Instant Ebook Access, One Click Away – Begin at ebookgate.

com

How to Become a Successful IT Consultant 1st

Edition Dan Remenyi

https://ebookgate.com/product/how-to-become-a-successful-it-
consultant-1st-edition-dan-remenyi/

OR CLICK BUTTON

DOWLOAD EBOOK

Get Instant Ebook Downloads – Browse at https://ebookgate.com

Click here to visit ebookgate.com and download ebook now
Instant digital products (PDF, ePub, MOBI) available
Download now and explore formats that suit you...

How to Make it Big as a Consultant Fourth Edition William

A. Cohen

https://ebookgate.com/product/how-to-make-it-big-as-a-consultant-
fourth-edition-william-a-cohen/

ebookgate.com

Gold Trading Boot Camp How to Master the Basics and Become
a Successful Commodities Investor 1st Edition Gregory T.
Weldon
https://ebookgate.com/product/gold-trading-boot-camp-how-to-master-
the-basics-and-become-a-successful-commodities-investor-1st-edition-
gregory-t-weldon/
ebookgate.com

How to Become a Marketing Superstar Jeffrey J. Fox

https://ebookgate.com/product/how-to-become-a-marketing-superstar-
jeffrey-j-fox/

ebookgate.com

How to Become a Better Negotiator 2nd Edition Richard A.

Luecke

https://ebookgate.com/product/how-to-become-a-better-negotiator-2nd-
edition-richard-a-luecke/

ebookgate.com
How to be a Successful Frauditor 1st Edition Peter Tickner

https://ebookgate.com/product/how-to-be-a-successful-frauditor-1st-
edition-peter-tickner/

ebookgate.com

Ship It A Practical Guide to Successful Software Projects

1st Edition Jared Richardson

https://ebookgate.com/product/ship-it-a-practical-guide-to-successful-
software-projects-1st-edition-jared-richardson/

ebookgate.com

What it Takes to Become a Chess Master Chess Strategies

That Get Results Andrew Soltis

https://ebookgate.com/product/what-it-takes-to-become-a-chess-master-
chess-strategies-that-get-results-andrew-soltis/

ebookgate.com

How to Be a Successful Head of Year A Practical Guide 1st

Edition Brian Carline

https://ebookgate.com/product/how-to-be-a-successful-head-of-year-a-
practical-guide-1st-edition-brian-carline/

ebookgate.com

A gentleman gets dressed up what to wear when to wear it

how to wear it John Bridges

https://ebookgate.com/product/a-gentleman-gets-dressed-up-what-to-
wear-when-to-wear-it-how-to-wear-it-john-bridges/

ebookgate.com
How to Become a Successful IT Consultant
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
How to Become a
Successful IT Consultant

Dan Remenyi

OXFORD AMSTERDAM BOSTON LONDON NEW YORK PARIS

SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SINGAPORE SYDNEY TOKYO
Butterworth-Heinemann
An imprint of Elsevier Science
Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP
200 Wheeler Road, Burlington, MA 01803

First published 2003

Copyright © 2003, Management Centre International Ltd. All rights

reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including

photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether
or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without
the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the
provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of
a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road,
London, England W1T 4LP. Applications for the copyright holder’s written
permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed
to the publisher

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 7506 4861 9

The names Apple and IBM and any other commercial organizations mentioned in the
text are the property of the organizations concerned.

For information on all Butterworth-Heinemann publications visit

our website at www.bh.com

Composition by Genesis Typesetting, Rochester, Kent

Printed and bound in Great Britain
 Contents

Computer Weekly Professional Series xi

Preface xiii
Acknowledgements xv
About the author xvi
How to use this book xvii
1 Consultancy – a major opportunity for IT professionals 1
1.1 Consultancy: the opportunity 1
1.2 Changes brought by the Internet and the Web 2
1.3 Consultants plug a gap 4
1.4 A major career option 4
1.5 Requirements to start 7
1.6 Summary and conclusion 8

2 Is IT consultancy for you? 9

2.1 Must haves for the IT consultant 9
2.1.1 Optimism 10
2.1.2 Flexibility 11
2.1.3 Sense of adventure and bags of energy 12
2.1.4 Ability to persevere 12
2.1.5 Realistic view of your business potential 13
2.2 Summary and conclusion 15
2.3 Self-test on the characteristics necessary for
IT consulting 15

3 Setting up your IT consultancy business 17

3.1 Three focusing questions 17
3.2 Form of business 20
3.3 To be or not to be a company 21
Contents

3.4 The awkward question of capital 23

3.5 A financial forecast 25
3.6 Fixed costs 28
3.7 Variable costs 31
3.8 Cash flow 32
3.9 What can the Internet do for you? 32
3.10 Getting going 33
3.11 Summary and conclusion 33
3.12 Checklist 34

4 The consultancy options 36

4.1 Core competence or expertise 36
4.2 Flexibility is key 37
4.2.1 Creative or lateral thinking assignments 38
4.2.2 Experiences-based assignments 38
4.2.3 Procedural assignments 39
4.2.4 Hands-on assignments 39
4.2.5 Responsibility assignments 39
4.3 Key areas of IT consulting opportunity 40
4.3.1 Quality assurance 40
4.3.2 Project management 41
4.3.3 Data warehousing and mining 41
4.3.4 Market intelligence 41
4.3.5 Client–server applications 42
4.3.6 Customer relationship management (CRM) 42
4.3.7 Data administration 42
4.3.8 m-Commerce (or mobile commerce) 43
4.3.9 Database applications 43
4.3.10 Local and wide area networks 43
4.3.11 Security 44
4.3.12 e-Government 44
4.3.13 Internet 44
4.3.14 Intranet 45
4.3.15 Knowledge management 45
4.3.16 Documentation 45
4.3.17 e-Learning 46
4.3.18 Product or industry specialist 46
4.3.19 Website development 46
4.3.20 e-Business opportunities 46
4.3.21 e-Business model development 46
4.3.22 Helpdesk 47
4.3.23 Desktop Publishing 47
4.3.24 Vendor selection 47
4.3.25 Recruitment 48
4.3.26 IT training 48
vi
 Contents

4.3.27 Computer telephony integration (CTI) 48

4.3.28 Business process reengineering (BPR) 49
4.3.29 Strategic IS planning (SISP) 49
4.3.30 Business continuity planning (BCP) 49
4.4 The Consultancy Opportunity Matrix 50
4.5 Consultancy Opportunities by Industry Matrix 51
4.6 Summary and conclusion 52
4.7 Checklist 52

5 Pick your service offerings 54

5.1 Generally don’t do the same as everybody else 54
5.2 Even world famous experts get it wrong! 55
5.3 There is no infallible way 57
5.4 Differentiator versus cost leader 57
5.5 Imagination is the key 58
5.6 Summary and conclusion 59

6 Finding clients for your IT consulting business 60

6.1 Entrepreneurship – the name of the game 61
6.2 Entrepreneurship is not enough 64
6.3 From business strategy to marketing strategy 64
6.4 Marketing strategy 65
6.5 Have a clearly defined IT offering 65
6.6 Express the value of the offering in a
marketing document or brochure 67
6.7 Ensure that your message gets into the
right hands 68
6.8 Making your competence clear to your prospect
clients 70
6.9 What is your target market? 72
6.10 Finding your target clients 73
6.11 The project proposal 75
6.12 Clinching the deal with a contract 77
6.13 What the Internet can do for you 78
6.14 Getting started 79
6.15 Summary and conclusion 79
6.16 Checklist 80

7 Planning the IT consultancy assignment 81

7.1 IT consultant as a welcome friend 81
7.2 IT consultant as a threat 82
7.3 Cooperation with staff is vital 82
7.4 Covert objectives 83
7.5 Project planning 85
7.6 A work breakdown schedule 85
vii
Contents

7.7 A project management network chart 86

7.8 Bar chart diagram 88
7.9 Project work breakdown chart 90
7.10 Making sure resources are available 90
7.11 Project risk assessment 93
7.11.1 The client 93
7.11.2 The work 94
7.11.3 The deliverables 94
7.12 Summary and conclusion 95
7.13 Checklist 95

8 Delivering results for the client 96

8.1 IT consultancy assignments change 96
8.2 Active benefit realization 97
8.3 Formative evaluation 98
8.4 Welcome change suggestions 99
8.5 Financial implications 100
8.6 Complements traditional project management 100
8.7 Summary and conclusion 101
8.8 Checklist 102

9 Finding the next client 103

9.1 Making and maintaining personal contact 105
9.2 Joining a group such as the Computer Society 106
9.3 Placing your name on a Web list 106
9.4 Speaking at conferences and seminars 107
9.5 Writing for the press 107
9.6 Writing a book 108
9.7 Playing a role in the community 108
9.8 Looking for more work with an existing client 109
9.9 Have your client recommend you to suppliers
and/or clients 109
9.10 Remember what the Internet can do for you 110
9.11 Final note 110
9.12 Summary and conclusion 110
9.13 Checklist 111

10 Consulting and finding a product to sell 112

10.1 Making money as an IT consultant 112
10.2 Growing your business 113
10.3 The independent consultant 114
10.4 Develop a product 114
10.5 Summary and conclusion 117
10.6 Checklist 117
viii
 Contents

11 Keep your eye on the ball 118

11.1 Business cycles 118
11.2 Fixed priced jobs can be undercosted 120
11.3 Losing control over cash flow 121
11.4 The flavour of the month or of the year 121
11.5 Not understanding the risk facing your
organization 122
11.6 The great tax surprise 123
11.7 Summary and conclusion 124

12 Minding your own business 125

12.1 Keeping your business going is the real challenge 125
12.2 Remember why you started your own business 126
12.3 Money versus quality of life 127
12.4 Nurturing a sustainable client relationship 129
12.4.1 IT consultants are offered jobs 129
12.5 Internal administration 131
12.5.1 Understanding how your business is
doing 132
12.5.2 Income statements 133
12.5.3 Cash flow statements 134
12.5.4 Balance sheets 135
12.5.5 Funds flow statements 138
12.6 Creating a sustainable working regime 139
12.6.1 How many hours per week do you
need to work? 140
12.6.2 How many weeks a year vacation will
you take? 140
12.6.3 How long do you think your working
life will be, i.e. when do you want to
retire? 141
12.6.4 What do you expect to do about your
pension? 141
12.6.5 How will you handle being ill? 141
12.6.6 When do you engage your first
employee and should this be another
consultant? 142
12.6.7 When do you need to look for a
partner? 142
12.7 Seeing the opportunities 143
12.7.1 Growing from strength to strength 145
12.7.2 What the Internet can do for you 146
12.8 Summary and conclusion 146
12.9 Checklist 147

ix
 Appendices
Appendix A 149
Appendix B 152
Appendix C 156
Appendix D 158

Index 163

x
Computer Weekly Professional Series

There are few professions which require as much continuous

updating as that of the IS executive. Not only does the hardware
and software scene change relentlessly, but also ideas about the
actual management of the IS function are being continuously
modified, updated and changed. Thus keeping abreast of what
is going on is really a major task.
The Butterworth-Heinemann – Computer Weekly Professional
Series has been created to assist IS executives keep up to date
with the management ideas and issues of which they need to be
aware.
One of the key objectives of the series is to reduce the time it
takes for leading edge management ideas to move from the
academic and consulting environments into the hands of the IT
practitioner. Thus this series employs appropriate technology to
speed up the publishing process. Where appropriate some
books are supported by CD-ROM or by additional information
or templates located on the Web.
This series provides IT professionals with an opportunity to
build up a bookcase of easily accessible, but detailed informa-
tion on the important issues that they need to be aware of to
successfully perform their jobs.
Aspiring or already established authors are invited to get in
touch with me directly if they would like to be published in this
series.

