Re: Consulting As A CCIE

To some extent this is a matter of perspective Joe. Within my
vertical travel is an everyday part of life and you fail to put forth
a professional image if you can't manage your business finances well
enough to "hold the bag" for a month's worth of travel expenses. It
would be considered an embarrassment to ask for an advance.

Now were my vertical to be the automotive industry... ;~)

Hoping to come up and see you in NYC again this summer or fall Joe -
love that little town of yours!

On Jun 12, 2009, at 10:32 , Joseph L. Brunner wrote:

> Never "hold the bag folks" its just not worth it...
>
> Plenty of good firms will give you "front money" if travel is
> required...
>
> Do you guys know how many people in clubs, etc. I have met who own
> small businesses (just like you if you are a CCIE consulting)
>
> That have put on fashion shows for designers, or floral displays for
> celebrity weddings thinking "THIS IS THE BIG ONE" "BEYONCE IS GOING
> HELP ME PROMOTE MY BUSINESS"
> Only to be left high and dry when the bill is due...
>
> Never lay out anything. PERIOD...
>
> You'd have to be crazy... anyone can go bust these days...
>
> My advise after doing billing about 100 firms in 3 years-
>
> "In God we trust, All others shall send a retainer"
>
> -Joe
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nobody_at_groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody_at_groupstudy.com] On Behalf
> Of Scott M Vermillion
> Sent: Friday, June 12, 2009 12:38 PM
> To: Gary Duncanson
> Cc: Joe Astorino; ccielab_at_groupstudy.com
> Subject: Re: Consulting As A CCIE
>
> I'm pretty much in agreement with all comments and insights offered
> thus far. In my own personal experience, I have found that I:
>
> 1. Could likely remain employed full-time at half my billing rate
> through an agency
> 2. Remain at least half-time (typically 3/4-time averaged over any
> given year) employed at my full billing rate.
>
> The choice would seem obvious but fear wears on certain people more
> than others, thus they tend to buy "security" at what I view to be a
> prohibitive cost. I have yet to ever do a single hour of work via an
> agency, although I always respond to professional inquiries.
>
> You need to assess your ability and willingness to market yourself.
> As much has already been said but it bears repeating. The selling
> aspect is the least desirable for me, personally. You need to be
> brutally honest with yourself about not only your willingness, but
> also your ability/opportunity. I would offer that many brilliant
> technologists are not necessarily businesspersons any more than they
> are salespersons. These are all different skill sets.
>
> Finally, what I see drive people out of consulting time and time again
> is their inability to withstand protracted payment cycles. You may
> negotiate Net 30 or even Net 15 terms, but may ultimately not see
> payment for a couple of months with some clients and under some
> circumstances. Also, you need to evaluate not only your willingness
> to travel (probably a must in all but the biggest markets), but your
> financial ability to incur significant travel cost and, again,
> withstand late payment. Travel costs to larger/more expensive cities
> can easily average upwards of $3k/week. So if your invoicing and
> payment cycle is 60 - 90 days, you could be holding the bag for
> something in the neighborhood of $25-35k in outstanding travel costs
> (not to mention your labor!) at any given point in time. Moral of the
> story is to have minimal (if any) debts and good cash reserves going
> in.
>
> Regards,
>
> Scott
>
>
> On Jun 6, 2009, at 1:15 , Gary Duncanson wrote:
>
>> Difficult on the side in the UK but not impossible. For contracting
>> most gigs are all week long. If you register with agencies and
>> explain you are able to take 'small' jobs as they come along you
>> might get some calls from time to time but often those will still
>> require you to be places at short notice for spells which may clash
>> with whatever commitments you have at the time. Not a lot of
>> homeworking options provided by clients, they want you onsite.
>> Contacting integrators direct might lead to some flexible work on
>> the side depending on the ebb and flow of their contracts with
>> clients. You can also promote yourself as an independent and see
>> what comes back but expect to spend a lot of time promoting
>> yourself. A website helps and some research to create a mailing
>> list, also the buddy network.
>>
>> Good luck.
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joe Astorino" <jastorino_at_ipexpert.com
>>>
>> To: "CCIE Groupstudy" <ccielab_at_groupstudy.com>
>> Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 7:04 AM
>> Subject: OT: Consulting As A CCIE
>>
>>
>>> Hey group,
>>>
>>> I am looking to start doing some network consulting work on the
>>> side. The
>>> trouble is, I really have no idea how to get started doing that. I
>>> mean, OK
>>> I can print off a flyer and put my credentials and skills, and what
>>> I can
>>> help with...but not really sure what else to do to get started.
>>> Does
>>> anybody else out there do work like this? How do you get things
>>> going? It
>>> seems many of the big businesses have people that take care of
>>> their stuff,
>>> and the small businesses are generally too small to want to pay or
>>> deal with
>>> somebody on the CCIE level...they might have a few linksys switches
>>> or
>>> something. Any pointers would be appreciated!
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Joe Astorino
>>> CCIE #24347 (R&S)
>>> Sr. Support Engineer - IPexpert, Inc.
>>> URL: http://www.IPexpert.com
>>>
>>>
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>
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Received on Sun Jun 14 2009 - 11:41:16 ART