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- Find the right match: Strategic alliance, vendor partnership, or joint venture
- When management and IT strategies consultant Tom Casey lands a client, he usually follows his good fortune with a phone call to one of a dozen partner companies.Casey, president of Malvern, PA-based Business Consulting Services, relies entirely on partner relationships to fulfill client projects. The partners range from IT staffing...
- Tags: Lisa Gill, partnership, strategic alliance, ThrottleNet, Vicki Monti
- Technical articles 2003-07-16
- Is consumer consulting for you?
- Last year when 18-year-old Tyler Dikman received national recognition for his Tampa, FL, consulting firm, which earned more than $1 million in gross sales, the focus was on the high school diploma he had just earned.Dikman, who started his home-based business, CoolTronics, by selling and setting up a computer and...
- Tags: Outsourcing, consulting, computer, Tyler Dikman, commercial client
- Technical articles 2003-06-24
- Evaluate agreements with clients to grow your business
- It was the perfect client setup for Valentina Guazzoni: a Web development project she knew she could handle for a small company that would pay her a monthly retainer.But seven months after the project was to have ended, the New York-based consultant found she was spending too many hours each...
- Tags: agreement, Lisa Gill, Rojas Group
- Technical articles 2003-05-16
- Ask yourself these questions before changing your consulting focus
- Changing the focus of a successful business, taking on additional financial responsibility and even employees, and finding a market may be the opposite response to a poor economy from what you'd expect. But it is the response of several IT and busin
- Tags: career, consulting, Evans, Lisa Gill, professional value, Value at Risk, Web
- Technical articles 2003-05-09
- Drum up business during a downtime with partnerships and professional activities
- If you spend time on e-mail lists or posting boards, you know it is a dreary scene: too many consultants battling for too little work. But remember that it’s in times like these—near-recession moments with extended periods between clients—when businesses—both yours and your clients'—can expand and make strategic shifts not...
- Tags: Lisa Gill, partnership, Rojas Group Inc.
- Technical articles 2003-04-11
- Marketing, networking work hand-in-hand for consultants
- Anthony Stark hit the jackpot when he became one of the first to join a new users group a few years ago. Stark, a 20-year-old IT consultant and TechRepublic community member based outside St. Louis, says he knew he needed to start marketing and networking efforts to grow his consulting...
- Tags: Anthony Stark, Lisa Gill, marketing, networking
- Technical articles 2003-03-28
- Five tips to find and close deals with clients
- Sales, without question, is the most difficult and often undesirable part of an IT consultant's job. And selling one's own skill set and experience is even tougher—and more important—in a tight economy amid heightened competition. Yet the ability to contact new and potential clients is what your business is built...
- Tags: Lisa Gill, potential client, sales, sales cycle
- Technical articles 2003-03-12
- Partner up to create a powerful virtual firm
- For Jeannie Giordano, the formation of her own company wasn’t risky, pressure-filled, or full of heartache. Last year, as her employer began layoffs, Giordano decided to skip what would have been her second downsizing and instead banded together with several coworkers to create an Internet consulting firm.But the "firm" is...
- Tags: Jeannie Giordano, Lisa Gill, partnership, Sawka Musuraca
- Technical articles 2003-01-27
- Helping your clients accept change
- For 2,000 IT staffers, it was the equivalent of a midlife crisis.Asked by the business managers to use out-of-the-box software solutions instead of creating proprietary wares, one company's IT department was to assume a new role. Instead of just programming, the IT department would act as a support unit and...
- Tags: desired state, IT Group, Lisa Gill
- Technical articles 2003-01-13
- IBM's Rapid Restore PC simplifies data recovery for users
- Viruses, corrupted software, or Windows meltdowns are no longer valid excuses for late homework by pupils at University Lake School in Hartford, WI.Instead, the 250 students at this private school only have to press F11 on their laptops to restore images, personal settings, and previous data. And, according to technology...
