What’s wrong with billable hours
I charge by the hour and will never change.  It forces the customer to focus on getting the requirements right instead of hand waving it like &quot;oh yeah, that&#x27;s just what I want&quot; and then come back later &quot;I didn&#x27;t want that, what I meant was&quot; repeat ad infinitum.  You see they are paying for my time, not results.  If they choose to waste it... doesn&#x27;t matter to me, it&#x27;s all billable just the same. I will do my best to steer them in the right direction to save time and money, but you&#x27;d be amazed how often they need to learn the lesson the hard way.<p>I also don&#x27;t compete, I&#x27;m not on any &quot;freelancing&quot; websites, I don&#x27;t apply or bid for work.  My clients always come to me, I get an email, a phone call asking if I&#x27;m available. So this race to the bottom nonsense is utter crap.  I&#x27;m a consultant NOT a freelancer.<p>I&#x27;ve been doing this since 2011, that&#x27;s the last time I had an employer.  This year I&#x27;m on track to bill out between $360k and $400k.  If that&#x27;s &quot;amateur&quot; so bet it. Considering I have no debt, my house is paid for, my luxury SUV I paid cash for, my actual monthly bills are around $2,500 a month.  I really couldn&#x27;t care less what someone who writes an article like this thinks of me.  The writer is advocating for the client, they aren&#x27;t giving me advice that helps me.  I also have no interest in scaling, on bringing on employees.  I&#x27;m making bank, I left CA in 2013, currently live in Wyoming with a 40 minute drive to Park City UT and a 60 minute drive to Salt Lake City.<p>To anyone reading this article and thinking they are offering you helpful advice, consider their motive.  What are they trying to sell you?  Are they trying to change the current consulting landscape to benefit themselves as a business owner?