Starting own company

[rev IT]

i've always admired young people who believe in their dreams enough to start their own companies. i want to do just that. my dad was a farmer and accountant. he worked for a university as an accountant on the week days and worked on his farm on early mornings and weekends. he had a poultry farm when i was a kid. now he has vegetable farm producing anything u can think of. now that i've grown up i really respect his work ethic and his ability to successfully manage both.

i think i have it in me to start my own company soon. i'm into structural engineering but i'm going for a joint MEng in civil and architecture. i want to start my own consulting company. does anyone have similar plans? how do u plan to raise the initial funds? my family might help with setting up an office but i wonder how people get their first funds to buy office equipment and pay the initial staff.

ideas? let's dream together.

Edited January 24, 2010 by nelly ofori

[zilch]

starting a consulting company as an engineer is a bit different from the most popular connotation which revolves around business/IT consulting.

if you're going to offer structural/civil engineering services, you need to be licensed (PE), otherwise you can't sign off on anything. For Architecture, the most important part of your credential is going to be your portfolio.

start up costs can be as low as whatever it takes to get a business license in your city/state, a website that serves as a 'storefront' and whatever specialty equipment you need (surveying tools and the like). Since consulting is project based, you don't have to rent an office and hire an administrative assistant until your client base is big enough to actually need them. It's not uncommon for small consulting firms to be based out of a home office and have the points of contact be a cellphone and email address. I think the biggest challenge for starting a technical/design consulting business is not in the start-up funding, but rather in being able to consistently get paying contracts.

if you're looking to go the whole nine yards (with office and staff) right away the most common sources of start-up funding are friends and family, venture capitalists and angel investors. You can generally raise on the order of $10,000 from friends and family, venture capitalists typically make investments in the range of millions and angel investors (they're like VCs except they invest their own money) are the in-between.

[rev IT]

dude, u beat my expectation of a response. u're right. i think i've been day dreaming so much that i forgot that i needed to get my PE first. u seem to be very knowledgeable about this stuff. thanks.

[twocosmicfish]

Also remember that there is a big difference between contract work and consulting work, although in your field both will require the PE. While people will hire an independent contractor when they temporarily lack the manpower, it generally does not pay that well since you pay all your own expenses and may go weeks or months without a job. Consultants are sought after and paid much much better, but largely because of the vast body of experience they have - and which takes many years to acquire.

[southpolesteve]

Just wanted to throw my view into the ring. I actually have started my own engineering consulting company. I did this about 4 months after I graduated with an undergrad degree in Mechanical Engineering and another in Mathematics.

First off, about being PE. Don't believe that you HAVE to have a PE to work contract or consulting jobs. For MechE type stuff its not absolutely necessary. That being said, for structural stuff, it is very important. But don't think it will automatically preclude you from consulting. As long as your not signing off as a professional engineer, you can't get in trouble. You just have to make your clients aware of that.

Starting something like this is not going to be easy, and its not going to be buckets of money. Just to give you an idea, I probably make less than I would have as an entry level engineer at a large corporation. But I also have freedom. I went to traveled the world for 3 months and worked form the road. I work from home now, set my own hours, work about half the time of a 9-5, etc. I have a lot of freedom but there are also sacrifices. There can be a lot of instability. I get no benefits. I also move apartments every 4 months to keep rent down. My first few contracts were week to week and barely paid living expenses. But working hard and sticking with it can pay off. A large client (billion dollar a year corp) just gave me a long term contract and nearly doubled my pay.

I think the most important thing for starting out is networking. You will start out with zero reputation and no professional portfolio. These are HUGE obstacles. I was lucky to do some good work in school and make some excellent contacts. Talking to these people is how I got my first few contracts. Talk to everyone, tell them what your good at, schedule lunch meetings with someone 5 days a week (99% of the time they will pay because they realize you are still a poor college kid). Even offer to do work for free. For a couple weeks. If they like you, they will hire you.

One thing that is working for you is the economy. A lot of companies currently have hiring freezes. Many have the money to hire someone, but they can't commit to someone over the long term (ps the idea of entry level job security is BS). Take advantage of this by offering to work as a consultant. Make them buy you a CAD license, and computer hardware. It seems expensive in the short run, but they don't have to justify hiring a whole new team member to their boss. These kinds of gigs are GREAT for you and great for the company. You get paid more, get experience and then your not tied down at the end of the project.

Thats the short of it. Its definitely not an easy road. Signing up for a cubicle farm is far simpler and probably pays more. Send me a pm or an email and I can tell you more.

[rev IT]

Just wanted to throw my view into the ring. I actually have started my own engineering consulting company. I did this about 4 months after I graduated with an undergrad degree in Mechanical Engineering and another in Mathematics.

First off, about being PE. Don't believe that you HAVE to have a PE to work contract or consulting jobs. For MechE type stuff its not absolutely necessary. That being said, for structural stuff, it is very important. But don't think it will automatically preclude you from consulting. As long as your not signing off as a professional engineer, you can't get in trouble. You just have to make your clients aware of that.

Starting something like this is not going to be easy, and its not going to be buckets of money. Just to give you an idea, I probably make less than I would have as an entry level engineer at a large corporation. But I also have freedom. I went to traveled the world for 3 months and worked form the road. I work from home now, set my own hours, work about half the time of a 9-5, etc. I have a lot of freedom but there are also sacrifices. There can be a lot of instability. I get no benefits. I also move apartments every 4 months to keep rent down. My first few contracts were week to week and barely paid living expenses. But working hard and sticking with it can pay off. A large client (billion dollar a year corp) just gave me a long term contract and nearly doubled my pay.

I think the most important thing for starting out is networking. You will start out with zero reputation and no professional portfolio. These are HUGE obstacles. I was lucky to do some good work in school and make some excellent contacts. Talking to these people is how I got my first few contracts. Talk to everyone, tell them what your good at, schedule lunch meetings with someone 5 days a week (99% of the time they will pay because they realize you are still a poor college kid). Even offer to do work for free. For a couple weeks. If they like you, they will hire you.

One thing that is working for you is the economy. A lot of companies currently have hiring freezes. Many have the money to hire someone, but they can't commit to someone over the long term (ps the idea of entry level job security is BS). Take advantage of this by offering to work as a consultant. Make them buy you a CAD license, and computer hardware. It seems expensive in the short run, but they don't have to justify hiring a whole new team member to their boss. These kinds of gigs are GREAT for you and great for the company. You get paid more, get experience and then your not tied down at the end of the project.

Thats the short of it. Its definitely not an easy road. Signing up for a cubicle farm is far simpler and probably pays more. Send me a pm or an email and I can tell you more.

hi southpolesteve,

i sent u a pm. i couldn't email. u have private email setting.