Media: Unixwiz.net on how to be the best Consultant

Steve Friedl's Unixwiz.net Tech Tips gets far from technical with "So you want to be a consultant...?". Whether you are a freelancer, or running a consultancy, or someone that employs either, this piece has something in it about how the relationship should work.

One of his most interesting tips is:

'* Give away some free time, but make it visible
Most honest consultants spend a certain amount of time for customers that's off the clock, and this can be for several reasons. It could be that it's for something you're not strong in (and cannot justify charging full consultant rates), it could be a pet interest of yours where you are willing to give away the time, or it could be that your time on the task was so unproductive that you don't feel right about charging for it. These are all fine reasons.

'But don't do it quietly. ...If the customer doesn't know you did work off the clock, you don't get credit for it It also makes it harder for a customer to object to the time you did bill for, but it's important not to use the nocharge time as a "ploy": the goal is to maximize the customer goodwill, not to maximize the revenue on any given invoice.'

Associated Link: Unixwiz.net: So you want to be a consultant...?

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