Hello all:
Now that you’ve had a chance to read some of our articles (if not, please go ahead and see what we have, and come back…I’ll wait! 
), I’d like to hear from you on what you’d like to see next!
As a bit of an incentive, I’ll be giving a free gift at random to one of our lucky respondants – but to be eligible, you need to respond! Its a really short survey, I promise, but it would help me to serve you better.
You’ll find the survey after the “more” button below. See you on the other side!
read more…
Hello all:
Sorry its been a couple of weeks since I’ve last posted. Been very busy with some client work.
I’ll be posting again more regularly, so stay tuned!
MKS
Great talk by Tony Robbins at TED (Ideas Worth Spreading) that talks about the human motivators for success. 20 minutes, great info for consultants!
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You’ve probably heard this one before – especially from some full-time employees. Understandably, they’re often upset that as a consultant, you seem to be getting a sweet deal – you’re working the same job as they are, with often similar skills, yet you’re usually working on cutting edge projects while they’re stuck with support or maintenance duties, and even worse, you’re making more money! How can you counter this perception? read more…
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Does working as a consultant have its downsides? Definitely. One area you’ll face some challenges is achieving career growth. Clients hire consultant to achieve specific objectives – to fit into a specific part of the organization that needs to be bolstered. You’re there to achieve a specific goal, fill a specific need. Note the word specific? :)
So, if you’re brought in to take on a particular role within an organization, the client might have trouble seeing you fit into another role, particular if its more senior than the role you’re currently filling. How can you overcome this? read more…
Sphere: Related ContentGeekpreneur writes:
Sphere: Related ContentTell regular jobbers that you work as a freelancer and you can see the envy in their eyes. They imagine you sitting on the beach with your laptop propped on your knees. They see you crawling out of bed while they’re still sitting in traffic, believe you take leisurely lunch breaks as they’re rushing back to their desks, and assume that you never have to argue with the boss.
A key argument that many people make, when faced with a choice between pursuing a consulting opportunity, or going with a fulltime job, is the whole idea of benefits. What are benefits? Lets talk about a few of them:
- Medical benefits (in the US this includes basic medical, in Canada this would be extended medical, dental, etc)
- Insurance (typically referring to life, accidental death, short-term and long-term disability)
- Pension
- Equity plan (stock or option grants)
- Free food, store discounts, daycare, etc.
You might think that they only way to make real money is to win the lottery, or maybe have a rich uncle who passes away and leaves you a rich legacy. You’d be wrong! We’ve talked about how consulting can be personally rewarding, giving you a sense of freedom and control, and a sense of empowerment. We’ve even talked about how you can make more money, but how much more can you make?
Let’s take the example of Fred Flitstone (note the missing “n”). He’s your typical hard-working everyman – say he works as a Network Engineer. He loves his job, but he just can’t seem to get ahead! He makes a decent wage – say about $50K/year. Of course, he gets some benefit, but they’re not really worth that much, say about $200/month. He works real hard, and is great at his job, so he gets an annual raise of about 5% a year. In fact, his boss loves his work ethic, so he promotes him to a Team Lead position after 3 years on the job, and gives him a 10% raise. After 5 years on the J.O.B. (Just Over Broke – you’ll hear that a lot), he’s making about $67K a year – not bad! read more…
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In a previous article, we talked about finding your secret talent. Have you thought of it yet? No? Go and do it right now, we’ll wait!
Back? OK then, lets get started.
Let’s say that you’re great at putting together presentations. You love it, you could put together presentations all day, all week, all year. Well then, you probably want to pursue an opportunity putting together presentations!
How do you find the right client? You have a couple of key choices: read more…
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When faced with the choice of taking a “short-term” consulting gig, or a “permanent” full-time job, a lot of people take the “safe” choice and go for the perm position. They do this for a variety of reasons:
- “I’ll get benefits”
- “I’m going for career growth”
- “I don’t have to worry about taxes, someone else pays them for me”
- and the big one – “I don’t have to worry about where my next meal or rent is coming from” read more…
