
Ask HN: How do I make the move to consultant? - Monotoko
I sort of stumbled onto a consultancy job two years ago in cryptocurrency that&#x27;s sadly just come to an end... going back into an office full time feels like a step back at this point.<p>I also don&#x27;t really want to be anywhere near cryptocurrency for a while... and to make matters worse I live halfway around the world from my home in a country that doesn&#x27;t speak English - I&#x27;m a reliable remote worker but I know that&#x27;s going to put people off, how to alleviate concerns here?<p>I&#x27;m planning to fly home tomorrow, I rented somewhere for a month and I&#x27;m already printing business cards and trying to get myself out there on local subreddits. Perhaps other social media too?<p>Anything I&#x27;ve missed? How can I advertise myself out there? I absolutely kick ass on cloud migration and architecture (and while I know they&#x27;re not everything, had the certifications to prove it).<p>Sysadmin stuff, troubleshooting and cloud work was my thing for a decade but I&#x27;m trying to catch up with two years worth of developments as well - I can also code but it&#x27;s mostly hobby stuff.
======
nlh
I have some meta advice, having done a bunch of really fun consulting gigs
over the past few years:

* Flexibility is super important to a lot of people. I like to tell clients “one of the best things about hiring a consultant is that you have no long-term obligations to me. You can cancel our contract on a day’s notice if you want, and I won’t be the slightest bit annoyed.” I’ve never had anyone actually do that, but folks always always react positively to that offer and appreciate it.

* Bill by the week, do a one-week minimum, and pair that with the above. You’ll be surprised how often that week turns into six months (or more).

* A lot of full-time folks get very threatened when a consultant arrives on the scene (particularly if you’re a generalist, but even if you’re a specialist). This is just a natural protective instinct. Don’t be put off by this - go out of your way to reassure them you’re there to help, work with them, and help them do their jobs better. The defensiveness will often turn into supportiveness and they can become your biggest champions.

* Think of yourself like a business, not an employee. Make sure you can be independent, go over-and-above on documentation, and communicate like a professional. Don’t get mixed up with company drama or gossip. You’re above the fray (and that’s why you should be paid accordingly.)

~~~
notzuck
Me and my partner do the same. Billing weekly is what has allowed us to have
no contracts in place, worst case scenario we lose 2 weeks pay but that's
never happened.

We have no contracts because plenty of people have a budget but most are not
allowed to sign on behalf of the company without legal and procurement
involvement. We're now doing over 500k / year on this model and we've just
hired our first offshore contractor to help us with a new implementation we
won last week. The plan is to be at 1 million in revenue (with tiny overheads)
within the next 18 months.

~~~
snowwrestler
I'm amazed that companies with required legal and procurement processes will
just pay an invoice without a contract. My employer's finance team absolutely
will not write a check unless they can tie the invoice to an approved
contract.

------
codegeek
"I'm a reliable remote worker but I know that's going to put people off, how
to alleviate concerns here?"

Show, Dont' Tell.

Write. Start a Blog. I recently hired someone remote and one of the reasons
was their blog (among other reasons). I could go through their posts and see
how they think, their perspectives on stuff and skills in writing about it.
The best way to market yourself is to distinguish yourself from others as much
as possible. I am always amazed to find people who are freelancers/consultants
but don't have a good online presence. Yes it is hard and yes it takes time.
But that is the point.

So don't print business cards. Well ok print them but that should not be your
priority. I run a business and I failed to print business cards so far (too
lazy). But I still meet plenty of people online and in person. Start writing
about whatever you know. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to a
scientific paper. Just write.

You mentioned sysadmin, cloud stuff, migration etc. Do you know how critical
this stuff is for any business ? If you kick ass on this stuff, you already
are ahead. But Show, don't tell. And no, there is no easy way. No one cares
how good you are because no one knows.

