Dino

Coronavirus update (COVID-19) – Help for Consultants

April 2, 2020 By Dino

I know what it’s like to have no work, but still have bills to pay and mouths to feed. The current situation is putting many people in that position, and I want to help.

I know that if you’ve just lost your job or your contract, you need help now. Over the next few weeks I will be posting practical advice and steps you can take to survive right now, and to either find work quickly, or get yourself ready for when work becomes available again. Bookmark this page as I will keep it updated with links to all related posts and resources.

For as long as this crisis continues, I am offering discounted websites for consultants, and free 1-on-1 sessions.

File for unemployment benefits
Review (or create) your budget
Apply for relief from your lenders
Consider your next steps
Get immediate help

Are You Ready for the Gig Economy? (& Why You Need To Be)

June 5, 2017 By Dino

Think you don’t need to think about freelancing, or your place in the gig economy? Think again.

In 2015 almost one third of workers in Australia engaged in freelance work, according to this Upwork survey. That’s 4.1 million people, up from 3.7 million in 2014. In the U.K. there are 1.4 million freelancers (Professional Contractors Group estimate), up 14% in the past decade. Another report from Intuit predicts that over the next decade the number of contingent employees will increase worldwide. In the U.S. alone, contingent workers will exceed 40% of the workforce by 2020.

Importantly, traditional, full-time, full-benefit jobs will be harder to find. And according to a recent Brookings Institution report, the gig economy is growing at a rate 27% higher than that of full-time jobs.

So unless you’re planning to retire in the very near future, you will almost certainly be affected by the gig economy – whether you like it or not. The world of work is changing. Demand for freelancers will continue to increase, with startups and progressive companies embracing the new workforce, so even if you could find a ‘traditional’ job, would you want it?

This represents a major change in the way work is performed – a shift from having a job to working for clients. You need to be ready for the gig economy.

The most common question I get asked about making the switch to freelance consulting is “how do I manage all the non-consulting stuff?” And that makes sense, because consultants are used to consulting. In the freelance world, you need to do more than just consult. You need to treat your work as a business – doing the things your employer does now. That means marketing and sales, finding work, accounts (invoicing, cash flow management, taxes), project management, and so on.

That is what I’ll be covering in more detail over the next couple of months – how to manage all the non-consulting stuff, with the least amount of time and effort, so that you can focus on what you do best.

Which things do you find most challenging? Let me know in the comments.

Cheers
Dino

The Real Meaning of Work/Life Balance

March 25, 2017 By Dino

Ask 100 different people what work/life balance means and you’ll get 100 different answers, ranging from working less, to more holidays, to not working at all. And they’re all correct, because the definition of work/life balance is like the definition of success – it’s up to the individual. And it changes over time. What you consider balanced today may not be the case 20 years from now.

You might be the founder of a growing start-up, with no children, working 80+ hours per week. And if growing your start-up is your main priority, then that’s fine. That’s work/life balance for you.

On the other hand, you might be a family man who isn’t looking to grow a business or climb the ladder any further, and spending time with your kids is more important to you. So you choose to work only 30 hours per week, and that’s work/life balance for you.

I decided back in 2007 that I wanted to work to live, not the other way around. My kids were 7 and 9 and I wanted to experience them growing up as much as possible, so I became a freelance consultant. That has allowed me to work on my terms and spend more time with my kids than most working parents get to.

And that’s the beauty of freelance consulting. You’re in control, and you can decide how much you want to work based on what your definition of work/life balance is. Sound good but not sure you could do it? Find out here.

Cheers
Dino

Why the Hell Would I Want to Freelance??

March 19, 2017 By Dino

The case for being an independent consultant

Could you imagine anything worse? Always worrying about getting your next contract. Constantly stressed about not having a steady income. Having to deal with all the ‘business stuff’, like marketing, invoicing, taxes, and so on. No thanks!

