Ask HN: Consultants, what problem are you solving for companies?
One thing that stuck with me when reading Sebastian Marshall and patio11 is the idea of charging weekly rates. Sadly I don't think it applies to me. I think the key issue is I am not solving the right kind of business problem by marketing myself as web developer. There are lots of web developers so I am somewhat of a commodity. In effect I am selling my hourly programming labor.
What I need to do is find a business problem I can solve and market myself as the solution. Then I can charge based on the value I am providing rather than the hours I am putting in. If I can show I provide $100,000 of value then I could maybe charge $6,000 a week and how much time I spent working would be less relevant to the client.
The above outlines my understanding of the difference between a consultant and a contractor and why consultants are paid more. My understanding is consultants provide a solution to a problem whereas contractors provide raw labor. I think of it as a spectrum between labor and product. Consultants are closer to being a product rather than labor.
So I'm looking for examples of how other people market themselves as consultants rather than "programmer labor" so I can come up with my own idea.