1. If you are creating a business beyond your area of expertise take care to furiously background check those being hired as superiors or consultants. Just because someone was involved with numerous startups does not mean they were useful or capable. Perhaps they were worthless or maybe they can juggle knives while writing a business plan. You can find these things out by calling their previous employers. One call can save you months of pain.
2. While interns can be a great source of free labor and youthful ideas you shouldn't start your entire workforce under the guise of “internships”. Our first work crew was entirely interns, ten to be exact. Those ten were whittled to 3 and then we were hired. Ten in a small space, fumbling around with one boss can lead to much confusion and way too many lunches to buy. Not to mention you shouldn't offer internships unless you can offer knowledge.
3. Don't hire and immediately step away. It's in your best interest to get to know everyone who is with you from the ground up. You'll never know what people are fully capable or incapable of doing. The more space between you and your employees, the less you'll really know for sure what is going on. Convoluted information is not helpful in any business.
4. Try to share as much information as you can. There were months where coworkers and I would be left alone while bosses and investors would disappear behind closed doors. We'd continue on like drones, not improving anything because we had no clue how. Expectations weren't clear. As time went by sheets were demanded from us asking what we did and for how long. Talk about mixed emotions. We weren't trusted yet had no clue how to gain trust.
5. See how your employees are and ease in asking about their progress. Our owner still has a funky habit of demanding what we are doing for him. There are few decent answers to questions like that particularly when you are spending company money on something needed. It takes a wordsmith at times to keep from being backed into a corner, even if the boss is joking.

Written very simply:

1. Research everything, including potential management hires.
2. Don't abuse the power of interns or offer internships that won't afford learning.
3. Don't assume your company will immediately function as you please on autopilot.
4. Don't leave your employees in the dark.
5. Allow room for your employees to grow on their own, without whips and chains.

Remember, common sense and venture capitalists are all you need.

In order to become a consultant, you must first define your area of expertise. Secondly, do you have a market for your consulting talents? To find out if you have a marketable talent research your expertise by searching for consulting positions via the Internet.

"When you don't know what to do, it is far better to do nothing than to do something you do not understand.” Suze Orman said this about investing but it also applies to starting any business. Educate yourself before you start consulting! What kind of consulting do you wish to do? As a consultant, you must either establish yourself as a small business or work for a consulting company.

To help you start your consulting business a visit to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is necessary. They will help you put together a business plan and provide you with the information and mentorship you need in order to start your business. By developing a business plan, you will know exactly what it takes to succeed in your consulting business.

A good resource in addition to the SBA is the book; Start Your Own Consulting Business by Entrepreneur Press this book shows how to start a consulting business, features interviews with successful business owners and has answers to frequently asked questions. The book also has an appendix of additional resources that come in handy for further research.

Your business plan and research will help you answer the following areas of consulting. Once you have answered these questions as they pertain to your consulting niche then you will be ready to start consulting!

• How will you fund your new consulting business without borrowing money?
• How will you determine your talents and develop your skills to succeed?
• How will you find prospective consulting positions?
• Do you know how to network, without wasting time?
• Will you do pro bono work?
• Do you know how to market your talents?
• Can you write a proposal?
• What is your fee structure?
• Do you know how to create multiple streams of income?
• Do you project a professional image?

A successful consulting business can be yours if you do a few things prior to going out for clients. Do not forget that as a consultant, you are a business and you must adhere to federal and state laws. A good tax consultant can help you with the basics of your tax set up and a good business plan will help you weed out the possible roadblocks to your success. Consulting can be a rewarding and profitable career with a little planning and goal setting.

Personal Qualities

• A contractor must be flexible.
• A contractor must be willing and eager to learn new skills.
• A contractor must work well with people.
• A contractor must learn to work outside the normal office channels, and yet be capable of strictly following all the rules and procedures that apply to regular employees.
• A contractor must know his or her place, which may be exalted or humble, depending on the contract.
• Within the constraints of the above, a contractor must know when to offer expert advice, however unpopular, and must know when to shut up and make the best of a poor situation.
• A contractor must never be a Primadona.

If you like to learn new skills, work in a challenging, rather than predictable environment, and hit the ground running, chances are that you can learn to be a well-paid and successful computer contractor.

Breaking In and Staying In

Here's what you need to know and do.

