Knowing what to charge is, as one other person said, partly a matter of your skill level. As I also discovered back in my "early days" of consulting, it's a matter of marketing -- or shoud I say -- of understanding what the market will bear. At first, I was doing some work for acquaintances and their friends. I charged $25 per hour (this was the early '90's). I began to read more on the process of marketing one's self, and I also began to observe what companies charged. That's when I realized I needed to up my rate. Part of the issue, yes, is being able to back up your rate with work skill, but it's also important to not underprice as this will lead potential customers to believe there's something wrong with you since you're so cheap compared to other places. I think a good place to start is: a) what do CompUSA and Best Buy charge for their tech. services? b) what do places like TekSystems, TAJ, and RHI charge when they send consultants out on jobs, and c) how valuable do you feel you are (low, middle, high) in terms of your skill level vs. how competative do you wish to be in relation to the afore mentioned companies. Garrett John Hoffoss wrote: >I know this is a pretty vague question, but is on the topic. I'm curious >to know how to determine what your rates should be for contracting. I >guess it depends more on the nature of the job and experience required >to complete it, but as someone who has only done small jobs for > > _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list