Careers in Excel consulting

[Jordo82]

Greetings all,

I'm considering Excel/VBA consulting as career choice. Ideally, I'd like to start with a consulting company writing macros and/or doing on-site training , with the ultimate goal being to go into business for myself. Does anyone have any advice to impart, companies to suggest, etc? (Mr. Excel, are you hiring? )

Any thoughts you have on the subject would be much appreciated, thanks!

 

[WillR]

Well, nobody seems willing to have a bite at this one so maybe I'll be brave....

Consulting in any field is generally quite difficult to break in to. It is almost unheard of for someone to go straight to a consultancy role without gaining some considerable experience in the relevant field first... this experience/ability also needs to be somehow "visible", in order to attract potential employers or clients....

Before going much further, you really ought to consider how you might answer the first question the is likely to be posed by any employer/customer...

i.e.

"Prove to me that you can provide me with the solution(s) that I require"

In Excel terms, this often means gaining recognition either on "the forums" (of ehich there are many, including this one), or by Microsoft themselves by way of MVP award, or by simply displaying examples of your work/ability on your website...


Hope this helps.

 

[XL-Dennis]

I fully agree with CM Will on this subject.

To get a business up & running fulltime it require at least 3 years of hard work. You need to have some savings to cover up and also a good relation with a bank.

It may sound attractive but the freedom of being on Your own has its price.

 

[Anne Troy]

Having been a project manager for MrExcel in the past, I often hired (and still do) consultants to do projects. They love the idea of the extra income, and they love to code. But they quickly burn out. Why? I'm not sure. I suspect it's because answering questions on the forum requires no responsibility. But when you do a project for money, you HAVE to make it work, and within a reasonable amount of time. You also receive code that somebody else wrote and it sucks, so you either have to rewrite it (generally on your own time) or work around it--neither being a desirable proposition.

I guess it's just not all it's cracked up to be...

 

[XL-Dennis]

Anne,

As usual You're right :wink:

But they quickly burn out. Why? I'm not sure.

Because it's very easy to reply about isolated small micro-issues on public boards while projects put much higher demand on You.

Except for that there exist no glory or any "star"-feeling just a regular daily work to be finished and with high quality.

The real stars are the ones that can handle both things at the same time and with high quality

 

[Anne Troy]

Um. Like YOU!!

:D

 

[XL-Dennis]

Hehe - No - Because I don't generate any profit

 

[amy112471]

Need advice on consulting....

Need some guidance.... Not sure if this is the right place to post the question but here goes.....

A friend asked me to create a few spreadsheets for him to use at his part-time job with a state agency. So, as a favor I did and with the help of many postings on this site they turned out pretty fabulous if I don't say so myself!

As a result someone from another 'agency' saw them and asked if they could buy them. I couldn't believe it when my friend told me but they're willing to pay big bucks for my work and he thinks that others are interested in buying them as well.

So now I'm a bit concerned about the ramifications of 'selling' an Excel solution. I do not have a company setup for this nor have I ever thought about consulting on the side. I really enjoy doing it but am worried about the legality of accepting $ for this, especially from a government agency.

Any thoughts or comments appreciated.

 

[Joe4]

I would contact a lawyer, preferrably one who specializes in business.

 

[thebigwilley]

Re: Need advice on consulting....

Need some guidance.... Not sure if this is the right place to post the question but here goes.....

A friend asked me to create a few spreadsheets for him to use at his part-time job with a state agency. So, as a favor I did and with the help of many postings on this site they turned out pretty fabulous if I don't say so myself!

As a result someone from another 'agency' saw them and asked if they could buy them. I couldn't believe it when my friend told me but they're willing to pay big bucks for my work and he thinks that others are interested in buying them as well.

So now I'm a bit concerned about the ramifications of 'selling' an Excel solution. I do not have a company setup for this nor have I ever thought about consulting on the side. I really enjoy doing it but am worried about the legality of accepting $ for this, especially from a government agency.

Any thoughts or comments appreciated.

I definitely think a lawyer is a good idea if you are talking about marketing this solution to other agencies and in other states, you don't want to get into something big without knowing what your rights are, etc. If you are only talking about a couple of interwoven state agencies and the fee is under $5,000 I would think you would only need to claim the amount on your taxes as additional income or something and that would be it. Anything over that amount and you are looking at it not being other income and a full fledged second job/ business, which you will probably need to address Social Security and other state and federal taxes associated with it. It will depend on your personal state tax codes and you employment status, but its something a tax account should be able to talk you through for research purposes.

What you should absolutely not do is give this away again, nor allow your friend to give it away because if you don't get the notion to sell it, someone down the line will, you should stake your claim on it before you miss out on any money. If you have a lawyer friend who is willing to advise pro-bono or on a percentage of profits, I would do that before formally retaining someone you pick out of the yellow pages.

Good Luck and Congratulations, it sounds like a great problem to have.