Consulting sucks, but thanks for the work(16thletter.com)
16thletter.com
Consulting sucks, but thanks for the work
http://www.16thletter.com/2008/05/22/consulting-sucks-but-thanks-for-the-work/
9 comments
I agree with everything you said. It's been working the same way for my company. To us the key has been to choose our clients carefully, and make sure that our contact on the client's side is a technical person. Having to explain why something is easy/hard/impossible to a non-technical person can be a huge time sink.
Some people make a living off being consultants and would be thankful for any job that they could get! Although your point is valid - there are pros and cons to any business model.
The challenge becomes when the client/consulting work overtakes the time one can spend on the startups. Truly, if there is no outside investment, this is hard to do as a labor of love on the side. It's possible, but that much more likely to fail. Just my opinion.
You hear about these types of scenarios in the entertainment business as inspirational anecdotes. But, it's like winning the lottery. Less than 1% of 1% may make it. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try!
You hear about these types of scenarios in the entertainment business as inspirational anecdotes. But, it's like winning the lottery. Less than 1% of 1% may make it. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try!
What contribution does this post make?
Why, it tells us all sorts of important things, like that the author does consulting work, but doesn't like it, but apparently it pays money, so that's okay!
It also provides some handy bullet-point tips on successful consulting as copied from some other article. They include such gems as "Charge by the Hour" and "Network".
Oh, and it has a pretty, if somewhat unrelated, picture in the middle, which makes it look a bit like joelonsoftware and thus totally buys it some credibility, in my book.
It also provides some handy bullet-point tips on successful consulting as copied from some other article. They include such gems as "Charge by the Hour" and "Network".
Oh, and it has a pretty, if somewhat unrelated, picture in the middle, which makes it look a bit like joelonsoftware and thus totally buys it some credibility, in my book.
Why not?
If you pick your customers carefully enough, they can be the R & D department for your startup. They don't even realize it and they pay you for the privilege!
You are going to need tons of feedback for your software. One strategy is the well-known "release early and often". Another, just as effective, is "find out from your own customers before you develop". You will still need to release early and often, just not as early and not as often.
I estimate that more than half of the ideas for features in my software came from existing consulting customers. Things I would have never thought of, and now I know they're necessary. Without them I would have been releasing alot more often and early, and may have never received the same valuable input.
OP know this and mentions it, albeit only is passing:
"3. Learn from the work"
I spend less time consulting than many entrepreneurs spend fund raising. I like to think of my customers as "angels whose money I get to keep".