• What range of hourly dollars you will accept.
• Whether you are willing to travel, locally, nation-wide, or internationally.
• How long a contract you want. Some contracts last only a few weeks, others can run into several years.
• Look up several employment agencies that specialize in contract work. Make a note of the jobs available, and the skills required.
• Organize your resume to include every scrap of experience that you have.
• Be prepared to modify your resume to emphasize experience relevant to any position that comes your way.
• Contracting is about a wide range of expertise and an ability to hit the ground running. Mention this, your flexibility and your ability to work in diverse situations with a wide range of people. This should be covered in a paragraph on page 1 of the resume.
• Get your resume(s) up to date. You may want several flavors of resume (team lead, programmer analyst, and tester.)
• Brush up your interview skills. Contractors generally face potential employers several times a year. Prepare for the phone interview, which is quite common.
• Organize. Lay out an interview suit (you'll probably only need it once in a contract). You should have a computer on which you can track your job search efforts.
• Network. This is important. Get and keep email addresses and phone numbers of your colleagues. By the time you have completed a couple of contracts you will have an extensive network. Many contracts are obtained via word of mouth.

Types of Contracting

Sub Contractor

You will work for a consulting firm. This way, you'll get to work in different companies, and the consulting firm may give you medical insurance, a supply of jobs, and may even pay you between contracts. It will also take a cut out of your hourly rate, and you will pay taxes directly from your pay check. You won't get paid as much as an independent.

Semi Independent

 This is similar to a sub contractor, but you will be responsible for your own taxes, on a 1099 form.

Independent or Corporation to Corporation

 You set up your corporation and are responsible for your own marketing, medical and liability insurance. There is no agency to pay, but you take care of the business details.

Contract to Hire

This is self-explanatory. Don't get into this type of arrangement unless you seriously intend to become an employee after an initial stint as a contractor.

Pros and Cons of Contracting

• As a contractor, you will need to constantly upgrade your skills. Don't be shy in volunteering to work on new projects and new software. Look at the market for "hot" skills. The upside of contracting is that it is rarely boring.
• As a contractor, you'll be paid much more than a regular employee. You'll learn new skills, including how to find a job. Life will become more interesting.
• As a contractor, you should not get involved in office politics because, if you do, you'll be at a disadvantage.
• You are less secure in your position as a contractor, as opposed to a regular employee. Try to have two months operating capital when you start.
• As an Independent, you will be letting go of a certain amount of stability. Make sure that you're ready for this. Be prepared to change locations, colleagues, obsolete work habits. Also be prepared to produce more than a regular employee with less training. A few companies (not many) will treat you like a second-class citizen. You need to get your own health and possibly liability insurance. Be prepared to be unemployed at short notice.

Remember, this is your life. Contracting can be a great adventure, with lots of travel, good money, and many friends along the way. How far you go along this exciting road is up to you.

Some Useful Links

• You can post your resume on Job Search for Technology Professionals
• Click here for an overall listing of IT Job Agencies around the world. 

The problem with the telephone is that how it is seen and used can make or break you. The receptionist who becomes blind when she's on the telephone, the clerk, who, in the midst of a personal call rudely responds to the "interruption" of an annoying customer, the yakety yak of voice mail, these events and others, tell the customer, "Go Away!" If there were no telephones, then customers would have no trouble getting the attention of the receptionist or the clerk, and not have to put up with the impersonal and annoying; "If you know your party's extension push one..."

Of course, telephones are vital to business. What is also vital is the proper training of everyone who answers a telephone. In old days the operator, who sat facing an array, answered calls. There was nothing to distract her. Answering calls was all she had to do.

To cut costs, companies have combined telephone operator with receptionist. This requires a triple digit I.Q. Not usual among those who apply for the position. So fascinated by the ring, the Receptionist must answer the telephone, incapable of appreciating the first law of telephony;

THE PERSON IN FRONT OF YOU TAKES PRIORITY

Anyone allowed to answer a phone who is also called upon to meet the public must give priority to the person present. The superstition that phone calls come first pervades our businesses. The fact is, the person who is present and ignored may never come back. The person on the phone that is not answered might very well call back. I often have the trainees envision that the person before them as having come through great danger to reach the office, and the person on the phone lounging in a bubble bath. The second law of telephony is "Transfer".

