>I'm looking at the independent idea a lot lately. This is for independent consultants who have been on their own for two or more years. Just a couple of questions:
>
>1) What's the population of your metro area?
>

My metro area is around 7,000 but within 50 miles it's around 300k. But that really doesn't matter much in this field (IMHO). I consider my potential customer base at around 6 billion. ;) Seriously, with some creativity, you can extend your customer-reach to well beyond your physical area.


>2) What's your primary method of developing new business: word of mouth, ads, luck?
>

Word of mouth without exception. I've never tried (nor have needed) to do ads or telemarketing. Just start asking everybody if they'd like to have taken care of with a little programming,etc by you. You'll know pretty quickly what's needed in your area that way. Just don't be too inflexible in the kind of programming you'll do.

>3) Do you find yourself working for a lot of the companies you used to work for as an employee?
>

Not my kind of situation. I started out as a consultant/app developer/IS services and stayed that way. I 'wormed' my way into some systems resellers/VARs early on and did part of their programming for their clients. Eventually, those resellers went out of business and I had contacts inside their clients operations and continued to service them on my own. Basically, you just have to wait for opportunity to strike and then take advantage of it. If you can get into a vertical industry and you do good work that not many others do then you will have more work than you know what to do with.

>4) How do you deal with things like insurance, etc?
>

I'm lucky there and I get my insurance thru the State in which my wife works. I tried looking at doing it myself and nearly had a stroke ... but it would have cost too much for those medical bills anyway! :)


Going the independent route isn't for the faint of heart but it's great if you can get the work.

- A Hilton

A Hilton
Software & Technology Development,
Programming & Business Process Consulting