How to Succeed as an Independent Consultant

I bought the 4th edition (hardback) of this book a few years ago, and it was well worth the money. I started my own consulting business in 2001 and have used this book as a guide ever since. Herman Holtz and David Zahn have put together a very detailed, although somewhat wordy, guide for starting a consulting business. With over 400 pages, they cover all of the basics - marketing, negotiations, fees and collections, and much more. This book is exactly what the consulting industry needs - an in-depth, comprehensive look at how to start, manage and promote a business. The examples are relevant and give readers an insight into the minds of both authors as they describe their own personal experiences with a variety of situations and projects. I highly recommend How to Succeed as an Independent Consultant. Mitch Paioff, Author, Getting Started as an Independent Computer Consultant Getting Started as an Independent Computer Consultant

I picked this book up, not because I am a consultant, but because I am an executive at a company that uses consultants frequently. I was hoping to spot in these pages all of the "tricks of the trade" that consultants use so that I would be a smarter customer of consulting services. As someone that occasionally loathes, and infrequently appreciates the perspectives of so-called outside experts, I was pleasantly disappointed (yes, pleasantly disappointed) to see that what Holtz and Zahn are suggesting in these chapters is non-manipulative, ethical, and above board practices that in no way try to take advantage of a customer that is not as sophisticated as perhaps they need to be. I was disappointed because I wanted to be armed with ways of combatting what I perceive to be the car salesman approach taken by far too many of the consultants I have worked with in my career. Perhaps the fault is as much mine as the consultants we hired. Maybe I have to spend more time doing exactly what this book recommends consultants do when it comes to; scoping out projects, ensuring agreement on objectives, managing project timelines, and agreeing on how to fairly compensate the consultant for his or her assistance. I found this book pleasant in that it convinced me that not all consultants are cut out of the cloth of the "give me your watch and I will tell you what time it is" type. Seeing what the consultant is SUPPOSED to be doing when engaging with a client (me) and being able to compare that to what happens in my company makes me want to buy this book for a few of our most senior executives and dog-ear those pages that they need to read. The chapters on how to set up a business, accounting, and other organizational necessities were initially of little interest to me as my focus was on the actual working with the consultant, but even those chapters were enlightening in that I better understand why the consultants we use pressure me about some things and not others. The point made about cash flow being critical to the success of the consultant over and above other issues was not something I would have realized on my own. Now that it was explained, I can understand and appreciate it better.

I purchased this book when the third edition first came out. I found the information so brilliant and so helpful. It has remained a constant bottom line reference for those hard questions that have simple answers! I have referred the book to many other who were trying to establish viable consultanting businesses and were searching for all the 'questions and answers' of getting started. And more important - "how do I figure out what to charge???" When I purchased the book, please note, I was living in the highly competitive North Eastern United States!

If you're thinking about being a consultant, this book is a must read. Someone loaned us a copy of this and got us on the right track nearly 10 years ago. Without it, we would surely have been out of business in a couple years. So let us pass it on again - read this book. Understand the words. And best of luck.