Anyone against (or even afraid of?) freelancing can easily rattle off a long list of cons, like:

You don’t get paid sick leave or annual leave
You work on your own most of the time
You have to work long hours, and be on call all the time
You constantly have to find clients and work
You have no job security
And so on…

The reality is, it’s not all doom and gloom. IMHO, most of the reasons given are either just plain wrong, or they’re actually positives looked at the wrong way. For example:

You don’t get paid sick leave or annual leave
I couldn’t live the way I wanted to if I was limited to 4 weeks of holiday per year! Especially not as a single parent with kids – they get over 12 weeks off school every year. Being a freelancer means I can take whatever time off I want. And even if I’m working, my hours are flexible enough that I can work around my needs. I’ve been to almost every performance or event for my kids since kindergarten.
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You work on your own most of the time
Whether or not this is a problem depends on your personality. As an independent consultant, I spend a most of my time working directly with clients, often at their premises. But even when I’m working on my own, I use coworking spaces to be around people, and also organise regular coffee and lunch meetings with my network to break up my days. And one other thing, as a contractor working on 3 to 12 month contracts, I can almost entirely avoid office politics – that’s a huge plus for me.
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You have to work long hours, and be on call all the time
This is simply not true. I decided when I became a freelancer to not work full time, and that’s what I continue to do. Even when I get asked to work full time for a new contract, I say that I will work a maximum of 4 days per week, and it’s never been a problem. As for being on call, as an independent consultant, my clients are all professional businesses and they keep standard business hours. Sure I’ve had the occasional 6am or 7pm phone call, but they’re rare.
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You constantly have to find clients and work
True – and that’s fantastic! I love the variety being a freelancer gives me. I’ve expanded my field of expertise and domain knowledge by taking on varied roles over the years. And with the right plan and system in place, ensuring you always have work is achievable. Not to mention that my network is always growing because I keep working with new businesses.
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You have no job security
This is also true, but you know what? Neither does anybody else! Think having a permanent job means you’re secure? Think again. The only difference is your notice period. And given that freelancers are used to finding their own work, it gets easier and easier. Someone with a permanent role who is made redundant (I hate that term) suddenly finds themselves having to figure out how to go about finding work.

How Much Do I Really Need?

I also want to point out something that many people don’t seem to get. Generally speaking, your hourly rate is much higher as a freelancer than as an employee. So to earn your current employee salary, you only need to work 3 or 4 days per week as a contractor.

Let’s say you’re on a $150K salary. Assuming you can make $800/day as a contractor, that equates to 188 days per year. That’s about 38 weeks (roughly a 3 month plus a 6 month contract), meaning you have 14 weeks of flexibility. That’s 3 months to find your next contract, or to take as leave, or to work more if that’s what you want to do.

The point is, you don’t have to be working every day of the year for 48 weeks – that’s just what we’re used to because that works for employers.

So Is It For Me?

At the end of the day, freelancing is not for everyone. For me, the best thing about freelancing is the freedom and flexibility. If those are important to you, it might be worth a try.

Not sure if you’re cut out to be a freelancer? This worksheet can help you decide.

Cheers
Dino

Finding Work as a Freelance Consultant

March 11, 2017 By Dino

Finding work as a freelance consultant (or rather the fear of not finding it) is probably the number one concern for most, especially new, freelance consultants. In fact, that fear is what stops a lot of people from becoming freelancers in the first place. And it can be tough sometimes, especially if the economy in your area/country is slow and there’s not a lot of work to be found.

But it doesn’t have to be that scary, as long as you follow some basic steps.

Recruiters & Job Boards

How to find work One of the first things I did when I quit my 9-to-5 job, was to sign up with and get to know a few recruiters. I also set up searches on job boards (I mainly used Seek.com). These are both great methods for finding contract work as quickly as possible, which allows you to show what you can do, build up some credibility, and make new contacts.

Outsource Yourself

Depending on the type of work you do, you could outsource yourself using services like Elance, oDesk, and Freelancer. This is another great way to find work quickly, and get some runs on the board.