Dr Dan Remenyi
Series Editor
[email protected]
Computer Weekly Professional Series

Series Editor
Dan Remenyi, Visiting Professor, Trinity College Dublin

Advisory Board
Frank Bannister, Trinity College Dublin
Ross Bentley, Management Editor, Computer Weekly
Egon Berghout, Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands
Ann Brown, City University Business School, London
Roger Clark, The Australian National University
Reet Cronk, Harding University, Arkansas, USA
Arthur Money, Henley Management College, UK
Sue Nugus, MCIL, UK
Terry White, BentleyWest, Johannesburg

Other titles in the Series

IT investment – making a business case
The effective measurement and management of IT costs and benefits
Stop IT project failures through risk management
Understanding the Internet
Prince 2: a practical handbook
Considering computer contracting?
David Taylor’s Inside Track
A hacker’s guide to project management
Corporate politics for IT managers: how to get streetwise
Subnet design for efficient networks
Information warfare: corporate attack and defence in a digital world
Delivering IT and e-business value
Reinventing the IT department
The project manager’s toolkit

xii
 Preface

The theory of IT consultancy, if in fact there is such a thing as the

theory of IT consultancy, would be a dreary subject indeed, and
that’s not what this book is about at all. This is a very practical
book. From this book you can learn about the important issues
and the practical steps of how to set up your own IT consultancy
business in real no-nonsense, down-to-earth terms.
So this is not a theoretical textbook. It is closer to a ‘how to’
manual with a focus on how to make a career change happen
and of course how to maximize your chances of being a success
in your new world of IT consultancy. Understanding the
suggestions in this book will help you be one of the success
stories and make the most of the computer, information systems
and of course the Internet opportunities available.
There are many different ways in which you can follow a career
as an IT consultant. There are at least four different levels at
which an IT consultant may operate and there are literally scores
of different fields of specialization. This book covers the
different levels and gives a sample of the different special-
izations that you can consider. Perhaps you will advise
organizations on how the organization can profit from the new
technologies and make the most of the changes that are going on
all around us now. On the other hand you may become a
consultant who takes over the top sales hype and makes real
practical sense of it. Perhaps you understand high-level technol-
ogy and can separate it from unfounded rumour and thus be
able to tell management what can actually be achieved and what
other organizations are doing. In this way you will turn your
knowledge of management, business and technology into
business reality.
Preface

You could have trained in management or accountancy or could

even have come up the ranks as a computer programmer and
analyst. By now you will probably have slogged your way up
the corporate ladder into a position where some people are
beginning to listen to you. The main point is that at your current
stage you will be able to help point out to others how to cope
with the immense technological changes coming our way.
As an IT consultant you will be a person who has a high degree
of competency in the use of IT professionals to achieve business
goals. You will be optimistic about the use of IT in business. You
will be flexible in your approach. You will have a keen sense of
adventure and bags of energy and finally you will be realistic in
your view of your business potential.
This book will show you how to make the most of a career in IT
consultancy.

Dan Remenyi

xiv
 Acknowledgements

The subject of becoming a successful IT consultant is one of the

most captivating topics and it is one which has had a great
attraction for me for many years, even before I decided to jump
in the deep end and do it for myself. I was convinced that I had
to do this when an old friend pointed out that talking about
becoming an IT consultant was no substitute for just going out
there and doing it. There is nothing like an old friend for
providing insights and giving you a nudge in the right
direction.
Of course when I started as a consultant in my early thirties I
didn’t have the benefit of all the ideas discussed in this book.
The ideas described here are the result of experiences over a
period of more than 25 years working as a computer salesman,
software developer and then consultant, during which I have
learned what I know from employers, colleagues, friends and in
recent years students with whom I have had the privilege to
work. The list of the names of people who have contributed to
my thinking is far too long to mention any names but those of
them who will read this book will recognize their influence.
However, I would like to mention especially the kind help
received from three friends, Michael Stanley, Michael Sherwood-
Smith and Richard Waller, all of whom read a draft of this book
and gave me very interesting comments.
Finally, the illustrations were drawn by Mark de Lange and
these have certainly helped to bring a little fun to what is
essentially a serious subject.
My thanks to everyone.
 About the author

Dr Dan Remenyi has spent more than 25

years working as a computer consultant,
during which he has been primarily con-
cerned with the efficient and effective use of
information technology. One of his special
areas of interest as an IT consultant is the
realization of IT benefits and thus obtaining
the maximum value for money from the organizations’ informa-
tion system’s investment and effort. In recent years he has
specialized in the area of formulation and implementation of
strategic information systems and how to evaluate the perform-
ance of these and other systems. He has also worked extensively
in the field of information systems project management special-
izing in the area of project risk identification and management.
He has written a number of books in the field of IT management
and regularly conducts courses and seminars.
He has worked over the years for many organizations both as a
management consultant and as an executive development
facilitator in different parts of the world. These organizations
include IBM, Barclays Bank, Ernst and Young, FI Group,
Caterpillar Division of Barlows, Andersen Consulting, National
Health Service in the United Kingdom, Spoornet (the national
railroad company of South Africa), Liberty Life Insurance
Company, and the Anglo Vaal Mining Corporation.
Dan Remenyi holds a B.Soc.Sc., an MBA and a PhD. He is a
Visiting Professor at Trinity College Dublin and an associate
member of faculty at Henley Management College in the United
Kingdom.
 How to use this book

This book offers practical hands-on advice as to how to set up

and manage an IT consulting business.
For anyone thinking about going into business as an IT
consultant this book is a useful text to read throughout.
For those who have embarked on a career as an IT consultant the
book has been designed in such a way that most chapters stand
alone as useful texts on specific aspects of the subject.
The appendices contain lists of information, including a large
number of website addresses that the author believes will be
helpful to the IT consultant. For your convenience these
addresses have been posted on the author’s website at
www.mcil.co.uk.
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
 1 Consultancy – a major opportunity
for IT professionals

I no longer believe that organizations can be changed by imposing a

model developed elsewhere. So little transfers to, or even inspires, those
trying to work at change in their organizations. Second, and much more
important, the new physics cogently explains that there is no objective
reality out there waiting to reveal its secrets. There are no recipes or
formulae, no checklists, or advice that describes ‘reality’. There is only
what we create through our engagement with others and with events.
Nothing really transfers; everything is always new and different and
unique to each of us.
Wheatley, M., Leadership and the New Science,
Berrett-Koeler, San Francisco, 1992, p. 7.

1.1 Consultancy: the opportunity

Not long ago IT consultancy was perceived as a highly exclusive
profession. There were a relatively small number of large
prestigious IT consulting firms who were the major providers of
expert advice and service. In addition there were small firms
operating in specialist niches. IT consultancy was seen as an
exclusive profession that was really quite difficult to penetrate.
You either had to get into one of the big firms or you had to be
really quite special, probably with a computer science degree or
an MBA or a PhD or maybe all three. IT consultants were seen
as being remote and very often they were not perceived as
delivering much value to organizations. The old quip that says
‘a consultant is someone who borrows your watch so as to tell
you the time, then pockets your watch without even a thank you
and sends you a big bill for having told you what time it is’ was
How to Become a Successful IT Consultant

created to politely express a profound dissatisfaction with what

many consultants actually had to offer. The watch story is an
allegory or metaphor for the fact that the organization often has
to educate the consultant in the ins-and-outs of the particular
business before he or she can be effective. Being called the
consultant by the corporate team was not necessarily a term of
endearment.

Today much of this has changed. There is a different attitude to

consultancy and specifically to IT consultancy. To begin with
the image of consultants is much more positive than it has ever
been before and this is due to
IT expenditure a number of reasons. In the
It has been estimated that since first place there are many
the mid-1990s many firms have more IT consultancy organi-
been spending as much on IT zations now, both big and
investment as they have been on
small. These IT consultancy
all other investments together, i.e.
IT investment has constituted organizations came about
50% of total amount invested. because of the enormous
Even if this statistic was exag- need for advice and skills
gerated by 100% and IT invest- which was generated by
ment was only 25% of total corpo- several large waves of com-
rate investment it would be a very
impressive number indeed. This
puterization over the past
enormous appetite for informa- 20 years. Corporate require-
tion and information-related ser- ments for IT have simply
vices are important drivers of the rocketed. These massive
demand for consulting services. increases in demand for com-
puters and skills resulted
from first, the Big Bang in the City of London in the mid-1980s;
then the arrival of the Internet and the Web starting in the early
1990s following by Dot.Com mania leading up to the end of
that decade. There has also been the Y2K issue, which offered
great opportunities for business firms to shake out much of
their legacy systems. All of these computerization initiatives
created massive opportunities for IT consultancies, which were
in a position to offer independent advice and provide the
necessary skills to make systems work.

