创业与商业training.kalzumeus.com编辑精选
我如何从每小时100美元的编程工作，做到每周数万美元的咨询业务
How I went from $100-an-hour programming to $X0,000-a-week consulting
2012 — 2017，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
这是 Patrick McKenzie（kalzumeus）的咨询系列文章之一，讲他如何从每小时 100 美元的编程/自由职业，转向按周收费、按商业价值而非工时定价的咨询模式。文中涉及把服务定位为帮客户增收、用软件产品带来主动上门的咨询，以及改变与客户谈钱的方式。
为什么经久不衰：它把独立开发者最难的定价与定位问题讲得具体可操作，十几年后仍是自由职业者升级商业模式的经典参考。
HN 评论精选
高薪咨询应帮客户增收而非降本，因为增收更受管理层重视。
很多评论集中在「这听起来很棒，我希望能收更高」或「怎么找到高薪合同」。一个办法是：找高薪咨询合同时，专注于帮公司赚钱而不是省钱；帮客户增加收入比降低开支更值钱。因为管理层目标更多与增收相关，有预算的人会更看重能帮他们增收的人，而降本自动化往往被推到下个月。
F_J_H查看英文原文
There seem to be a lot of comments centered on “wow, this sounds great – I wish I could charge more” or “how do I find these high paying contracts”? Here’s one way. It may seem obvious to many, but I think it bears stating. If you are looking for consulting contracts that pay really well, focus on providing a service that helps companies make money rather than save money. In other words, help grow revenues rather than reduce expenses – people pay much more for that. Here’s the reasoning: When business managers, executives, etc. are given targets, they typically relate to increasing revenues much more often than reducing expenses. Not surprisingly, increasing revenues is therefore “front of mind” for those with budgets to make it happen, and they see tremendous value in someone who can help them do that. The fact that a little automation in the accounting system will save a data entry clerk a few hours a month – hmmm...maybe next month. Case in point - I remember reading a comment somewhere from a Google employee who was complaining that at Google, those working on the revenue generation side of the business (i.e. advertising, adwords, etc.) got all the “love and attention” in terms of getting the resources required to get their job done, while others working on more obscure projects had to put up with leftovers. Now I’m not sure if that is actually true at Google, but I wouldn't be surprised as I've seen it at many other companies – the “rain makers” are the darlings with dollars to spend, and the back office ops folks are left to struggle with fewer resources. All injustices aside, find a way to provide something to the rain makers. The type of work that Patrick does directly improves revenues. If you are a DBA selling tuning services to help companies re-write gnarly queries for example, well, unless a slow performing query/process is directly impacting revenues in some way, it likely is a secondary priority in devops/support where budgets are tight and “learn to live with it” is becoming a way of life.
按周收费简化计费，按价值收费避免时薪比较并让客户从价值角度谈预算。
我学到的两个要点是：1）按周收费，2）按你将提供的价值收费，而不是按你的时间值多少钱。按周收费让你不用追踪每一分钟是否可计费；按价值收费则避免客户说「你每小时收 200 美元，比我还多，能不能降到 90」，转而让对话变成「我们想获得至少 4 万美元价值，但这次预算只有 1 万美元，你能在多少周内提供多少价值」。
ronyeh查看英文原文
Two important points I learned was: 1) charge by the week, and 2) charge by the value you will be providing, rather than how much your time is worth. Charging by the week allows you to not have to keep track of what's billable and what's not (e.g., you chatted with the customer on the phone for 34 minutes). Charging by the value you provide avoids the conversation of "Hey, you're charging $200 per hour... that's more than I make. And that's like almost $400K per year! Can we get your rate down to like, $90?" Instead, the conversation becomes, "We want to get at least $40K of value out of talking to you, but have only budgeted $10K for this exercise. How much value can you provide us over how many weeks?" That was definitely an interesting writeup!
软件产品带来主动上门的定制咨询需求，使作者转向周 retainer 和近六位数项目。
我偶然来到这里，但能证明这套系统的价值。我曾以每小时 75 到 100 美元做自由职业，每个合同都要非常努力。副业做软件卖得不错，但不足以退休。后来购买软件的客户开始问能否做定制版本；起初多数没成，后来突然变成按周收 retainer、做接近六位数的项目，而且都是因为我们的软件主动找上门的业务。
nhangen查看英文原文
I ended up here on accident, but I can vouch for this system's value. I WAS freelancing at between $75-$100/hour, but having to work very hard for every contract. On the side my partner and I were building software, selling a nice amount but nothing that was going to allow us to retire in a year. However, suddenly people starting emailing us after purchase, asking if we could build custom versions for them. Most turned out to be duds, at first, and then something changed. Suddenly we're charging weekly retainers and working on near six-figure projects, all on business that sought us out because of our software. Will this work for everyone? I'm not sure, but it did for us, and we didn't even see it coming.
文章实质是开发转营销咨询；营销被视为创收而 IT 常是成本中心，且路径并非人人可复制。
也许其他人也和我一样以为：这篇文章讲从合同工/雇员的技术开发转向技术咨询。其实不是，它讲的是从开发转向营销。这没有错，但发现致富路径意味着和公司里我最不喜欢的一群人打交道，让我有点失望。营销更可能为咨询付高价，而 IT 只在非常绝望时才为外部帮助付大钱；营销被视为创收，IT 和产品开发却常被视为成本中心。这种转变也不是大多数人都准备好的。
blunte查看英文原文
Perhaps other people here shared the same assumption that I did - that this essay was about moving from tech development as a contractor/employee to tech (development) consulting. It's not. It's about moving from developing to marketing. There's nothing wrong with that, but it was a let-down to me to discover that the path to riches meant mingling with the group of people I tend to like the least in a company. Also, I think it's fair to say that amongst departments in companies, marketing is much more likely to pay (and pay a lot) for a consultant, whereas IT is only likely to pay a lot for outside help when things are really, really desperate. Marketing is seen as revenue generating, and at many places, IT and (ironically) product development are seen as cost centers. This might as well have been an article about how to 100x your income by moving from your current job into a similar job in a fintech company. That's a bit like moving from serving tables at Denny's to Del Frisco's steakhouse. Most Denny's waiters are not prepared nor capable of making that transition.
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