There is just a wealth of information out there and, with the state of the economy, the information is growing. That said, probably the best way to get a sense of what it takes, especially in your area of the country, is to talk to lots of other consultants near you. Check out the official Apple Consultants Network page and find ones that are near you. Get in touch with them and let them know you are thinking about getting into it. Most everyone I know will be very helpful with what it is like in your area and how to get started. Is there a glut of Mac consultants, so getting clients is hard? Is there a particular niche that is in dire need where you are that you can fill? Things like this are useful to know and they will be the only ones who can tell you.

Secondly certification and training, it is crucial. It is not enough to think you know what you are doing, to have any credibility whatsoever you must prove it. Apple does have an official certification program that covers both Mac OS X client and server but also many of the Pro Apps. Take the test, get the paper, join the Apple Consultants Network – be legit. The Apple Blog recently had a good write up on this:

Complete Guide to Apple Certification and Training

As for me, I decided early on to focus on a market that was very underserved – individuals, very small businesses, and very small non-profits (generally 5 machines or less). These are folks that had no one to turn to and the larger tech consulting firms in town were charging up to $150.00 an hour and focused on medium sized businesses and creative agencies. Far more than most small folks and individuals can afford. Since my goal is to never be more than a “company of one” and my overhead and expenses are low, I could charge $75.00 per hour, half the standard rate, and serve this market at a price the people I wanted to serve could afford.

I should also state that I have held full time jobs for most of the time I have been doing this (over 10 years now). This is the sort of thing that may take years before you are able to have a client base large enough to be able to sustain you and yours. I recently read this post over at Lifehacker which is as good as any at explaining how to balance this fact of life so that it is sustainable:

How to Start Freelancing (Without Quitting Your Job)

Also, my friend Randy Murray recently offered up some good advice should you be starting from a point of not having a job (or still looking for one):

Make Your Own Way – Life Without Full-Time Employment

Finally (and this is the most important part), it takes a certain balance of personality traits to be able to do this day in and day out. I like to say it takes an even balance of patience and tenacity. You have to be the sort of person who will exhaust every possibility in search of a fix to a client problem and, then, have the know-how and finesse to tell them what to do next if you are not able to solve it. They are looking to you, hero, for the answer or, short of that, where to find it – because they haven’t a clue. You also have to be able to explain the same thing, over and over, multiple ways, until you find the one that clicks for each client. Then, once you figure out their ideal learning style, you have to remember and apply that to save you from having to do that dance over and over again, much to your mutual frustration.

Oh, and I know I said “finally” above, but we are still on the same subject of personality types so, I get a pass… What you want to be is a Mac Consultant, and you will be, but it won’t be your primary job. Your actual job description is this:

Frustration Removal Agent and Simplifier of Difficult Things

(P.S. Don’t bother using that on a business card by the way, I already beat you to it.)

Seriously, before you even begin to troubleshoot a problem, your first task will usually be to talk your client down from a ledge of frustration and angst so high – from whatever crisis has brought you in – that they will not even hear the words coming out of our mouth until you do. Then, you will calmly explain to them that there is no problem that does not have some solution, even if that solution is throwing the damn thing out the window. You have now not only reassured them but also empathized with their frustration. Now, you can get to work doing that thing that the paper you earned said you were good at.

In closing, I really hope this gives you a nudge in the right direction. I can confirm, from years of experience, that there is nothing more challenging or rewarding than doing something you love and getting paid for it. And, (Of course there is a pitch. I do so at every opportunity. So should you.), if you want to pick my brain even further on this stuff via phone, book a Remote Support call with me via the Appointment Widget at Machine Methods (that little red tab on the right). I love to help others get started and $25.00 a pop is a small price to pay for one on one business coaching.

As a matter of fact, remainders are my dirty little lazy secret. When I felt like I had not posted here in a while, and I need to post something, I simply went through the starred items I had racked up in Google Reader and collected them together with links, bullet points and the least real thought possible. In a way, I thought this was real content. I thought this satisfied my obligation to keep up with this little online publishing thing I have going on. Of course, this was a lie.

The fact of the matter is that this was really nothing better than many of the blogs I regularly decry. They are filled with entry after entry of what I like to call “list posts”. I know you must have seen them… “50 ways to be the king of your world” or some other such title. I could count off 10 or so “productivity” blogs that are filled with these types of posts. Why are these posts popular? I think for the blogger it is because they are easy to write. Tick of a list, throw in some links, and no real writing has to be done.

Not only that but, for whatever reason, these types of posts done by bloggers seem to draw traffic! Precious, precious traffic. Traffic is the commodity upon which bloggers dreams are built. More traffic means more clicks on ads. More clicks means more money. More money means you might just be able to turn this little hobby into a real paying gig. It is the same reason people play the lottery, the hope of little effort in return for a big payoff. Nothing wrong with trying to make a little scratch I guess, but wouldn’t it feel better to, I don’t know, feel like you were being rewarded for actually doing something? Won’t that help you sleep a little better on top of the pile of cash?