1.2 Changes brought by the Internet and the

Web
It is sometimes suggested that perhaps the greatest and most
long-lived of these waves of demand will turn out to have been
2
 Consultancy – a major opportunity for IT professionals

the arrival of the Internet and the Web. This created an

enormous need and subsequent demand for specialist IT advice
and skills. These were required and are still needed, not only by
well-established organizations, but also by the thousands of new
businesses that were created in order to take advantage of the
promise of the great fortunes there were to be made out of the
Web. In the case of well-established firms their existing IT
departments’ capacity was already fairly well committed due to
the work needed to supply the routine information systems
requirements of their organizations when the Internet and the
Web revolution exploded. Many of these IT departments just
couldn’t take on the extra work. So many of these larger
organizations with well-established IT departments had to
outsource much of their Web development work leading to
more jobs for consultants.
And the thousands of new venture capital funded businesses
attracted to the Web, much like a moth to a candle, also needed
quality IT advice and skills. It was certainly boom time for IT
consultancy.
But as mentioned above the Internet and the Web were not the
only drivers of the increase in demand for the advice and skills
supplied by IT consultants. The year 2000 problem was solved
largely by organizations disposing of their legacy systems and
acquiring large Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applica-
tions such as SAP, Baan, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards to mention
only a few. These are large, complex systems, which are in
terms of human resources very demanding. ERP applications
are not software packages that can be easily and quickly
dropped into a business. To obtain real value from this type of
system it needs to be tailored for each business environment.
Highly skilled and even more highly paid
staff is needed to implement these systems.
Some if not many companies are unable to
find adequate staffing resources of their own
to manage all the different aspects of these
challenging new application systems. Where
this has occurred these organizations have
had to turn to IT consultants for help. This
has resulted in demand for a large number of
IT consultants of all different types and
grades. Much the same sort of situation exists
in the data warehousing and data mining
. . . THIS HAS RESULTED IN DEMAND FOR A areas as well as in the field of Intranet and
LARGE NUMBER OF IT CONSULTANTS . . . Extranet development and use.
3
How to Become a Successful IT Consultant

1.3 Consultants plug a gap

So, as IT becomes more and more sophisticated, business firms
and other organizations will find it harder and harder to obtain
suitable staff and will therefore need to use consultants. This
trend is likely to continue into the future with more and more IT
consultants being needed to help business firms and other
organizations cope with ever increasingly sophisticated applica-
tion systems.
This huge demand for specialist IT advice and skills brought a
flood of new organizations into the market place. Some of
these new firms are quite big but many are in fact small
operations with only one or a couple of people running the
business. The range of IT professional services offered by these
firms is quite broad. In the Internet and the Web market
segment alone there are dozens of specialist consulting opera-
tions related to design, to payment collection, to hosting, to
business models, to connecting the front office to the back
office to mention only a few.

1.4 A major career option

IT consultancy is now a major career option for a wide range of
IT professionals, with the last few years seeing dramatic growth
in the number of individuals entering the IT consultancy
profession. As described above this has been fuelled by the
relatively unforeseen exponential growth in IT
expenditure during this period.
But the growth in IT expenditure alone has not
been the only driver of the interest in IT
consultancy. Increasingly IT professionals
want to break out of large corporate structures
and to try business on their own account for
themselves. This new attitude has been
fuelled by at least two major economic and
NEW ATTITUDES
social developments:

䊉 Employers’ attitudes towards staff and staff attitude toward

employers.
䊉 Employers’ attitude towards consultants.

There has been a major shift in society’s attitude towards jobs.

Whereas 20 or 30 years ago large organizations frequently
offered long-term career opportunities or maybe even a job for
4
 Consultancy – a major opportunity for IT professionals

life, today that has changed. One of the best examples of this is
the IBM organization. When I joined IBM in 1973 I was told that
unless I committed a very grave offence I would not be fired.
IBM had a non-firing and non-redundancy policy. If I didn’t
perform well my pay could be reduced. I was after all a
salesman, and I could find myself doing more and more boring
jobs – a stationery inventory controller was mentioned. But my
livelihood was secure. The firm would be loyal to me. This
attitude was prevalent in many large organizations that saw
security of employment as one of the major factors that talented
people wanted.

Thirty years later this has all been thrown

overboard. Redundancy is a way of life in
virtually all organizations, including IBM.
There is no longer any question of business
firms or other organizations for that matter
being loyal to their staff. As a general rule
today, if the staff don’t shape up they have to
ship out. If the business turns down then the
staff have to walk – get off the payroll as
THIRTY YEARS LATER THIS HAS ALL BEEN THROWN
quickly as possible. And in recent years more
OVERBOARD than a few people have been made redundant
more than once. Furthermore once you have
reached the age of 50 for certain and in some cases maybe even
40 it is increasingly hard to find another full-time permanent job.
This is the reality of early twenty-first century business life.
Furthermore it is difficult to see how business conditions will
ever be easy again and that there will again be job security
which existed 20 or 30 years ago.

It is indeed not surprising that an increasing number of people

want to be in business on their own and this is as true for IT
professionals as it is for any other group. The idea of staying in
one company for a long time, never mind in the same job for life,
is as dead as the proverbial dodo. One of the main reasons is that
being self-employed you have the opportunity to spread your
income risk by having more than one client. So if, or rather
when, you finish with, lose or fall out with one client, hopefully
you will have a few others to keep you going.

In the second place many established business firms and other

organizations are today more willing to use consultants than
they were before. Previously the preferred approach was to have
all the human resources in the form of full-time employees or
5
How to Become a Successful IT Consultant

members of staff. However, this old attitude led to head count

increases. Today companies are really quite sensitive to the
number of people that they employ as head count control is
regarded by many to be a particularly important critical success
factor. This has led to business firms and other organizations
being more prepared to outsource a number of different aspects
of their operations. One of the key ways in which firms
outsource is to use consultants.1
The recent popularization of outsourcing is a very important
business development, which has created many consulting
opportunities. This change in attitude has occurred because an
increasing number of firms have realized that their most rational
strategy to human resources is to focus intensely on their core
competencies and to outsource any other competencies which
are not core and which they may only require from time to time.
This approach to business resourcing was well addressed by
Charles Handy in his book The Age of Unreason when he
described the shamrock organization, which is shown here in
Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1
The shamrock model
organization resourcing

Note the three leaves in the shamrock model are core com-
petencies, outsourcing and flexible resources. This represents
the three principal ways that organizations can acquire resour-
ces. According to the model of the shamrock organization
businesses will prosper if they focus on developing their core
1
There is another way of looking at the new attitude to outsourcing and
consulting. As the business environment becomes more competitive it also
becomes more complex and this produces a need for more highly competent
and qualified staff who are expensive but not all of whom will be needed on
a permanent basis. Therefore it makes very good business sense to buy in
these skills only in small short bursts when they are actually needed.

6
 Consultancy – a major opportunity for IT professionals

competencies (first leaf) so that in these respects they are

operating at world-class performance levels. Any business
activity which is not core should be outsourced (second leaf). In
some instances this proposition is believed to the extent that it is
said that if you don’t outsource non-core activities you are
actually wasting the business’s scarce resources. The question of
flexible resources (third leaf) concerns the issue of having
available a pool of additional people to help the organization
cope during its peak seasons. Thus this part of the shamrock
model also supports the notion of outsourcing.
At the same time as organizations have been
adapting shamrock structure thinking there
has been a realization that the old idea of
organizational boundaries is not as useful as it
was once thought. Not long ago it was felt that
everyone outside the organization, including
suppliers, essentially had an adversarial atti-
tude. Fortunately this mind set is on the wane
as it is realized that collaboration is far more
mutually beneficial.
The result of these trends in the market place
and the business world in general is that IT
. . . ORGANIZATIONS HAVE BEEN ADAPTING consultancy is today, more than it has ever
SHAMROCK STRUCTURE . . .
been before, a major career alternative for the
IT professional. IT professionals, ranging from IT departmental
managers, to project managers, to IT planners and strategic
analysts on the one hand, to web designers and web graphics
specialists on the other, can relatively easily move into IT
consultancy. Of course whether or not they make a success of
this is an entirely different matter.

1.5 Requirements to start

To enter the world of IT consultancy on your own, you will need
to have a sought after set of professional skills and com-
petencies. You will need to be quite expert in your own field.
There are a considerable number of different areas and industry
sectors in which it is possible for you to operate and some of
these are described in Chapter 4. You will need to have a set of
attitudes and an orientation towards work, which are discussed
in Chapter 2. And of course you will need some financial
resources, which are discussed in Chapter 3 and again in
Chapter 10.
7
How to Become a Successful IT Consultant

Other than the above there is very little in the way of barriers to
entering the IT consulting world. But before you take the plunge
into a new career read this book and think carefully if becoming
a successful IT consultant is really what you want to do.

1.6 Summary and conclusion

Although the demand for consultants has grown faster in some
years than in others, this market, especially for IT consulting,
will continue to show growth potentially for some time. As a
result this has become a major career opportunity for IT
professionals. However, this type of work will not suit everyone
and you need to consider carefully if you should give up your
job and follow this type of career. The questions put to you at the
end of Chapter 2 will help you decide if IT consultancy is really
for you.

8
 2 Is IT consulting for you?

Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the
same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least
twice as fast as that!
Lewis Carroll, spoken by The Red Queen in Through the Looking-Glass,
first published in 1872, Chancellor Press, London, 1982, Ch. 2.

Before you begin to invest too much time and effort, never mind
money, in preparing to start your own IT consulting business
you need to make a realistic assessment of whether you are
likely to be successful in this field and if you are likely to enjoy
this new way of making a living.

2.1 Must haves for the IT consultant

Having your own IT consulting business is challenging and
once you have set it up it is very demanding to keep it going.
You will need a whole range of different types of skills, not to
mention the fact that you will have to be an entrepreneur. The
attributes of entrepreneurship are spelt out in Chapter 5 and it is
really quite important that you can honestly say that you have a
substantial entrepreneurial streak in your personality. But in
addition to all of this there are four other crucial characteristics
that you need to possess and if you don’t have them you may as
well not begin.

䊉 Optimism
䊉 Flexibility
How to Become a Successful IT Consultant

䊉 Sense of adventure and bags of energy

䊉 Ability to persevere
䊉 Realistic view of your business potential

These are sine qua nons to being a consultant and if you don’t
have them don’t do it. Do something else for a living. You have
to be an incurable optimist. It is absolutely essential that you
always see the bright side of any situation. You have to be very
flexible. You need to be flexible in a number of different ways,
which I will explain later.

2.1.1 Optimism
One of the best ways of illustrating the notion
of being an incurable optimist is to recall the
old story about the twins and the horse
manure. The parents of twins decided to give
them a surprise Christmas present of real live
ponies. Clearly they could not place the ponies
in the children’s Christmas stockings or at the
end of their beds. Thus the parents decided (for
OPTIMISM some totally unaccountable reason or reasons)
to wrap up a small amount of the ponies’
droppings in Christmas paper
and put it in the children’s
Self-confidence
Besides the question of optimism,
Christmas stockings. The first
flexibility and sense of adventure child, on finding a parcel of
and bags of energy there is the pony droppings in her Christ-
basic personality issue of having a mas stocking, shouted out:
profound sense of self-confid- ‘Goodness gracious me! Who
ence. If you don’t intrinsically feel
the devil put horse manure in
self-confident, i.e. if you don’t
profoundly believe in your own my stocking? When I find out I
abilities, then IT consultancy will will murder them!’ The second
be very difficult for you. IT con- child, on finding the parcel of
sultancy will inevitably involve a pony droppings, screamed
certain amount of rejection, as not with delight, ‘Horse manure –
every proposal you present to a
prospective client will be
I must be getting a pony for
accepted. You have to be able to Christmas!’ In the IT consult-
quickly bounce back. Also from ing context being an incurable
time to time you may fall out with optimist means always seeing
clients and this can lead to nasty a pony even when there is
fights. Thus if you don’t have a
nothing more than horse
high degree of self-confidence
and a fundamental belief in your- manure lying around. Another
self this will be very painful. way of looking at this is that to
be a consultant it is always
10
 Is IT consulting for you?

very useful to be able to see a bottle as being half full rather than
half empty.

