Building Your Power BI Business from Scratch

Managing your financial situation without relying on a job can't be understated.

But lucky for us, the kind of technical work we do doesn't fit the mould of your traditional 9-5 job, which unlocks a unique opportunity that I'll explain.

Unfortunately, it's not for the faint-hearted; why?

A trade-off between security and money.

Read on.

Making a lot of money from a job is hard

You can't realistically expect to build a life you love working a job.

• Your time is monopolised.
• Your playing by someone else's rules
• There's only one CEO per company
• Proof: only 3% of working Australians earned over $200k

There's a better way, starting with owning your own business. Specifically, a Power BI consulting business.

Here's how to do it:

Step 1: Find jobs accepting B2B contractors

Contractors provide many advantages to businesses:

• No addition to FTE
• Accounted for under CAPEX, not OPEX
• No workplace insurance
• No technical devices, no desk allocation, no holiday/sick pay

Some jobs actively state they're a contracting role. Others aren't so obvious, but one way to find out is to jump on the job boards and ask the recruiter:

"Just curious, but would you consider a contractor for this role?"

Then cycle in a few of the above bullet points stating why hiring a contractor over an employee is in their best interests and bolt on to the end that you've done this multiple times before, have a system, and will ultimately be quicker than an employee.

Step 2: Get legal

Choose a name and set up a PTY LTD company (an LLC in the USA).

It can't be a sole trader arrangement, as no agencies will work with you.

Whatever it's called, it needs to be a separate entity from your personal identity (lawyers will say the entity can sue and be sued).

Take out some form of professional indemnity and public liability insurance before starting work.

Read the contract, as your client may have other insurance/legal requirements you need to fulfil.

Disclaimer: This is general advice. Seek proper legal counsel before entering into any of the above.

Step 3: Get your offer down

Power BI consultants can charge anywhere from $500 - $1500 daily, depending on experience. And before you go salivating at such a high rate, remember that it includes your sick and annual leave, insurance, superannuation (401K), and GST.

Oh, and it can evaporate overnight.

For that day rate, your offer should include the following:

• Pre-project assessment: who, what, where, when, and how.
• Data wrangling
• Power BI development
• Testing (UT, SIT, UAT) and revisions
• Documentation
• Hypercare

(Don't know what some of those items mean? Well, go learn about them...)

Along with:

• Stakeholder management, workshops, meetings, emails.

You can see that those rates start to look smaller and smaller for all the tasks for which a Power BI contractor is responsible.

It also becomes apparent that technical skills alone are insufficient to launch a Power BI consulting company.

A final thought to ponder

This life is not for everyone. Some people thrive, and some people don't.

There have been times when I've felt sick to my stomach worrying about the unknown. But, as mentioned above, contracting roles can disappear from under your feet - with no warning.

The question you need to ask revolves around a trade-off between security and money.

The mechanics look something like this:

Unfortunately, I don't have the answer for you, and I dare say the answer isn't on the Internet. It's somewhere inside of you, and if you need to chat about it, my inbox is always open.