EDIT: I forgot to add that I also recently hired another short term consultant
for a gig. This will make them a few thousand bucks and I found them online
through their website/blog AND they wrote an e-book on the subject. Easy win
for that consultant since I emailed him saying "take my money".

~~~
jessriedel
> "I'm a reliable remote worker but I know that's going to put people off, how
> to alleviate concerns here?" > Show, Dont' Tell.

Isn't he just saying that he doesn't tend to slack off when he's working
remote, like some people do? How is writing a blog going to show anyone you
work just as hard remotely as in the office?

~~~
theelous3
If in your spare time, you show that you are _still_ trying to solve problems,
or at least give them thought serious enough to warrant writing about, you're
probably quite engaged in your field - which is a good thing.

Do you want the guy who doesn't do anything extra, or the guy who gets his
jollies from analysing and optimising apis for some protocol, or whatever?

~~~
lonelappde
I want someone who focuses on getting work done and doesn't get their jollies
from brand marketing.

Code beats blog posts.

Side projects are great when you can't find a rewarding day job. Why would I
hire a consultant who doesn't find gigs that tax their expertise?

~~~
theelous3
Remember this the next time you are learning something from a tech blog.

------
kfk
Here is something nobody mentions that seems to work. Do assessments. You
charge $2k for a 2-3 days assessment. If you have relevant experience this is
a very cheap and appealing offer to a company looking to improve xyz practice.
During the assessment talk to the people making decisions, try to go from one
assessment to a monthly freelancing gig. Personally I don’t like charging
hourly or daily. Please note this is my personal experience and my personal
experience in consulting is still very new. I also want to do more stuff on
cloud, thousands of companies are moving to the cloud so it could be a good
opportunity.

~~~
nlh
That’s a really great idea. At worst, you leave the company with a roadmap of
what they need to do and that’s real value. At best, they can just hire you to
do it :)

I’ve found that when you present this in a very objective way, companies are
even more into it: “I’m going to leave you with a roadmap, not a sales pitch.
You can use it to hire me, hire someone else, or do nothing - I’ll support you
guys no matter what you do.”

~~~
kfk
Yes as long as they have a problem they care about and you can show you solved
similar issues in the past they will most likely say yes. Also in the software
industry people read quite a lot so they love the idea of a carefully drafted
document about their challenges and potential solutions written by a
professional.

~~~
ScottFree
Do you have any tips on how to learn to carefully draft that document like it
was written by a professional?

~~~
anonfunction
Not OP but I’d suggest emulating well done open source projects.

------
barry-cotter
Tptacek

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4247615](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4247615)

(1) Start a freelance practice.

(2) Raise your rates.

(3) As you work for clients, keep a sharp eye for opportunities to build
"specialty practices". If you get to work on a project involving Mongodb,
spend some extra time and effort to get Mongodb under your belt. If you get a
project for a law firm, spend some extra time thinking about how to develop
applications that deal with contracts or boilerplates or PDF generation or
document management.

(4) Raise your rates.

(5) Start refusing hourly-rate projects. Your new minimum billable increment
is a day.

(6) Take end-to-end responsibility for the business objectives of whatever you
build. This sounds fuzzy, like, "be able to talk in a board room", but it
isn't! It's mechanically simple and you can do it immediately: Stop counting
hours and days. Stop pushing back when your client changes scope. Your remedy
for clients who abuse your flexibility with regards to scope is "stop working
with that client". Some of your best clients will be abusive and you won't
have that remedy. Oh well! Note: you are now a consultant.

(7) Hire one person at a reasonable salary. You are now responsible for their
payroll and benefits. If you don't book enough work to pay both your take-home
and their salary, you don't eat. In return: they don't get an automatic
percentage of all the revenue of the company, nor does their salary
automatically scale with your bill rate.

(8) You are now "senior" or "principal". Raise your rates.

(9) Generalize out from your specialties: Mongodb -> NoSQL -> highly scalable
backends. Document management -> secure contract management.

(10) Raise your rates.

(11) You are now a top-tier consulting group compared to most of the market.
Market yourself as such. Also: your rates are too low by probably about
40-60%. Try to get it through your head: people who can simultaneously (a)
crank out code (or arrange to have code cranked out) and (b) take
responsibility for the business outcome of the problems that code is supposed
to solve --- people who can speak both tech and biz --- are exceptionally
rare. They shouldn't be; the language of business is mostly just elementary
customer service, of the kind taught to entry level clerks at Nordstrom's. But
they are, so if you can do that, raise your rates.

~~~
mpeg
This reads as one of those "how to draw an owl" memes, step 1. draw a circle;
step 2. draw the rest of the owl.

I've been trying to succeed at consultancy for the last couple years, and
here's my list of (realistic) steps

1) Reach out to your network and see if anyone is looking for help that you
can provide

2) Realise that clients don't care about your background, or skillset, they're
100% focused on what results you can provide and how fast

3) The usual advice from the lucky ones is to always raise your rates, "raise
your rates after every contract!" etc. but a more realistic approach is to
lower your rates when you have to. I wish I could get steady work at my usual
rates, but sometimes I will take on side gigs at a lower hourly rate just
because they help keep you afloat

4) Despite what people may say, consultants that can speak both tech and
business are very common. They might not be very good coders, or very good biz
people, but they are common. Differentiating yourself comes down to personal
network rather than any substantial difference in output.

5) Specialists are paid a lot better than generalists. If you're an awesome
cloud migration expert (like OP) focusing on that will likely bring more
clients and revenue than trying to branch out to other areas

Most other advice is good, but it's important to notice that it won't apply to
most folks when they're starting out. I still love the freedom that working
for myself affords me, and that it's allowed me to do things that I would have
otherwise not been able to, but it's a lot of work, and a good chunk of my
time is spent essentially working for free (writing proposals, chasing up
payment, etc)

~~~
scardine
It is a catch 22: unless you are spending at least half your time prospecting
new clients it is hard to keep a steady income, but it is hard to invest that
much time in the commercial side of your "one man show" if you are not
charging high enough.

Every beginner underestimate how much salesmanship it takes to run a
successful freelancer career.

~~~
mpeg
Yes, it's very difficult to balance and it's been an interesting experience in
the sense that no one really cares about what work you've done in the past; if
they like you on a personal level they'll hire you.

I'm comfortable doing sales, but it's maintaining that balance that I find
difficult – if I spend too much time pitching I make no money as I have no
employees to deliver the work and if I spend too much time working I get stuck
in a cycle of feast and famine.

~~~
mxuribe
THIS 100%!

------
bump64
I have a few friends that moved to that role and basically it is like creating
a personal brand.

Start sharing knowledge on your personal website, blog, linkedin, twitter and
other social media and also make sure to make it clear that you are open for
conversation and could help other people/businesses. Attend local events and
conferences, even become a speaker. Talk to a lot of people, see what problems
they have and discuss how you could help. Get engaged with them, give an
advice or do some small work for free. This would give you better impression
of the project and the people that you would be working with and then tell
them that you would be happy to consult them and offer them your rates.

When you have completed a project, ask if you could use them for future
reference. On your blog/twitter write about your experience with this project
and how you helped that company (without sharing any sensitive or business
critical information) - this will show future clients that you are
trustworthy. Rinse and repeat.

~~~
bayesian_horse
For many people, the problem with that is that you have to pay the bills
during that startup phase.

But yes, in general you are right.

------
heyflyguy
I'll give you a much simpler answer than I've seen so far, and it was given to
me when I posed the same question. The advice proved to be some of the best
I've ever received.

\---- Learn how to sell ----

Consulting is an interesting ballgame because you might be the customer
support and technical resource - but first you're the salesman.

I made the switch about 9 years ago and the first year was brutal. Alot of the
advice here is spot on but it reaches past the point that you landed a
customer at a project price that you can endure for some period of time.

A book that helped me with this a great deal was "You can't teach a kid to
ride a bike at a seminar" by Sandler

~~~
koolba
> \---- Learn how to sell ----

This is a bigger deal when you are peddling your own wares, but the skills
involved apply to working as an employee as well.

