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Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed

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ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) wrote in news:rate-20111128181722
@ram.dialup.fu-berlin.de:

> Novice <novice@example..com> writes:
>>Most of my past consulting has been developing websites so
>>I'm not sure on several details of how to present and sell
>>myself.
> 
>   I think it helps to be able to estimate what you can do and
>   what you cannot do and then to communicate this honestly.
> 
That's certainly what I want to do. Sometimes though, I get the 
impression that consultants claim to know much more than they actually do 
and then scramble like mad to do the actual work when they get the job. 
Sometimes, they rise to the challenge and manage to do an acceptable job. 
Other times, things don't turn out so well.

>>He's asking me what my rate is and I'm not sure what to answer.
> 
>   You can search the web for rates of developers and then ask
>   for the average rate or one standard deviation below it
>   (since you are unexperienced as a paid Java developer).
> 
>>Frankly, I'm willing to do the work at almost any rate he's willing to 
>>offer, although, naturally, I'd rather get more than less.
> 
>   If you are willing to work at almost any rate, how do you
>   pay your rent at the end of the month? You should at least
>   cover your opportunity costs, i.e., what you would be paid
>   otherwise, when you would do something else.
>
Sorry, I should have put that differently. Obviously, I have to cover my 
costs and make more from this consulting job than I can from anything 
else available. 
  
>>In a nutshell, if I tell him $10/hr
> 
>   That sounds too low.

I didn't seriously mean to propose a $10/hr or $100/hr rate, I was just 
throwing out extreme examples to illustrate my point.
> 
>>If I tell him $100/hr.
> 
>   That sounds too high. (However, I have no idea what is
>   actually average.)
> 
>   Let's take the logarithmic average:
>   31.6227766016837933199889354443272.
> 
>   This still sounds clearly below average to me. You do not
>   only need to pay your rent, but also your health insurance,
>   office rent, expenses, equipment, liability risk, retirement
>   provision and savings for times of unemployment. And after
>   all your costs are covered, there should be something left.
>   And you don't want to spoil the rates.
> 
Based on the other reply to my question, I'm thinking $40/hr is a good 
rate to propose, although I'm inclined to mention that it is negotiable. 
Or would that be assumed by the customer? 

Also, once I quote a price like that, is it assumed that the rate covers 
all of my expenses? For instance, if the customer requests to meet in 
person at his office, do I simply charge that rate for the time it takes 
me to get to his office and pay for the gas out of that? Or would he 
expect to pay the hourly rate PLUS actual out-of-pocket gas expense (or a 
fixed rate like 50 cents a mile?) I'm embarassed that I don't know this 
already but I just want to be sure that I don't cause myself trouble by 
doing things in a manner that he will consider unprofessional.

-- 
Novice

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Thread

General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 15:41 +0000
  Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-11-28 11:37 -0500
    Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 17:04 +0000
      Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed markspace <-@.> - 2011-11-28 11:09 -0800
        Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 19:48 +0000
          Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed markspace <-@.> - 2011-11-28 12:14 -0800
            Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Rhino <no.offline.contact.please@example.com> - 2011-11-28 21:28 +0000
              Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed markspace <-@.> - 2011-11-28 14:14 -0800
                Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-29 05:24 +0000
                Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2011-11-29 20:44 +0000
  Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 17:53 +0000
    Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 19:52 +0000
    Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> - 2011-11-29 07:20 -0400
      Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-29 16:06 +0000
        Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-11-29 12:04 -0800
          Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-30 00:12 +0000
            Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-11-29 22:02 -0800
              Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-30 20:28 +0000
  Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-11-28 10:03 -0800
    Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-11-28 10:44 -0800
      Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 20:13 +0000
        Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-11-28 12:59 -0800
      Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-11-29 14:04 -0800
        Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-11-29 15:07 -0800
    Re: General Consulting Advice Urgently Needed Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-11-28 19:56 +0000

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