Ask HN: How'd you go about getting and managing consulting work?

[Ben_Dean]

I'm currently a dev at a small company in New York, but am about to leave to pursue a graduate degree in LA. I'm wondering if anyone has advice on how to start up and run a limited software consulting business. Since I'm committed to the graduate program, I want to make sure I don't launch into something that'll suck up all my time, but I also know that programming websites (or anything else, i've diverse skills and experience) is going to pay far better than any of the work-study jobs I'm going to pick up. Is this a pipe dream, or could I get away with working 10-15 hours a week in software whilst doing an intense graduate program?

[nickpinkston]

You can definitely do this, but you need to be smart about it and assess how much time you realistically have. If you do have, 10-15hrs a week - this could be great. I won't comment if you actually will have this time - that's your call! But assuming you want to:

How I'd do it: - If you don't have a great website with your work / skills - MAKE ONE NOW! Also, get some business cards - as cliche / outdated that is - it makes the old men think you're serious - along with good work on your site.

- Go on StartupDigest, Meetup, Craigslist, OHours, etc. and find the local networking events for web design, tech, startups and small business - then attend all of them that look promising.

- You won't have the time to drum up a ton of business on your own, but you can show your site to the people you meet who are already serving the same customers - here are the targets:

+ Other Freelance Web Designers / Programmers / etc.

+ Tech "connectors" - who shows up at all these meet ups and know everyone? - find them

+ Consultants / Business Service People - these people often provide ancillary services like translation, HR, etc., but they're always looking for more services they can provide their clients. They are often snakes, but when they get a client interested - it's still money. Just filter appropriately.

Impress the good people you meet & keep up-to-date - you'll get some pretty easy deal flow - programmers are in high demand everywhere & you can afford to be selective & charge market / premium pricing.

INAL and not sure on your background, but you should probably set up a simple S-Corp / LLC and have a simple contract - even steal another service providers - you want shit on paper to keep in clean & filter the shit clients.

Hope that helps.

[philiphodgen]

The number one way to get business is to be accessible.

Hint. I am now going to hit you with a clue stick. Put your email address in the publicly visible portion of your HN profile. :-)

I am in LA. I could use help. I have folding green money. Don't be anonymous.

You will see my contact info in my HN profile. If you look at my blog you will see my cell phone number plastered all over. 626-437-2500.

Edited to remove excessive use of smileys.

[tomg]

I have done jobs of that size (recurring weekly work of about 1-2 days of non project-based work). Just in my experience:

- It's harder to find these jobs than most other forms of contract work, you'll usually find them word of mouth, maybe someone working a full time contract convinces their employer they could use "a little extra help" in areas that they're not as good at. The reason being, IMO, that jobs at this scale are usually project based -or- the employer wants it done as quickly as possible.

- It's rarely exactly N hours per week (N=whatever you agree to ahead of time) though if you try you can make it average out to N. Some weeks there's just not enough work, others I get pressured into putting in just a few more hours so that it doesn't take another week to finish the task.

Good luck!