2.1.2 Flexibility
The question of flexibility is a bit more complex. A successful IT
consultant will be flexible in several different ways. In the first
place there is the type of IT service you plan to offer. It may well
be that you are looking for IT strategy assignments and that you
are not doing well at finding
these. However, as you are
If you’re so smart
When you first start out as a looking for this type of work
consultant, be it an IT consultant you could encounter organi-
or a general business consultant, zations needing project man-
you may find people will say to agement consultancy. Now if
you ‘if you are so smart as to be you are a reasonably able
able to offer advice why then do
you not have your own business’.
consultant with a varied back-
Of course the point is that you do ground you may well be able
indeed have your own business, to take project management
which is the business of IT con- assignments and perform
sultancy and which will hope- these types of assignments
fully provide you with a richly
perfectly adequately. This is
rewarding career both in terms of
job satisfaction and income earn- really a question of your flex-
ing capacity. ibility. I have known IT con-
sultants who have refused to
take on work that they were perfectly competent to do because
it was not in the field they ideally wanted to be in. Of course the
people I have known who have taken this attitude have not
succeeded as IT consultants and within 12 or 18 months they were
back on the labour market looking for a job.

The next way in which it is important to be flexible is in terms of

the way you price your work. It is sometimes quite difficult to get
the daily fee rate you are looking for. In such
cases you need to be a flexible wheeler-dealer.
This means that you have business nous. In
practical terms it means that you need to be
creative about how you present proposals to
clients and how you obtain your rewards. As
well as the fee being too low, sometimes you
may have to do more than you would like for a
particular fee and you need to be able to
construct a value proposition for your client
and yourself so that you both are on the right
FLEXIBILITY side of the equation. There are no simple
11
How to Become a Successful IT Consultant

guidelines here. If you are to succeed as an IT consultant you will

develop a nose for what you can charge. When you are confident
enough you might even be able to say when asked what your fee
is that ‘Like all consultants you are looking for as big a fee as you
can get and that like all successful consultants you will take the
fee which the client is comfortable in paying.’

2.1.3 Sense of adventure and bags of

energy
The third issue that needs to be faced right upfront is that IT
consulting is a relatively insecure way of making a living. There
are many IT consultants, all of whom are bidding competitively
for assignments. There is of
course quite a lot of work
Is there any job security
around but nonetheless there
anymore?
It used to be thought that consult- are plenty of disappointed
ing was an insecure way of mak- IT consultants. Many firms
ing a living and in some senses it employ IT consultants because
certainly is. But as jobs for life they do not want to commit to
hardly exist anymore and out- the long-term employment of
sourcing, restructuring and merg-
ing are the order of the day,
staff. Therefore IT consulting
perhaps consultancy may not contracts tend to be relatively
really be as insecure as it was short and thus you have to
once thought to be. If the security keep your eye out perpetually
issue bothers you but you still for new work. The effect of this
want to take on an IT consultancy
is that IT consultants often do
career then you could do a risk
analysis, which will highlight for not know where their next
you just how much of a risk you month’s revenue will actually
are taking. come from. This suits some
people who are entrepreneurs
or risk takers and who like the adventure of
continually meeting new people and finding
and signing up clients. And of course the more
you do this the better at it you will become. But
others can find this insecurity devastating and
cannot function properly in such an environ-
ment. IT consulting is just not suitable for
people like this and if you feel that you fall into
this category, you should stop now and find
SENSE OF ADVENTURE
another way of making a living.

2.1.4 Ability to persevere

An ability to persevere is really all important. Very few start-up
IT consultants fall on their feet from day one. It can take months
12
 Is IT consulting for you?

before the business opportunities begin to

arrive. This start-up period can be quite
frustrating and you need to be able to retain
your sense of confidence and also your sense
of humour. It is very important not to give up
too soon.

2.1.5 Realistic view of your

business potential
Although optimism is the first requirement
discussed here and it is perhaps the most
important it really does have to be tempered
with realism. There is no point in simply
imagining that you will be able to sell £100,000
REALISTIC VIEW OF YOUR BUSINESS POTENTIAL or £150,000 worth of consultancy and be able to
grow your business at 20% or
Working hours 50% or 100% unless you have
The average IT consultant is said real evidence to back up such
to work about 60 hours a week plans. Putting some numbers
with considerable sacrifice to his down on a spreadsheet and
or her personal life. And some- doing what-ifs on your pro-
times he or she is simply not
adequately rewarded for the
spective IT consulting busi-
effort involved. As the IT consult- ness without grounding them
ant is intrinsically an optimist in real contract is likely to lead
there is always the expectation to disappointment.
that things will get better!
Besides these four crucial
issues, before you jump you
also need to consider the following.
Successful IT consultancy is as much to do with being able to sell
and then to get on with your clients as being technically capable.
If all your strengths are to do with your knowledge of the
technology then maybe you should reconsider IT consultancy as
a career.1 Another issue is that you need to be a self-starter. By
this I mean that you need to be self-motivated. You need to be
able to drive yourself onwards even when you don’t really feel
like it. There is also the question of your ability to communicate.
To succeed as an IT consultant you need to be a competent
communicator, both verbally and of course in writing. And as
1
Delivering benefits to your client organization is what ultimately counts and
this can seldom be achieved by just being an outstanding technologist. You
obviously have to be completely in command of the technology you are
working with but you need a range of other skills as well, as will be
explained later in this book.

13
How to Become a Successful IT Consultant

well as communicating there is the question of being able to

keep confidences, which is perhaps just as important. This
question of keeping confidences is of course closely aligned to
one’s values, especially as they relate to one’s sense of integrity.
Whatever your skill base in starting out as an IT consultant you
will find that you will need to continually learn and relearn.
Therefore for success as an IT consultant you need to be fully
committed to life-long learning. There is no way of getting out of
this – as long as you are a consultant, learning has to be one of
your most urgent responsibilities to yourself.
One final point, sometimes people say that they want to get into
IT consultancy because they are tired of working for a boss.
They say that they want the independence of being self-
employed. Such people often imagine that as a self-employed IT
consultant they will be able to start work at 10 am and finish at
4 pm. When the mood takes them they will indulge in long
leisurely lunches. They will be able to take the kids to school and
pick them up, take long weekends off whenever the fancy takes
them. They will have six or eight weeks’ vacation every year.
These types of individuals have somehow acquired the notion
that it isn’t hard work to be self-employed. It is quite puzzling as
to precisely where this type of thinking comes from. It is perhaps
some misunderstood interpretation of portrayals from nine-
teenth century literature.
The reality of being self-employed, especially
in the field of IT consultancy, is that it is very,
very hard work. Instead of having one boss,
each and every one of your clients will in
effect be your boss. In addition if you have had
to take a loan your bank manager may also
hassle you. To make a success of an IT
consultancy career you will have to be even
YOU MAY HAVE TO WORK 50, 60 OR EVEN 80 HOUR more dedicated than you were in your full-
WEEKS time job. You may have to work 50, 60 or even
80 hour weeks. You may have to travel extensively. A client can
call you out in the middle of the night – and it’s hard to say no.
As a consultant once you have said no to a client you can expect
not to be asked a second time. IT consulting can be very
rewarding indeed, but it is seldom to do with the fact that you
are likely to have more leisure time, especially in the short term.
You need bags of energy and a will to work. When you are a
well-established consultant and have more work than you can
cope with then you can think about balancing your work and
your leisure.
14
 Is IT consulting for you?

The objective of this chapter is not to put you

off or to discourage you in any way from
starting up your own IT consulting business.
There are loads of great opportunities out there
right now if you want to take up the challenge
of finding the work and managing it success-
fully. The objective of this chapter is rather to
ensure that you understand some of the really
important personal attributes necessary to be a
great success in such an endeavour.
IT consultancy is not an easy profession. It is
. . . PHYSICALLY, INTELLECTUALLY AND EMOTIONALLY
DEMANDING physically, intellectually and emotionally
demanding. However, for those who succeed the rewards can be
most satisfying. You will see how your efforts help your clients
overcome problems; you will observe your clients’ businesses
prosper; you can enjoy learning and keeping up or increasing
your skill base, and sometimes you can even make quite a lot of
money. For the right sorts of people IT consulting is a career
choice that they should give very serious consideration.

2.2 Summary and conclusion

It is important to think carefully about whether IT consultancy
will suit you. It really does not suit everyone. Talk to other IT
consultants whom you meet about their working lives and how
they cope with the challenges they face. Find out what they like
most about their work as well as what they like least. Do the
self-test below and then discuss the results with your friends
and family. Take as much advice as you can about your options.
But always remember if you try IT consultancy and you don’t
like it or it doesn’t work for you it is always possible to get
another job.

2.3 Self-test on the characteristics necessary

for IT consulting
There are a number of personal characteristics or attributes that
you should have if you are likely to succeed as an IT consultant.
You will find here 12 of the more obvious personal attributes.
It is not intended to be a definitive list but just a rough guide
to stimulate your thinking about whether IT consulting is really
for you.
Thus if you feel inclined rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 on the
following personal characteristics, where 1 is low and 5 is high:
15
How to Become a Successful IT Consultant

1 2 3 4 5
1 Level of general optimism
2 Self-starter
3 Risk taker
4 Flexibility in work
5 Wheeler-dealer
6 Communications ability
7 Report and proposal writing ability
8 Listening ability
9 Keeping confidences
10 Ability to work hard
11 Ability to work long hours
12 Committed to life-long learning
Total score

Figure 2.1 The IT consulting aptitude self-test

Scores and their implications

60 You have all the characteristics you need to make a
great success of an IT consulting business of your
own. Just go for it. But make sure that you have been
really honest with yourself.
50 to 59 Operating a successful IT consultancy business
should be well within your reach.
40 to 49 You have a reasonable amount of potential for
creating an IT consulting business, but you will need
to hone up some of your personal characteristics.
39 or less Think very hard before you embark on an IT
consulting career as you might just find the going
very tough.

