Are you earning what you’re worth? Take the quiz.

dollar sign

It's probably safe to say that most of us would like to boost our incomes. How do you do that without burning  yourself out? How do you break the income barrier, especially when the economy is poor, unemployment is high, there are many consultants competing for the same business, and clients are trimming budgets? Perhaps you've wondered why some consultants maintain high incomes in good times and challenging ones. Take this simple quiz developed by Linda Popky, a million-dollar consultant … [Read more...]

Client Compatibility: Check it Out Early to Avoid Big Problems

compatibility

Recently I upgraded my Office software to Office 2010 when I got a new laptop. Little did I know that Office 2010 isn’t totally backward compatible with previous versions of Office. It caused major headaches when creating a PowerPoint presentation that my client and I were both going to be editing: formats were lost, charts needed to be reworked, etc. It was a MAJOR headache and caused the client a lot of extra work…not my favorite thing! Going forward I will definitely be integrating … [Read more...]

Selecting the Right Consultant – How Do Companies Decide?

cherry_girl

Best Practice lessons from the employment arena Companies usually put a lot more effort into hiring employees than they do into hiring consultants. Larger companies actually have a standard selection process for hiring employees – this includes gates like: -- a completed application and reference checks, -- 2 levels of management signing off on the new hire, -- the same people interview all candidates for a given position, -- standard interview reviews and feedback These are all examples … [Read more...]

Email: Friend or Foe?

We all know that email is a business essential these days…how else could we, as consultants, work 24/7?   ;o) Email, however, is also a huge challenge to our productivity.  How many times have you gone to check email just to see if you had received one important email, only to ‘wake up’ an hour later wondering where the time had gone? Some of you, like me, may remember the days before email was ubiquitous…when people sent mail, called one another, or walked around the cubicle to … [Read more...]

The 7 Secrets To Creating A Fashionable Brand!

If you’ve ever been confused about branding your small business, here’s a simple way to think about it: Branding Is Your Business’s Fashion Statement. Here’s how branding is like fashion: When you’re picking out a fashionable outfit for a night out on the town, there are several angles to consider, like: 1. Your fashion style. Do you consider yourself a sporty dresser, vintage, a bohemian, urban, or a little bit rock and roll? A trendsetter or more classic style? Your … [Read more...]

Acknowledging Your Own ‘Stock Value’

Recently, I had a big ‘personal event’ in my life (I got married!) and for the week before and the week after the wedding, it was difficult to stay as focused on my work and my clients as I normally am. I had every intention of working on client projects right up until the day before the wedding and to return to work the following Tuesday since we weren’t taking our honeymoon right away—I wanted to minimize the impact of my marriage on my clients. However the clients I had active … [Read more...]

Reflections on Two Wonderful Years of WIC…

As my term as president of Women in Consulting comes to an end this week, I find myself reflecting on all the incredible experiences I've had throughout the last two years. We celebrated our 10th anniversary in 2008 with not only a gala event, but a new look & feel for our website and a new blog. In 2009, we expanded our social media presence to include LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. We expanded the reach of our organization, with strong and vibrant satellite groups in San … [Read more...]

Proposals vs. Contracts: Get Efficient!

I ran across this newsletter article (Proposal or Contract? February 2005) on the Win Without Pitching site a few weeks back. I remembered then that someone had told me to check out WWP a while ago. In the constant overflow of information running across my radar, I had forgotten to do so. I encourage you all to not make that same mistake and to check out not only this article, but the entire Web site. WWP is oriented towards designers and ad agencies, but the principles advised in the founder's … [Read more...]