TRANSFERS CALLS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

There is no reason for a customer to give a long explanation to a receptionist who understands every fifth word, then have to repeat his request to the proper person. Too often customers spend minutes explaining why they have called because the person answering the phone can not believe that some one could ring up NOT to speak to her. The staff should answer; "Nuts & Bolts, how may I help you..." "I want to buy some..." And transfer; "Let me connect you..." Even if a caller is misconnected to Nuts instead of Bolts, the Receptionist has dispatched a call, vital when there are people in front of her, other calls in stream. Further, when there is a crowd in front of her, she must be able to route calls to someone else. Letting the phone ring endlessly is not a solution. Ignoring people in front of her is taboo.

  Hence, during busy times, there must be a system which routes calls to other employees on the fourth ring. If the receptionist is so busy as to have to be doing this all day, then a dedicated operator needs to be hired. No one is going to hang on to a phone after the sixth ring. No one is going to stand and wait for attention after the second or third phone call interrupts them. Voice Mail is not an answer. Although useful, automated systems tend to reduce the customer to a cog. If you use it, make it brief; "Welcome to Nuts and Bolts, if you know your party's name or extension, press 1, if you're calling about a bill, press 2. All other callers, press "0"." Should be the extent. Going from 1 - 9 with each one of those numbers having it's own 1 - 9 is tedious and if the caller has a choice, he or she will chose another company. The third law of telephony should obtain sanction.

NO PERSONAL CALLS

Before cellulars, the Boss could complain about "his" bill. Since cellulars, employees think that as it is "costing" the Boss nothing, it's none of his concern. People are not paid to enter a building, they are paid to work in the building. Gabbing on the telephone is not work. It is virtual embezzlement.

An employee, instead of working, is conducting his or her personal life. One wonders the kind of "work ethic" that allows an alleged worker to babble on a cell phone when he should be working.

I am not indicating emergencies, or calls under one minute, but the long conversations some employees engage in. The rule must be clear; "No Personal Calls while at Work." And those who breach the rule should be issued with written warnings.

When undertaking downsizing, these persons are the first to go. Why should your work interfere with their telephone conversations?

The fourth law is;

IF YOU ARE UNSURE, PASS THE CALL TO A SENIOR PERSON

Many times someone rings up with an inquiry which seems slightly beyond the purview of the set tasks. This might be a very important client who gets special treatment. This could be a reporter looking for information. Whatever it is, as soon as it falls outside of what is expected, the call should be sent to a Senior person.

The corollary to this is;

IF THE CALLER ASKS TO SPEAK TO THE MANAGER, DON'T ASK WHY

People who ask to speak to a Manager are angry. When the receptionist asks "What is this About?" they get angrier. Having to repeat and repeat sends them to their lawyer. When a person asks to speak to a manager there must be someone of authority who takes these calls. Settling in Court is always more expensive. These Five rules should be disseminated throughout a business to save customers, and of course, jobs.

My favorite example concerns a major company in which the chief negotiator on all employee/contractor matters happened to be the C.E.O's secretary. She had come into the company as a virtual typist, worked her way up, learning as she went. She had a sparkling personality and people skills beyond compare.

When the C.E.O. retired and was replaced by Mr. Youngblood, he was aghast that such an important aspect of a company would have been entrusted to no more than a secretary. (We can call her personal assistant, but her qualifications consisted of a High School Diploma and a few Certificates of participation in mini-courses). Mr. Youngblood hired a University Graduate with a whole heap of letters behind his name. Shortly after, the company was beset by strikes, difficulties with deliveries, even with having the garbage removed.

Where the secretary could say; "I know there's been some problem with your payment, George, but could you please just remove the garbage as a favor to me?" University Graduate could talk down to the trucker, make implied threats and speak in six syllable words, so the garbage remained.

The shareholders got fed up and I was dispatched to locate the source of the problem, which of course, was Mr. Youngblood's appointment of University Graduate. There was no way to "fix" the situation, firing the Graduate was removing the "bullet" from the septic wound, but the wound was still septic.

The only way to get the company back to where it had been before the arrival of Mr. Youngblood was to virtually start from scratch. The company had to downsize, renegotiate everything with the remaining workers, have new contracts with new contractors. It took over a year to get the company back to where it had been, another year for profit to reappear on the books.

All this simply because the person whom the previous C.E.O. used as a negotiator based on her people skills had been replaced by an On Paper Expert. On Paper Experts are often found in the I.T. department. Waving their Microsoft Certification they know as much as anyone who hits the "help" key. The real geniuses are those who taught themselves, often starting with electronics and extrapolating into computers as electronic machines, (as a person who fixes hair dryers can also fix coffee percolators). At the better businesses the local genius is often sent on mini-courses so that his or her lack of a degree or certification is buried under paper.

