are there career paths that do this type of work within corporations? Should I pursue a certificate or degree? Any help, direction, or <crosses fingers> networking contacts </crosses fingers> would be much appreciated!

Consulting you to help me with consulting...

kjackelen05 — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:35:01 -0800

What should I expect in a first interview with a consulting company for a summer internship? I have an interview later this week with a large technology consulting company. I'm a junior in college majoring in mathematics with a concentration in computer science. The interview is for an analyst internship for this coming summer. What should I be expecting in this interview? Would they throw specific case questions at an inexperienced college student on the first interview? They have told us that there will be a second round of interviews in a few weeks and that this one will last less than thirty minutes. Any advice is welcome. Thanks!

Help an IT consultant find his niche!

thehickmans — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:27:05 -0800

I'm an IT consultant with a broad set of skills and experiences, and I need help finding my niche! Here's the background: 18 years in the "industry" starting as an infrastructure grunt, moved to system administration, then to IT management (Mgr -> AVP -> VP in charge of 30 person BA/PM/Dev/Infrastructure team in investment services firm), then out to consulting firm "selling" custom enterprise development. I'm now on my own doing planning, RFPs, project management, implementations, and whatever else they'll pay me for... This is month 7 of this current incarnation of my career, and I have a dream of building something beyond billing my own hours, but I'm still stumbling around trying to define my "niche".

The broad sense of "niche" I have been working with is to be an agnostic source of advice on IT planning and investment. My motivation behind this is that one of my biggest pet peeves is the "consultant" who's looking to solve an organization's business problems with a solution that carries 20 points of licensing revenue, 500 hours of services at 200 bucks an hour and 3 years of sustainment at 15% of total fees. Maybe I'm being naive and that is the way the game is meant to be played, but I'm looking for something more meaningful... if only I could find it!

So, I guess I'm looking for ideas, feedback, random anecdotal information, experiences from others who've done something similar.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Help me pick the best business producitivity management tool(s) for my consulting practice! (Not Daylite)

healthyliving — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:14:49 -0800

Hello MeFi peoples, I am trying to find the tool or tools to run my sustainable business consulting practice, which I started in August, and I've been going a bit nuts with too many choices. I've been looking all over, and am getting near hits, but all "not quite there"s. Highrise sort of works, but has some quirks that that it doesn't hit the mark, and it's missing some of what I want to do. Daylite looks interesting, but no...well I'll explain below. Basecamp, same thing. Copper, ditto. Help me find the needle(s) in the haystack! To give some background, I am a sustainable business consultant who at the moment works solo. I imagine I'll be collaborating with others on some projects, but not necessarily regularly, not as the same company, and definitely not in the same office. I work on a Mac, from my home office. I imagine in my business I'll be working on site at some places.

I asked a friend who knows me well for advice. They said get a tool that works for the near future, that as my business unfolds, it will become clearer what the needs are then, and that I’ll have the funds to take action on any new tools needed. I asked about Daylite, and they said it would be ok, but their sense is there’s something that will work even better, last me longer. I named off others, like Basecamp (doesn’t work enough how I think/work, they said) Copper Project, Contactizer. All No.

They’re bad with names sometimes, but she said she got the hit that it might be something/some company that starts with “Ser...” she also got that it may be a series of interlocking tools, rather then one. She had me search on the web, name off what I saw, and these were the maybes, that I in looking at them didn’t get that they would be it:

Zoho 1st Manager Teamspace Goplan Vertabase

When I told her this, she said that Daylite might be it, that there is the possibility that what they may have in mind isn’t something that I’ll recognize/believe I’m capable of using yet.

~~~~

That said, I'm looking for some thing or things to do the following:

Manage my contacts, and be able to associate emails, files, and tasks with them, make them actionable, rather then just another name/company I have on file.

Have a calendar that I can visually see what I (and future collaborators) are up to

Organize tasks and steps around projects

Day to day tasks, not necessarily around a project (as in not all geared to group collaboration, projects. It covers the “me” things.)

Invoicing, time tracking

Something to associate the various components of my business together, so information doesn't just get lost in the void, in a place where it's not going to get action taken on it.

Be able to collaborate with others on projects, but not require them to have a specific computer platform, or buy expensive software, since we may not work together more then once.

+++

That's what I want to do, and here's the qualities I want in the tool(s) I use:

Computer based (no handwriting for me)

Friendly, human interface, rather then cold, hard, mechanical

Geared to the creative/business minded, but works on a practical level

Preferably web based (to allow easier, more malleable collaboration, without need for others to have the same software/platform)

If software based, still allows for others in projects that don't have software to get meaningful, actionable information to work on the project.

Mac style interface, as in well designed aesthetically and functionally, intuitive to use, robust in features, and useful ones at that.

Mac tool integrated, or at least open to any mail client, not Outlook/MS Project/etc linked/dependent. I do have MS Office (Word, Excel) so that’s fine.

