[Sigia-l] Freelance IA consulting: Discovering the cost of doing business

[David R. Austen]

Greetings, all:


Not long ago I had an opportunity to chat with Lou Rosenfeld and he
gave me some excellent business advice. It helped me with a potential
client who offered too little and expected too much. I wanted to work
with that organization and also with his client. Having been in
business for myself much of my life, I should have known that what he
offered was a bad deal; the conversation with Lou helped me to see
that more easily, more clearly. I owe you one Lou.

Do the IAs on this list have any interest in a thread on the cost of
doing business -- what it is an IA needs to bill out each week (for 50
weeks) just to keep ones head above water? When businesses to not hire
us it is usually because they think they cannot afford us. Can we each
afford ourselves, covering expenses for a business that sometimes
brings in little revenue. You may think you are not "a business" but
IAs who would pick up the phone and listen attentively to a prospect
who needs some freelance IA work should consider themselves "in
business."

Many of us are gung-ho humanitarians at heart, delighted to be in this
modern "helping profession" (cousins to librarians, and distant
cousins of teachers and nurses) and it is easy to imagine that the
"thrill of it all" might cloud our vision of what we really need to
earn if we are to survive as professionals.

In my other life, I found that many small business operators just did
not know what kind of weekly revenue was the necessary minimum. And
they actually accepted work on terms that wee below that minimum.

This minimum is a good number to keep in mind the next time--or the
first time--you negotiate any freelance work.

It's important for us to remember that we will likely never have a
client take us aside in a friendly manner and say, "You know, sport,
you really are charging far too little. You'd better raise your fees
if you want to stay in this game." If we don't know the "critical
numbers" no client who does know them will bring it up in
conversation. But one day your banker or accountant might, and that
could be too late.

Who will get the ball rolling? Somebody know the numbers already? Some
of us are in transition, freelancers looking for employment, or
employees considering independent consulting. These folks would want
to be checking the numbers before making the transition.


Best regards,


David                       

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