At the troubled ones, there are contracts with other firms who supply I.T. experts, meaning that one is paying twice for the same work. Whenever a consultant is called in for advice, I always suggest finding out who really does what and how, and then not interfering with systems that work.

Make a telephone call to the employment agencies you are registered with at least once a week. It is important to do this to let them know you are still looking for an assignment.

Do not call your agencies to update your availability twice in the same day. This could lead to your termination.

Make a trip to the site of an assignment you have accepted before the day you are scheduled to start. Many offices are hard to find and you will be late if it takes too long to find the company.

Keep an open mind toward doing light industrial assignments when you register with a temp agency. I am paying the price for not making myself available for assignments that involve a lot of physical work when I registered with a certain temp agency in 2000. After making my usual weekly telephone call to the agency last year, I was told, “You've been registered with us for five years and I don't think we are going to be able to find anything for you. You just don't have the skills or experience we're looking for.” The recruiter would not clarify the skills they want but I am assuming they were not impressed with the weak computer skills I had when I registered.

Sign your time card and time sheet at the beginning and end of each day you are doing an assignment. It is important to call your agency when your assignment has ended to let them know you want to do more assignments.

Take whatever assignment is offered as long as you can reach the location of the assignment and get there on time. In January 2006, I was offered a call center assignment by one of my temp agencies. The scheduled starting time was 7:00 in the morning. I did not accept the assignment because I am a bus rider and I would have been required to get up very early. I thought I would be unproductive as a result of not getting enough sleep. My refusal upset the lady who hired me. “You turned down an assignment because of the hours,” she said when I called a few months later to see if any assignments were available. I replied, “I have also done an assignment.” She answered, “Right. I got that. I don't have any data entry work available.” I replied, “Do you have any clerical work available?” She answered, “I don't have anything, okay?” She hung up.

I now do an occasional assignment that requires to me to be there at 7:00 in the morning. I must pay my rent and remain eligible for assignments.

Ask for a policy handbook when you register with temp agencies. If you ride the bus, look at your bus schedules and bus route maps when you are called to do an assignment.

Consulting can be an exciting and profitable business, can enable you to pick the type of employment that most interests you. You can also work full or part-time. You set your own hours. You are your own boss. Consulting is also a low start-up investment business.

Of course, as with any business there is no guarantee of income or clients, nevertheless, if you have expert information and are a self-starter, then this is quite possibly your type of business. If you are a retired person seeking some type of part-time employment, consulting is ideal.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines to consult as "to seek advice or information of." A consultant, then is a person who gives expert advice as a profession. If you're looking for freedom, independence, and creativity in the work that you do, then you can built your profession around consulting.

You can consult by writing articles, booklets, and ebooklets, you can consult via email or telephone and/or you can consult in person. To consult in person you must have excellent communications and people skills, have enthusiasm, and the ability to sell or market yourself and your consulting services.

Almost every person reading this article has an area in which they can offer their consultation services and their expertise. People want to improve themselves in all kinds of areas. Hence the popularity of "how to" and "information" books, booklets, ebooks, and ebooklets. These are generally the top-selling books. How to and informational articles are also popular.

You can offer your consulting services to individuals, groups, and companies. You can even consult on how to set up a consulting company.

Let's say you're a business professional. What are the areas of your knowledge? Start-up companies, fundraising, financing, business management, market analysis, advertising, import/export, etc. Then you can consult in these areas.

A freelance writer can consult on writing projects. A housewife might consult on refinishing bathrooms or organizing household finances, a gardener might consult on almost any gardening project, including container gardening or landscaping. If you're an excellent reader, you can consult on literacy or teaching literacy.

Your type of consulting company depends upon your knowledge and your personality type. To have your own business you must know how to work according to a schedule and be self-motivated. Your personality type determines whether you consult via writing, mail or email, telephone, or in person. In addition your client must be amenable to your type of consultation. For example, if your client only wants in person consultation and you consult via telephone only, then this is not your client.

As a consultant, your demeanor must always be professional and your consultant service must be run and managed as a business, whether home-based or office-based.

Guidelines on selecting a consultant field

Write down the area(s) in which you have expert knowledge, and/or you have ready access to expert knowledge and information. These should also be areas in which you are interested in consulting with clients either in writing, via email, mail, telephone, and/or in person.

For possible consulting areas look through the yellow pages, classified ads, and consultant's directories. These suggest areas in which you yourself can specialize.

