Paying a Consultant?

[maxpower]

I have resonantly been thinking about paying a consultant to take a look at my business model and help improve thing where ever possible. Hell I would probably even consider paying 2 separate consultants at some point, and too quote our glorious leader “its good to get a new set of eyes on it” I just have a few questions about this I guess.

Are their really good people in this area that specialize in the gay adult market and who are they?

What is the price ranging on this stuff?

Can you recommend someone (not only yourself LOL)?

What would you consider the normally service of someone like this?

[Lee]

Dont waste your money Sean, if you cant listen to free advice given by those in the know on GWW you certainly wont listen to advice you have paid for.

Just my $0.02

Regards,

Lee

[maxpower]

Dont waste your money Sean, if you cant listen to free advice given by those in the know on GWW you certainly wont listen to advice you have paid for.

Just my $0.02

Regards,

Lee

Just because I challenge some things does not mean I do not believe them or think they might be right.

Just my $0.02

[maxpower]

Just because I challenge some things does not mean I do not believe them or think they might be right.

Just my $0.02

:edit:

Just because I challenge some things does not mean I do not believe them or think they are wrong necessarily

Just my $0.02

See if I could edit longer it would help some of us Lee

[basschick]

most - not all - of the consultants people i know have had dealings with cost around $2500 and up and gave little or no results. when i do consulting, i either charge an hourly fee with each part of the work being approved in writing by the client or else i quote by the project after finding out what needs to be done.

if you go with a consultant, get some references. there are people out there who charge a flat fee and imo that isn't possible since every site, niche, situation and webmaster is different.

[Bec]

I agree with Patti - a fix all flat fee situation isn't what most webmasters need. I'd look for those willing to tackle certain problems on an hourly or per job payment arrangement.

[DEVELISH]

And I suggest to take one or two of the guys and GIRLS on this very board - the folks here are VERY knowledgable


DEVELISH

[fabianb]

Interesting thread.

(I know first post here) ;-)

Most consulting we've done over the years is based on a (smaller) flat fee + incentive (% payout increase following months).

Flat fees don't work since it destroys the consultants name if things don't work out ..

My 2 cnts

->

[basschick]

i never take work for a percentage for more than 1 reason.

one is that several attorneys have told me that if you take a percentage, you are more likely to be prosecutable if the site has legal troubles - even if they have nothing directly to do with you.

clients are never obligated to implement your suggestions or use your work. i have one client spend over a hundred grand on his sites and the things he was doing wrong were all pretty obvious but he wouldn't change them. in fact, he had to sell those sites and his program to someone who is now running them at a profit. i'm glad i got paid my hourly rate because i wouldn't have made any money on a percentage deal.

of course, one can take only the jobs where the clients are obligated to use one more as a project manager, but that's really not the same as consulting although i have done both,

[maxpower]

most - not all - of the consultants people i know have had dealings with cost around $2500 and up and gave little or no results. when i do consulting, i either charge an hourly fee with each part of the work being approved in writing by the client or else i quote by the project after finding out what needs to be done.

if you go with a consultant, get some references. there are people out there who charge a flat fee and imo that isn't possible since every site, niche, situation and webmaster is different.

Thanks Bass, Ya you would defiantly be at the top my list of all the people on this board (well that would even consider doing consulting) you seem to understand viewers in my niche as well as the market as a whole, which is rare. (OMG it seems soooo RARE sometimes) Things are just changing so fast right now, really faster and bigger than about anytime I can remember, and I am trying to expand at the same time and I am just getting a bit sea sick. I am really thinking after the new year I am going to give this consulting stuff a real shot, and I will defiantly be contact you about this first.

Ya most of the “work” I guess in my mind come down too, Q&A stuff, Tutorials, Reviews, Suggestions, stuff like that really very intangible things I guess, but necessary to have differing once to mine sometimes. And yes I know some on the board will say that is what this board is for, but sometime you do get what you pay for.

[maxpower]

I agree with Patti - a fix all flat fee situation isn't what most webmasters need. I'd look for those willing to tackle certain problems on an hourly or per job payment arrangement.

Could you recommend someone that is effective and affordable that would now my niche (other than Bass?) “god I don’t ask for much hu” Its just that I would like a back-up consultant take a second look at things like 6 months after I work with the first one, maybe even keep rotating them in the distant future or something like that if it works out as a good long term idea. It would just be really nice to have options and a better feel for how all this stuff works.

[maxpower]

Interesting thread.

(I know first post here) ;-)

Most consulting we've done over the years is based on a (smaller) flat fee + incentive (% payout increase following months).

Flat fees don't work since it destroys the consultants name if things don't work out ..

My 2 cnts

->

I don’t know about a % thing man I am open to talk about possibly if need be, but would have to think about some kind of term limit on those %’s

[desslock]

Maxpower:

I have an out of the box suggestion. Consider befriending people with some good business skills. I have always made it a point to get to know people who have talents beyond me, not only have I benefitted from watching them work, but later on I have a friend to lean on for questions.

Now specifically to our business, one of the main benefits for me in attending shows is that I can meet people like this, who I otherwise would never get to know.

Patti and Bec are absolutely correct - finding a "consultant" will essentially mean that you find someone who will take one to two thousand dollars from you and say Thanks!

Personally I wouldn't do that. There is no shortage of people on the boards, at the shows, everywhere giving endless streams of advice. My constant issue has been applying myself to do what I need to do with such information.

Steve

[maxpower]

Maxpower:

I have an out of the box suggestion. Consider befriending people with some good business skills. I have always made it a point to get to know people who have talents beyond me, not only have I benefitted from watching them work, but later on I have a friend to lean on for questions.

Now specifically to our business, one of the main benefits for me in attending shows is that I can meet people like this, who I otherwise would never get to know.

Patti and Bec are absolutely correct - finding a "consultant" will essentially mean that you find someone who will take one to two thousand dollars from you and say Thanks!

Personally I wouldn't do that. There is no shortage of people on the boards, at the shows, everywhere giving endless streams of advice. My constant issue has been applying myself to do what I need to do with such information.

Steve

Well man not sure I can get much help with allot of this stuff from the boards, no offence but most the people on the boards are Rep’s, or really just promoting their programs or have no idea what my market is like. I do try from time to time too get info from the boards, but the big stuff most of the time people will not talk about you know. Like optimizing your sites for search engine traffic, or maybe better connections with companies that will help promote your program.

And what advice do I lesson too, and from who? Now I would love to pay someone like Mark or get a endless stream of free advice from him LOL, but for the most part people that can perform at that leave do not have time to mess with me. Not that I do not understand that, but still I work alone I can not watch other people work or anything I have to kind of make this stuff up as I go. It would be nice to get a real review on marketing from people that would fell comfortable with really helping me, not really used to getting to much for free. I am sure their are many things I am not doing correctly, and others I have not even thought of, that would be better to spend my available time on.

[ArmpitLover]

Max... just out of curiousity is that twink movie site you were building last year up and running? If so can you post or PM me the URL (unrelated to this thread.)

thanks
Dave