You see, I decided to sell my home. That meant getting ready to stage the property, clearing things out, redecorating for broad appeal, getting stuff into storage, keeping the place immaculate for showings, negotiating with buyers and more. Then I ran into a few hiccoughs as I tried to buy a new home. I’ll keep the details off the web. And then, after buying, I ran into another emergency – and I got really, really sick. And now I’m renovating…while starting a new contract with a new business client.

So things at Consultant Journal have been on hiatus. And that’s been very challenging, because I love writing articles here. Funny enough, many of my favourite posts have been about work-life balance.

Well, work-life balance is far from a perfect thing. I’ve spent the past to months in a 95-percent life, 5 percent work balance. But thing are steadily swinging the other way and I think I’ll be back to “normal” pretty soon. Whatever normal mean.

I’m pretty thankful to run a business. With the patience of my clients, I’ve been able to make it through this unpredictably challenging time. My business is flexible and a good portion of it can run without me.

But I love writing for Consultant Journal and look forward to posting more frequent articles. I’m glad you waited.

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Because I work for myself, I can move things around. Home needs to be staged? Okay, I’ll run out to the store, buy accessories in the latest colours, and stage my home myself, allowing it to sell in just days. I’ll just work in the evening instead. Kids sick? No problem. I’ll move some meetings, work while they nap on the sofa, make them honey-lemon drinks while I make administrative calls, and mop their brows in between emails. Volunteer organization needs some help? Okay, I’ve got a few minutes to provide over-the-phone consulting while waiting for my computer to install updates — and I’ll write them a fundraising letter while waiting for my laundry to finish, before heading out to lecture at the university a few minutes from here. Need to do a home inspection? Okay…I’ll just answer emails while following the inspector around and chatting about roof lives, concrete spalling and planter boxes.

Sometimes, it all feels a bit frantic. There’s a lot to juggle. But I’m the kind of person who has a lot on the go. I get by with my Google calendar and smartphone (and sometimes my tablet) when I’m not in the office. If I worked a regular job, I’d have a lot on the go, too. I always have. But I swear it’s all a lot more relaxed because I’m self employed.

You see, I don’t have to worry about getting fired. I don’t have to beg a boss to let me work from home, let me run to appointments or wait around for a repair person. In fact, most days, I work from home – not because I can’t afford an office, but because I can’t afford to give up the time involved in managing yet another place in my life. Right now, as I’m typing this, I have tea boiling on the stove, a turkey breast roasting in the oven, laundry going, and texts from my realtor and mortgage broker coming in. I just hung up with the property appraisal folks. This morning, I took my kids to school late (they’d needed a little more sleep) and I got to do a minute or two of jazz dance with the class before heading off. I didn’t have to ask anyone for permission. I just had to make sure it all jived with my deadlines and my appointments.

Now, the price I pay for this lifestyle is that sometimes I do work odd hours. I will sometimes send out emails at midnight. I’ll work on a  Saturday. But that’s all a choice and it’s almost certainly because I’ve made a trade off somewhere else. I check my email (sometimes infrequently) when I go on vacation, but I also take a lot of vacations – not the two or three weeks that most people do. In fact, my kids were off sick for four days this week and we’re about to enjoy two weeks of Spring Break together. That’s more time off than most people have all year.

After 16 years of working for myself, I can’t imagine life any other way.

The post Thank goodness for self employment appeared first on ConsultantJournal.com - Become a Consultant.

However, having a business plan in your hands is just one of the rewards. The journey of creating a plan can help you answer questions – maybe even some you didn’t know you had:

Is your idea or existing business feasible?
How much will it cost to fund and run?
What equipment and employees do you need to make it work?
Will an existing concept work in your geographic area or with a specific target market?
Can you get money for this business?
What financing will you need?
Will this idea win over the support of banks and lenders?
Will this business survive a crisis?
What opportunities are there?
How do you choose an opportunity?
What could you do to make this business stronger?
What previously unstated assumptions have you been making?
What are your competitors really up to and how are they making it work?
Who are your target customers? What do they really want and at what price?
How much money do you need to make to breakeven?
What should you charge?
How will you promote this business and find clients?
…and more

The length and depth of your business plan is up to you. You just need something that meets your needs – whether that’s to convince a banker, reassure your spouse or just make you feel like you have a roadmap. But the journey – the knowledge you gain – is the most valuable part of writing a business plan.

