Growing Your Practice by Managing Business Relationships  

Independent contractors and consultants know the value of working cooperatively with other professionals to complete complex projects. 'Other professionals' includes subcontractors, other independent contractors and consultants, and business partners. The formation of these kinds of strategic relationships can help meet the demands of today’s diverse markets and clients. This paper outlines some of the basic issues that surround business relationships, including planning (estimating and bidding), formalizing project-based contractual relationships, and exploring more permanent partnership arrangements.

Barker, Thomas, Ryan Bernard, Melanie G. Flanders, Rob Moschak and Nicole Wycislo. STC Proceedings (2003). Careers>Freelance>Consulting>Collaboration

Guerilla WriteFare: When Clients Don't Listen

What do you do with a perfectly good client who, despite your recommendations, embarks on a course of action you believe to be wrong or even disastrous? I know of only one answer to that question: let it go. After you've given it the old college try, of course. I never did let go easily. There are few things more disturbing than watching a client jump off a cliff. You just know they're going to crash onto the rocks below, because you've seen it happen so many times before. Is there anything you can do? Yes, and here's my list of things to do when clients don't listen.

Knowles, Michael. Write Thinking (2002). Articles>Writing>Consulting

How to Create a Winning Tagline

The name of your company or consulting practice can offer prospects a clue into the work you do, which is especially necessary if it’s not readily understood, but if it bears your name, you’d better have a tagline to do the explaining.

Benun, Ilise. Usability Professionals Association (2005). Careers>Consulting>Writing

How to Deliver Bad News to Customers

In order to be effective in the usability business, you have to face the fact that you'll have to deliver bad news. You have to talk about what's not working. You might have to bruise egos and make your client uncomfortable.

Rhodes, John S. Apogee. Careers>Consulting>Usability>Collaboration

How to Manage Clients

For many technical writing companies the issue of how to manage all the associated 'non-writing' costs can be a sensitive area. Do I charge for every email? Every phone call? Where do you draw the line? What do you charge for, besides the document you produced?

Klariti. Careers>Consulting>Writing>Technical Writing

How to Write Your Own Contract  

This workshop is designed to help independent contractors write their own contracts.

Costanzo, Louis C., Terry S. Dick and Richard H. Weiss. STC Proceedings (1995). Careers>Consulting>Contracts

Human Factors: Consultant Search

HFES is pleased to provide this searchable directory of human factors/ergonomics (HF/E) consultants and expert witnesses as a free service to potential clients.

Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Careers>Human Computer Interaction>Consulting

In Defense of Difficult Clients

Challenging clients: avoidable pain or necessary stepping stone to enlightenment? Rob Swan considers the benefits of un-perfect clients.

Swan, Rob. List Apart, A (2006). Articles>Web Design>Consulting

Independent Consulting in Technical Communication

The number of technical communicators working as independent consultants has increased remarkably over the past decade - may you call this a trend?

TC-FORUM (1998). Careers>Consulting>TC

Independent Contracting Opportunities and Issues in Asia/Pacific  

As a U.S.-trained writer based in Singapore in recent years, my experiences and observations revealed significant opportunities that technical communicators working in the Asia/Pacific region can take advantage of as well as issues they are likely to need to come to grips with. My emphasis will be on Southeast Asia.

Kurtz, Jerry. STC Proceedings (1996). Careers>Consulting>Regional>Asia

The Independent Perspective

The Independent Perspective is published (online only) four times a year and is the official newsletter for the International Consulting and Independent Contractor Special Interest Group (CIC SIG) within the Society for Technical Communication.

STC Consulting SIG. Journals>TC>Consulting

Independents' Success Depends on Business Skills  

I went independent in 1990 as a technical writer/instructional designer, and I now teach technical writing in corporations. My business has grown steadily, albeit slowly, in these thirteen years. I learned quickly that independents are businesses first and technical communicators second. Our work may feed our souls and pay the bills today, but if we ignore business matters, our practices will ultimately fail. It is not enough to be 'technically' smart— independents must be savvy in business to succeed in any economy.

