Customer Reviews

How to Succeed as an Independent Consultant, 3rd Edition

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This classic "instruction manual" for consultants has been well-known for years in the consulting world as a primer for people just starting out, or for those who are thinking of making the jump from working for others to working as a consultant.

However, the last edition was showing its age and I'm glad to see that this 4th edition breaks a lot of new ground while retaining the great "blocking and tackling" advice from Herman Holtz which drew raves in consulting circles worldwide.

New co-author David Zahn has taken this classic and put an afterburner jet on it and zoomed it in to this new millenium with up to date advice that resonates with clarity and strong, well grounded counsel. As I read the revised volume - which was just released in March of 2004 - I found myself nodding vigorously as he discussed cash flow (the consultant's biggest obstacle year in and year out); marketing in today's internet world; the use of email as a newsletter medium; and so many other great directional points that I realized that an experienced consultant could also benefit greatly from this new volume.

If you are reading this review, you no doubt are considering purchasing this book and you're probably wondering if it is worth the money. That's what I use these reviews for here at Amazon, and that's why I wanted to post this review as soon as I read the new edition....because I believe it can help EVERYONE in the consulting profession hone their skills to a much sharper edge.

From my perspective, the 14th chapter (How to Handle Negotiations, How to Set Fees and How to Handle contracts) alone is worth the cover price, and then the rest of the book is a remarkable bonus. And I speak from personal experience, having been involved in consulting for 14 years - first working for a midsize consulting firm and then going out on my own several years ago.

I think this is a TERRIFIC book that you'll use again and again...and again. And if you are thinking about joining the profession of consulting, it will give you a real eye-opening peek at what it takes to enter, survive and prosper in the world of consulting.

Highly recommended.

I picked this book up, not because I am a consultant, but because I am an executive at a company that uses consultants frequently. I was hoping to spot in these pages all of the "tricks of the trade" that consultants use so that I would be a smarter customer of consulting services. As someone that occasionally loathes, and infrequently appreciates the perspectives of so-called outside experts, I was pleasantly disappointed (yes, pleasantly disappointed) to see that what Holtz and Zahn are suggesting in these chapters is non-manipulative, ethical, and above board practices that in no way try to take advantage of a customer that is not as sophisticated as perhaps they need to be. I was disappointed because I wanted to be armed with ways of combatting what I perceive to be the car salesman approach taken by far too many of the consultants I have worked with in my career. Perhaps the fault is as much mine as the consultants we hired. Maybe I have to spend more time doing exactly what this book recommends consultants do when it comes to; scoping out projects, ensuring agreement on objectives, managing project timelines, and agreeing on how to fairly compensate the consultant for his or her assistance. I found this book pleasant in that it convinced me that not all consultants are cut out of the cloth of the "give me your watch and I will tell you what time it is" type. Seeing what the consultant is SUPPOSED to be doing when engaging with a client (me) and being able to compare that to what happens in my company makes me want to buy this book for a few of our most senior executives and dog-ear those pages that they need to read. The chapters on how to set up a business, accounting, and other organizational necessities were initially of little interest to me as my focus was on the actual working with the consultant, but even those chapters were enlightening in that I better understand why the consultants we use pressure me about some things and not others. The point made about cash flow being critical to the success of the consultant over and above other issues was not something I would have realized on my own. Now that it was explained, I can understand and appreciate it better.

I have been reading this book and others as a reference to help me start a consulting business. I would think that someone who is going into business as a consultant would know a little about business so I skipped over those chapter. I found marketing, finding the clients, and creating the environment for the sale important. The issue on contracts and what to charge extremely important to my future. Unfortuantely I am starting a marketing and sales consulting firm and I found little to no reference on examples. This book is primarily for engineers, accounts, and attorneys.

I will always keep this book as a valued reference as I add clients to my clients.

I purchased this book when the third edition first came out. I found the information so brilliant and so helpful. It has remained a constant bottom line reference for those hard questions that have simple answers! I have referred the book to many other who were trying to establish viable consultanting businesses and were searching for all the 'questions and answers' of getting started. And more important - "how do I figure out what to charge???" When I purchased the book, please note, I was living in the highly competitive North Eastern United States!

If you're thinking about being a consultant, this book is a must read. Someone loaned us a copy of this and got us on the right track nearly 10 years ago. Without it, we would surely have been out of business in a couple years. So let us pass it on again - read this book. Understand the words. And best of luck.

I can't believe the authors are consultants who write for a living. This book has good information but suffers from redundancy, typographical errors, and uneven modernization between editions.

I read this book straight through, and I think I read the same anecdote three times. There's some good advice buried in there along with some so-so advice, but the (minimum three) parenthetical passages (per page) make the text hard to read. Along with all the typos. (I had to laugh when they went on for several paragraphs about how proofreading is important because typos will "torpedo" a report to a client.)

In places they emphasize the changes made in the newest edition, but it seems the end of the book didn't get as much attention to these changes. The section on computers is talking about tapes!

This book also suffers from an over-focus on government contracting, a specialty of one of the authors.

Take a deep breath and sit where the light is good as author David Zahn (who wrote this with the late Herman Holtz) attempts to describe everything about consulting in 400-plus pages of small type. The book realizes a good bit of its ambitious goal, though not without cost. Information is abundant, but not tidy. In this fourth edition, chapters pile up as the authors add coverage of new technologies to their previous reporting on older forms of media. The result is a big onion: layers and layers of information. Some are useful, topical and important; some dated, redundant or irrelevant. You can skim the parts that don't affect you, but a tougher editor would have slimmed it down and combined some basic chapters, such as the extra treatment of marketing and second careers. However, if you persist, you will garner some valuable information, especially about the competitive process of bidding for government consulting contracts. We consider this book worthwhile for those who are serious about becoming consultants. Just be diligent about ferreting out information that is pertinent to you (and bring a magnifying glass).

This book delivered on its promise. All of the areas that i thought i needed to get information on were touched on in a comprehensive manner.

I bought the 4th edition (hardback) of this book a few years ago, and it was well worth the money. I started my own consulting business in 2001 and have used this book as a guide ever since.

Herman Holtz and David Zahn have put together a very detailed, although somewhat wordy, guide for starting a consulting business. With over 400 pages, they cover all of the basics - marketing, negotiations, fees and collections, and much more.

This book is exactly what the consulting industry needs - an in-depth, comprehensive look at how to start, manage and promote a business. The examples are relevant and give readers an insight into the minds of both authors as they describe their own personal experiences with a variety of situations and projects.

I highly recommend How to Succeed as an Independent Consultant.

Mitch Paioff, Author, Getting Started as an Independent Computer Consultant

Getting Started as an Independent Computer Consultant

I believe that this book has good information for the independant consultant, from the professional just starting out to the seasoned veteran. I do believe that there is too musch repition and fluff. The information that I could personally use could have been stated in 150 pages.