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Reworking the Way We Work™

Three-Minute Guide to Becoming
a Free Agent/Consultant

by Jeff Berner

jeffberner2.jpg (15226 bytes) Marketing communications consultant and home-office pioneer and workshop leader Jeff Berner has been an independent since 1965. He was the name branding facilitator for Sun Microsystems' "Java" and "Hot Java" internet software, and his clients in the United States and Europe include Office Depot, Apple Computer and Nikon USA. He has presented his "Making a Life While Making a Living" seminar at Macworld Expo annually for a decade. Jeff's columns have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, and on the websites iVillage; ThirdAge.com, and MyPrimeTime.com. He is the author of a dozen books, including The Joy of Working From Home: Making a Life While Making a Living (Berrett-Koehler Publishers). See Jeff's website at: www.jeffberner.com or email him at jeff@jeffberner.com.

"A consultant is defined as someone from out-of-town," or so the saying goes. A consultant is someone from outside, who brings a new perspective to an old problem, or who pushes the edge of a new invention or process. Consultants are professional advice-givers, free-lance experts who come into a situation with fresh eyes and little or no long-standing social investment in the group he or she is advising.

In previous generations, most people waited until retirement before becoming independent professionals in their fields. Now, even those with only a few years salaried experience are launching themselves as free agents far from the ruts of the wage slaves, going from one company or non-profit to another, for a day or a month, or sometimes for only a few highly-paid hours.

If you want to launch yourself as a solo consultant, the first step towards marketing you skills is to network back into your field. Just because you no longer have a salaried position doesn't condemn you "outsiderhood." Let your old colleagues know that you're ready to join those "pickup basketball" teams that post-modern companies love to bring in to solve problems, develop products, and pinch-hit for burn-out cases -- all without having to pay benefits, or risk wrongful dismissal suits. Since they already know you and your skills, start with them. Also offer to give talks at local trade associations, Chambers of Commerce, and other places where "skill guilds" gather, so you can show off your intellectual capital and teaching skills.

A well-designed, unpretentious and to-the-point brochure may help, too. Such a printed piece should clearly state what you have accomplished; what the benefits are to those who bring you into a project; and a short client/project list, as references. If you can drum up a brief, signed testimonial or two (not a dozen!), put those in, too. You can mail these with a brief cover letter to prospective clients. Such prospects can be garnered from trade publications, and the best ones will usually come from your network of friends and colleagues. Don't be shy to ask. Marketing and networking are a big part of the consulting business, as they are in all enterprises. The cover letter, by the way, allows you personalize your communication, and to add any up-to-the-minute news or ideas that supplement the printed message in your brochure.

When you are offered a consulting project, be sure that your client agrees to pick up all expenses beyond your normal ones, such as travel or any capital expenditures for equipment and supplies you need to serve their account. And be sure that you either have an liability insurance policy that covers you in case you don't deliver on time for an unforeseen reason, or that your client indemnifies you in writing. You may be able to buy an inexpensive "umbrella" rider to your existing policies.

Of course, once you're out on your own, with no manager telling you what the agenda is, not only must you keep any consulting project organized -- on your own, or with your client's project manager. Keeping yourself organized adds to your responsibilities. You'll have to adjust your personal and professional calendar to that of your client; but it won't be as severely routine as under a salaried regime.

Getting paid what you're worth, and on time, are areas for experiment. Simple rules-of-thumb for consultants, include:

Establishing your rates can be easy if you know what your competitors and colleagues are getting. Each field, of course, has it's own expected rate scale. A programmer, for example, may get $55 an hour; an attorney may get $150, as do established copywriters. Because salaried talent sells its skills at a relatively wholesale price for full employment with medical and unemployment benefits, you will be charging what is essentially a retail price with zero perks. So set a decent rate, add 10-to-20% for negotiation room, and you'll probably wind up getting a fair rate.

Make a bid for the project, or establish an hourly rate, with a one-day or one-week minimum. Then require one-third of the established or estimated total upon signing; one third as a "progress payment," and the final third upon satisfactory completion. On projects that have fairly low dollar totals, you may be able to get half in advance.

Once you're at work as a consultant, devote yourself to projects as though you were a shareholder in your client companies. In fact, if the subject of your consulting is, for example, the development of a "killer app" software project, you may want to negotiate for partial or total payment for your services in stocks and options.

(c) 2000 Jeff Berner