Overselling & Under-planning
You are so right. Many people oversell themselves (e.g., consultant vs. contractor, business intelligence expert vs. report writer, system architect vs. application designer, etc.) and usually end-up doing themselves a disservice. They disappoint their customers and fail to get the repeat business and referrals, or worse yet get a bad reputation.
Customers generally are not in the business of paying a "hired gun" to learn. But, it can be done if approached properly. There have been times when we've made deals with a customer where they provide training (formal or informal / hands-on) and we don't bill them for that time. They realize that there will be some ramp-up time so we are investing in each other, but as long as the consultant delivers (and this was agreed to up-front) it has worked out well.
The other aspect that I've seen so many time is that contractors / consultants fail to consider the business aspects of being independent. Accounting (bookkeeping, invoicing, payroll, taxes, etc.), marketing,
sales, business planning for profitability and growth, etc. are usually an afterthought.
Many of those people will work exclusively through a large contracting organization at reduced rates to avoid having to deal with this and avoid purchasing insurance, but this limits their growth potential. Planning and active management take time and effort, but add considerable value in the long run.
BTW, thanks for the positive comments.
Cheers,
Chip