Frick, Elizabeth G. 'Bette'. Intercom (2003). Careers>Consulting>TC

Is There Intelligent Life Outside the City? A Personal View on Some of the Dos, Don'ts and Elephant Traps in Freelance Consultancy    

Offers comprehensive advice to information professionals considering taking up self-employed freelance information consultancy. Draws attention to the risks associated with leaving the protection offered by corporate employment, alongside the benefits of empowerment through being self-employed. Emphasizes the need for prior business planning and offers advice on business name, web presence, logos, business cards, professional subscriptions, the need to have an accountant and register for value added tax, and dealings with banks and with the local Business Link. Advises against acquiring company status, joining trade groups, untargeted advertising, brochures and mailshots, and professional indemnity cover. Suggests ways of seeking work through networking with contacts, advises on the risks associated with imprecise agreements with clients, and emphasizes that the most important aspect of successful self-employment is self promotion.

Newgass, Oriole. Business Information Review (2007). Careers>Consulting>Freelance

The Last Ditch Sales Pitch

I recently encountered a young web entrepreneur who understands that in business, 'no' doesn't necessarily mean 'never,' and that a last ditch sales pitch can pay off - maybe not today or tomorrow, but some day. It's a wise investment because one sales letter can be adapted and personalized for many different uses over time. And it can help you retrieve prospects you thought you had lost!

Reimer, Heather. Write Thinking (2002). Careers>Consulting>Marketing>Business Communication

Lessons Learned the Hard Way in an Architectural Document Disaster  

Delivering project reports in radically different formats gave the client a bad impression of this consulting firm. Here's how the staff remedied the situation and learned from their mistake.

Kalvar, Shannon T. TechRepublic (2003). Careers>Consulting>Project Management>Reports

Managing Client Relationships  

When meeting someone for the first time, you get about 10 seconds to make a good impression; make it a good one!

Steele, Karen A. STC Proceedings (1997). Careers>Consulting>Communication

Managing the Client: A Fairy Tale

Remember that a successful project has a measurable and positive impact on the client's business objectives. Set a time period to measure the progress toward achieving those objectives, and plan to measure progress on a regular basis. If you find that there are adjustments that should be made, or additions that can improve the project's functionality, do them.

Cliver, Sara. Digital Web Magazine (2002). Careers>Consulting>Collaboration

Managing Your Productivity  

Offers tips for independent contractors on staying efficient and productive.

Frick, Elizabeth A. 'Betsy'. Intercom (2000). Careers>Freelance>Consulting

A Marketing Checklist for Freelancers and Consultants

Marketing can be as simple as engaging in a one minute conversation with another person or as complex as a $3,000 direct mail advertising campaign. But marketing is more than selling a product or service or yourself -- basically, it's getting the person or prospect interested in what you're selling. And that's not so easy -- unless you know exactly how to do it.

Konradt, Brian S. Write Thinking (2001). Careers>Consulting

Marketing Your Web Business  

Leonard-Wilkinson presents several ideas for marketing Web businesses to appropriate audiences.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2002). Careers>Consulting>Web Design

The Meter is Running: Setting Consulting Rates for Independence  

Setting your billing rate can be one of the most difficult and mysterious aspects of operating a consulting practice. There are nearly as many approaches as there are practitioners, with results that range from consultants who price themselves out of the market to those who fold because they simply cannot make enough money to survive. By employing a straightforward business model that includes estimates for expenses, labor and, yes, profit, independent consultants, both fledgling and established, can establish billing rates that are fair to consultant and client alike.

Juillet, Christopher. STC Proceedings (2002). Careers>Consulting>Pricing>Estimating

My Time in Hell, or Why I Fired a Client  

Some team members wanted the guide to be extremely prescriptive of format and content. Others insisted that it offer only minimal guidelines. A compromise was unacceptable to either side.

Hayhoe, George F. STC Orange County (1998). Careers>Consulting>Collaboration

NASW: Just for Freelancers

A collection of useful links, especially for science freelances.

Robinson, Richard. NASW (2004). Resources>Scientific Communication>Consulting