Consultancy critical mass reached - what now?

[Goughie]

I've got my own little one man consultancy that is nearly at full tilt. I have a couple of potential new clients that will give me more business than I can cope with if either of them come off (and I'm getting very encouraging noises from them both).
I have told them both that my available time is limited and that they need to get their skates on if they want to use my services.

Assuming I'm working a full week with the addition of either of these new clients, I am then left with a business that effectively has a limit on potential earnings (i.e. my time). That limit is a very nice number in £'s, but there are clearly more clients out there that need my skills set.

What strategies exist for maximising revenues from my limited time (I currently offer a sliding scale of daily rates) and what do I need to consider before employing staff to try and meet the extra capacity I am seeing? The former I assume can be addressed by value pricing strategies, but I've no experience of these.

TBH, I am delighted that I am so busy, but had not planned for the eventuality of too much work being available - I want to ensure I can make the most of it.

All ideas gratefully recieved chaps!

[V8mate]

Can you accept the new work but delay starting it? Or will an existing client accept a delay in their programme?

Or maybe look to taking on a second person. As a sub-contractor rather than employee and pay them 80% of the charge-out rate?

What kind of consultancy do you offer?

[flyingjase]

What is you ambition? To run a Consultancy or earn more money or both?

I know someone that I use who is amazing at what she does. She charges £3k per day so I use her sparingly.

She used to have a Consultancy with 8 perm staff and make a lot less money than she does right now with just her.

Depends on what you want but for now you could sub contract to people you trust

[Piersman2]

flyingjase said:

What is you ambition? To run a Consultancy or earn more money or both?

I know someone that I use who is amazing at what she does. She charges £3k per day so I use her sparingly.

She used to have a Consultancy with 8 perm staff and make a lot less money than she does right now with just her.

Depends on what you want but for now you could sub contract to people you trust

You do realise just how incriminating this message could be if taken the wrong way

[Goughie]

V8mate said:

Can you accept the new work but delay starting it? Or will an existing client accept a delay in their programme?

Or maybe look to taking on a second person. As a sub-contractor rather than employee and pay them 80% of the charge-out rate?

What kind of consultancy do you offer?

Not really. My work is continual and client based most of the time, so I need to be on site. (I have regular one day a week, two days a week agreements with clients). I work as a technical consultant in the food industry and whilst technical systems have a typical framework to them, they are all bespoke. In addition, I work in a number of sectors (primary processing, hospitality, etc) that have their own priorities.

A second person is a nice idea, but a big part of my appeal to clients is the "me" factor - I am the business...

[Thurbs]

Goughie said:

A second person is a nice idea, but a big part of my appeal to clients is the "me" factor - I am the business...

Then I'd put my rates up if I were you. Failing that just turn the work down or postpone it.

[Goughie]

flyingjase said:

What is you ambition? To run a Consultancy or earn more money or both?

I know someone that I use who is amazing at what she does. She charges £3k per day so I use her sparingly.

She used to have a Consultancy with 8 perm staff and make a lot less money than she does right now with just her.

Depends on what you want but for now you could sub contract to people you trust

My ambition was/is to pay down the mortgage before I hit 40 (37 now). With a full client rosta that is no problem. Beyond that I haven't really got a master plan. Whilst I enjoy working with clients I have to say managing other people doesn't appeal that much to me at the moment. This may change with no mortgage to worry about, however.

I can only dream about charging £3K/day, but my rates are set so as to allow me a two day week if I so desire whilst still giving me more than double my current monthly outgoings. I purposely set the business up at this charging rate to give me my life back after a particularly unpleasant last employee job. It works like a charm, I've very little stress and I could just coast along should I so desire.

A three day week (my typical at present) gives me loads of free time and some decent disposable income. I am now looking more seriously at what I could actually achieve if I went full on, but there is a part of me that is very happy with the status quo - who wouldn't want a 4-5 day weekend? The other part of me though sees a great new place, a new B7 and real financial independance, not the comfortable, if middle of the road existance I have at present.

i really need advice but have no real peers to talk to about this. I could talk to some of my client MD's, but I do not really want to divulge too many details of my business to my customers.

[ewenm]

Goughie said:

V8mate said:

Can you accept the new work but delay starting it? Or will an existing client accept a delay in their programme?

Or maybe look to taking on a second person. As a sub-contractor rather than employee and pay them 80% of the charge-out rate?

What kind of consultancy do you offer?

Not really. My work is continual and client based most of the time, so I need to be on site. (I have regular one day a week, two days a week agreements with clients). I work as a technical consultant in the food industry and whilst technical systems have a typical framework to them, they are all bespoke. In addition, I work in a number of sectors (primary processing, hospitality, etc) that have their own priorities.