In general if you scored less than 4 for any of the issues in the IT
consulting aptitude self-test you will need to improve. You need
to be just excellent in pretty well all these issues if you are going
to make it as a successful IT consultant.
If your scores are low on a couple of these attributes but you still
want to try being an IT consultant, don’t despair. But you will
find it helpful to put time and energy into improving the
particular attributes.
16
 3 Setting up your IT consultancy
business

Even today’s most careful students of organisations will readily admit

that they lack adequate models to predict corporate success. Recall how
widely we celebrated such New Age cultures as People Express, Atari,
and Rolm. Ardent supporters include academics, consultants, business
journalists, and seasoned executives. Our former enthusiasm becomes a
source of embarrassment when we hold ourselves accountable for
predictive accuracy.
Pascale, R., Managing on the Edge, Penguin Books, London, 1990.

Before beginning to think about how to set up your IT

consultancy business you need to have clearly answered for
yourself three important questions, which effectively will define
your business strategy and focus your activities and which in
turn will affect how you set up your new business.

3.1 Three focusing questions

1 Precisely what service is it that you are going to be offering to
deliver to your clients?
2 To whom exactly are you going to be offering?
3 Specifically why will anyone want to buy from you?1

These three questions are fundamental to all businesses, ranging

from the start-up IT consultants to large global multinational
businesses, and without a clear view as to how you will address
these issues you will not have a business. In fact without being
able to convincingly answer these questions you had better not
start out on a business venture of your own. The answers you
1
These three questions should be the continuous mantra of every business or
at least every entrepreneur. Once you lose sight of these the business’s
survival is definitely in question.
How to Become a Successful IT Consultant

come up with need to be objective, i.e. not just answers you

personally like or your mother-in-law likes.
The first question is the ‘what’ of your IT consultancy. The range
of services which you could offer as an IT consultant is quite
substantial and it includes assisting companies with the selec-
tion of hardware, software and personnel. IT consultancy also
includes the preparation of systems involving such tasks as
project management, risk management, systems testing and
commissioning. It could also include staff training, information
systems evaluation and advising on the alignment of informa-
tion systems and corporate strategies.2 There are many more
services you might offer as an IT consultant, and the above
mentioned are only a few. The point is that you need to have a
clear focus as to what it is you are offering.3
The second question is the ‘to whom’ of your IT consultancy.
The issue of to whom you are offering this service is very
important because there are different requirements in different
market segments and different propensities to purchase IT
consultancy. In the first place although there is a major need
among small firms for IT advice, there is in general not much of
a market here. The main reason for this is that small firms often
do not have the necessary funds to purchase IT consultancy. This
is not to say that there is no market for IT consultancy among
small firms but it is a limited one and a difficult one in which to
succeed. Bigger firms are more likely to buy IT consultancy.
Some IT consultants specialize by industry and thus some aim
their services at transport firms or hotels or retailers or at
municipal councils to name only four possible industry sectors.
There is also the question of who it is in the organization that is
likely to support the employment of the IT consultant. This will
usually be the IT manager4 or a general manager or a director.
The organization’s accountant or financial manager or director
is also a possible purchaser of IT consultancy.
2
The term IT consultant is in fact extremely broad and it is often surprising
just what activity can be classified under this heading. There is no source of
authority to say what is IT consulting and what is not. People just use the
language differently.
3
All businesses have to cope with the dilemma that to succeed they need to
be highly focused, while at the same time they need to be sufficiently flexible
so that if the market for their products and services changes they can quickly
respond and change as well.
4
It is important always to bear in mind who actually brings the IT consultant
into the organization as that person will no doubt be the IT consultant’s
strongest supporter and friend. If the IT manager did not personally request
the assistance of the consultant this can cause the consultant headaches.

18
 Setting up your IT consultancy business

The third question is the ‘why’ of your IT consultancy, and this

is perhaps the most difficult on which to generalize. You will be
employed as an IT consultant only if you are able to convince
your potential client that you are an expert in your field. You
will have to have outstanding references.5 You will have to be
clearly achievement motivated. You will have to be available
when the client requires your services. You will have to price
yourself competitively. It will be essential that you deliver value
for money. You will need to clearly articulate your value
proposition to your clients and continuously make sure that
they keep this in their minds.
As you can see being an IT consultant is no
pushover. In fact in many ways it is actually
quite a tall order.
You need to test your views about why you
should succeed as an IT consultant in the
harsh business world. One way to do this is to
. . . PRESENT THE IDEAS TO YOUR BANK MANAGER . . . present the ideas to your bank manger while
asking him or her for a sub-
Professional Service Firms stantial loan to fund your
Your IT consultancy will be a business. By the way, com-
Professional Service Firm. Pro- pletely on the side, banks
fessional Service Firms are not
regarded as good risks by banks
very seldom fund a consul-
who want the organization to tancy business as it is thought
whom they will lend money to that by the very nature of
have fixed assets or at the very business consultancy this
least assets such as inventories. type of enterprise should be
Therefore you will need to fund
largely self-funding. This is
your IT consultancy in ways other
than overdrafts. Fortunately if because if properly managed
you are careful you may not need a business consultancy
too much money to get started. should not need extensive set-
up capital nor should it need
much by way of working capital. There is seldom any need for
a consultancy business to invest in expensive equipment and
there is hardly ever any need for a consultancy to purchase
inventories for resale. Banks and other lending institutions are

5
The question of references is in fact a thorny one. Not every potential IT
consultant will be able to leave his or her firm with a good reference.
Sometimes it’s just the chemistry which hasn’t worked and the individual
can be forced to leave under a cloud. On the other hand a completely
incompetent individual can negotiate a ‘good’ reference as part of a
severance package. If you can’t obtain an outstanding reference from your
employer you will need to find other people who will have good things to
say about you and who will put those words in writing.

19
How to Become a Successful IT Consultant

really interested in funding only these types of physical assets.

But it is certainly an essential experience for anyone who is
thinking of setting up an IT consultancy business to talk to his or
her bank manager.
But back to business strategy – these three questions are the
underpinning of the business strategy from which the business
plan is created. You need to develop a business plan as part of
the process of setting up your IT consulting business. If you get
your strategy wrong at this stage then your subsequent
planning will be based on false premises and you may very well
not succeed.
Having decided on your business strategy there are many
different ways in which you may set yourself up as an IT
consultant. There is no right or wrong way and the actual route
you eventually choose will be entirely dependent on your
personal circumstances and preferences. It is important to
realize that you will be creating your own business and that you
will be running the show in the way that you want to and that
subject to keeping your clients satisfied you would have quite a
lot of latitude as to how you can actually do this.
Here are some of the issues you need to consider right at the
very outset of your venture into business.

3.2 Form of business

Are you going to be a sole trader working
by yourself or will you start out with a
business partner?
There are many pros and cons to being either entirely on your
own as opposed to having a business partner from the outset. The
main issue is that being entirely on your own means that you
have very definite restrictions in that you may not have someone
to help with the large variety of things that need to be attended to
when you start up. Also there is always the issue that
when you first begin to work for yourself you may
well miss the company of your former colleagues. In
simple terms being entirely on your own is often
perceived as being quite lonely and if you have a
business partner this feeling may be alleviated. A
business partner can have a number of important
advantages including providing a sounding board
for ideas and of course will bring his or her business
. . . WILL YOU START OUT WITH A BUSINESS contacts and additional funds for the business. It is
PARTNER? also true that frequently two minds are better or at
20
 Setting up your IT consultancy business

least can be more creative than one. However, it is worth pointing

out that there is a risk associated with having a partner. In law
each partner can be jointly and severally responsible for all the
debts of the partnership. Thus if your partner were to engage in
an extravagant binge and your business was to go broke you
might have to pick up the whole bill if your erstwhile partner had
no money of his or her own to contribute to paying the debts of
the business. Also partners do sometimes fall out and this can
lead to very unpleasant situations.
A variation of having a partner is for the IT consultant to
approach an already established firm of consultants in another
field such as marketing, finance or general management and sug-
gest that this organization set up an IT consulting operation with
you using their base of clients, etc. Accountants or lawyers are
also possibilities for such an arrangement. Working with an
already established business whereby the IT consultant uses his
or her skills to develop a new market that will be shared by
himself and the already established business is sometimes
referred to as being in a strategic alliance. However, it is import-
ant to note that there is more to a strategic alliance than simply
having a commission sales agreement with another well-
established business. It is worth noting that these so-called strate-
gic alliances frequently don’t last very long, but they can be quite
a reasonable way of starting out in the consultancy business.
However, having any sort of a business partner does not suit
everyone and the rate of business partnership failure, although
not officially published, will be at least as high as marriage failure
and it can be a difficult, traumatic and expensive exercise to dis-
solve a business partnership. Having a bad or poor partner would
certainly be much worse than having no partner at all.
Thus the question of whether you begin your business venture
being either entirely on your own or having a business partner
deserves considerable reflection and discussion before taking the
plunge. It is probably true for most people that if they can get
going without a business partner they will be better off. It is
always possible to take a partner later if the need is really there.

3.3 To be or not to be a company

Are you going to operate as a limited
liability company?
There are many financial, risk and tax implications to the
decision as to whether you decide to be a limited liability
21
How to Become a Successful IT Consultant

company or just trade (in this case act as a

consultant) in your own name or private
capacity. Detailed financial and tax advice
needs to be acquired from a qualified person,
normally a chartered accountant or a lawyer.
It is important not to rely only on hearsay
advice as how you set yourself up will have
implications for you for a very long time.
A key issue that may be addressed here is that
of risk. A limited liability company means that
if your business fails then you will not be
. . . RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THE DEBTS . . .
personally responsible for all the debts the
business may have run up
The first few weeks while it was in the process of
It you set up a new office and start failing. This is in contrast to
your IT consultancy as a limited the situation where, if you are
liability company you may find trading in your own name or
that the first few weeks of your private capacity and your
new business life will be taken
up with tedious administrative
business goes bust, then you
details. This will involve buying will have to pay back every
your company, appointing penny that you owe. When a
accountants, finding an office to business, which is owned by
rent, leasing equipment, register- an individual in his or her
ing for tax, etc. Of course you can
own name or private capacity,
outsource this to some extent but
you can’t just ignore these issues. goes bust the creditors may
So you have to put time and take just about everything
energy aside to deal with these which he or she owns and sell
details and don’t expect to be it to repay some of the busi-
doing billable work immediately. nesses debts. This can include
the family home and most of
its contents. Limited liability can protect the start-up entre-
preneur against such a catastrophic business failure and thus if
prudently used may reduce the risk.
Limited liability is indeed a great asset, but it doesn’t always
offer quite as much protection as it seems to. In the first place
there are various responsibilities that the director of a limited
liability company has to comply with and if he or she fails to
do this, the limited liability may be impacted. There is also the
fact that when it comes to borrowing money or even obtaining
a large line of credit from a supplier, small company directors
are frequently asked to sign a personal guarantee for the
amount involved. Signing such a guarantee is effectively
waiving the benefit of the limited liability company because if
anything goes wrong with the business the director who has
22
 Setting up your IT consultancy business

signed the guarantee will have to pay up from his or her own
resources.
In general it is usually thought that there is much benefit in
operating the business as a limited liability company. Such a
company may be established quickly by purchasing one ‘off the
shelf’ from an accountant or a lawyer. It will usually come with
a made-up name,6 which has been used for the sake of having
any old name to begin with. You can then change the name to
something that suits yourself. The set-up costs involved here
need not be great, but there is an additional ongoing cost in
having a limited liability company.7 Again if you have a
successful business these amounts of money will not be a
material consideration.
Having decided on the vehicle in which you are going to do
business the next issue is to calculate your financial budget. This
involves you in deciding a number of issues including:
1 How much money do you need to start up your IT consulting
business?
2 What do you think your first year’s or perhaps your first few
years’ turnover will be?
3 What do you think your ongoing fixed costs will be?
4 What do you think your ongoing variable costs will be?
5 How much cash will you have or do you need?