I don’t have ads on my site. I don’t care about traffic. I am not trying to get rich doing this. I also have never done a “list post”. But I would argue, I have done their functional equivalent. Not for money. Not for traffic. Just out of the feeling of having to post something. Lazy.

Well, here is where my gauntlet meets the table. I resolve to be better. I am going to make sure that the content I post here has a voice. I’m going to make sure it is my voice. I refuse to waste time, yours or mine, because time is very precious. More precious than money. One can always make more money but one can’t have back this moment… Or this one.

Now, this is not to say that there have not been posts here that I have been really proud of. There are a lot of them. Like this one, and this one. I just want to make sure that, I am bringing that kind of quality with every single post here and, if not, I wont post at all.

P.S. Thanks Merlin.

Stepcase Lifehack has been doing a good series called Back to Basics about getting back to the bare bones of GTD. Here is a sampling:

• Back to Basics: Capture Your Ideas

• Back to Basics: Your Inbox

• Back to Basics: Processing

I personally find these sorts of little refreshers helpful in staying on the right path. I never tire of reading them.

I also will never tire of Merlin Mann dropping the mad science on the troubles with e-mail overload as he does in the post NYT: Businesses Fight the Email Monster They Helped Create.

Here is a post that resonated with me from Unclutterer… What to do if you are organized and your partner isn’t. Luckily, Princess Bethany and I deal pretty well with this issue (and I will leave it to you dear reader to decide whom is who in this equation).

Kelly Forrister of DavidCo recommends using that too-late-to-start-anything 4pm Friday slot in your workday for a context she calls @BrainToast. That is, regular maintenance type things that we all seem to forget way too often.

Linda Stone asks – Is it Time to Retire the Never-Ending List? Hmmm…. Princess Bethany has regular fantasies about completing everything on her “Big List”.

Perhaps you are stuck getting through that list. Well, here is a good primer on How to Jump Start a Listless Action List at Tool for Thought.

By now, I am sure you are aware of my affinity for the simple daily todo list. Here is one take on how to format such a list.

Finally, my beautiful and brilliant wife, Princess Bethany, offers up her Top Ten List of How to be Productive With a New Baby.

There are some new and updated GTD Apps that may be of interest to you.

First off, if you live in GMail and have yet to give GTDInbox a try, now may be a good time. This Firefox extension converts GMail into a “productivity and personal management powerhouse”. It has recently been updated to version 2 and contains a bunch of new features.

If GMail is not your thing, maybe you want to give GTDAgenda a try. It is a new GTD based web application that is aiming to be the solution to all of your GTD needs. It contains it has all the tools required for getting your Org-fu on, like goals, projects and tasks, contexts, next actions, checklists, schedules and calendar.

Then again, maybe you have a Mac running Leopard (Mac OS 10.5). Well then, Dennis Best says that you really don’t need a specific GTD application – you have all of the tools you need right there in Leopard. He makes a pretty convincing argument for using iCal, Mail.app, smart folders in the Finder, and many other default tools to string together a pretty workable system.

• My current favorite little pocket notebooks, Field Notes, have themselves a whole new redesigned website. They even have a nice little call out to my friend Ryan’s review. Check these things out if you have never heard of them. I know I have mentioned them before. Really good stuff.

• My friend Brad Blackman at Mysterious Flame reminds us all to do the right thing by keeping your Inbox the Inbox. Mark it clearly for you and the whole world to see if you need some help.

• I can’t say enough good things about this review at Lifehack.org of David Allen’s “Weekly Review” Audiobook. As a matter of fact, It might be too good. The review is so comprehensive in covering the main topics and ideas expressed in the Audiobook itself, you may not even need it after reading the review. There is a metric ton of goodness here for any of you GTDers out there. A must read… There, have I said enough good things yet?

• Speaking of “The David“, did you catch the wonderful three part interview with him over at Web Worker Daily? No? Clear a little time and work your way through it. Time well spent.

• I can seem to go a month without posting something about the 37 Signals guys but, hey, it is not my fault. Tell them to stop being so damn cool. Take some of the workspace experiments they are trying out amongst themselves. Four day workweeks are standard, paying for peoples hobbies and passions, liberal discretionary spending policies. Every business, especially the small ones, should take serious note of this. Happy, less stressed, content employes mean more productivity – not less.

• Need a little more focus from your meeting participants? Go topless. No, really, it is not what you think.

