The book is split into, essentially, two sections--the first part deals with what it takes to be a successful consultant--and has separate chapters for methodologies, writing proposals, managing (and hiring) staff, retirement strategies, customer service, and garnering good referrals, among other things. These sections are written engagingly, backed by a lot of personal opinions. But to bolster those opinions, in every chapter there is a "Guest Sermon," where Harry finds an expert in the field and asks him for his or her take on the issue at hand. Also scattered through the book are "Ask the Expert" sections, in which the author responds to various e-mails he's received over the course of his career.

Harry tells you how to think in terms of profitability, and always has an eye for the bottom line--something many outwardly professional techies forget. And he's realistic, knowing that it takes a lot of money to stay on top of all the certifications, a lot of nonbillable hours to keep your skills well honed, and a lot of erratic schedules to work effectively with customers from the frenzy of first installation to the slow trudge of occasional patch updates. He gives advice with the full understanding of the unique restraints of the techie professional, and tells you how to work around them.

The latter half of the book gets specific in dealing with various areas that MCSE consultants tend to specialise in, and here too the book is useful--though probably not quite as useful as the first half, since anyone with the experience to go freelance probably already has a fairly well-defined area of specialisation. Still, it breaks most of the major fields down--DBAs, developers, small business, enterprise consulting, dot-com, Exchange--and tells you what sorts of talents you'll need to have to make it.

In short, this is a solidly researched and well-written career book that is easily worth the money for anyone looking to either go freelance or who is looking for ways to improve their existing business. Highly recommended. --William Steinmetz

Product Description
According to the 1999 Salary Survey conducted by MCP Magazine, the average MCSE has 6.8 years of experience. The average selfemployed MCSE consultant with 6  9 years of experience earns $85,000  thats over $8,000 more than the average salary +bonus and benefits package of other MCSEs. There is ademand for MCSEs who can offer a variety of technical expertise and services, and this book will show readers how to create a successful consulting business.

MCSE Consuling Bible walks readers through the issues to consider when making the decision to start their own consulting business and then offers key advice on each aspect of the business from deciding what services to offer, to marketing, to maintaining customer relationships.

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