~~~~

So that’s what I’m looking for, I look forward to your suggestions! I imagine for invoicing that I could use Billings, but if your suggestions incorporate it in some other tool, fantastic!

Which consulting job?

cklennon — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 14:43:31 -0800

Entry-level consulting positions: graduating in May, I have two standing offers from consulting companies, one in Dallas and one in Manhattan. Help me choose! I am graduating in May with a BA. I have been doing the recruiting two-step for the past several months, and it's (finally!) near the end. I've explored options in several fields--I don't really have an ideal career at this point in my life--and I have it more-or-less narrowed down to two consulting companies. Both have given me nearly identical offers (in the low $60's, plus potential bonuses, etc).

One is in Dallas and is a small to mid-sized financial/banking consulting firm. It would involve a lot of travel, and I would need to relocate to Dallas, which isn't terrible but isn't my ideal spot, especially compared with...The second is with a larger (although not big-X accounting or consulting firms) firm in Manhattan, and the position is within a healthcare group. Very little (if any) travel, relocation to New York, which is still relocation but it's better than Dallas for a recent college graduate.

Like I said, I don't really have an idea of what I want to be doing in ten years, so choosing between these two offers is quite tough. I've been counseled that if I want to make contacts, etc. in the consulting biz it would be wise for me to take the New York job as it is, obviously, in New York, and is with a larger organization, etcetera. One thing that worries me is the prospect of living/existing in New York on the same salary as in Dallas. How tight is it going to be living in New York on that salary? Would I be crazy if I wanted to avoid living across a bridge or tunnel?

I know this is a relatively open question, but I'm wondering if anyone in the consulting industry, or anyone who has faced a similar choice in another industry, can give me some insight.

PS...for what it's worth, I have asked the New York company if there's any upward negotiability in their offer given that I have an identical offer from a company in a locale with a much lower cost of living. I haven't heard from them in regards to that yet; my gut feeling is that given my lack of leverage as an entry-level scab they're going to offer me more, as a sort of token gesture, but not much more.

Help a business consultant become an editorial freelancer....

moooshy — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 21:37:42 -0800

I am currently working at a consulting firm and consider myself to be a half-decent writer. Before I apply for my MBA, I'd like to enhance my application by writing articles for business magazines. How could I do this? Do you recommend any particular publications that might be willing to take a freelancer? I currently read the WSJ,The Economist and Business Week and would love to become a contributor or freelancer for these publications... Do people cold-call them? Should I send them ideas? Are there other publications I should aim for first?

[more background]
I have a bachelors of engineering, ran and wrote for a lit. magazine in college, and currently work in business. I want to get my MBA, but my grades aren't at the top of the heap, so I thought I could enhance my applications (and be creative) by writing articles for a business magazine.

This is so far from what I did in college that I have no idea how or where to start. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

How do I spin this? And how much should I charge?

juliewhite — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:16:59 -0800

How do I spin this? And how much should I charge? Posting for a friend:

So how do I spin this?

Small company – a startup, only seven people, only two years in to it, apparently “well funded” and “just about to take off” – posts an ad for a scientist. I am their dream candidate.

I work for a huge company, and solve an analogue of their problem two or three times a year. I could do this in my sleep. Don’t get me wrong: what they want done is not easy, but I am a rock star. I am in a lab full of rock stars, and I still stand out.

I really have no interest in working for the startup – been there, done that; plus I love my cushy, high paying industry job. But, I would love to consult for them! I am sure I can solve their problem in my spare time, show them how I solved it, and teach them how to solve similar problems in the future. And, hopefully, be hired to solve different problems.

So, the tricky bit, part 1: How do I convince them that they want 1/20th of my time, rather than 135% of it? My thinking is to say something along the lines of “That’s a very interesting problem you have, but it is only one problem, the same, forever. I can solve it for you in two months and then I will be bored out of my skull. You don’t need me full time – just book my services. Moreover, you won’t get just me – I will draw on my colleagues in my lab, and my contacts in industry and academia, who I will hire as necessary to help me out. I can even write articles that show up in peer reviewed journals, giving you a shiny veneer of science to market. ”

The tricky bit, part 2: How do I value my work? What I am looking to value is not so much my time as my intellectual property. Solving their problem is worth a ridiculous amount to the company, and they are already short on time in solving it. Meanwhile, I am expert in the field, and am sure I can knock the ball out of the park. They offer “competitive salary”, “incentive compensation”, and “equity”. Realistically, it will probably take me about 80 hours to solve it, so if I charged say $300/hr, that would only be $24K, which strikes me as kind of low; plus, I may want to pick up some special services from some of my contacts, which won’t be free. Does anyone have any thoughts on how to convince these guys to pay me a lump sum for the solution, and any idea how I might value the solution?

