Having six months of expenses saved up to be a most excellent idea. Even if you have a steady job it's peace of mind that helps you sleep at night.<br><br>jason<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 5/9/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">
Randy Clarksean</b> <<a href="mailto:rclark@lakesplus.com">rclark@lakesplus.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>If you work on projects 50% of the time you will be doing good as a<br>consultant ... if you are doing job shop type work (warm body for hire)<br>that is different as you end up with long term jobs that way and are not
<br>really consulting ...<br><br>In general ... assuming 40-50% billable time is reasonable - once you<br>get up and going. They also say to have 6 months salary sitting in the<br>bank if you are to start on your own as the startup time can be lean.
<br><br>Just my thoughts ... as someone who has been an independent consultant<br>and works for a firm that does strictly consulting everyday.<br><br>Randy<br><br>On Thu, 2007-05-03 at 10:06 -0500, Steven White wrote:<br>
> I don't do consulting but I wondered once how much I would have to<br>> charge if I did.<br>><br>> I went to my employer's HR department and asked them for everything<br>> they contributed for me to various places. That included FICA,
<br>> Medicare, pension, life insurance, long-term disability, their share<br>> of medical insurance, dental insurance, etc.. I added that to my<br>> salary to come up with the amount of money I would have to get to have
<br>> the same income I have as an employee (because I would have to pay my<br>> own FICA, life insurance, long-term disability, etc.).<br>><br>> Then I tried to figure out how many days in a year I would actually
<br>> work. The 52 weeks times five days per week has to have subtracted<br>> from it holidays, vacations, and maybe a little sick leave.<br>><br>> Then I took the advice of the consulting books to realize that I would
<br>> not work eight hours every day. In fact, considering overhead,<br>> travel, education, and so on, I might average only six hours of time<br>> each day that I could in good conscience bill for.<br>><br>> Finally, I divided dollars by hours to get an hourly figure. I think
<br>> that at the time is was around $52.<br>><br>> Steven White<br>> City of Bloomington<br>> 1800 W Old Shakopee Rd<br>> Bloomington MN 55431-3096<br>> USA<br>> 952-563-4882 (voice)<br>> 952-563-4672 (fax)
<br>> <a href="mailto:steven.white@ci.bloomington.mn.us">steven.white@ci.bloomington.mn.us</a><br>><br>> >>> Wayne Johnson <<a href="mailto:wdtj@yahoo.com">wdtj@yahoo.com</a>> 4/4/2007 9:58 AM >>>
<br>> What I did was take what I was making as a full time developer, add in<br>> 7.5% for the self employment taxes, Another 6% for vacation/sick and<br>> then a fixed monthly charge for insurance, etc if you need to. Then
<br>> split this all up to an hourly charge.<br>><br>> Remember that there is always down time between contracts, so short<br>> term contracts need to charge more for the between the gaps overhead.<br>><br>
> I was charging $72/hr for short term and $60 long term YMMV.<br>><br>> At one point I was working for a contract house (at $30/hr + benefits)<br>> and I later found out the contract house was charging the client
<br>> $75/hr. They were making a VERY nice profit on my labor.<br>><br>> Dave Dash <<a href="mailto:dave.dash@gmail.com">dave.dash@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>> I've seen people charge anywhere from $25-100/hr for various
<br>> computer related consulting. Unfortunately nobody likes to<br>> share how much they charge as it tends to be a not for public<br>> consumption.<br>><br>> If I weren't already doing some consulting (albeit on the
<br>> side), I'd pick a number between $25-100 that is more than<br>> what I'd be making at a similar full time or even contract gig<br>> (and you can call recruiters to find those out). Then just
<br>> keep to that. But really the rate doesn't matter so much as<br>> the quality of service.... of course, I'm not the small<br>> business owner cutting you the check, so what do I know.
<br>><br>> -d<br>><br>> On 4/3/07, Florin Iucha <<a href="mailto:florin@iucha.net">florin@iucha.net</a>> wrote:<br>> Guys,<br>><br>> What are some good resources on consulting rates? I'm
<br>> talking to a<br>> small business owner about Linux support and<br>> consulting for their shop.<br>> Mainly remote troubleshooting, with bulk work during
<br>> weekends, if<br>> need be.<br>><br>> Thanks,<br>> florin<br>><br>> --<br>> Bruce Schneier expects the Spanish Inquisition.
<br>> <a href="http://geekz.co.uk/schneierfacts/fact/163">http://geekz.co.uk/schneierfacts/fact/163</a><br>><br>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----<br>> Version: GnuPG
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