[Lawrence Lile wrote]
>
> 1.  How do you deal with health insurance?  Just pay a lot?  Have a spouse
> with another job where insurance is available?

Suck up and dig deep. It is my biggest expense. A wife with a day job is how
most of the farmers do it around here. Some other consultants in the area
teach part time at the local university just to get insurance. I just pay...
>
> 2.  Is roller-coaster pay a problem for you?  Boom and bust business?

Lumpy cash-flow is endemic in the biz. The cardinal rule is *pay cash*.
Installment debt forces you to work for people you don't want to. If you
want a toy or a new piece of equipment or a new car, save up for it and then
buy it outright.
>
> 3.  How about long hours or travel?  Does that stress out your family?

It can be difficult for a spouse used to punching a time clock to understand
life as a one-man-gang. You work hard when you have work and slack as you
get the chance. I have been able to structure my practice so I don't have to
travel a huge amount. The amount of travel goes up dramatically if you have
a very specialized practice. My PhD consultant friends spend a whole lot of
time on the road. I seldom do, as I am more of a generalist.
>
> 4.  How do you go about capitalizing the business?  pay as you go, loans,

PAY AS YOU GO!

>
> 5.  What specifically does a consultant need to have around besides a
> computer, a scope, some hand tools, a compiler, an Eprom burner and an
> ICE?

It depends on what you are doing. I have a pretty complete machine shop in
the basement as I consult in both mechanical and electrical engineering. A
minimum for an electronic-only practice is a computer, a plotter, an ICE,
and a high-speed internet connection. Software only geeks can get away
without the plotter. I have a lot of specialized detritus left over from
decades in the biz. If I need something really specialized, I put it in the
project budget or rent it for the occasion. I am also part of an informal
collection of techno-whores that trade around equipment as necessary.
>
> 6.  Do you have a standard contract?

No. I haven't found it to be particularly useful. I write up a very detailed
proposal and acceptance of it is treated as a contract.
>
> 7. Do you have a home office or a remote office?  Does the remote office
> allow you to leave the job behind?

There are various levels of "consultancy".
**1. The "job-shopper", who will almost always have to camp out at his
customer premises.
**2. The "lost my last job and don't have another one yet" consultant who
often has an office at a customer location as a waypoint to being hired by
his customer full-time.
**3. The "Retired from the biz and doing a little consulting on the side"
consultant usually works out of his home.
**4. Me. I have a home/office/workshop that I designed just for my
lifestyle. It works nicely. The problem with a home office is that it can be
difficult to drill into the rest of the family that just because you are
home doesn't mean you aren't working. Particularly while writing software,
interruptions from family members can multiply the bug count dramatically. I
don't set up on a customer's premis at all. I am much more productive in my
own "nest" surrounded by familiar tools and references and knowing where to
come up with a .01uF disc ceramic at any time of the day or night. My
clients would also be appalled by how I work. I often, particularly while
coding, do manic all-nighters. Other times, if the day is nice, I jump on my
Gold Wing and cycle around admiring the scenery while I consider a knotty
problem or algorithm. Definately not American Industrial Standard Practice,
but it works for me.

>
> 8.  How many hours a week do you spend working - 50?  70?

Depends on how much there is to do...

It is useful to differentiate between billable time (BT) and work in
general. I seldom bill over 75% of actual work time. All of the rest of the
things you have to do to stay in biz (like clerical, janitorial or keeping
up with the state of the art) get in the way.
>
> 9. How do you advertize your business - word of mouth?  Long term
> customers?  Bingo cards?  Ads in Circuit Cellar?  Spam to
> alt.suckers.news?  ;-)

I have not spent a dime on advertising in the 25 years I have been
independent. Circuit Cellar ads and the like seem as though they would be
most likely to bring you biz from the dreaded "Basement Inventor" type (See
my earlier rant on this thread). Referrals are wonderful! You have been
already sold by the referrer, so you generally don't have to work too hard
to close on a job. I have long term informal relationships with contract
manufacturers and Industrial Design shops that bring me into a project as
necessary to do work. This has worked out well for me.
>
> 10. Without divulging salary per se, do you feel you make more or less
> money as a consultant or as an employee?  Per year?  Per Hour?

It depends. Some years I am fat, others lean....

>
>11:  Do you use employees?  Are they permanent, part-time, Student
>Interns?  Do you periodically farm out work when the workload is large?

I have not and never have had employees. I am good at engineering, but not
so good at sales. If I had an employee, I would have to spend more time than
I want selling and less designing. I am part of a very loose informal
organization of conultants. We shed work to one another as the skills and
time work out. Sometimes I am the boss, and sometimes the "boy". Student
interns are pretty useless.

Edward Gisske, P.E.
Gisske Engineering
608-523-1900
gisske@offex.com
>

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