Consulting from home...

I have posted on this Blog recently about life in MCS.  This probably holds true for consulting engagements in general.  Setting a comfortable travel schedule is really important when you are on the road all the time.  On the other hand, this travel schedule would need to be negotiated with the client.  In my case, that negotiation is not done by me, so I have very little to say in that.  Once things get rolling and you get acquainted with the client, you can probably figure out a good way to balance this.

Working from home is an interesting idea.  On paper it seems to make sense.  If you are writing documentation, why would you need to be at the client's location?  Depending on your situation, you may get more interuptions at a client site than from little kids at home!  For short periods this might work, but in the long run, I believe a big part of consulting is building relationships with the customer.  Having face time to discuss the issues and iron out questions can go a long way in building a deeper level of trust.  If you are at home all the time, they tend to forget about you and start to stop seeing the value.  You could do this here and there, but not all the time.