Re: [Consult400] profitable iSeries consulting?

[DAsmussen@xxxxxxx]

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Eric,

In a message dated 2/6/02 12:07:24 AM Eastern Standard Time,
Eric.Lehti@amb-adv.com writes:


> What advice would you have for an independent consultant in the Kansas City
> area, headquarters of DSI (Data Systems International)?  I would like to
> earn enough to pay the bills!
>

Here in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, we have three large
consulting firms.  You pretty much have four options:

1.  Develop a large and loyal customer base willing to pay a premium to have
_YOU_ rather than opt for the cheaper option on the first project, only to be
billed higher rates on subsequent projects.  A known quantity is always worth
a premium in the consulting business.  Visit your LUG religiously, join the
chamber of commerce and attend there, too.  Sell yourself.

2.  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.  Hire a large contingent of innocents
willing to work for peanuts because they don't know any better and hire them
out at rates nearly (or more than) twice what you're paying them.

3.  Adjust your standard of living, and work for less.

4.  Travel.  The old adage that "anyone from out of town with a briefcase is
an expert" may be a joke, but "many true things are oft said in jest".

JMHO,

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA (freezing in Toronto, CA)
E-mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com

"The road to a friend's house is never long." -- Danish Proverb