Need help with your business plan? Take a look at Write Your Business Plan Now.

The post Is a business plan necessary? appeared first on ConsultantJournal.com - Become a Consultant.

Now, economists talk about scarcity all the time. You’re heard of the supply and demand curve. And prices emerge where the two lines cross. Where there’s a supply of services and a corresponding demand. If there is a scarcity of supply and demand is strong, then prices will be higher.

Now, some people will tell you that consulting fees can’t be considered in terms of supply and demand. They’ll tell you it’s all about the value you create.

But the thing is that moving to solution-based fees and charging based on the value of your solutions is all about scarcity.

You see, the value you offer comes from trust. When you’ve got a deep, trust-based relationship with a client, they will pay more for your services. And why’s that? Well, it’s because of scarcity. It’s hard to find a great consultant you can trust. Great consultants are scarce! When you’re a client hiring someone on the basis on their reputation and skillset, you’re hiring them for things that are invisible. So when a consultant who looks like a credible expert comes along and creates a fantastic relationship with you, clients are going to value that consultant a lot more. Because a great, trustworthy, credible consultant is a rare thing.

If you are one of the few consultants who can provide a certain experience for a client, you’ll be in a position to get paid more for your work. A scarce consultant will get paid more than one who’s completely undistinguishable from everyone else out there, assuming there’s demand.

Think about it from the client’s perspective. The client has a big problem and needs someone to solve it.

So, first, the client thinks about supply. Who can solve this problem? Are there many people who can solve it? If there aren’t very many people, then the value of their services goes up.

And then the client thinks about demand. Just how much do I need this problem solved? Do I need it done soon? If I want this problem solved right away and my need is high, the client will place more value on solving the problem.

As the client reviews the available consultants – the supply – and considers his or her demand for a solution, the client will no doubt start thinking about trust. How much do I trust this person to do a good job? The more the client trusts the consultant, the greater the value of those services. People who need a problem solved soon and properly will place more value in a consultant who gives them confidence that the job will be done well.

So that’s the client’s perspective.

How do you approach this as a consultant?

You need to think about what it is you need to do to show that you can solve the client’s problem. You need to give them confidence in the solution you have to offer. You need to prove that you have just the right skills, experience and integrity to get the job done right. You need to help the client focus their attention on what the job will look like when it’s done right.

And that all comes down to understanding your clients’ needs, positioning your services to help them, and building and implementing a trust-based marketing plan that works for both your clients and you.

In the end, it comes back to scarcity. A good consultant is hard to find. If you show you’re a great consultant with an excellent track record, you’ll achieve scarcity and thus be in a position to charge a premium.

The post The Number One Secret Behind Charging Higher Fees appeared first on ConsultantJournal.com - Become a Consultant.

Related:

How to become a consultant

Write Your Business Plan Now

The post Just move appeared first on ConsultantJournal.com - Become a Consultant.

You see, when you learn to freelance, you’re doing more than just picking up work here and there. You’re learning to bring in an income from more than just an employer. Having the ability to generate extra money means you’ll have a skill you can use for life. When you’re working for an employer, you’re at their mercy to pick up extra shifts, overtime, commissions and bonuses. And, in most cases, you’re going to get taxed on any extra income at your full tax rate or even maybe move up into the next bracket. But if you start freelancing and consulting, you likely have several tax write-offs, potentially including your business use of home.  And, in most cases, the rate you’ll be charging, will be higher than you’d be making at your day job.

