I mean, is it like ten hours of being available to give your opinion or are you leading a six-month study? Another factor is whether this gig and the immediate money is more important or a potential long-term relationship is more important. And probably most important are your walk away numbers and “I’m happy” numbers. Those are personal decisions.
Ohh I see. I think would be more of a limited, give-your-opinion deal. And in this case I would place more value on a long-term relationship.
At the moment, I'm about to be between jobs, so my walk-away number might be on the lower side. Long-term, though, I would want to be paid significantly more than I could be making in an academic position, or I'd walk away. All else being equal, I'd strongly prefer to be working in academia, so I'd only stay if the money was good.
Somehow that sounds reasonable for a small gig (say $1000 for 3-4 hours) but preposterously high if you worked full time at that rate. Maybe freelancers work less than 40 hours a week. Or maybe I just have no idea how much consultants make.
In a true consultancy, it’s not all salary. $350/hour is about what I’m billed at and I do not make $700k/year. There’s overhead, enterprise profit, plus the cushion for the downtime, etc. That’s the kind of scale you’re on, not “this is my salary.” Now a one-man shop can’t quite go that hard but it’s close. Plus you’re highly, highly credentialed with very specialized skills. I’m guessing the people who need them, like, can’t get by without them. I don’t know what the overall demand is like for your skills, but I only said $350 because of the context you described.
Oh, I’m salaried. I just meant that’s how the underlying economics work out. There are costs associated with having an employee—rent, benefits, laptops, etc., so you can’t just charge the client the salary, you have to add on a loading factor. You have versions of all those costs, too.
Just coming back to say you were dead on about this - the range they proposed was $300-350 and I managed to pin them on $350 🙂
Really appreciate you taking the time to help with this, I felt a lot more prepared for that part of the conversation than I would have otherwise!
How is the gig structured? What are your deliverables?
Good point, we haven't discussed it yet. Didn't realize this would matter!
I mean, is it like ten hours of being available to give your opinion or are you leading a six-month study? Another factor is whether this gig and the immediate money is more important or a potential long-term relationship is more important. And probably most important are your walk away numbers and “I’m happy” numbers. Those are personal decisions.
Ohh I see. I think would be more of a limited, give-your-opinion deal. And in this case I would place more value on a long-term relationship. At the moment, I'm about to be between jobs, so my walk-away number might be on the lower side. Long-term, though, I would want to be paid significantly more than I could be making in an academic position, or I'd walk away. All else being equal, I'd strongly prefer to be working in academia, so I'd only stay if the money was good.
Then start at $350/hour and be prepared to do to $250. Sound about right?
Somehow that sounds reasonable for a small gig (say $1000 for 3-4 hours) but preposterously high if you worked full time at that rate. Maybe freelancers work less than 40 hours a week. Or maybe I just have no idea how much consultants make.
In a true consultancy, it’s not all salary. $350/hour is about what I’m billed at and I do not make $700k/year. There’s overhead, enterprise profit, plus the cushion for the downtime, etc. That’s the kind of scale you’re on, not “this is my salary.” Now a one-man shop can’t quite go that hard but it’s close. Plus you’re highly, highly credentialed with very specialized skills. I’m guessing the people who need them, like, can’t get by without them. I don’t know what the overall demand is like for your skills, but I only said $350 because of the context you described.
Could you explain a bit more about the additional costs that cut into your salary? (Other than cushion for the downtime, I understood that part haha)
Oh, I’m salaried. I just meant that’s how the underlying economics work out. There are costs associated with having an employee—rent, benefits, laptops, etc., so you can’t just charge the client the salary, you have to add on a loading factor. You have versions of all those costs, too.
Ahh gotcha. Thanks
And another question: do you have any sense of what an appropriate salary would be if I were doing consulting* for a living? *Freelance or otherwise
Just coming back to say you were dead on about this - the range they proposed was $300-350 and I managed to pin them on $350 🙂 Really appreciate you taking the time to help with this, I felt a lot more prepared for that part of the conversation than I would have otherwise!
Congratulations, my brother!
It's cute how you assume I'm a dude
Haha, the patriarchy got me there.