A second person is a nice idea, but a big part of my appeal to clients is the "me" factor - I am the business...

I work on client sites a lot in a technical capacity and end up working with various other consultants/contractors while doing so. If I had a piece of work that was too big for me to handle individually, I now have a list of other contractors I trust to do decent work that I can contact to see if they want to sub-contract to me for the work.

[Goughie]

Thurbs said:

Goughie said:

A second person is a nice idea, but a big part of my appeal to clients is the "me" factor - I am the business...

Then I'd put my rates up if I were you. Failing that just turn the work down or postpone it.

I'm learning just this. Each new client I pitch to, the rates are increased (not hugely, but increased nonetheless). I appreciate that I have to find the limits fo what the market will absorb for my services...

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

As an alternative idea (am just throwing it out there); is there another consultancy firm that you do a good job that might be able to handle the business that you could get a referral fee from or work an agreement up with?

I realise that is probably not what you want to do but it's just an idea.

[Chris_OCR]

flyingjase said:

What is you ambition? To run a Consultancy or earn more money or both?

I know someone that I use who is amazing at what she does. She charges £3k per day so I use her sparingly.

She used to have a Consultancy with 8 perm staff and make a lot less money than she does right now with just her.

Depends on what you want but for now you could sub contract to people you trust

Pervert

[Goughie]

ewenm said:

I work on client sites a lot in a technical capacity and end up working with various other consultants/contractors while doing so. If I had a piece of work that was too big for me to handle individually, I now have a list of other contractors I trust to do decent work that I can contact to see if they want to sub-contract to me for the work.

Oddly, I don't come into contact with other contractors much. Solo work also allows me to generate systems and ways of doing business that present barriers to entry for competitors, whilst still delivery technical efficiencies for clients. This is good for repeat and ongoing business. Some clients have used other contractors after using me and found their work to be wanting compared to mine (their comments not mine), so I know this approach is good for developing client relationships.

All of my clients bar one are customers or suppliers to other clients however, so I do see the importance of using contacts to further my business, I'm just a little nervous at using consultants/consultancies I don't know for contracted work.

[Goughie]

Oi_Oi_Savaloy said:

As an alternative idea (am just throwing it out there); is there another consultancy firm that you do a good job that might be able to handle the business that you could get a referral fee from or work an agreement up with?

I realise that is probably not what you want to do but it's just an idea.

There are one or two consultancies in my field, but I don't know too much about them - I tend to keep myself to myself (under the radar so to speak). I'm not entirely sure if I want to get 'swallowed up' in the mechanics of a larger firm - unless it was my own.

Your idea has legs, don't get me wrong, but I do need to look at this in more detail.

[Doofus]

You have three choices, as far as I can tell. I was in the same boat a while back, and that's what I found.

1. Work like buggery, and never say "No" to anyone
2. Turn work away, and risk your reputation
3. Subcontract

Risks:
1. You do a less than perfect job for everyone
2. The work isn't there for you when you need it
3. They steal your business

Solutions:
1. Tough
2. Tough
3. Use a decent subcontract agreement

I chose 3, and it works for me. I turn probably 50% of the leads I get into subcontract work (I have a small network of trusted 'colleagues') either because I don't have time, or becasue I just don't want to do it, or because somebody else has a more specific skill set. I do have clients that I've only spoken to a couple of times. Not many, but one or two.

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

I know what you mean - and it's the idea of giving away business too so someone you might not know well enough to know that they'll give your client the same service you yourself would. Handing out business to another firm/someone else reflects on you as much as if you'd done the work yourself.

Really tough call but a nice situation to be in!

I'm pretty handy with a kenwood chef? Would that help?!

[Stevenj214]

Is there anything you do that's non client facing which a trusted assistant could look after? Freeing you up to do slightly more 'face to face' stuff.

[lestag]

option 4 - whilst you have more work than you need work a 5-6 day week to clear it, put the money aside in case things should change.

[bogwoppit]

What does technical consultant mean? Technical as in IT/infrastructure, or nutrition etc?

[Engineer1]

Can you split your work down into your technical bit and grunt work? You turn up do the initial agreeing of spec and choosing of solution then pass it on to a sub contractor or even an employee who can generate the paperwork and product based on your spec.

[flyingjase]

Chris_OCR said:

flyingjase said:

What is you ambition? To run a Consultancy or earn more money or both?

I know someone that I use who is amazing at what she does. She charges £3k per day so I use her sparingly.

She used to have a Consultancy with 8 perm staff and make a lot less money than she does right now with just her.

Depends on what you want but for now you could sub contract to people you trust

Pervert

Yep, if you can't afford the full day, she can charge by the half hour.

All depends what you want!!