3.4 The awkward question of capital

How much money do you need to start up
your IT consulting business?
First, there is not much point in planning, and especially
budgeting, too far ahead. Don’t waste your time producing
spreadsheets showing how you will do five years ahead. When
you start out on the journey of having your own IT consultancy
you will not be able to anticipate all the challenges and
opportunities that will come your way. It is clear that one of the
most important factors in any business success, but especially IT
consultancy success, is being able to be flexible. So you may
6
Lawyers and accountants who specialize in setting up companies sometimes
invent names like Disklore or Disklike or Herefor or Justdoor in order to
have some temporary name which the Registrar of Companies will accept.
When these companies are actually activated their name is usually changed
to something meaningful to the people who are running it.
7
These ongoing costs are mainly to do with annual returns to the Companies
Office and if you grow beyond a certain size your company will need to be
formally audited.

23
How to Become a Successful IT Consultant

have to rewrite your financial budget a number of times even in

your first year.
The amount of capital that you will need to set up your IT
consultancy business may not be substantial and the actual sum
involved will depend largely upon your ability to quickly find
clients and earn income from
Get the business going them. Some IT consultants go
A few years ago two prize win- on their own only when they
ning MBA students decided not have a client already signed up
to follow the corporate career
track but to set up on their own as
or nearly signed up. In such a
IT consultants. To this end they case you may not need a lot of
set about developing a strategic money, although this will ulti-
plan. They commissioned market mately depend on how
research. This was followed up by quickly your clients actually
financial projections and cash
pay your fees. Slow paying
flow forecasts. They then under-
took a major service development clients usually mean that a lot
exercise. Then they found prem- of working capital is needed
ises and equipped their office and and this is a major problem for
bought company cars. All this all small businesses and the
took up three months. Then they issue of when payment for
started looking for business. This
of course was much more difficult
services is actually due needs
than they thought and within six to be addressed right upfront.
months of setting themselves up
Besides finding your own
they were both in full-time
income there are several rea-
employment with a big bill to pay
sons why you may need some
for playing at setting up a busi-
ness. start-up capital. You may
have to replace a company car
if you previously had one; you may need a bigger and better
computer at home; you may need additional telephone lines and
a mobile phone, etc.8 But all of this equipment may be obtained
by using a leasing company without incurring capital expendi-
ture. Of course, leasing is inclined to be an expensive way of
funding your business, and it is certainly always more expen-
sive than having your own money and buying the equipment
outright. But when money is in short supply leasing may be the
answer. By the way, the other disadvantage of leasing is that you
will incur fixed monthly payments, which you will have to meet
8
If you can get yourself registered for VAT quickly then you will be able to get
back from the VAT authorities all the tax that you will have paid on these
capital purchases. This is irrespective of whether or not you are a limited
liability company or simply trading on your own. However, the VAT
authorities need convincing that you are about to become a serious business
before they will allow you to be VAT registered and this can take a little time.
It is often worth trying to get VAT registered quickly.

24
 Setting up your IT consultancy business

before you can draw any money from the business for
yourself.
If you are not able to line up a client to start work with as soon
as you leave your old job, then in addition to the money you
need to equip yourself you will also have to have sufficient
financial resources to sustain yourself until you begin to earn an
income from your business. Of course you may also need some
money to be spent specifically on marketing. You may wish to
put an advertisement in an industry newspaper or professional
journal. However, most start-up IT consultants don’t do this
type of promotion as it’s expensive and its effectiveness is
questionable. Start-up IT consultants usually market themselves
by getting on the telephone and informing anyone who will
listen to them that they are in business. This will only cost you
your time and your telephone bill. Printing a stylish business
card and having an attractive letterhead designed are also part
of the cost of marketing your IT consultancy business as is the
creation of a website which will explain who you are and what
you have to offer. But all of this together will probably only
come to a fraction of the cost of purchasing an advertisement in
industry newspaper or professional journal.
There are no general rules as to how big a financial reserve you
should have when setting up your business. Some individuals
would feel quite comfortable if they had three months’ living
expenses in the bank when they start the adventure of going on
their own. Others would say that three months is not enough
and they would want to have secured enough money for a
year. The actual amount needed will depend upon how good
your business strategy is and how well you execute it.
However, do bear in mind that it is perhaps sensible to have
whatever sum you think you need available to you in cash or
some other financial instrument, which is similar to cash.
Having the money in shares on the stock exchange is not the
THE ACTUAL AMOUNT NEEDED
WILL DEPEND ON HOW GOOD same thing because when you come to cash them in they may
YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY IS . . . not be worth as much as you think.

3.5 A financial forecast

What do you think your first year’s or
perhaps your first few years’ turnover will
be?
Estimating your turnover is always very difficult for start-up IT
consultants. Even if you begin with a contract it may not last as
long as you think. If you go out on your own cold you may be
25
How to Become a Successful IT Consultant

faced with three or six months’ canvassing for business before

you land a first contract. There are a lot of variables involved
here including how much you will be able to spend on
advertising or promotion and of course how much you intend to
ask as the daily rate for your services.
As an IT consultant your daily charge-out rate will always be
determined by how much your clients are prepared to pay and
this is referred to as the market rate or what the market will bear.
If you are selling very general skills then the market rate will
probably be rather low, but if you have specialist and sought after
skills then you will be able to ask a much higher fee.9 It is also
worth remembering that most
The value of your services IT consultants do not have one
Economists say that there are two charge-out fee rate, but have
ways of thinking about value. The several and the one in use will
first is to consider that there is depend on the client they are
value in use and the second way working for and the length of
is to think about value in
exchange. The easier of these two
the job. The charge-out rate on
concepts is value in exchange, longer jobs is often substan-
which says that the value of any- tially discounted.
thing is the amount of money for
which it changes hands and mar-Whatever your circumstances
it is useful to perform some
ket forces establish this figure. At
analysis on your expected or
the end of the day this is probably
the way that your fee rate will be
desired earnings and to think
established. Value in use on the
about what your charge-out
other hand is about the positive
rate needs to be. Also consider
things you will do for the organi-
zation which will allow them toif the demand for your ser-
perceive that you have made a vices is likely to be constant
throughout the year, or if
real contribution to solving their
problem and that you have per- there is likely to be some sort
sonally been value for money.
of cycle in the demand. If
there is a possible cyclical
effect on the business you are expecting to acquire, then you will
have to plan your cash flow even more carefully.
Assuming that you want to be a fairly well-remunerated IT
consultant in the short term you may have a target gross income
of-say, £100,000. Having established this figure you then need to
work out how many days a year you expect to be able to invoice
out your services to your clients. If you are an IT consultant
working on your own the number of days that you may be able to
9
It is not possible to be specific about fee rates, but a low fee for an IT
consultant might be in the order of £300 to £400 per day, while a high fee
could be £2,000 to £4,000 per day.