You're just selling a slightly different product (standing army soldier vs.
mercenary).

------
omarhaneef
Okay, assuming you are smart, skilled, work hard, lucky, organized etc this is
the one piece of strategic advice that will deliver the most value if you
start a consulting practice:

Define your niche as narrowly as possible.

I know it sounds counterintuitive but it works wonders. You can read crossing
the chasm or just try it. You’re not a tech consultant, you’re not a crypto
consultant, you’re not even a bitcoin consultant, you might be something like
the best person to document the ICO process for the investment community in
Europe.

Because there is a lot of competition for the former but you should basically
own your market.

~~~
Roark66
This.Exactly. Many years ago when virtualisation first appeared on the market
I worked for a business that marketed themselves as "Windows P2V experts". We
got lots of jobs from clients that had in-house IT depts, external
consultancies contracted in permanently etc. The value we brought was that
there was this one large job that needed to be done, the business benefit was
very clearly demonstrable, once we did that job we were no longer a threat for
the in house IT or the general consultancy as we only did that one job. We
were also responsible for the outcome and we supported the virtual
infrastructure until the other guys got trained up on it. We also did very
similar stuff many times so we knew exactly what to expect, what can fail and
how to fix it etc. We had the satisfaction of knowing we're doing our niche
task well. This was a very good job for me back then. Now I prefer to travel
less and work remotely, but back then I enjoyed it a lot.

I would recommend finding a good niche and getting really good at it to anyone
in our industry. Assuming you retain the ability to swap that niche every few
years if necessary. The industry changes continuously.

------
mattgibson
One way to make the most of your country of residence is to exploit the
timezone difference as a positive. Look for companies that have 24/7
operations and need to have someone available for troubleshooting when their
main team are asleep.

Two things that worked for me are firstly having a technical blog, which shows
off not only the skill set you have, but also that you can communicate well.
It also shows that you have the enthusiasm and curiosity to go beyond the day-
to-day work of cranking out code.

Then secondly, go through agencies to find your initial contracts. Many
companies in big cities will accept remote employees if they can find good
ones, but it's hard to find those companies if you are not local. The agency
essentially does that for you in exchange for a cut of your day rate. Also,
they usually (in London at least) pay weekly so you don't have the big
financial dry spell before your first invoice is paid. Once you have a bit of
cash built up, you can go direct to companies as an independent.

~~~
renaudg
All the "agencies" I know of in London are just the contracts arm of a
traditional recruiting business. They are agencies in terms of how they
operate (charging the customer on your behalf and taking a cut), but in terms
of the kind of jobs they'll find you it's all onsite 6 months+ gigs that are
often also available as a permanent positions.

If there are any agencies specialising in actual consulting gigs (meaning
either short term / part time / remote and project-based, like a cloud
migration), I'd be interested if someone could give a few pointers.

------
throwaway8291
I have no advice, just a anecdata: Me and people I know got into consulting,
because we were interested in certain technologies; really interested,
researched all stuff, tried to answer all questions on those matters, engage
with people online, organizing events.

And all of the sudden, people come to you with business cases, questions and
consulting gigs. I see consulting for money an extension of something, that
you are already passionate about (I mean professionally passionate, you don't
have to pour your identity into it).

The idea is not that hard, it's just that you have to have enough energy and
sitzfleisch to see these things through.

------
gk1
Here’s what my first year of consulting was like, with tips I learned along
the way: [https://www.gkogan.co/blog/how-i-learned-to-get-
consulting-l...](https://www.gkogan.co/blog/how-i-learned-to-get-consulting-
leads/)

Don’t bother with social media and business cards. Figure out where your
potential clients get their information, and go there. “Fish where the fish
are.”

------
mathattack
Printing business cards and going on social media are the last activities, not
the first. The first should be finding someone who respects your work to hire
you. If you can’t do that, all the business cards and social media in the
world won’t help. After you have a first client, then build your brand.

~~~
benplumley
How do you find the first client if it's explicitly something that happens
before advertising yourself?

