New IT consultants often give away services, which can prevent them from really being able to go full-time.  You can’t make this mistake.  You absolutely need to charge market rate if you want to thrive in the industry.

IT Consultants That Charge Are Professionals

If you want others to see you as a true professional, you have to charge hourly rates comparable to those computer consultants that you hope to compete with once you go full time.  If you charge too low, you will not be able to build on-going revenue that will allow you to become a full-time consultant.  When contracts come up for renewal, you will have a difficult time raising your rates unless you make them high enough in the beginning. 

Competing full-time IT consultants already know which billing rates will keep them afloat.  Successful IT consultants also know about taxes, training expenses, insurance, marketing, promotion, research and administrative costs. 

IT Consultants Value Their Services

If you think you can charge rock-bottom rates for your consulting services, market to those that will like that concept while charging $25, $35 or $45 per hour and working like crazy and still stay alive, you are wrong.  You can’t work that many hours on a full-time basis. 

IT consultants that make it study the competition when setting rates and give themselves multiple sources of steady consulting revenue. 

The Main Idea with IT Consultants

You have to diversify your revenue sources and build a client base if you want to compete with other IT consultants that have gone full-time.  Don’t quit your day job if 90% of your revenue is from just one or two clients. 

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit