The pie is further sweetened by the fact that you don't need special degrees or certifications to become an independent consultant. With your basic skills and rudimentary knowledge, plus the ability to market your services, you may prosper if you keep meeting the needs of enough customers.

Jumping feet first into consulting, then trying to learn the business by trial and error, is a recipe for disaster in today's complex business arena, however. One botched job followed by a whopping lawsuit could put you out of business in a hurry, especially if you have not properly covered your legal bases. Plus, if you know nothing about marketing and you don't feel comfortable with negotiating prices and contracts, independent consulting may be the wrong career path.

What does it take to succeed as a computer consultant who runs his or her own business? In this cover story, we take a long look into this question, comparing the costs and benefits of independence versus corporate employment. Along the way, we poll a short list of experts in the field.

For many people, Herman Holtz's name is synonymous with consulting. The Wheaton, Md. author has penned a number of popular books on the art and business of independent consultancy. His latest title is The Consultant's Guide to Getting Business on the Internet: How to Network for Clients and Business Opportunities, published by John Wiley & Sons.

According to Holtz, computer consultants, like many other professionals, are specializing. Their specialties include training, repair and development. Says Holtz, “The computer field is far too broad to even think of doing it all. Today, there are many computer consultants who focus on just one or more Internet-related functions as their specialties.”

While every successful consultant pursues one of many diverse specialties, they typically run into the same fundamental issues associated with being in business, Holtz points out. “All independent consultants are faced with something of an anomaly in that they are specialists in the services they offer, but they are generalists in that they run independent businesses and so must also be prepared to handle the functions of administration and marketing. This is no small challenge in itself.“Probably the most difficult and most important challenge of this aspect of consulting is marketing and also highly important and not easy to solve pricing one's services,” Holtz contends.

Diane Herrara, a consultant with 13 years of experience, now heads a “small but growing” computer consulting business based in Southeastern, Pennsylvania. She echoes Holtz's statement that you have to keep marketing “to keep the work coming in.” For her, however, “the number-one issue I face is balancing my time between getting a job done and staying educated. I do a phenomenal amount of readingãjournals and magazines.” In her view, motivation and communication skills are two essential keys to success. “You need to be self-motivated. You need to be able to work on your own with little guidance. You need to be your own project manager, know the milestones and be a good communicator. You need to be able to discuss the projects with managers that you are working with as well as with users of the project.”

The varied challenges she faces help her stay happy being a consultant. “I like the feeling of being independent and being in charge of the project and seeing it progress. I like choosing my next project. I like being in charge of my own career development, ” she says. But being “in charge” of other things can be an illusion, she adds. “As a consultant, you are often in a situation where you have to manage things from a position of no power. You need to steer or guide a company toward the right solution for the company. ” Often, the company, believing it knows what is best for its future, does not heed a consultant's, or outsider's advice. “It takes a lot of communicating and negotiating. I spend a lot of time nodding my head and doing what they want, knowing the company is going to have problems down the road,” she concedes. To help deal with those power issues and issues of goal-setting and planning, Herrara advises consultants to network, “talk to people who are now where you want to be five years from now.” She also recommends joining consultant groups such as the International Computer Consultant's Association.

Two personality traits are vital for success as an independent consultant, according to Peter Meyer of The Meyer Group in Scotts Valley, Calif. “One trait is the ability to work alone for a long time. Many of us are not good at working on our own, and that argues against being a consultant. If we prefer people to tasks, it is too hard to make the hard decision to fire a client. Happy consultants tend to love the work more than the people contact.” According to Meyer, “The second trait is being willing to put our idea of perfection in second position behind what the client actually needs. This is a combination of listening and understanding that a technical solution is only part of the solution. For the technical solution to work, you need to solve other needs as well. Sometimes the solution that is second best technically is far superior for the client.” Like Holtz and Herrara, he urges would-be independent consultants to “remember to put as much energy and skill into your marketing as the technical work.”

Computer consultants often are pictured as cutting-edge experts who keep getting work by staying ahead of corporations on the technology curve. Yet, most companies do not immediately grab onto each change in technology. They try to milk their hardware and software investments as long as they can. So there are demands for consultants with “old” skills, as well as new ones, says John Genzano of Genzano Software Consulting in West Chester, Pa. “Five years ago, the consultants who concentrated on IBM mainframe COBOL were all asking us PC people what they should learn so that they could continue to make a living,” Genzano explains. “Today, because of the year 2000 problem, those same people are making more money than they ever saw before, and usually more than the PC people they were talking to five years ago.” Whether consulting is a good business or career to pursue, “depends on who you are, andãif you have one who your spouse is. If you and especially your spouse can handle the uncertainty of essentially looking for a new job every six to nine months, then it will be a good business to go into. If you hate the interview process, then keep your day job,” Genzano recommends. Experience, according to Genzano is the main ingredient in consulting success. Large and mid-sized companies hire consultants to bring knowledge to the company that may not already be accessible to the onsite employees. Small companies simply don't have the staff necessary to complete their project and they need someone who can complete the job without a lot of supervision. “So, while you can become a consultant fresh out of college by going to work for a consulting firm, you need some experience before going out on your own, ” Genzano adds.

Working for a consulting firm is a nice compromise for those who like variety but don't like marketing themselves. Other benefits to working for a consulting firm include insulation from legal issues, guaranteed pay whether contracted or not and the standard health, vacation and 401K packages. According to Mark Rossmann, a technical consultant with Analysts International Corporation (AiC) of Minneapolis, Minn., the main benefit of consulting is the ability to work with a variety of people and learn their businesses. “Consulting allows you the change factor. Working for one company for a long period, you may get stuck specializing in a small number of skills unique to that position,” he notes. “This way I can keep learning new skills and this makes me more marketable. ” Rossmann also likes the fact that working for a consulting firm insulates him from some of the political problems inherent in corporate life. “I can leave political problems at the doorstep of my contractor,” Rossmann says. “I have a site manager who can mediate conflicts if necessary,” he adds.

Rossmann emphasizes that the biggest benefit of working for a consulting firm is having someone else coordinate his placement. “I never have to look for work this way. And, if I'm at a site and I want to move before my skills get stale, AiC will start the ball rolling to replace me and find another position for me,” he says. Finally, Rossmann says he gets compensated for overtime by his firm, either through comp time or additional wages. Independent consultants often get paid the same amount regardless of how many hours they work on a project.

If you do go into business for yourself, get to know a lawyer who works with consultants, says Fredric M. Wilf , an attorney with the firm of Saul, Ewing, Remick & Saul in Berwyn, Pa. “With independent computer consultants and contractors, many issues come up over and over,” Wilf counsels. “For example, when [consultants] write software, who owns the copyright? The consultant's customer by default will have non- exclusive rights to use the software if there is no written agreement to the contrary. But customers and users need to know what rights they have in using the softwareãand they often do not.” Don't assume the customer knows the copyright laws. If you do, Wilf cautions, you may end up having your copyright infringed upon, and seeing your software being sold on the Net.

Wilf emphasizes that consultants and their customers need to better learn the law, so that the issue of who has what rights becomes a business decision addressed beforehand, rather than a lawsuit afterwards. Copyright and liability issues can hold hidden traps for unwary independent consultants. Wilf provides an example, “Jane is an independent computer consultant. XYZ company needs a database to run its company. Jane and XYZ orally agree that Jane will write the software. Since there is no written agreement, the default is that Jane owns the copyright in the software.

On the liability side, without a written agreement between the parties there may be an implied warranty that Jane's software meets a minimum level of merchantable quality, as well as an implied warranty that the software is fit for a particular purpose. Thus, Jane may be bound to warranties of which she is not aware, Wilf counsels.“In a written agreement, the parties can agree to limit the consultant's liability, but there is no such limitation without a written agreement,” Wilf warns. This is a particularly tricky problem for employees who plan to start their own businesses. Any copyrightable material written while employed at the company as work for hire may be owned by their current employer. Most attorneys, therefore, will recommend written agreements so that the consultant knows if and when he or she should fix something on the material they have created.