I had this post written last night but the power went out due to the large storm we had in Toronto. Here is my second take.
I have done a little bit of consulting in my short time on this planet. The key things I learned was that I could usually sell my next job by doing a good job on the current one and getting referrals. A good job means under promise and over deliver, everybody loves that and will most likely give you a good referral. Most new people in consulting will promise anything to get the work, which turns out to be a nightmare of time and money wasting for you. Another key thing is to never ever ever do work for free unless it's for a family member or someone you would trust like a family member. Even then they should probably be paying you, you are family after all!
I did some free computer work, starting my little technology consulting business, for my parents neighbour who was into geology. I helped him set up his old computer, get his microscope working on it, training, advice etc. Instead of paying me anything for the hours upon hours of time I spent on his computer he gave me some rocks. They weren't even his "top of the line" rocks that he kept in glass displays, they were the throwaways he kept in boxes in his basement. He literally paid me fools gold for some work. He also talked my ear off about everything under the sun because it wasn't like he was paying me hourly to do the work. He didn't give me a referral either. I then did work for another guy in the neighbourhood. He asked what my rate was and I told him 15 bucks an hour because that is what I made in my dishwashing job times 1.5 at the time. He told me my rate was $50 an hour and even that was a low price. He was a sales/marketing consultant and he said he has charged upwards of $300 an hour to meet with someone for a couple of hours. I set up his computer, home network etc. I have done a ton of work with this guy since and he has given me some good referrals and marketing advice.
When you are giving your work away people will often treat you like an intern, treat your work like a kids school project and treat your time like it was infinite. If you do a bad job they will still bad mouth you to people and impact your reputation. I suspect part of the reason for this is that people think they get what they pay for and if you charge nothing ...
On the other hand if you charge market or higher rates your customer will want to get right down to business and, unless they are rolling in cash, will generally spend a very small amount of time chatting. Do a good job and your work will be respected and used because they will want to get a return on their investment. Get a referral and you can do more work and charge normal prices for it. IF you do a bad job your will tarnish your reputation but you can always give them a discount and go and fix your error, they might still give you a referral for your willingness to give them a break.
I could see how providing a contractually confidential one time discount to your customer starting out would be a good wedge into the market, but don't do free work ever if you are trying to break into an industry.
Well that's my advice, it's free so take it for what is worth