In general, make a list of the things that people want to know. For example--how to save money? how to spend money? how to make money? how to invest? how to garden? how to read? how to cook? how to clean house more efficiently? what are the most nutritious foods? how to order wine at a gourmet restaurant? how to buy antiques? how to write how to books? Do you have expertise in any of these areas?

Go to Amazon.com . Make a list of how-to books. Do you have expertise in any of these areas. Include these books in your consultant's library.

Ways of getting clients

Advertise advertise advertise. In addition, you need to have testimonials from satisfied clients. Consider writing a series of articles and/or self-publish a book on your area(s) of expertise. These articles, books or booklets can be sold and/or distributed free to potential clients.

Low-cost advertising includes press releases, classified ads, brochures, postcards, etc.

For information on financing, bookkeeping, licensing, supplies and equipment there are many small business books that provide useful information for every type of small business including consulting. These books are available from Amazon.com or your local bookseller. In addition there are many books on computer consulting, business consulting, investment consulting, travel consulting, franchise consulting, home-improvement consulting, self-improvement consulting, career and job consulting, advertising and marketing consulting, and consulting opportunities in general. You can also find many free guides on consulting and free articles online.

Being a consultant is not simply knowing but you must have the ability to do research to find out what you don't know, including interviewing other experts.

Fees

You can charge by the hour or per day. For example a consultant might charge $20-$100 per hour or up to $500 per day. If you consult in writing, then the consultation fee is the cost of the book or ebook. If you write articles as information resources, then these articles can be the basis of your consultation and can be easily revised as books, booklets, ebooks, or ebooklets and self-published at Lulu Press or Xlibris .

Also, you must have credentials in this areas. Your credentials can be a published book on the subject, published articles. Credentials can also be testimonials from others who have credentials .

Credentials can be work you have done in the area of your expertise .

You can consult with clients online via email, via fax, via telephone, in person .

If you prefer working with clients online, then you can sign up to teach an online workshop at Universal Class, and/or you can teach an email course and/or email workshop .

Let's say you're an expert at writing for the web, and you have published articles at the numerous web content websites that your clients can review. These are your credential for teaching web content writing .

You can also design an email course and/or consult with those interested in learning how to write for the web .

In the course, you can require your students to sign up for an actual web content website like Helium Knowledge, Triond, and/or Associated Content .

They must write and publish their articles online .

You can decide how many articles they must write in the course and/or workshop and/or you can simply consult with them on the writing of the articles. They write the articles and you give them suggestions on how to improve and/or rewrite the articles before submitting to the web content websites .

You also consult with them on how to start a career as a web content writer making use of the numerous online resourses .

As a consultant you must design the best form of consultation for you and your clients. Your consultant can also be custom-designed to fit the client, whether email, workshop, lectures, fax, telephone or in person consultation .

In the initial stages of requirement gathering and development, one needs to remain open minded and listen to what the client's issues are and what they are looking to accomplish. Trust them to know what the main issue is. Trust them to at least have an idea as to what they want their final solution to do. It's your job to sell them on how you think their goals can best be reached, not what you think their final goal should be. Help guide them if they need it, but make sure that your goals remain secondary to their goals. I would personally like to be able to propose to every client that they need a full integrated e-commerce solution for their website which keeps the store and website stock in sync as well as offers several ways for customers to contact and purchase from you. I also know from experience that not every client needs, let alone wants, something that complex.

On the other side of things though, the client needs to trust that you'll be able to complete the job. Obviously they trust you can do it otherwise you would not have won the job. However, for your own sanity and desire to complete the job on time (and hopefully under budget) you need to know that the client still trusts that you can do the job. Nothing degrades morale and the desire to work faster than someone either constantly checking up on your progress even though you've already given them an update as to where things stand. Trust me to get the job done and I'll get it done. Act like you don't trust me, and while I'll still get things done, I'll do everything I can to make you sweat until the very last minute grumbling to anyone who will listen the entire time.

It can be argued that the above is all based off of respect, which, as the idiom tells us, is earned. However, I believe that trust is a more basic concept than respect. You can work hard and do a good job on something regardless of if a client respects you or not (although chances are if they don't respect you to at least some extent, you'll never even land the job in the first place). As long as you take pride in your job, the respect isn't necessary, and will come in due time. Without the trust though, it makes it much more difficult to get the job done.

In the end, just remember to trust in yourself that you can get things done. Trust that your client knows what they want, and hope that the client trusts you.