~~~
nexuist
You've been "advertising yourself" for years. Not to sound too LinkedIn-y, but
every interaction with a person is an advertisement, and every person is a
potential client.

Most freelancers get started doing work for family, friends, or former bosses
or coworkers. Having a prior relationship increases the odds of acceptance,
and if you are a worthwhile consultant with a decent client (ideally, you
wouldn't approach people who you know would be bad clients) it will usually
result in a success story.

------
jtthe13
Don't try to build a brand name if you're aiming to remain a one-person shop.
Your name should be the brand. Having to push ACME Corp. pretty much doubles
the required branding efforts, and potential clients / partners might be put
off by the unnecessary front.

------
fabflying
Try subcontracting for an existing consultancy. Local meetups often have
consultancies with excess demand to fill.

~~~
pards
This is a great suggestion - many of the big name consulting companies
(Accenture, Ernst & Young, McKinsey, CGI, Capco) will happily subcontract out
the work that they've sold, or bring on external consultants to fill out a
team.

~~~
robterrin
Any advice on how to find the right person to talk to at these firms? I used
to work at Deloitte, and even there I haven't figured out how to sub on
something.

~~~
kthejoker2
I can connect you to the right person at Accenture at least, email me
kthejoker gmail

------
ykevinator
It's all about leads. Gigs sometimes end abruptly and you need a backlog. Find
some clients on up work and try to get them off the site (be cool about it,
it's a violation of up works tos). Also a lot of companies like local. Reach
out to local big companies and send them a one pager on your skills. There is
a huge demand for your work, it's just really hard to find.

------
bayesian_horse
Lack of programming skills is certainly an issue for you. I recommend
remediating that, little by little. You don't need to join a bootcamp and land
a developer job in 3 months (though why not?) but a little coding here and
there can't hurt!

A lot of companies would like to employ open source technologies, but lack the
manpower to setup and maintain that software. There is a lot of "enterprise
ready"-ish projects out there like Nextcloud, Mediawiki, Keycloak etc, which
can replace much more expensive and vendor-locked solutions. Maybe that is
right up your alley?

You say you are living in a non-english native country. If that country
generally has lower living-expenses and salaries, maybe you can use that to
your advantage. With connections both to your local community and a higher-
paying market you could start an outsourcing business and in the process help
local developers. Or maybe there are alreay outsourcing firms in your area
which might pay reasonably well?

------
Roark66
I did that move a decade ago, but I think my advice is still valid. If you're
looking for contracts lasting at least few months rather than short jobs of
few weeks I recommend to talk to some recruiters. Before you do talk to them
make up your mind what daily rate you would like to get depending on the
length of the contract. Personally, my rates on anything shorter than 3 months
are double the daily rate I ask for in a 6-12 month contract.

Also, don't let yourself be convinced by the recruiter to take a permanent job
if they don't find you any good contract for a while. The moment you show any
willingness to even consider a permanent job they stop looking for contract
gigs for you and focus on finding you a permanent role. I have no idea why
recruiters prefer placing FTE's, but I observed that many times with my
colleagues.

~~~
ernsheong
It's easy: better returns for recruiters when placing FTE's anytime (one month
salary as payment)

------
khaki54
I'm going to give another perspective simply because it's not not listed here,
though it may be unpopular.

Big consulting firms have global presence. @pards mentions a few good ones but
would like to add Booz Allen to the list as well. It's a boon to the firm to
hire local, but western talent. Usually they have to pay someone 15-20k to
move out there plus a raise and lots of incentives.

Although many are suggesting 1099/subcontract work, I think that in some cases
you can absolutely get a better deal as a full time employee. Depending on
your level, you won't need to sign a non-compete this way or anything like
that. When you think it's time to jump out you can transition as a subk
working for your same clients and team potentially if you maintain the
relationship.