I have recently been impressed by the number of great posts on meditation, mindfulness, zen practices and Buddhism that have been popping up amongst my productivity blog brethren and sisterhood. Here are just a few of the better ones that have caught my attention:

• 43 Folders: Video: Jon Kabat-Zinn on mindfulness and “falling awake” – This is a great commentary and link to a fantastic video of noted meditation and mindfulness expert, Jon Kabat-Zinn. The video was taken at a recent talk he did a Google. If you would like some sort of low impact introduction into the practice of these techniques, I can think of no better place to start than here. The video is longish (about an hour) but well worth tuning out for a bit to tune in.

• Zen Habits: 12 Essential Rules to Live More Like a Zen Monk – A few things that you can take away from the way a buddhist monk lives their daily practice. These include, doing one thing at a time, doing these things slowly, completely and with a deliberate effort to do less in order to appreciate and enjoy more.

• Dumb Little Man: Meditation Techniques for the Busy or Impatient – Meditation does not have to be some difficult, time consuming, years to master task that a lot of people perceive it to be. As a matter of fact, you can incorporate simple meditation into many ordinary daily activities. This post covers exactly that. The shower meditation is a particular favorite of mine. Good stuff.

Kudos to all who continue to allow this stuff to bubble up to the surface. I deeply believe that freedom from stress and worry is only achieved when we learn to let go of the past, allow the future to remain in place, and take real, honest, compassionate, right minded, action in the present. After all, if you waste energy worrying about things you can’t change, then you miss spending that energy right here and now – in this very moment- on the things you can.

Proving that you can implement the Getting Things Done system with anything, Kelly Forrister of DavidCo shares an Excel template for GTD that she designed for a client. My little Excel addict, Princess Bethany, would be quite proud.

Are you using Jott yet? Why not? It is the greatest invention since the delete key. I mean, you can make voice notes and have them translated into text and dispatched off to you e-mail inbox, friends or a variety other services. And it’s free! It is truly every kind of awesome. Not only that but Dustin Wax at Lifehack.org has an excellent tutorial on using it to get your GTD on.

Merlin wants to remind you that, while you are doing that capture, via Jott or any other method, make sure you give as much context to that capture as is needed to remember what it is about.

I have to say, it is nice to see Gina at Lifehacker catching the Levenger Circa bug. Addiction LOVES company.

Speaking of Gina and GTD, she practices a much simplified version of it that may just be a revelation to you.

Finally on the GTD front, if you are having issues with getting on board and staying on board, perhaps you need to follow Brett Kelly’s advice and learn that this is about getting into a habit. Getting a system down and working it. Capture, Process, Do, Review, Rinse, Repeat.

Oh, and don’t forget my three favorite productivity tools – The Trash Can, The Delete Key, and The Word “No”.

David Seah has updated all of his print-it-yourself task planning forms for the new year including his wonderful Emergent Task Planner. I use this at work frequently when I want to drill down and focus in on getting a few tasks done. I use them enough that I bought some of the pre-printed version. Good stuff.

David Seah takes a turn with the Inka Pen, a highly portable pen that can attach to your keychain. He seems to like it a lot, despite the fact it gets him stopped by theTSA because it looks like it could be part of a bomb makers toolkit.

Looking to lead a “paperless” life? Well, that is impossible but you can reduce, digitize and organize it better. This is the best article/whitepaper I have seen thus far on how one person gets their paper on, and off. It’s 43 Folders so you know it’s legit.

Dustin Wax at Lifehack.org has some neat index card hackery. The main thing is how to make the ever-so-hard-to-find vertically oriented ones. Of course, that is another reason I just buy the Levenger brand.

Along the same lines, my friend Ryan is rocking it again. This time, he is mashing up Field Notes Brand notebooks with Levenger Pocket Briefcases. Anyone who has seen my well battered Field Notes cover will understand how much the speaks to me.

Lifehacker has a good rundown of how to use the nifty new To-Do features Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) Mail.

Lifehack.org had a great post about the ninja notetaking skills of Thomas Edison. This guy was a badass when it came to the art of paper and pen and his copious notes span five million pages. Both inspiring and daunting for sure but this article outlines some great take away advice.

I know these sorts of lists are becoming ubiquitous Digg-bait, but here is 24 things you can do with an index card – exactly 17 of which are really useful.

Here’s a great video of a casual talk that Merlin Mann gave at IDEO. He is looped up on cold meds so he is extra talkative. It is kind of funny actually.

Looking to outsource your life a la Tim Ferriss? Well, here are a couple of posts by someone who has. First covered is how to prepare for doing so. Then, another post covering actually doing it, the success and the pitfalls.

New site alert!!! Brassing Adds Character is a new blog devoted to paper pr0n and analog love. The first few posts cover Dixon Tri-Conderoga pencils and some Levenger hacking. Awesome!