Political consulting firm interview: what to expect?

naoko — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:05:02 -0800

I have an interview tomorrow (yikes) with a political consulting firm. Problem: I don't actually know what this means. What exactly do political consultants do? What kind of questions should I expect to be asked? What kind of questions should I ask them? Help! My background: I'm 23, have a BA in government, interned for a campaign, and have spent the last year in an entry-level government job. It didn't really occur to me to pursue consulting, but I'm starting to get antsy in my current job and a friend hooked me up with this interview, so I thought I'd check it out. At the very least I'll learn something and get some interview practice.
I was feeling pretty calm about it until just now - I realized I have no idea what I'm doing and really would like to make a good impression, in case I decide this is something I'm interested in after all. I hope I'm not in completely over my head here.
I know there have been previous consulting threads and I've read those and they've been somewhat helpful, but most of them seem more oriented toward than politics. The firm I'm interviewing for works with the Democratic Party, individual campaigns, and nonprofits.

Thanks!

Maximising my chances of success getting to top consulting company?

gttommy — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:44:17 -0800

I have a year before I am eligible to work for a big consulting company. What should I do during this year to maximise my chances of success, or bump up starting salary? I have only one subject (capstone thesis, no classes) to do next year, however big companies don't accept applicants who have not graduated. And graduate positions start only at the beginning of each year. With only one subject to do in 2008, I have a lot time.

Details:
Over a year of object-oriented coding
Over a year of mobile phones sales
Degree: BE Software, BA Int'l Studies in Chinese (6yr course)
Avg grades: ~73/100
Activities: Some involvement with clubs and volunteer programs, nothing outstanding or demonstrating leadership, debating skills or care for the greater community
Country: Australia
Willing to relocate to: UK, US, NZ, Asia
Companies of interest:
Particularly Bain and BCG for their reputation in culture and work/life balance

I've considered getting a full-time job geared towards it, like IT sales or business analyst. Also maybe being more active with uni activities. Just not sure what directions would maximise return. Any advice in any area is welcome.

Structuring a FOSS Support Contract

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:59:40 -0800

A very successful business has just decided to build their next mission critical application using free open source tools developed by my small little consulting company. They want to contract with us for ongoing support and improvements. How should we structure the deal? Our tools are highly complex and represent decades of development. This isn't something they could duplicate, and it would be difficult for them to find other people to maintain it.

If their product is successful, they will make hundreds of millions of dollars or billions of dollars. This is not an exaggeration.

That said, we don't expect to get rich and don't want to gouge them. I'm more wondering how structure the deal. How do you factor in (a) actual work, (b) guaranteed response time, (c) commitment to keep people around who know how to do this stuff, etc? What's the overall shape, and what details should we include? I'd appreciate any pointers to other similar situations, as well.

By the way, we aren't interested in being acquired. It doesn't make sense for a number of reasons. We want to continue our general consulting and FOSS development, and have this gig be part of our business, helping sustain us.

I need you for a consult

barrakuda — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:44:49 -0800

In follow up to my highly unsuccessful question from last week (which btw you are still very welcome to answer), what do you actually do when you work in "consulting" and how do you get there? I am specifically interested in non-IT consulting and would like to know:

1) What does your job consist of, i.e. what is it specifically that you do?
2) What are the education/knowledge/skill requirements to perform this job?
3) How did you get hired (would be interested mostly in stories from European offices but all are welcome to contribute)

Help me understand billable hour expectations for people other than lawyers....

twiggy — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:48:31 -0800

Help me with Web / IT consulting and billable time. Consulting firms make their money on billable hours - what percentage of a 40 hour work week needs to be billable for different roles within the company? I work for what I'll call for neutrality's sake a "web shop", though it fancies itself a consulting firm as we do things by the billable hour. I've worked in the industry before, but I really don't know what sorts of things are "relatively standard / commonplace" in the industry.

My google-fu almost exclusively finds me stuff on lawyers, so here comes my request for help...