------
chpmrc
Out of curiosity how would your day to day work look like? There's an
interesting article that explains why "freelance developers" (or devops or
whatever) are not actual consultants because they are paid to do something,
not to know something ([https://daedtech.com/software-
consulting/](https://daedtech.com/software-consulting/)). I would also like to
reach a level where I get paid to share my expertise, given a specific
context, without actually building the solution but, like somebody already
said, seems way harder than building and marketing your own products until
something sticks.

------
reuven
I've been consulting since 1995, and have been co-hosting the Freelancers Show
podcast ([https://devchat.tv/freelancers/](https://devchat.tv/freelancers/))
for about 5 years now. If I could distill all of the advice I've given (and
received) over those years, it would come down to a few things:

(1) Consulting means running a business. This requires a different set of
skills, and often different thinking, than you have as a developer. You'll
have to learn budgeting and marketing, among other things. Learn these skills,
and realize that for as long as you consult, you'll need to improve at them.

(2) There are many different types of consulting. I personally do Python
training, and love it. But many consultants do what's sometimes called "staff
augmentation," working as a contractor on gigs that can last one day to one
year. Staff augmentation is the way that most people start off, and it's not
inherently bad -- but you can make far more money, and have more influence and
satisfaction, by providing insights and value from your experience and
knowledge. And yes, this often means that you can make more money diagnosing
problems and architecting solutions than actually developing the software that
solves the problem. Also, the higher the level at which you're working at a
company, the more you can make; helping a team leader is better than helping a
programmer, but helping a VP is better than a team leader, and helping the CEO
is better yet, still.

(3) Don't forget to budget, and to put money away for a rainy day and for
retirement. You should probably have a runway of 6-8 months before starting to
freelance, just because it takes time to find clients.

(4) Specialize. You want to be the big fish in a small pond, rather than the
reverse. There are lots of Python consultants out there. But there are many
fewer who teach courses, fewer yet who do it full time, and and even fewer who
talk about themselves nonstop as trainers. So companies call me, because the
problem that they have -- employees who don't know Python -- is one that they
instantly understand I can solve. Specializing means that most people will
ignore you, because you don't solve their problems. But for those whose
problems you _can_ solve, you'll fit perfectly. Philip Morgan has a great book
and podcast on this topic.

(5) Get your name out: Write a newsletter, blog, speak at meetups and
conferences, and let people know (nonstop!) who you are, and what you do.
It'll take time -- in my case, it took years -- but having such a constant
presence, online and off, will lead people to remember you and ask you for
help.

(6) Think about how you want to bill. Many do hourly, but it's better to do
daily, even better to do weekly, and better yet to do value-based pricing, in
which you charge according to the value that the client is getting. Jonathan
Stark writes a lot about this. You'll likely experiment a bit with billing
tactics.

(7) You'll have bad clients. Companies will be mean to you. They'll stiff you.
They'll say it's your fault. This is all rather unpleasant; overall, I've only
had a handful of such clients, but they stick out in my mind. Learning to say
"no" to clients, and to have the right gut feeling about them, takes... well,
the length of a career.

(8) If you play your cards right, you'll make more money than your salaried
counterparts, without too much less stability. Moreover, you'll be able to set
your own schedule. When things work well, they work _really_ well, and gives
you a sense of independence and fulfillment that wouldn't be possible in a
full-time "real" job. The thought that I've paid off my mortgage, paid for
family vacations, and still have savings... well, I kinda marvel at it, even
now. But if I can do it, then so can you.

(9) Finally: Consulting isn't for everyone. You might decide that it's too
hard, or that it doesn't suit your personality, or that you haven't found the
right niche. That's totally OK. If you want to go half-way, you can work as a
consultant for an outsourcing agency, which doesn't pay as much but gives you
the variety and flexibility of consulting. But if you end up hating
freelancing, and going back to a "real" job.... that's totally normal and
reasonable, and you shouldn't feel like a failure if that happens.

Be sure to read Brennan Dunn's "Double Your Freelancing" stuff
([https://doubleyourfreelancing.com/](https://doubleyourfreelancing.com/)) and
Patrick McKenzie's extensive and inspirational writings
([https://www.kalzumeus.com/greatest-
hits/](https://www.kalzumeus.com/greatest-hits/)).