Find Opportunities While You Work

As a consultant working in someone else’s business/company, you’ll find that you see opportunities for improvement everywhere. If you see a genuine opportunity in an area that you could help with, let someone know that you could assist. If they’re happy with your work, and they can see the value in your proposal, you could generate your next contract.

But don’t create an opportunity where there is none. Being dishonest about that, or about your abilities, just to secure some work is a sure-fire way to ruin your reputation. And as a freelance consultant, your reputation is everything.

Use your network

I’ve written before about the importance of networking, especially when you don’t need to – when you’re busy working is the best time to be working on your network. That will guarantee that when you do need some help, you can call on your network.

Don’t be afraid to ask for work, by letting people know you’re available, or that you will be soon. Social media (particularly LinkedIn in my experience) is a great way to do this.

If you’ve put the work into building and maintaining your network, you’ll find that it pays you back ten-fold when you need it.

Building your network is the key to your long term success as a freelance consultant.

Work Will Find You

When you’re starting out as a freelance consultant, it can be tough. Ideally you’ll have some money set aside to get you through at least six months, just in case. But even if you don’t (I didn’t, in fact I was in debt) you can still get by – you just have to try a little harder.

After some time, once you have built a reputation for good work, and built a solid network, you could be in a position where the work finds you. And I can tell you that’s a great place to be.

Have any other methods for finding work? Please share them by leaving a comment, thanks!

Cheers
Dino

Am I Ready To Be A Freelance Consultant?

March 6, 2017 By Dino

Am I Ready?

So you want to be a freelance consultant? That’s not surprising, given that freelancing as a career choice (or as a way to earn an income while building a startup) is growing fast – in the US, UK, Asia, and Europe.

Freelance consulting sounds perfect, and no doubt you’re attracted by the flexibility. You can work when and where you want, choose your clients and projects, and are responsible for your own success. You can take breaks whenever you want, spend more time with your family, and do away with commutes/peak hour traffic!

Maybe you’re dreaming of making a lot more money, or working only 6 months every year, or of building up your own agency. And it’s all possible – but it takes work. With the right approach, and some effort, you could be living the life you’ve dreamed about.

Freelance consulting is not for everyone. Some people are better suited to, or even thrive, working in a traditional 9-to-5 office job. The following worksheet will help you figure out if you’re ready to take the leap to freelance consulting – and if you’re not, what you need to do to get yourself ready.

Click here to download my free “Am I Ready To Be A Freelance Consultant?” worksheet.

Cheers
Dino

2016 is the Year of the Freelancer

March 11, 2016 By Dino

The freelancing movement is picking up pace – and numbers!

I’ve witnessed this in my personal experience, and I believe it won’t be long before freelancers make up the majority of the workforce.

There are several reasons for the shift, and this article sums them up well. It also quotes some interesting statistics from the Working Trends 2015 survey.

I’ll cover what I think this shift means in terms of the workplace and work practices of the future in a future post.

Cheers
Dino

Why Do We Work 8 Hours a Day?

January 11, 2016 By Dino

Hi everyone. A quick post today on a topic that I feel strongly about. Have you ever stopped to think: Why Do We Work 8 Hours a Day?

It’s always struck me as strange that people just accept that it’s OK for work to take up most of our time. For a lot of (most?) people, that is sadly the case. It’s madness – do you spend 8 hours a day with your children or other loved ones? Isn’t that far more important than working?!

And in any case, our output (results) should be more important than our input (time).

regret As I have said many times, when you’re on your death-bed you won’t be thinking “Gee I wish I’d worked more…”

This is also one of the reasons I became a freelance consultant. To have more flexibility with my time, and to be judged more on my results, and less on the amount of time I put in.

I will expand on this in a future post, but in the meantime check out this article which I found interesting about how we came to accept working 8 hours a day in the first place.

