Reply to: Advice needed on breaking into Contracting (in Finance)

[clearedforlanding]

Did you ask your accountant about that?





Good advice. One of the ones I have known to fail failed becuase of mismanagement of finances, at one time it had 50+ people engaged.

ITHR & Sytel are good examples of how to do this. (ITHR rely heavily on contractors so it should be interesting to see how things pan out for them.)

Also one is full of dicks, one isn't.

[MrMarkyMark]

To be fair 'Ask your accountant' doesn't need a lot of thought

Did you ask your accountant about that?

Diversify and do not rely on one client.
NOT take all the money out of the business like a contract. A contractor needs a war chest and so does a business. The business war chest may cover other people.
It's not a co-op. Standard business roles and structure apply.
You will loose a friend or two.

Good advice. One of the ones I have known to fail failed becuase of mismanagement of finances, at one time it had 50+ people engaged.

[clearedforlanding]

I would suggest the list of what you don't know about is a lot longer than just "Australia".



This is what I'm aiming to do.

Interesting talk about the re-positioning of Accenture / Wi Pro. Good post earlier too .

Thanks.

It's a good route and I had a very good run with it.

What I learned:

Diversify and do not rely on one client.
NOT take all the money out of the business like a contract. A contractor needs a war chest and so does a business. The business war chest may cover other people.
It's not a co-op. Standard business roles and structure apply.
You will loose a friend or two.

[gables]

To be fair 'Ask your accountant' doesn't need a lot of thought

Maybe the OP should've

[northernladuk]

You can accuse northernladuk of many other things, lack of thinking through his responses is not one of them.
.

To be fair 'Ask your accountant' doesn't need a lot of thought

[clearedforlanding]

All this talk about coffee....

All this talk about coffee confuses matters.

Emotive v Financial purchasing decisions needs to be considered.

Until you get to consumer level most technology expenditure is weighted to financial purchasing.

Coffee is a highly emotive purchase. Try rethinking this with fuel oil.

[LondonManc]

as much fun as you two are having, it's boring to participate in and almost certainly even more boring to read so i guess we'll pick this up on another thread some time soon, suggest a mod snips out the last two hours

Fun? It's like pulling teeth. I wouldn't wade into an engineering discussion spouting tulip as gospel. Tell your sockie to log off as well will you?

[MrMarkyMark]

i don't know or care about Australia

I would suggest the list of what you don't know about is a lot longer than just "Australia".

Meanwhile there are contractors who have banded together, formed a company and got on the supplier list of the company they were working for. Vodafone is full of the things and people are doing very well. Flexibility is reduced and risk is increased.

This is what I'm aiming to do.

Interesting talk about the re-positioning of Accenture / Wi Pro. Good post earlier too .

[clearedforlanding]

If you want a large consultancy in, you have to absolutely nail the scope of what they should be delivering or you may as well set fire to a pile of 50 pound notes.

Sadly, they have got you both ways. Make the scope too granular and they will charge you for every ******* change.

[pr1]

Some people actually like Starbucks though; your analogy, as admitted by you, was tulip. Feel free to backtrack again at any time.

i stand by the fact that local coffee shops close down relatively soon after a big chains open nearby

You're offering the equivalent of a cricketer's opinion to a footballers' discussion on football.

didnt realise you needed to submit your cv and 2 references to have an opinion?

That would be one hell off a TFL map with Australia on it as well!

see above

as much fun as you two are having, it's boring to participate in and almost certainly even more boring to read so i guess we'll pick this up on another thread some time soon, suggest a mod snips out the last two hours

[clearedforlanding]

If a Starbucks opened down the road from a decent independent, I'd stick with the decent independent. Starbucks coffee is average at best. I'd heard of Ratners. I've heard of RyanAir, I'd heard of Enron. Just because you've heard of someone doesn't mean they're any good.

Yes, but there is also the positioning & pricing aspect which makes things more complex. Starbucks position as a premium product, Ryanair position on price.

Accenture for example position like Starbucks as a premium product and price accordingly. Wipro & the other offshoring companies positioned on price.

Now that contracting is being wiped out (largely by consultancy influencing government) and these guys are competing again each other, Wipro are doing a Ryanair and trying to reinvent themselves as a more premium brand that is price competitive, and Accenture are have moved into bodyshopping.

Meanwhile there are contractors who have banded together, formed a company and got on the supplier list of the company they were working for. Vodafone is full of the things and people are doing very well. Flexibility is reduced and risk is increased.

[LondonManc]

that was my point - they're not any good, they're almost certainly worse than the decent independent but 90% of people driving through who think "I'm going to get a coffee" will go to the starbucks, and the local will close down - it's happening everywhere, ditto with mini tesco's doing over local shops, etc

starbucks is definitely not any good, but lots of people choose them over a local independent because they know what they'll get

hence my analogy for a big consultancy getting the job just because they're known rather than because they're better than the independent contractors

Some people actually like Starbucks though; your analogy, as admitted by you, was tulip. Feel free to backtrack again at any time.

so i'm not offering my opinion?

You're offering the equivalent of a cricketer's opinion to a footballers' discussion on football.

my mistake, i forgot anything that happens outside the tfl map doesn't count

That would be one hell off a TFL map with Australia on it as well!

[pr1]

I mentioned London and Australia, but could have mentioned Bristol, Bath, Manchester, Brighton etc. etc.
If you read the link, those Tescos Express stores are closing all over.

As I said before, more time thinking, less time typing .

i don't know or care about Australia

i live in one of those cities, and it's definitely happening here (local coffee shops closing 6-12 months after costa/starbucks/nero opens, mini tesco/sainsbury replacing local shops)

[MrMarkyMark]

my mistake, i forgot anything that happens outside the tfl map doesn't count

I mentioned London and Australia, but could have mentioned Bristol, Bath, Manchester, Brighton etc. etc.
If you read the link, those Tescos Express stores are closing all over.

As I said before, more time thinking, less time typing .

[pr1]

You can accuse northernladuk of many other things, lack of thinking through his responses is not one of them.


Again, poor examples, In London, at least, there has been a huge rise in independant coffee shops.
Did you read about the fact that Starbucks left Australia, it was due to the high quality of their independants?
I wouldn't say Tescos are a good example either, they are reducing the amount of "Express" stores...

Tesco closures: is your local store getting the chop? - Telegraph

Maybe, if you engaged brain, before fingers, people would take your comments more seriously.

my mistake, i forgot anything that happens outside the tfl map doesn't count