We have developers, designers and project managers, each of which have their own billable hour expectation (much like I understand lawyers do). I'm trying to understand what expectations are reasonable while still maintaining profitability, so I want to know the following:

- What is a reasonable billable hour expectation in a 40 hour work week for a developer? A designer? A project manager?

- In a project estimated at say 100 hours of billable work by the designers and developers combined, how much project management time do typically add? Fixed amounts? A percentage? We have a standard - I'm curious if it's in line with yours.

- What sorts of things do you consider billable beyond development, design, and "obvious" project management stuff like creating documentation, requirements gathering, etc. Do you bill for internal but unplanned conversations about client work (i.e. a 5 minute catchup between the PM and a developer). Do you bill for estimates of additional work, even if the client elects not to go through with the work? Do you bill for every email and phone call you spend time reading/responding to from a client?

- What sorts of things are definitely nonbillable in your company, or just your mind?

Need accounting software design with IT consulting in mind

Merdryn — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 07:58:03 -0800

I've been struggling to find accounting software, online or PC/Mac based (either will do) that is suitable for a computer consulting practice. I need to be able to handle the typical basic things done by QuickBooks, like invoicing and estimates, simple A/R and A/P reports, etc. But that isn't enough. I need to manage multiple bill rates on a per consultant/per customer/per job or work order basis. QuickBooks doesn't do that, and I've tried hard to find out how to make that work. Any advice, hive mind?

Research topic to impress job interviewer

gttommy — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 18:11:10 -0800

What research topic should I do if I want to impress a future job interviewer to get into technical/business consulting or even project management sometime down the track? I have around 6 months to do research on pretty much anything I want. I've only been able to come up with:

Web development methodologies
Effectiveness of XXX's Project Management approach

Can you think of someone more specific? What are The biggest problems experienced by IT companies that might be worth looking into? Your input will be appreciated, especially if you're working in the industry.

I know we need income distribution rules in writing. What does the writing say?

andifsohow — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:32:25 -0800

How to divide up a company amongst 3 people when 2 people will be doing most of the work for the first 6-12 months. A small consulting firm, built from scratch. We've had almost no expenses thus far and are about to land our first client. Everyone is fine with 1/3 ownership and we all want all 3 on board, but partner C will be able to do considerably less work over the next year or so due to a full-time gig he's committed to during that time.

I know we solve part of this by how we distribute income - i.e., we track hours put into project and pay out accordingly. Problem is, we also want to invest as much into the company as possible, because expenses are on the near horizon. So if we land a 10,000 project and the work is divided 45-45-10 amongst A, B, & C, but A & B want to invest 2000 of their respective 4500 into the company, how are the 1/3 splits best maintained? Is it customary for C to match that contribution out of pocket, for example, or do we need to break it down to represent contributions more accurately?

I'm waving the fee and want you to know it!

Fuzzy Dog — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 14:26:48 -0800

[ConsultingFeeFilter] My fee schedule outlines rush-fees, I have a new client that should officially be charged the fees for some recent work. I am not going to charge the fees and want them to know that I am giving them a pass this time, what is a good way to tell them that I am waving the fees because they are a new client and want to build our budding relationship, but make it clear that this is a one time deal? More Inside.. There was a major error by a 3rd party involved in a marketing campaign. I was called upon overnight on a weekend to strategize and impliment a solution. This is clearly outlined in my price structure as "RUSH FEE" time. This is a brand new client with a lot of potential and I want to increase my value by
"doing the right thing" and not being greedy and profiting on the HUGE mistake of another. What should I tell the client?

Help me choose a CMS, find stores for a green laptop case, and how/where to build a buzz about it.

healthyliving — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 10:59:02 -0800

Quadruple your pleasure! I'm a newly minted green business consultant, and would like your help on four things: finding a CMS or blog system to create a website for my business, finding places where you think a green laptop case would/should be sold, blogs/social networks to get the word out about it, and suggested protocol to approach said blogs/social networks. Happy Monday everybody. Here's the thumbnail: I recently started a green business consulting practice (woopeee!) and got my first client, a laptop case company that's decided to convert their whole line to sustainably made by the end of next year. I would like your help on four things:

Finding a CMS or blog system to create a website for my business, finding places where you think a green laptop case would/should be sold, blogs/social networks to get the word out about it, and suggested protocol to approach said blogs.

~~~

Okay, part one - I'm wanting to create a website for my budding consulting practice, I'm not coding savvy, and am leaning the CMS route, rather then blog, so that I can make the content/structure malleable, but not need to be an coding genius to do it. Yes I know blogs like Typepad can have static pages as well as blog pages, but my gut says that in the long term I'll want more elbow room. At this point the consulting practice is just me, but there may be others in the future.

My question is, of what's out there, which CMS systems meet these criteria:

• Are easy to install, customize, update.

• Can be up and running in a short amount of time, and are scalable/have plenty of useful modules to add.

• " " ", even if I'm no coder. Has instructions that don't presume you know all the lingo already.

• Has a variety of stylish templates, and can be customized.

• Is free (preferably) or inexpensive (ie a reasonable monthly vs some huge up front fee.)

• Open source and/or good support. In other words, if things go wrong, there's either tech support or people on a BB that could help me suss things out.

If you have some entirely other idea outside of a blog or cms, do tell.

