Great questions and thread!

Part time consulting? Why part time? Difficult if the boss finds out what you are up to. Also once you get a real consulting gig there will be not be enough time full time let alone part time.

First tip. Strive to be the best in the world at what you do. Do what you love and the money will follow. if you do what you love, your enthusiasm will show and people will want to associate with you. All the world loves a winner.

I would avoid taking a job on a fixed price contract because unscrupulous clients will keep on changing the scope to get more work out of you for free. If you bid too low, you hurt yourself. If you bid too high the client will get mad at you. Best to go hourly. Get them to write the work scope so all parties know what is expected. This can be used in negotiations. If they say your price is too high, don't reduce it, ask what parts of the work scope can be removed from the proposal to reduce the price. If you have to go fixed price, break the project down into small parts that can be delivered on a two week basis with a price for each module. This price should not reflect too obviously your hourly rate so vary it a bit. Then after two weeks if the client will not pay, at least you didn't wait months and do a whole bunch of work for nothing before finding out the client is a bad guy.

One way to arrive at the price you should be paid is figure out the average salary per year. There are 2000 work hours in a year. Divide the salary by 2000, that is the hourly rate. You should try to get double that. Why? First the overhead for a company is about 100% of the employee salary for training, taxes, benefits, insurance, workers compensation, vacation time etc. Second, as a consultant you have to pay all of those fees yourself. By working for twice the average hourly pay of a regular employee, you have anice rate, which is still competitve with a regular employee.

Now what should you offer as a service? One solution is to master the top software packages used in your field of expertise. Many small companies cannot afford to buy the more expensive packages and the big companies usually settle on one suite. However, no tool is best for all jobs, so if you can master all the top ones you can compete very effectively against small and big companies. Obviously you need a way to get the software cheaply and I leave that up to you. For example some companies will give their software for free, with a training manual, and will allow you to rent the software for short periods. Another way to get licenses is to borrow one from a friend. The availability of free or cheap software and powerful PCs means that us little guys can compete against the majors actually. We call that levelling the playing field.

How to find work? Not easy obviously! It is important to get your name and face out there. So join the local professional societies, attend meetings, have business cards made with your cell phone and email address and make sure the card says what you do, get your resume/CV up to date, put your profile on the LinkedIn website (for professional networking), some people like to run a blog showing their expertise but i find it too time consuming. Better is a simple website with answers to common problems in your industry, and have a good solution, which shows how to fix the problem preferably with nice pictures, and make sure the visitors know it is your work they are looking at to solve the problem. Make sure your contact info link is on every page.

About LinkedIn, get people who you know to recomend you on LinkedIn. Never ask people you don't know to receomend you, it annoys people and is not professional. On linked in there are may forums where you can ask interesting questions and better still, can answer questions. if you are as good as you think, soon you will be a recognized subject matter expert. Build contacts as fast as possible. Do not scam members, you will be banned. Here is an example of a successful oil exploration guy to check out

[link Point to another website Only the registered members can access]
Getting paid: doing the work is the easy bit, finding work and getting paid are infinitely harder. If you must do fixed price, get 1/3 up front, 1/3 half way through and 1/3 on acceptance of the job. if they won't advance you any money up front then they don't trust you or they are crooks. Whatever arrangement you come to, and I stress, hourly is best, get it in writing. If you are a geologist generating prospects, then shoot for an ORRI of 5% (you can accept 2% as a minimum) convertible to a 25% working interest after the first well pays out. You should also get a fee of at least 10% of the first well cost to cover your geology, leases and seismic. never try to selll an oil deal where you don't have leases or legal seismic licenses. Otherwise you will just get screwed. if you own the leases and the seismic, noone can touch you. Can't afford leases and seisimic? Then find an investor to pay for that up front, it's cheap compared to a dry hole. Get it in writing!

One way to get seismic is to approach substantial companies and ask if you can work their data. Structure the deal so that if you find a drillable prospect, they have first rights of refusal. if they drill the prospect, make sure you have an ORRI convertible at your option to 25% WI backed in after payout. if they don't want to drill the well, then get permission up front in writing that you have the rights to use the data to sell the prospect to industry participants. You will sell the deal for say $100,000 finders fee and 5% convertible to 25% WI. You can share the WI with the company who provided you with the data. This is called sweat equity. BUT get everything in writing and have an attorney check it before you make your move. Also when visiting prospective clients, make them sign a non disclosure non compete agreement, good for 1 or 2 years. if they won't sign, they are not worth dealing with.

Where to sell deals? NAPE in Houston twice a year or in London NAPE. If you go to NAPE you will meet thousands of potential clients. be ready with your prospect and business cards/resume.

Good luck to us all! We make our own luck. God helps them who help themselves.

Mammon