What’s more, even just learning to bring in a freelance or consulting income of $200 a month or $10,000 a year can have a huge effect on your financial profile. Think about any debt payments or savings goals you have. Throwing even a small amount at a credit card bill or car payment can help you get your head above water or even out of debt. Making an extra few thousand on projects a couple of times a year might be enough to set up your kids’ college fund, save for a dream vacation or renovate your home. Maybe it’s the difference between driving an old clunker and having that car you know would change things for you and your family. Perhaps it means living in a better school district, getting better medical benefits or cutting back hours (or years!) at your regular job. Or maybe it means you can pursue an expensive hobby or sport for yourself or your kids. Earning extra money from consulting and freelancing gives you options.

It’s not just about the money, either. When you learn to freelance and consult, you quickly start learning skills that can help you get ahead in your career, whether you want to keep on freelancing or change directions with your work. For example, perhaps picking up some projects would allow you to deepen your knowledge in an area of interest that you barely get to touch at your day job. You can build up a portfolio, references and contacts while getting paid to practice working on that interest. Moreover, as a freelancer and consultant, you’ll get real-world experience in sales, client management, communication, marketing, business management, networking, accounting and more. And that’s experience you can apply to ANY job in the future. You can use consulting and freelancing to deepen your knowledge of a career area or you can use it to get a broad knowledge of other business areas – or both. And you still have the option to pick and choose the work you do and the way you run your business.

When you learn to freelance, learn to consult or otherwise pick up projects, you have a chance at pursuing dreams, too. Maybe you want to have more flexibile work. Maybe you want to go after clients and projects that excite you. Maybe you’d love to turn a favourite activity or hobby into work you can get paid for. Perhaps that work wouldn’t normally pay you enough to do as a full-time career or maybe it’s seasonal. But if you turn it into a side project and learn to consult and freelance, you can get paid to do something fun, without doing it as your sole focus. Maybe starting it as a side project will allow you to build up the business over time and eventually leave your day job or semi-retire to pursue your passion. The possibilities are as wide open as your mind.

As for me, I became a consultant a little bit at a time. At first, it was a fun way to get paid to pursue writing. Then, when I picked up some marketing projects, I realized I could change my career from writing and communications to strategic marketing – while still doing fun writing projects. That allowed me to get ahead at work. One of my managers noticed I’d built up excellent career and business experience and recruited me to a more senior position that paid more than double what I’d been making for her before.  My experience, portfolio and references kept growing and I eventually decided to focus on consulting as my full-time career. That’s all because I started with getting paid 10 cents a word to write an article for a newspaper when I was in college – before I even started thinking of myself as a freelancer.

If you want to learn to freelance and consult, have a look at my workbooks, guides and course. I provide inside tips, so that you can learn from my mistakes and my successes. I’ve taken everything I tell my own business and coaching clients and shared it in those materials.

The post Learn to freelance and change your life appeared first on ConsultantJournal.com - Become a Consultant.

If you were charging $100/hour and you’ve kept your rate stable for two years, then you’re effectively charging $94.72 an hour. That’s more than a five percent discount. However, it’s actually even a bigger discount. Have you not improved in your knowledge, abilities, speed, competency or insights in that time? If you had been increasing your rate to keep pace with inflation, you’d now be at $104.65 an hour – and that’s assuming you haven’t made any great leaps forward.

In all honesty, charging by the hour is a long run trap. When you encourage clients to look at your hourly rate, you’re directing them to a signal that is largely irrelevant. For example, if you can complete a project in three hours, whereas most of your competitors take four, does telling them you charge the same $100 an hour that they do show the value you create? And, more importantly, what if you can give them answers in mere minutes? Should you be charging $400 an hour to keep pace with the same solution that takes your competitors four hours?  Is charging by the hour even relevant if you can almost instantly give them recommendations that save them hundreds, thousands or even larger amounts of money?

As I say in Consulting Fees, charging by the hour is a long-term trap. The more efficient you get, the less money you make. If you charge $100 an hour and you can now do in 30 minutes what used to take you two hours, all you’ll have to show for it is $50, instead of $200. So what do you do then? Pad your rate? Stretch out projects? Charge four times as much per hour?