- Tags: data recovery, IBM Corp., Lisa Gill, Rapid Restore, Rapid Restore PC
- Technical articles 2003-01-02
- Making the jump from employee to full-time consultant
- Her “dependency” on a hefty paycheck and a generous benefits package kept Alexandria Jimenez in professional shackles for years. Then, dissatisfied with a decade-long COBOL programming career for a major financial firm in New York, and pining for more creative ventures, Jimenez seized the opportunity during a round of company...
- Tags: Alexandria Jimenez, CJ Rhoads, Lisa Gill, Michael Gerber, vision
- Technical articles 2003-01-08
- Easing clients into your payment structure
- They like to pay you at the end of your contract, but you like the money up front. You prefer an hourly fee, but they like a flat rate. Getting clients to see things your way takes time, but you can use certain methods to bring them along.For Celia Hartman,...
- Tags: Operational accounting, Recruitment & Selection, Lisa Gill, payment, Celia Hartman
- Technical articles 2002-11-07
- Client payment structures that get the check
- You like to have control over how your clients structure their payments to you. Some factors are out of your control, but you can work some of these payment strategies into your project contract.When the Eagle Technology Consulting firm was unsure of a new client's credit status, it didn't turn...
- Tags: Operational accounting, Lisa Gill, payment, Briones
- Technical articles 2002-10-30
- Advantages and drawbacks to hourly fees and flat rates
- Are consultants better off charging their clients a flat fee or setting an hourly rate? Heed these stories, and a few hard lessons, from four consultants before you bill your clients.While there’s no right or wrong method when it comes to billing clients for your time and expertise, an improperly...
- Tags: Lisa Gill, billing, flat fee, Marian Briones
- Technical articles 2002-10-16
- Five often-overlooked details to include in your project proposal
- The project proposal you've written for your client may land you a comfortable contract or set you up for more work than you agreed to. Remember these five details before submitting your next proposal.In every project proposal lurk potentially costly, hidden items that can drain consultants of their time, energy,...
- Tags: Tools & Techniques, Strategy, Lisa Gill, project management
- Technical articles 2002-10-03
- Five tips for working with the internal IT department
- To make sure your client's IT department won't work with you, begin your engagement by not listening to the staff, failing to build consensus, and isolating yourself. To make things work, take this advice from those who've been there.No department, especially IT, enjoys an inspection of its systems and processes...
- Tags: Strategy, Recruitment & Selection, Workforce management, Leadership, Lisa Gill, Chris Levine, information technology
- Technical articles 2002-09-24
- Adjusting the project bid: How to get your money and keep the job
- Consultants must be able to bid projects accurately. If not, they risk losing work, reputation, and revenue. Get tips on what to do if you accidentally underestimate either the time or money resources required by a contract.Along with technical skills and business savvy, the ability to accurately bid on a...
- Tags: Lisa Gill, job, Holly Parrish, Deanna Zandt
- Technical articles 2002-08-28
- Nurturing the freelance network
- Consultants who complete their engagements with the help of freelancers can take steps to ensure that independent contractors will be around when needed. Keep freelancers happy with these suggestions.When you’re presented with a potential contract, it's not uncommon to need a small team of subcontractors to complete the project. But...
- Tags: Business structures, Team management, Lisa Gill, network, Valentina Guazzoni, Ted Chappell
- Technical articles 2002-08-19
- Collect on unpaid invoices and keep the client
- Calling on a client who is late paying for your services isn't enjoyable, but it's often a necessity. Keep these five points in mind when you have to ask your clients for what you're owed.For consultants working to build a customer base, or others hoping to preserve long-standing relationships, trying...
- Tags: Operational accounting, Lisa Gill, payment
- Technical articles 2002-07-29
- When are you ready to hire an employee?
- It may be time to hire an employee for your independent consultancy to help you balance your time between technical work, rooting out new contracts, and day-to-day business chores.Most consultants prefer to work independently or with a partner, or will sign on subcontractors when the workload is intense, but there...
- Tags: Recruitment & Selection, Lisa Gill
- Technical articles 2002-07-19