26
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
uløselig Opgave. Det havde ikke været nogen Spøg for Prøjserne at
gaa frem mod den tilbagetrukne Linje over udækket Terræn, udsatte
for en stærk Kardætsk- og Riffelild paa nært Hold.
Den tilbagetrukne Linje blev imidlertid den 18de April saaledes
forsvaret, at Prøjserne besatte den uhindret; og det blev 8de
Brigade, der maatte gaa frem uden Dækning. Resultatet er kendt.
Derimod turde det være mindre kendt, at den i den tilbagetrukne
Linje kommanderende Artilleriofficer, en Løjtnant Kofoed, den 18de
April rendte fra sin Post paa Strømpesokker, med Støvlerne i
Haanden — naturligvis fulgt af sit Mandskab.
Han kom forbi Forpostkommandørens Adjudant, den flotte og
kække Løjtnant Binzer, og spurgte ham i Farten: »Hvad skal jeg
gøre? —« »Rejs ad Hedehusene til!« raabte Binzer.
Løjtnant Kofoed havde ingen Kommando ved Alssund den 29de
Juni!
 XXX.
Man har sagt om Artilleriforsvaret af Nordre Brohoved den 18de
April, at det lod en Del tilbage at ønske. Det er rigtigt. Jeg veed det
bedst. Det var mig, som ledede det.
Den Officer, som den meste Tid havde været Skansekommandør i
N. Brohoved, havde ikke med synderlig Troskab opfyldt sine Pligter.
Det var, saavidt jeg husker, først den 7de April, Anker og jeg som
Tjeneste i anden Linje fik tildelt Kommando i Brohovedet (foruden
Kirkebatteriet paa Als). Da jeg overtog Brohovedet, fandt jeg det i en
meget daarlig Tilstand. Kanonerne skød over Bænk, og Brystværnet
var ikke rørt siden 61; alt var i Uorden, Mandskabet demoraliseret.
(Brohovedet havde vel at mærke ikke været Genstand for nogen
Beskydning. Men den sygemeldte Artilleriofficer, hvem vi nu afløste,
havde nok aldrig været paa Batteriet.) Tilmed var der for faa Folk,
nemlig 18 Mand til Betjening af 2 Stkr. 84 Pd.’s Granatkanoner Nr. 2
og 2 Stkr. 12 Pd.’s Kuglekanoner samt et meget ubekvemt liggende
Krudtmagasin.
Jeg arbejdede efter bedste Evne i Brohovedet, naar jeg var afløst
fra Skanse II og ikke blev sendt andre Steder hen. Og jeg bad Anker,
om han ligeledes vilde gøre sit til at faa Batteriet istand, naar han
havde sin to Dages Vagt der. Det maatte, mente jeg, være ham
ligesaa magtpaaliggende at faa Værket i Forsvarsstand, da det
ligesaa godt kunde træffe ham at faa Kommandoen der under en
Storm.
Dertil svarede han med en drøj Ed: »Nej, jeg kører lige til
Høruphav og kommer ikke derfra, før jeg skal afløse Dem i Nr. II!«
Og han holdt Ord. Han kørte lige til Høruphav og var der sammen
med Dampskibet Zampas Kaptajn istedetfor at gaa til Brohovedet,
hvor han, saa vidt jeg veed, ikke har sat sin Fod.
 Det blev mig, som kom til at kommandere Brohovedet under
Stormen. Jeg havde arbejdet paa det saa godt jeg kunde, al den Tid,
jeg var afløst fra Nr. II og fri for Extraarbejde andre Steder. Det vilde
dog have været en Skandale, om Artilleriet i N. Brohoved havde
spillet samme Rolle som det i den tilbagetrukne Linje. Det er ikke
godt at vide, hvordan det var gaaet Tropperne paa Retræten fra
Skanserne, om ikke Brohovedet havde hjulpet med til at dække
dem. Men Anker havde forsømt sin Pligt paa denne Post; derfor var
Brohovedet ikke i fuld Forsvarsstand og virkede ikke saa kraftigt som
det skulde. Herfra skriver sig den eneste Bitterhed, jeg har næret
imod Anker.
 XXXI.
Jeg gjorde et Forsøg paa at faa udleveret Skansekurve til
Fuldstændiggørelse af Brystværnet, saa Mandskabet under
Betjeningen ialtfald kunde have Dækning mod Infanteriild. Skulde vi
skyde over Bænk udsat baade for Riffel- og Kanonild, vilde det føre
til en Forblødning, før Batteriet havde løst sin Opgave.
Jeg gik til Artillerikommandoen og 4de Fæstningskompagni og bad
om disse højst nødvendige Skansekurve. Man henviste mig til
Ingeniørerne; de mente ikke det var muligt at skaffe dem. De kunde
med Nød og neppe skaffe de nødvendige til 1ste Linje.
Men have dem skulde og maatte jeg. Saa fandt jeg dem selv og
stjal dem om Natten. Paa den Maade fik jeg samlet 27 Kurve; det
var nok til Dækning for de 3 Kanoner.
Jeg havde faaet Kompagniets Løfte om ialtfald nogle Sandsække;
med dem agtede jeg at dække den fjerde Kanon. Men det trak ud
trods gentagne Mindelser fra min Side og blev ikke til noget. Endnu
den 17de April Kl. 11 Aften ventede jeg forgæves paa de
Sandsække; de kom ikke. Den 18de April stod derfor den fjerde
Kanon mindre godt dækket.
Utvivlsomt blev derved Batteriets Tab større end det burde have
været. Men lige saa vist er det, at Tabet var blevet endnu større,
havde jeg ikke faaet de tre andre Kanoner dækkede.
Jeg stod den 18de April Kl. 10 paa Kirkebatteriet; pludselig hørte
jeg en stærk Infanteriild, forstod at det var Stormen, løb strax over
paa Nordre Brohoved og fik Mandskabet til Kanonerne. I det samme
blev der raabt: »Den sorte Fane paa Nr. IV!«
Endskønt jeg maatte gaa ud fra, at vore Egne endnu stod der som
Fanger, ansaa jeg det for min Pligt strax at lade Kanonerne rette paa
denne Skanse. Klokken var da c. et Kvarter over 10. Først en Times
Tid efter lød Alarmsignalet.
Hele Tiden maatte vi fra Brohovedet skyde paa Fjenden over vore
egne tilbagegaaende Tropper. Det var en uhyggelig Tanke: hvis nu
en Granat sprang for tidlig! Og det kunde godt ske.
Vi blev hurtig Genstand for en stærk Beskydning. Saasnart
Skanserne var tagne, kørte Fjenden Feltbatterier frem i
Fægtningslinjen og beskød os fra dem saa vel som fra Batterierne
paa Broager. Grev Waldersee opgiver, at der mod Brohovederne
rettedes 60 Kanoner. De skød undertiden for højt; og en Del af
Skytset var vel tillige rettet mod Alsbatterierne og Sønderborg. Der
var hele Tiden en underlig Lyd i Luften over os. Vist er det dog, at vi
til omkring Kl. 1 stod som Midtpunktet for den voldsomme Ild og
sammen med Alsbatterierne besvarede den, skønt vi hindredes af
mange uheldige Forhold.
Venstre Fløjkanon maatte jeg i Førstningen lade staa; der var ikke
Mandskab til den. Senere blev den betjent af Infanteri. Af mine egne
Folk mistede jeg strax ved Kampens Begyndelse de 6, nemlig to som
faldne, to som saarede og to vistnok som Desertører. De to 84 Pd.’s
Granatkanoner i 24 Pd.’s Belejringsaffutage havde meget stærk
Rekyle; det var Meningen, at de skulde stanses ved et anbragt
Stoppetov, men det sprang, saa Stumperne røg os om Ørene. Vi
lagde da Tornystre under Forhjulene og Svansen til Hindring af
Rekylen. Men det var som sagt et daarligt Mandskab; dets Holdning,
særlig nu i den stærke Ild, var mindre tilfredsstillende; det hændte,
at de smed sig under Brystværnet, saa jeg maatte tampe dem op.
Og Tornystrene glemte de. Det havde til Følge, at de svære Kanoner
gentagende løb ned ad deres Brisker; jeg maatte have Infanteri til at
hjælpe dem op igen.
I Terrepleinet kørte Espingolerne forvildet rundt uden at vide hvad
de skulde gøre; jeg maatte hjælpe deres Mandskab med at faa dem
af Vognene og lægge dem op paa Brystværnet og forklare, at der
godt kunde skydes med dem saaledes.
Et Sted var der nogen der brølede: »I skyder paa vore Egne!« Jeg
troede, det var os, det gjaldt, og svarede: »Det er Løgn!« Man
raabte tilbage: »Det er de forbandede Infanterister, der skyder paa
deres Egne.«
Altsaa, der var megen Forvirring. Og heldigt virkede det ikke under
saa daarlige Forhold, at der i Brohovedet opholdt sig flere højere
Officerer.
Midt under Skydningen fik jeg Ordre til at optælle Ammunitionen.
Da jeg gik forbi Krudtmagasinet, kom der en Granat og slog ned i
Jorden, meget nær forbi mig. Jeg fornam intet Lufttryk, som jeg har
hørt at man skulde ved en saadan Lejlighed. Men det var ikke
hyggeligt at skulle gaa op til Kanonerne igen.
Heldigvis holdt vi det gaaende, til Ordren kom at vi skulde forlade
Batteriet. Men det var ikke Præcisionsskydning, vi leverede. Rimeligt
at Chefen for det i N. Brohoved staaende Infanteri (2den Brigade)
blev vred og skældte mig ud paa Stedet. Men havde han kendt
Batteriets Forhistorie, vilde han vel nok have givet sin Vrede en
anden Adresse.
Og trods alt fik vi ikke saa lidt Jern kastet ind blandt Prøjserne. Vor
Ammunition var næsten opbrugt, før Batteriet forlodes.
 XXXII.
Det var omkring Kl. 1½ at først Infanteriet, saa Ingeniørerne og
Artilleriet i Brohovedet fik Ordre til at trække sig tilbage til Als.
Brohovedet havde nu opfyldt sin Bestemmelse og været med til at
dække Troppernes Tilbagegang. Vi skulde over den søndre Bro; den
nordre var allerede noget tidligere blevet afbrudt.
Jeg lod de tiloversblevne Krudtkasser kaste i Sundet og fornaglede
Kanonerne med nogle store Søm, som Ingeniørerne havde efterladt.
Ved en af Kanonerne laa der en Mand og klemte sig saa tæt som
mulig op under Brystværnet; han havde aabenbart tabt Modet og
vilde helst fanges; jeg jog ham ud.
Ligesom vi var rykket ud af Brohovedet, kom der Ordre, at vi
skulde forsvare det til det yderste. Hvad Meningen dermed var, er
ikke godt at vide. For sent var det ialtfald.
Der var tænkt paa at sprænge Krudtmagasinet i Brohovedet i
Luften, men Major Jonquières forbød det, da han var bange for, at
det skulde afstedkomme Tab blandt vore egne. Stor Nytte havde det
heller ikke været til, da vi fra Als kunde bestryge hele det Indre af
Brohovedet.
Den søndre Bro blev afbrudt ved Udsvingning af et Broled. Da
Artilleriet i N. Brohoved var blandt de sidste, der fik Ordre til at
trække sig over til Als, var jeg ganske naturlig blandt de sidste, der
gik over Broen. Der var flere Officerer dér foruden de Ingeniører,
som under Oberstløjtnant Dreyers Kommando skulde udføre
Afbrydningen. Jeg saa bl. a. af Ingeniørerne Kaptajnerne Hedemann
og Thulstrup, af Artilleriet min Chef, daværende Major Jonquières.
Da Ingeniørerne var ifærd med at afbryde Broen, saa det saae ud
til, at en Del af disse Officerer maatte blive paa Sundevedsiden,
gjorde jeg Majoren opmærksom derpaa. Han svarede mig ikke; jeg
troede, at han mulig ikke havde hørt mig, han var noget tunghør paa
det ene Øre. Jeg gik derfor over paa den anden Side af ham og
sagde højt: »Broen bliver brudt af, Hr. Major, før De kommer over
den!« Han svarede stadig ikke, vilde altsaa ikke høre.
Jeg løb da og kom tidsnok over; der var ingen Mening i uden
Nytte at blive og lade sig skyde. Tilmed havde jeg den Pligt at se at
komme over og samle mit Mandskab. Men Jonquières med flere
andre blev staaende, og det allerede afbrudte Broled maatte for
deres Skyld svinges ind igen. Saa kom de over.
Tilfældigvis havde Prøjserne ikke vovet sig saa langt frem, at de
kunde se vore Officerer staa der paa Broen; de var ellers blevet pillet
væk til ingen Nytte.
Jeg tillod mig senere overfor Jonquières og Thulstrup at udtale
min Opfattelse af det meningsløse i til ingen Nytte at lade sig skyde
ned. Jeg fik det Indtryk, at den ene ikke havde villet gaa før den
anden. Det synes mig en Misforstaaelse paa den Maade at ville
kappes om at vise Mod. Hvor Pligten byder En at udsætte sig, er der
intet at sige dertil. Men da vi paa ingen Maade havde Raad til at
miste flere af vore ældre Officerer end nødvendigt, havde det efter
mit Skøn her været deres Pligt at bringe sig i Sikkerhed.
En Officer tilhører ikke sig selv og har ikke Lov til af Trods eller
Stolthed at udsætte hverken sig selv eller sit Mandskab. Men det saa
man adskillige Exempler paa.
En Morgen, da et Par Officerer stod inde i Nr. II, kom der en rund
Granat, som faldt foran dem og laa og snurrede rundt med rygende
Brandrør. De saa noget betænkeligt til den, men rørte sig ikke, før
jeg sagde: »De Herrer burde dække Dem, før Granaten springer!«
Ogsaa her har rimeligvis den ene ikke villet være ringere end den
anden.
En Nat kom en Infanterikaptajn — det var den fra Mysunde
bekendte Kaptajn Svane — med sit halve Kompagni ind i Nr. II og
stillede paa to Geledder ved Broagerflanken. Jeg bad ham rykke
bort, da vi ventede en Granat, som rimeligvis vilde komme paa det
Sted. Han nægtede det.
Jeg løb ud efter Afløsningen og fik dennes Kaptajn med tilbage for
at tale Svane til Rette. Det blev gjort meget eftertrykkeligt, men til
ingen Nytte.
I det samme kom heldigvis den Ingeniørofficer, som skulde tilse
Nattearbejdet. Ham fik jeg til at befale den stædige Kaptajn
øjeblikkelig at rykke ud af Skansen, da han generede Arbejdet. Det
var en Ordre; den maatte lystres. Og saaledes fik vi endelig
Infanteriet ud, før Uheld skete. Men en saadan Mand burde efter
mine Begreber ikke have Kommando.
Noget andet er det, naar man har bebrejdet os Artilleriofficerer, at
vi undertiden kommanderede fra Brystværnet under fjendtlig Ild. Det
gjorde man ikke for Morskab, men kun naar Stemningen var trykket,
for at berolige Mandskabet og vise det, at Faren var ikke saa stor.
 XXXIII.
Jeg kom over Broen og gik op forbi Kirken. Der stod i en Indskæring
lige op ad Kirkemuren fire 4 Pd.’s riflede Kanoner af 2det Batteri.
Med disse Kanoner skulde de bl. a. skyde Pontonbroen isænk.
Jeg spurgte Officeren om Jonquières; han mente, Majoren var i
Kirkebatteriet, hvor jeg saa gik op. Han var der ikke, men jeg traf
hans Næstkommanderende Major W. Kauffmann, hos hvem jeg
meldte mig til Tjeneste.
Der kom en Officer hen til mig og sagde: »Det var jo Dem, der
kommanderede i N. Brohoved? De maa have haft svære Tab. Hele
Terrepleinet ligger fuldt af Døde.«
Med det Svar, at efter mit Skøn havde vi haft forholdsvis ringe Tab,
gik han hen og saae over til Brohovedet gennem et Skydeskaar ved
en af de svære Kanoner. I det samme kom der en Granat, som
ramte Rappertens Brystrigel og ved Sprængningen saarede mig og
tre Mand til. Jeg meldte mig da som saaret til Major Kauffmann; det
var for saa vidt unødvendigt, som jeg stod i mit Blod.
Jeg havde i Brohovedet været saa uheldig at miste min Kappe.
Istedet havde jeg faaet en Underkorporalskappe; det var nok den,
der gjorde Ulykken. I alle Tilfælde var Kuglerne efter mig, lige siden
jeg fik den paa; paa en halv Time fik jeg to Træffere og flere Skud i
Kappen, medens min egen var uskadt efter at have gjort hele
Belejringen med.
Majoren bandt sit Lommetørklæde om min Arm for at stanse
Blodet. Jeg kunde godt gaa, men blev dog taget op af Ambulancen.
Vi kom forbi en Løbegrav, hvor der stod en norsk Læge; han anlagde
den foreløbige Forbinding. Det saae ikke godt ud; der stak
Benstumper ud af Saaret; venstre Underarm var knust.
 Lægen smed Majorens Lommetørklæde og mit afskaarne
Skjorteærme hen til en Side. Han saae meget forbavset ud, da jeg
efter endt Behandling forlangte min Mansjetknap. Han kunde jo ikke
vide, at det var en Gave, som jeg nødig vilde miste.
Herfra kom jeg hen paa Feltlasarettet, hvor jeg blev rigtig
forbundet af en Læge Arendrup; han stod i travlt Arbejde og lignede
en Slagter. En af mine Folk havde fulgt mig; han stod ved Siden af
og græd. Da en anden Soldat spurgte ham, hvem jeg var, skældte
han ham ud, fordi han ikke vidste det. Manden holdt af en høj
Snaps; det var formodentlig Paavirkning af den Slags, der gjorde
ham saa rørende.
Jeg blev atter overgivet til Ambulancen. Da de gik med mig,
knækkede begge Bærestænger, saa jeg kørte et Stykke hen ad
Vejen. Heldigvis kom der en Vogn med andre Saarede forbi; den tog
mig op. Vi blev kørt ned til Høruphav og kom ombord i et norsk
Dampskib »Nordstjernen«.
Jeg kunde selv gaa ud paa Skibet. Ved Bulværket traf jeg en
højere Søofficer, som jeg var lidt i Familie med. Ham bad jeg
telegrafere til mit Hjem, og Telegrammet kom afsted.
Paa »Nordstjernen« var alle Pladser optagne af Saarede. Enkelte
var saa haardt medtagne, at de døde ombord; men man hørte ingen
klage sig. Jeg overlod min Køje til en Officersaspirant, cand. jur.
Haxthausen; han havde faaet 6 Lod Jern i Underlivet, hørte jeg
siden. Jeg gav ham lidt Limonade og saae til ham engang imellem.
Han laa stille hen, men døde et Par Dage efter.
Jeg traf her paa »Nordstjernen« min gamle Lærer fra
Landkadetakademiet, Løjtnant Pingel. Da jeg i sin Tid forlod Skolen
for at gaa over til Artilleriet, havde han sagt til mig: »Naa, De vil nok
i Livsforsikringsanstalten!« Saaledes lod det til, at Fodfolket
betragtede Artilleriet.
Her mødtes vi nu paa Lasaretskibet, begge saarede. Og jeg var
noget værre tilredt end han; saa Livsforsikringsanstalten havde just
ikke vist sig paalidelig.
Ved Landgangen i København blev jeg paa Grund af min
Underofficerskappe vist paa Lasaret sammen med de Menige. Mine
Forældre, som var rejst ind for at se mig, gik længe omkring og
ledte efter mig.
Jeg laa et Par Maaneder paa Lasarettet i Wildersgade. Der kom en
Del Benstumper og Klædeslapper ud af Saaret; Overlægen sagde, at
jeg kunde takke mit sunde Legeme for, at jeg slap vel over den
Historie.
KBHVN. — NIELSEN & LYDICHE (AXEL SIMMELKIÆR)
 Afskriverens bemærkninger