Cheers
Dino

Freelance Consulting Over the Holidays

December 24, 2015 By Dino

One benefit of being in the rat race (a.k.a. having a ‘regular’ job) is that you get paid annual leave to take over the Christmas/New Year holidays, when most businesses shut their doors for at least a couple of weeks.

But what if you are a freelance consultant? Generally speaking, if you’re not working you’re not getting paid.

If you have some fixed price or success-based fee work, and you can work on that even while your client’s business is closed for the holidays, then great – you can work through the holidays if you like.

What, I Can’t Work on Anything?

But what if that isn’t the case for you, and you’re not getting paid? Well hopefully you have planned for this time and managed your cash flow accordingly, in which case you can think of this as forced annual leave. While that may not be a good thing if you need the money, it’s actually a great opportunity to do some cleaning up and to take a step back and evaluate where you are and where you’re heading.

Get Your House in Order

I’m sure you’ve got all your paperwork and invoicing in order and completely up to date like I have, right? Yeah, right. Well now is the perfect time to do that – all the things you normally don’t get to do because you’re busy – without clients pressuring you. Of course, you may have family pressuring you instead. Just work out a schedule where you’re not working the whole time, and explain to them that this is important for your livelihood.

Look at the Big Picture

In general I don’t think we freelancers spend enough time thinking about whether or not we’re heading in the right direction, or even where we’re heading at all. We’re too busy working! But I think it’s critical that we think about two ‘big picture’ items in particular: how to do what we do better, and how we will eventually stop doing it.

Ultimately we want to make more money, work less, or both. So how do we achieve that? And one day you will want to, or have to, stop working. What then? I’ll cover both these items in more depth in a future post.

Take a Break

The ‘forced annual leave’ over the Christmas/New Year holiday is the ideal time to get your house in order, take stock of where you are, and do some big picture planning for your future.

And don’t forget to actually take some time off, relax, and recharge your batteries.

Cheers
Dino

How to be More Effective: Play to Your Strengths

October 23, 2014 By Dino

Conventional wisdom says we should improve our weaknesses. Why, so we end up with slightly “less weak” weaknesses? Screw that, I say play to your strengths!

We’re all naturally good at some things and not others. And by that I don’t mean just those things for which we have aptitude, but also things that we enjoy doing and that actually give us energy.

I remember when I was a hard-core coder, putting in 20 hour days was easy because I was so into it. The idea of coding for 20 hours a day now gives me palpitations. But the idea of launching a business and paying someone else to do the coding excites me, even if it still means I’m putting in 20 hours a day.

On the other hand, improving our weaknesses is often a waste of time. We may get a little better at some things, but often with an associated opportunity cost. And we probably still won’t enjoy those things. We’re far more productive when we play to our strengths.

Playing to your strengths makes you more effective

Play to your strengths Today, more than ever before, we can outsource absolutely anything. Does it make sense for you to struggle with your taxes, for example, when it will not only take you five times as long as an accountant, but also take away from what you’re good at doing? I don’t think so.

Granted, we don’t always have the luxury of getting other people to do the work we’re not good at or don’t enjoy. Even so, we should then spend the minimum amount of time necessary to do that work, and get back to playing to our strengths. Only this way will we be more effective and become more successful so that we can eventually outsource the other stuff.

Look at highly successful people in any area of life – from entrepreneurs to athletes to artists – and more often than not, they would have devoted their lives to developing their natural strengths.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t be learning new things and improving yourself. I constantly have 2 or 3 books I’m in the middle of reading. I love reading and improving myself, as long as it’s related to things I enjoy or that excite me.

Playing to Your Strengths as a Freelance Consultant

So how does all this relate to freelance consultants? A while back I wrote a post, Why Should I Hire You?, where I talk about the importance of narrowing your focus and not just taking on any work you can get.

To expand on that idea, you should focus on your strengths. Become an expert in your field by playing to your strengths, and not only will you get better and better, but you’ll also love every minute of it!

Cheers
Dino

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Dino

The case for being an independent consultant

How Much Do I Really Need?

So Is It For Me?