~~~~

Part two: I've gotten my first consulting client, a laptop case company that has decided to convert their entire line to green (made of recycled bottles!) by the end of next year. I'm helping them with reviewing/ creating marketing materials, buzz building on blogs/social networks, coming up with new channels of distribution, and general susty knowledge goodness to keep them on their toes and thinking broadly.

Where would you see recycled soda bottle based laptop case (and soon to be many other kinds of) bags being sold, online and bricks and mortar? Think both where you would imagine seeing them (ie Elephant Pharmacy {a green focused "drug store that prescribes yoga"}, theGreenOffice.com), and where you think they should be seen (ie at Whole Foods, Starbucks) I've been compiling a list, and would love to have your input on this. They sell nationally, and also in Europe and I believe some Asian countries at this point. Think broad, from leetle places to beeg companies.

What blogs/social networks do you see the word going out on? Again I've got a list going, think from the usual suspects (Treehugger.com) to more off the current beaten path (Changents.com)

And lastly:

Any suggestions for how to approach people at blogs to post about these bags, this company? It has a good story (Founder was a Berkeley enviro studies major in the 80s, got discouraged, went into business that was not enviro related, and now sees that it's possible to do it susty, and has made the commitment, and is dedicated to do it really right, as in not just because it's cool, but does every material in there make a difference vs. the conventional option?) Do I write something for them, or just give them a thumbnail and let them do their thing? My client thinks they should wait until products are in stores to do this, but I think building an anticipatory buzz instead of/as well as this would be wise. Thoughts?

How do I get potential clients hooked?

schwa — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 20:40:20 -0800

I'm a software development consultant and am getting frustrated at the number of potential clients slipping through my fingers. I get a good number of interested leads through my website or through referrals (thanks guys) but the ratio of potential clients to paying clients is too low. What might I be doing wrong and how can I help gain these clients? The sequence generally goes like this: I get an email from a lead introducing themselves and the problem they want help with and asking about my availability. I email back and explain that I am available, and that the project sounds interesting and would love to talk more with them about it. At this point one or two more emails go back and forth, with them describing the problem in more detail and me describing my relevant experience and skills. Frustratingly, more often than not this process dies when I don't hear back from the client.

I'm an experienced developer, with good skills in my field and a good track record behind me. I don't think my rate is unreasonable (in fact I think it might well be low for a developer with my experience). I understand sometimes the client isn't ready to hire a consultant and was just looking fore ballpark rates that he can budget for. I understand that there can be a tonne of valid reasons for a client abandoning the process. Its always possible the client has found a better developer elsewhere, and so forth. But I'd like to know what I can do to help prevent this from happening and what I could do when a potential client goes cold on me.

Any advice?

Feasible? Or cuckoo? Where to begin?

jennyjenny — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 10:12:28 -0800

My business idea...brilliant, or a waste of time? Have you, or your business, ever needed a service like this? Has any company you worked for ever employed anybody to do this? I am about to graduate from Physical Therapy school with a master's degree. By the time I graduate, I will also have earned an ergonomics assessment specialist certification.

I would like to start a small business. I would provide assessment of the working conditions at offices, factories, etc. My services should reduce the incidence of workplace injury, repetitive stress injury, and workman's comp claims.

I would also like to run seminars for businesses -- teaching people who lift a lot of heavy stuff in their jobs to do it in a way that won't lead to injury. This could be applied to baggage handlers, postal and UPS-type companies, home health attendants, nurses, etc.

My questions:

-- Does this seem like a feasible plan?
-- How on earth does one begin something like this? Do I need a business plan, an accountant, a financial advisor? Do I need to become an LLC, or can I do this under my own name?
-- A silly question: Is this "consulting"? Do I call it consulting, or something else? I thought I knew what consulting meant, but people seem to be using that word to mean something different from what I understand it to mean.
-- Are there any books/websites/forums you would recommend that would give me a place to begin?