Posted By Merv Newman
Not being nasty, but first learn how to spell professional.
Second, if you are in a secure job then think very hard about going independant.
See this month's practitioner. Price per day you can charge is dropping (I think the uk market is saturated). £250/day or less normal. £750 is considered high. Days worked are dropping : 150 days per year is, again normal. So 250 x 150 gives £187 500 which is quite tempting but the 150 only comes when you have built up a decent client base or reputation. Knock off half for tax, pension etc. Half at least for travelling expenses, another half for just running the business. A bit more for beer and fags (for the clients, of course) and you are left with about £20 000 net.
And remember that the 150 is up-front face-time, paid-for. You are going to need at least that many days just to run the business, find new clients, write the reports and keep up with the CPD.
Bang goes weekends with the kids, holidays in the bahamas, nights out with the boys, saturday football matches, Sunday visits to mother-in-law.... OK, well, it's not ALL bad.
One last discouragement : you will not recieve ANY payment within the first six months of starting up. Think about it : you have to get the job. Do the job. Bill the job. And from sending the bill it usually takes at least three months before you get the check and it is credited to your account. Can you last that long ?
Apart from that, I love it. Consultant "burn-out" is supposed to come after 8 years in the job. I've done it for 15 years and having a great time. Got the mortgage paid off ten years ahead of time. Spent the weekend in the garden (potatoes, onions, garlic, and broccoli doing well, peas not so good) and on the terrace with a glass of wine and su do ku puzzles (never completed a"Fiendish" yet. My wife shames me).
Audited two plants last week, recommended LOTS of management and supervisor training. Visited another new plant this week, recommending SMS audit and, probably LOTS of management and supervisor training. Going to the south of france tomorrow on a follow-up visit. West of france next week to start the first week of LOTS of training.
Got up at 6am this morning to start getting out 4 offers of contracts. Did the report on one of last week's audits and sent it off to my secretary. 6 am tomorrow to do the other report before driving 600 miles to the next plant.
It's a great life. Give it a try. But not on MY patch, thankyou.
Merv