Acknowledgements | p. xi |
Introduction: Consultants of All Stripes Are America's Emerging Independent Work Force | p. xiii |
The Independent Life--What Twelve Successful Consultants Would Like You to Know | |
How to Leave Your Job: Knowing when it's time, and building bridges to independence | p. 3 |
Bryan Robertson Has an Awakening | p. 3 |
Others Who've Jumped the Job Track, and Why They Did It | p. 5 |
Assessing the Risks and Rewards | p. 13 |
Deciding What Kind of Consulting to Sell | p. 17 |
Bridges to Get There Safer and Faster | p. 18 |
Asking your employer to help you leave: Profile of Louisa G. Casadei | p. 26 |
Tapping into high Potential: Why consultants are getting so much business when corporations are laying off | p. 30 |
Role of Consultants in an Era of Turmoil, and Why Every Organization Needs Them | p. 30 |
Downsizing | p. 31 |
Outsourcing | p. 33 |
Why You Don't Need to Be an Expert to Be a Successful Consultant | p. 38 |
A career as a general management consultant: Profile of David A. Hallowell | p. 45 |
Trusting What You have to Offer: "(Your name) since (the year of your birth)" | p. 50 |
Your Know-how | p. 50 |
Your "Performance Factor" | p. 55 |
Believing in what you're good at: Profile of Frances B. Wheeler | p. 65 |
Relationships Into Cash: Marketing to get the business you want | p. 70 |
The Four Parts of the Marketing Cycle | p. 70 |
Relationships vs. RFPs | p. 81 |
Why Your Phone Will Ring | p. 82 |
Why the Jobs You Don't Get Are the Ones You Don't Want | p. 83 |
The consultant whose clients do his marketing: Profile of Leonard W. Smart | p. 85 |
Knowing Your Own Worth: How to name your price | p. 90 |
If You Want to Get a Check, You Have to Send a Bill | p. 90 |
Five Factors That Should Influence Your Fees | p. 93 |
How to Quote Each Job Without Regrets | p. 99 |
How to Structure Your Pricing and Billing | p. 100 |
Positioning herself as the "good value" brand: Profile of Diane Sims Page | p. 106 |
Being There: Knowing your role in the client's world | p. 110 |
A Shoulder for the Accountability Burden | p. 112 |
Speed and Access Manifest | p. 114 |
Co-conspirator | p. 115 |
A Voice for the Forbidden Questions | p. 118 |
Results Without a Head Count | p. 119 |
Making it easier for the client to do business: Profile of Verne L. Severson | p. 121 |
Bringing Others In: Don't build an empire unless you want to feed one | p. 126 |
The Bottom Line Is What's Left Over | p. 126 |
Three Approaches to Growth | p. 127 |
How the IRS Defines an Employee, and Why You Should Care | p. 129 |
Buying the Milk and Not the Cow | p. 133 |
Employment Benefits | p. 139 |
Employment Agreements | p. 139 |
When You Decide to Hire | p. 140 |
Collaborators in a "fairness system": Profile of Pattie Garrahy | p. 143 |
Work, Money, and Private Lives: Consulting notes from the interior | p. 148 |
Breaking Rules | p. 148 |
Helping Your Best Self Win | p. 154 |
Keeping Your Business in Its Place | p. 156 |
Walking the talk to change your life: Profile of Susan E. Foster and Jack A. Brizius | p. 163 |
Keeping Your Balance: How the choices you make will help you stay in control | p. 170 |
Hedging Your Bets | p. 170 |
Staying Out of the Victim School of Consulting | p. 173 |
Embracing Consulting's Cycles | p. 177 |
Finding happiness in what you create: Profile of Susan Kenny Stevens | p. 179 |
Discovering Your Residuals: How to tap the equity in your consulting practice to sell more than your time | p. 184 |
Consulting's Hidden Annuities | p. 184 |
Tips to Help You Develop the Hidden Annuities in Your Practice | p. 193 |
Cash, Not Conversation | p. 195 |
Becoming the producer instead of the actor: Profile of Eric G. Mitchell | p. 198 |
Setting Up Shop--Straight Talk About the Nuts and Bolts | |
Establishing Your Business: Tips to simplify the start-up process | p. 205 |
Picking a Name: You Are Your Business | p. 205 |
Picking a Location | p. 209 |
Deciding Whether to Incorporate | p. 219 |
Controlling Your Technology: Phones, Computers, and Faxes | p. 227 |
Finances and Plans: How to estimate your revenues, expenses, capital needs, and staying power | p. 233 |
How to Buy Time to Succeed | p. 233 |
Financial Projections to Make Smart Choices | p. 235 |
Where to Look for Risk Capital | p. 251 |
Financial Relationships to Keep You Whole | p. 253 |
Business Plans: When Do You Need One, What Goes in It | p. 254 |
Safety and Security: How to protect the down side | p. 258 |
When to Use Attorneys and Accountants | p. 259 |
How to Provide Your Own Fringe Benefits | p. 261 |
When to Rely on Consulting Contracts | p. 267 |
When to Cover Yourself for Liability and Casualty Losses | p. 270 |
Record Keeping and Taxes: Basics to keep you on track | p. 272 |
Simple Systems for Tracking Time and Expenses | p. 272 |
Taxes: What You Are Liable for, and How to Keep Your Nose Clean with the IRS | p. 275 |
Checklist for Hiring an Employee | p. 279 |
Making sure there's a profit at the end of the day: Profile of Walter M. Pile, Jr. | p. 284 |
Epilogue: The Uniqueness of You | p. 291 |
Index | p. 293 |
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