One of the things you will have to do as you take on a career as a freelance consultant is decide what your work hours will be and how much you want to be paid for each of those hours. This is not like working one of those regular executive positions you are used to because there are a number of other things to take into consideration when you are setting your hourly or project rate. As a freelance consultant there are things that are going to cost you in both time and money that are not what you are used to. Following are a few you should think about.

Making calls

All of those cold calls you have to make to possible clients are time that you are spending on the job without getting paid. Sure you have to do it, but you need to make sure that you compensate for this time by charging appropriately in your jobs to cover these hours spent.

The Books

You are your own full service office as a freelance consultant. That means you don’t have assistants like you did in your executive positions of the past. You are going to be doing it all, including billing once or twice a month. You need to make sure the money you make pays for this time.

Office Costs

Maintaining an office is not free and that means there will be money going out the door daily on this part of your freelance consultant business. If you are actually renting an office, that will be the first cost. But even if you are not renting an office space, think of the other things you have to pay for like a phone line, Internet, computers, software, ink and even printer paper. It can add up to a lot every month.

Benefits Plan

No longer do you have a great benefits package like you did in those executive positions of the past. As a freelance consultant you are going to have to pay for your own benefits from here on out so when you are considering what you want to charge you have to work this into your fees. As you begin your career as a freelance consultant you now realize just what it costs and you will be able to set your fees for clients more appropriately knowing what you have to make in order to pay all of the bills and pay yourself decently.