Overskriften XVIII. mangler. Det blev efterladt som i originalen.

Åbenlyse trykfejl er rettet, men forfatterens stavning er for øvrigt

bevaret.
 *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDTRYK OG
MINDER FRA DYBBØL ***

Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will
be renamed.

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S.

copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in
these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it
in the United States without permission and without paying
copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of
Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™
concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything
for copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is
very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as
creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research.
Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given
away—you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with
eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject
to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.

START: FULL LICENSE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
 PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free

distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or
any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at
www.gutenberg.org/license.

Section 1. General Terms of Use and

Redistributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree
to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your
possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be
bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund
from the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in
paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be

used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people
who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a
few things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic
works even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.
See paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with
Project Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this
agreement and help preserve free future access to Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the
collection of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the
individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the
United States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law
in the United States and you are located in the United States, we do
not claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing,
performing, displaying or creating derivative works based on the
work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of
course, we hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg™
mission of promoting free access to electronic works by freely
sharing Project Gutenberg™ works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg™ name associated
with the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this
agreement by keeping this work in the same format with its attached
full Project Gutenberg™ License when you share it without charge
with others.

1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also
govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most
countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the
United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the
terms of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying,
performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this
work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes
no representations concerning the copyright status of any work in
any country other than the United States.

1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other

immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must
appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™
work (any work on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears,
or with which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is
accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
 This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is derived

from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not contain a
notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the copyright
holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the
United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must
comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through
1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project
Gutenberg™ trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted

with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works posted
with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning
of this work.

1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project

Gutenberg™ License terms from this work, or any files containing a
part of this work or any other work associated with Project
Gutenberg™.

1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this

electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1
with active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg™ License.

1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form,
including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you
provide access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work
in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in
the official version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website
(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or
expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or
a means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original
“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must
include the full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in
paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,

performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing

access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
provided that:

• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive
from the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the
method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The
fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark,
but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty
payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on
which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your
periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked
as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information
 about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation.”

• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who

notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt
that s/he does not agree to the terms of the full Project
Gutenberg™ License. You must require such a user to return or
destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
Project Gutenberg™ works.

• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of

any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in
the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90
days of receipt of the work.

• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™

electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
forth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend

considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe
and proofread works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating
the Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium on which they may
be stored, may contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to,
incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a
copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or
damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer
codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.

1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for

the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3,
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the
Project Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a
Project Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim
all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR
NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR
BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH
1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK
OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL
NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT,
CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF
YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you

discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving
it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by
sending a written explanation to the person you received the work
from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must
return the medium with your written explanation. The person or
entity that provided you with the defective work may elect to provide
a replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the work
electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose to
give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in
lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may
demand a refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the
problem.

1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied

warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted
by the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation,

the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation,
anyone providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in
accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with
the production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or
any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or
additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any
Defect you cause.

Section 2. Information about the Mission

of Project Gutenberg™
Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.
It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and
donations from people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the

assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a
secure and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future
generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help,
see Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
www.gutenberg.org.

Section 3. Information about the Project

Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.

The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,

Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website
and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

Section 4. Information about Donations to

the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation
Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without
widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can
be freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the
widest array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many
small donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to
maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating

charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and
keep up with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in
locations where we have not received written confirmation of
compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of
compliance for any particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where

we have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no
prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in
such states who approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make

any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of
other ways including checks, online payments and credit card
donations. To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.

Section 5. General Information About

Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be
freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of
volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
edition.

Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org.

This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™,

including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how
to subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
Welcome to Our Bookstore - The Ultimate Destination for Book Lovers
Are you passionate about books and eager to explore new worlds of
knowledge? At our website, we offer a vast collection of books that
cater to every interest and age group. From classic literature to
specialized publications, self-help books, and children’s stories, we
have it all! Each book is a gateway to new adventures, helping you
expand your knowledge and nourish your soul
Experience Convenient and Enjoyable Book Shopping Our website is more
than just an online bookstore—it’s a bridge connecting readers to the
timeless values of culture and wisdom. With a sleek and user-friendly
interface and a smart search system, you can find your favorite books
quickly and easily. Enjoy special promotions, fast home delivery, and
a seamless shopping experience that saves you time and enhances your
love for reading.
Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and
personal growth!

ebookgate.com