Making the move to Solution-based Fee™ pricing makes the most sense. Figure out what solutions you create for your clients, how they value those solutions and what return on investment they get from your work. That’s the way to move ahead in 2013.

Related

• Determining independent consulting rates
• Working out hourly fees
• What to charge for consulting

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Of course, for most people, our life probably already looks fairly leisurely. My decision to work at home and live near amenities means a lot of work-life balance opportunities are possible. When I wanted to go to the school concert in December, I could. When friends called me up and invited me to a lunchtime networking event, I could get there in five minutes and still be back at my desk for 1:30.  And I’m already in the habit of never scheduling work meetings or calls before 10 am, so that our mornings can be just a little less rushed.

Still, there’s room to improve. In 2013, I’m hoping to finetune the schedule, find more ways to bring peace to our busy lives and opportunities to just enjoy life together.

On the work side of things, I’ll continue in my evolution as a consultant. I’m hoping to do more hands-on work with entrepreneurs this year – while I still have many corporate clients, I find there’s something about working with entrepreneurs that brings me joy. Likewise, when I’m teaching and running workshops, I feel happy and free. So I hope to do more of that in the months and years ahead.

Over the next few days, I’ll be reflecting on what I want 2013 to bring for me. As per my Consultant Journal tradition, I’ll aim to share my business resolutions in early January.

How about you? Do you take the time to think about the year ahead?

The post Fast away the old year passes appeared first on ConsultantJournal.com - Become a Consultant.

So I did. I took a break from writing here – and I scaled back on my work commitments too. That’s the great thing about my consulting work. I can shuffle things around, when necessary, as long as I mind client deadlines and other details. But if I need a morning or afternoon off, here or there, I can usually make that fly.

Of course, when this happened, I ran into holiday mode. I usually wind things down in December, but, having already taken a little break, I’m trying now to get a little extra work done while shopping, baking and socializing. Oh, well! At least I have the option.

You see, after 16 years in consulting, I’m still very thankful for the work-life balance that self employment brings me. Sure, I may sometimes respond to email at midnight or at the crack of dawn or over the weekend. But it’s a choice and doing so usually reflects a decision to run personal errands in the morning or to take the afternoon off to take my kids to a museum or sports activity. Or it might reflect two weeks of being crazy busy so that I can make as much in that time as I would normally in a couple of months – and then head off on a sunny vacation.

How about you? Does life get in the way of your work? Or do you find you can make trade-offs?

The post When life gets in the way appeared first on ConsultantJournal.com - Become a Consultant.

For example, a senior consultant I know recently quoted a client for a project. The client came back and was stunned that the project cost about 75 percent more than they expected. They wanted to know if the consultant would drop the price to match their budget. They couldn’t believe the consultant was going to get paid so much for three weeks of work.

Well, there’s the problem. The consultant needed to shift the client’s focus away from the amount of time and instead to the value of the solution provided. It’s natural for clients to think about your work in terms of time. After all, they have the temptation to compare what you make to what they make. And if they see that you’re doing 3 weeks of work for $18,000, they may be tempted to calculate your rate to be $150 and get all huffy about how you’re making that, when they’re earning $25 or even $60 an hour for their salaried position.

And while my posts on both sticker shock and consulting and freelance rates  go into all the things you need to consider in setting your fee, getting into a lengthy discussion with the client about what your rate actually includes isn’t going to help.

The client doesn’t care how you came up with their rate. And while their ego may be a little bruised, they don’t really care what you make for doing your work, either.

They care about solving their problem in a way that provides a compelling return on investment for them.

I talk in much greater detail about how to package your solutions in Consulting Fees, but, right now, your take away should be that you need to shift the client’s focus back to what really matters. That’s how you make the magic happen.

The post What to do when clients lowball your fees appeared first on ConsultantJournal.com - Become a Consultant.