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Comment by AFNobody | Hacker News Reader

A consultant making 5 figures a week, in practical terms, is a unicorn that is not reliably repeatable. Most people cannot maintain that level of marketing while maintaining an income (as a consultant) effectively. If they could, every programmer would try to transition into making 5 figures a week as a consultant instead of making $100-200k with a stable job.

The $4k/week thing isn't since pretty much any decent consultant can command $100/hr which is what that weekly billing works out to.

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I used to have a similar scarcity mentality --- thinking that because other people were successful, it was like the lottery -- based purely on chance.

But I learned over time to develop a abundance mentality -- rather than say 'it can't be done' -- to change my mode of thinking to say 'how did they do it, and is there anything for me to learn.'

A consultant making 5 figures a week is not a unicorn, it's not even that uncommon. But it's not just coding -- there's other steps that are also necessary but not sufficient. Building a reputation, building a following (a blog or email newsletter is a good way to get started), meeting people who open doors, etc.

Please provide literally any evidence you have that the average consultant can reliably and repeatedly generate 5-figures-a-week-individual consultancy. I can already tell you no such evidence exists but if you want to search for it, you are free to do so.

> I used to have a similar scarcity mentality --- thinking that because other people were successful, it was like the lottery -- based purely on chance.

> But I learned over time to develop a abundance mentality -- rather than say 'it can't be done' -- to change my mode of thinking to say 'how did they do it, and is there anything for me to learn.'

You probably should look up 'reliably' and 'repeatable' and the definition of those words. You really should not attack a straw man.

I just understand the probability of X event is Y and I'm not naive enough to try to talk myself into wasting energy on low probability paths.

The 5 figures a week consultancy path is exactly such a low probability path.

5-figures a week is a high number, no doubt.

But are you saying there is NO way to improve one's position in life and income? That, if a path can't be shown repeatedly and reliably in a double-blind clinical study, there is no value in attempting to improve oneself?

Do you believe income is fixed, and that if you can't hit a five figure mark, well -- you might as well not try?

> But are you saying there is NO way to improve one's position in life and income?

I never stated that was the case.

> That, if a path can't be shown repeatedly and reliably in a double-blind clinical study, there is no value in attempting to improve oneself?

Money, beyond a basic level of ~$1k/week is mostly useless other than speeding up retirement.

> Do you believe income is fixed, and that if you can't hit a five figure mark, well -- you might as well not try?

You seem to think money = improving yourself = important.

I'm honestly more worried about you as a fellow human being and the misalignment of your goals than I am about whether I make $10k a week or $1k a week.

There are plenty of reasons to take a steady job over running a business, even a very lucrative business. I’ve done both; no stressing over Christmas on whether a check will arrive soon enough in January or February to pay for my tax assessment in March has non-zero value to it. Paternity leave was pretty nice. I get to devote a supermajority of my professional efforts to work rather than devoting 10% to business administration and 20% to sales/marketing.

Consultants with relatively high rates are not unicorns, any more than lawyers or doctors with high rates are. This is not just repeatable, this is a fairly reasonable career path, much like “work at AppAmaGooBookSoft” is a lucrative but well-trod career path. (Which, btw, have in-the-door offers for mid-career professionals which are reasonably competitive with running a full-time consultancy at $30k/week.)

> Consultants with relatively high rates are not unicorns, any more than lawyers or doctors with high rates are. This is not just repeatable, this is a fairly reasonable career path, much like “work at AppAmaGooBookSoft” is a lucrative but well-trod career path. (Which, btw, have in-the-door offers for mid-career professionals which are reasonably competitive with running a full-time consultancy at $30k/week.)

You are seriously going to engage me with the argument that $600k+ (20 weeks of paid engagements @ $30k/week) a year in income + benefits is common?

I think you have a greatly inflated opinion of what the top 25% of software developers get paid let alone what is reasonable and repeatable.

It honestly sounds like you think $100/hr is the upper limit of consulting earnings.

There are at least some people making $250/hr+ as a technical consultant. Is it 0.01%, 0.1% or 1%? Who knows.

But it's possible, and it's possible to get there if you're strategic about it.

> Is it 0.01%, 0.1% or 1%? Who knows.

I said it wasn't common which you are acknowledging. Simply because less some small percentage of people can mange it doesn't make it repeatable.

That person making 5 figures per week often doesn't need or want to be working 'repeatably' or have a full schedule. A couple folks I know charge $15k-$20k/week, but they only care to take on a few of those per year, while pursuing other interests (other business ideas, etc). Even $30k/week is still selling time for money, and "isn't scalable" - maxing out at $1.5m/year even fully booked, which few are.

I'm talking about number of people able to do it rather than the specific individuals who have gotten into that position.

Are they in-person jobs?

Why can they not maintain that level of marketing? What is stopping them?

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