Best of luck!

~~~
ghaff
Lots of good advice.

>Specialize.

This is one of the tensions I've always needed to deal with. My inclination
(for a different type of consulting) has always been to lean towards being
something of a generalist but I've always had to temper that with being
legitimately expert on a relatively small subset of technology and the market.

One recent example I've discussed with someone I know is that it's probably
better to be an expert on AWS (or even AWS billing, for example) than "expert"
on public cloud platforms generally.

>Get your name out

Especially at the beginning--but really in general--expect to spend quite a
bit of time that isn't "on the clock." Beware of doing too much free work
(like keynoting events) just for the "exposure," much less pay for your own
T&E to do so. But you're going to have to invest time in getting known and
just word of mouth is likely not enough.

~~~
reuven
AWS is a great example of a topic that used to be specific, but has now grown
too general to have a great consulting practice. AWS billing, by contrast, is
a fantastic topic; I actually know someone who specializes in this, and he's
making a killing by saying, "I'll save you hundreds of thousands of dollars
each month on AWS fees."

------
dep_b
If you're a cryptocurrency expert you really should look into joining TopTal:
[https://www.toptal.com/#hire-just-bright-hackers-
now](https://www.toptal.com/#hire-just-bright-hackers-now) \- they're really
looking for them a lot.

Once you're in as a crypto expert you can apply for any type of remote job,
not just crypto. I've been applying to Elixir jobs for example, because I
really like that stack and wanted to grow in it while I came in as an iOS
developer. Just make sure you list all of your other skills as well in your
resumé (and don't lie about it, please).

Disclaimer: the link has a kickback for me. Just go to toptal.com without all
of the hashtag stuff if you don't like that idea. I have been working for
years for them and the amount of work, the immediate trust you get from
clients and the reduction of headaches (just every two weeks a payment without
billing and begging) makes it worth it.

~~~
jamestimmins
What kind of rates can you get on Toptal? That's always been my biggest
hesitancy around sites like this.

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robterrin
First, pick a very specific niche that you know has demand, ideally by asking
potential customers and then positioning yourself in that niche.

You say "sysadmin stuff, troubleshooting and cloud," but clients want to know
specific platforms you know well, software you've implemented and types of
problems you can solve.

Make sure you are targeting a market where they are interested in "dating not
marriage." Many places will not outsource their sysadmin and try to hire you
full time instead of as a consultant.

Finally, this comes from my experience running Tail Risk (www.tailrisk.com) a
cybersecurity services firm. We have excess project work, tools, templates and
playbooks we would like to share with independent (security) consultants. Is
that something that interests anybody on this thread? If so, please reach out.

*edited for typo

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40four
This conversation seems super interesting & super valuable to a lot of people
aspiring to roles like this... or also just junior level folks like myself
looking for some insight into how more experienced programmers operate.

Why didn't I see this thread (with over 300 pts) pass through the front page
at some point? Maybe I just missed it?

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linsomniac
As someone who spent nearly 20 years doing sysadmin consulting: The first rule
to becoming a consultant is: Don't do it.

Largely I think it boils down to: Most places consider operations work a "cost
center" and the nature of cost centers (as opposed to profit centers) is that
they always want to reduce them.

I have never worked harder, for less money, than when I was doing sysadmin
consulting.

Come to terms with why you want to do consulting in the first place. What do
you want to get out of it?

That said: First thing is you want to get your ducks in a row: Figure out
accounting and billing, get a Tax-ID, figure out your company structure (do
you incorporate, sole proprietor, etc?), and figure out google adwords. Also
figure out local meet-ups where people who need you might go.

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aalhafoudh
Try this: [https://jonathanstark.com](https://jonathanstark.com)

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cafard
Gerald Weinberg's book _The Secrets of Consulting_ might be worth your having
a look.

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ncmncm
Make the move to consultant?

I can't say how things are done nowadays, but the traditional way has been to
get fired...

