>>>>Well, you would know more about this than me...I work for an insurance company, so I am out of the consulting business...
>>>>
>>>>I do think that there are smaller businesses out there that have a lot of money..and hopefully the economy will be good for smaller businesses, so you will have lots of prospects. I guess you have to pick your clients well...let them know up-front what their cost will be...
>>>>
>>>>I better shut up...I am sure you know a lot more about all of this than me...
>>>>
>>>>Take care,
>>>>Joseph C. Kempel
>>>>
>>>>>Of course One man shops will never go away but it will be nothing like it used to be.
>>>>>
>>>>>The biggest problem I see is a one man shop will have to concentrate on smaller businesses. This means that the paycheck will shrink because the smaller businesses do not have the funds the large ones have. I have messed with small operations before and for the most part just broke even. It would be nice to one day have a savings account.... (s)
>>>>>
>>>>>Tom
>>>
>>>
>>>A very wise man once told me to look for Clients with MainFrame budgets. He said $5,000 would be nothing in a $1 Mil budget. In a small business the owner may fall out of their chair..... (s)
>>>
>>>Tom
>>
>>But don't be surprised at how those with a $1M budget will squawk about $5,000.
>>I've seen it. I've seen a project ended because their spec went from 25 pages to 250 pages and they wondered why it was going to cost them more $$.
>
>Steve
>
>Squawking is the norm. They can't ever say that they expected a price increase. They can't let you gain any ground. But Squawking is better then the guy looking up in disgust and saying that is more then he makes and they don't have the money....
>
>Tom

Oh so true. But my car mechanic makes more (or at least the garage charges) more than I charge in an hour. I'm not belittling mechanics, they are a necessity, but before these folks who control software budgets squawk at our rates, they should look around a little at what they are paying for many services that they utilize and I don't think that we are so out of line.

Steve