To ask about your consultancy work?

[canyouhearthedrums]

Daydreaming about my ideal job and I love reading the careers/job advice threads on here. In an ideal world I'd do consultancy no idea in what yet and make lots of money (my daily rate would be £800 ) and I'd work maybe 6 days a month talking/consulting about a topic that I love. It would never be boring or a chore.

AIBU to ask what you consult in and how you got into it? Do you set your own daily/hourly rates? Also is there a dearth of particular types of consultancy?

Yes. I am a £600-800 a day consultant. Probably work 6 days a week- not really by choice.

No pension, so sickness pay, no holiday pay. Long days, lots of travel

I tender for my biggest contract- I have to re-tender every few years but most is by word of mouth. I have 3 bigger clients (100-150 days, 70 days, 25 days) and about 20 smaller ones probably in a year.

There is an industry rate for what I do- about £5-600 for a contract. £800 would be 1 off days.

Running a small business is a pain and takes a good few hours week.

But if you want it then go for it. Start up costs were minimal and I was fully deployed within a couple of months.

SwizzelsFizzers

How did you win the work/clients? Very interested in this!

I consult in my clinical area. It’s an absolute privilege.

I am a legal consultant in a very niche area. I charge between £750 and £1200 per day (usually at the higher end), although there's a lot of travel, update reading and tendering work for which I don't get paid and I have some big professional membership and insurance costs, so I probably net about £700 per day worked on average. I work about 25 hours a week in total, mostly from home although I do maintain a city office.

Meant to add - I set my own rates, never wear heels and refuse to work with arseholes. I love it, but would note that it took 16 years of bloody hard grind to get to a position where my skills are valuable enough to do this.

Almost all my days are chargeable, although I get the same rate if it is 4 hours or 14.

I always wear heels!

I find this fascinating. What do people 'consult' on? For example if you are an education consultant... What do you actually get employed to do? And how do people know about you?

I’m a consultant. I’m in a niche area that companies don’t want to employ someone permanent for as they wouldn’t have the work all the time.

And how do people know about you?

because you had a high profile employed role before?

I write documents to do with projects so it’s a one off thing for the project - eg environmental impact assessments (but not usually these!)

I’m considering going permi again though! But I’m undecided looks down at comfy trousers and off socks . I quite like working from home!

*odd socks

@swizzels OK so it's a kind of word of mouth thing in the particular circles you worked in?, You don't actually advertise your services? I know someone who kind of mentors when people want to open day nurseries and child care businesses as she had a really successful nursery she ran for years, but she got into this through advertising and promoting herself via email etc now she makes good money doing this I suppose that's a sort of consultancy?

No, I don't advertise. I don't have a website, don't do facebook, don't do linkedin, no twitter etc.

I have had the same mobile phone number of 20 years- so that helps! Mostly people email me and say XXX gave me your contact details.

I did this for 7 years before I'd had enough. Had enough of being away from home, staying in travelodges on industrial estates and business parks, having no social life, planting no roots. Financially I'm set, but recognise that there is a huge trade-off. If this is what you want to do, the one piece of advice I'd give is: have an exit strategy. Just as you plan your way in, know when you're going to get out. It could be after so many years, or when you've made X amount of cash, whatever. Just make sure you know what your exit is.

Now, consultancy: consultancy is dead. What organisations want is expert do-ers. No-one is going to pay you to, say, advise them on how to obtain ISO14001 accreditation. They'll expect you to get it for them, then set up systems to maintain it, train up their staff then do a handover.
This you will do. Rinse and repeat. At one organisation after another.

It can be very rewarding but to do it you must have an area of expertise.

Very interesting. So basically you get an area of expertise and sort of teach it to people? Do you basically have one 'presentation' and do that every time? Is there big competition?

I don't teach people as a general rule although I do the odd board presentation. I solve legal problems, including implementation and resolving disputes. So a client (usually someone I with whom I worked in my former life as a lawyer in a large firm, or someone referred to me by a former colleague) comes to me and say "We want to do X, how do we get there from a legal point of view?" and I work it out (as it relates to my area of specialty) and tell them how to do it (and sometimes manage the implementation of the advice). It's not simple - I rarely see the same set of facts more than once. And it's often pretty high stakes - last week I advised on a £50m + deal and if I got it wrong I'd be in the hole for about £5m although insurance would cover much of that (I've not been sued yet though ). That's part of the reason why clients pay reasonably high fees for my work - they're buying peace of mind, to an extent. And although I make good money for not many hours (last weeks's advice will net about £2400 for about 6 hours work - I put a premium on it given the values and risks involved) there's a reason for that - it's difficult and often stressful. But it's less stressful than doing the same thing for less money and more hours in a big firm. I like the flexibility and am very grateful to be able to do this.

I keep considering this. I currently work clinically but I’m moving to a non clinical position and I think there are a number of areas I could expand on. I’ll be interested to hear what others do/how they secure work.

Dh is a recruitment consultant.
He has a business doing the same job charging normal recruitment fees. But he charges a day rate of £500 on a short term contract a few days a week, doing the same thing as an internal recruiter for a large business. It’s doesnt actually earn as much as it does earning a flat fee but it’s steadier ( no peaks and troughs) so gives him a better balance in terms of anual income.

How did everyone start out? Is it as simple as setting up a 'company' or are there legal implications? One poster mentioned insurance, is that a must?

I wouldn't like to set up without insurance. There are several different types, mainly designed to protect you.
What if the advice you have caused the clients to lose money? Or you went into site and damaged some equipment, or you had a car accident, or just a customer or member of the public whilst.carrying out your job?? All these things can be insured against, and really should be.

*injured a customer

I think it would be public indemnity insurance. I literally just got this yesterday for my business, and with everything else (employer’s liability and office cover) it’s £30 a month. Oh and I think I got public liability included in that too.

If you’re advising then it’s a must.

Professional indemnity insurance is essential and not too expensive. Developing referral partners is a good way to build up custom. The day rates are appealing but don't forget you have a lot of unpaid time - developing your knowledge, accountancy etc. Also, can be lonely.