????親愛(ài)的安妮：有位朋友給我遞來(lái)你那篇討論自由職業(yè)者如何才能確保獲得報(bào)酬的專(zhuān)欄文章，我一直收藏著，以防哪一天我也碰到這類(lèi)問(wèn)題。但我的職業(yè)生涯目前還沒(méi)有發(fā)展到那個(gè)階段。我現(xiàn)在擁有一份全職工作，這幾年輾轉(zhuǎn)多家雇主之后，我已經(jīng)在一個(gè)高度專(zhuān)業(yè)化的IT領(lǐng)域建立起了善于解決各種疑難雜癥的聲譽(yù)，其他公司現(xiàn)在常常給我打電話，想了解我能否利用業(yè)余時(shí)間為他們做一些項(xiàng)目。所以，我正考慮出去單干。問(wèn)題是，我不知道如何確定收費(fèi)方式和標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。按小時(shí)，按天，還是按項(xiàng)目？顧問(wèn)究竟應(yīng)該如何確定收費(fèi)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)（比如每小時(shí)收多少錢(qián)）？——一位來(lái)自?shī)W斯丁的焦慮者

????親愛(ài)的焦慮者：正如凱特?溫德?tīng)栴D所言，“收費(fèi)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)無(wú)窮無(wú)盡，”這也難怪你毫無(wú)頭緒。身為全國(guó)職業(yè)咨詢(xún)網(wǎng)絡(luò)“五點(diǎn)鐘俱樂(lè)部”（The Five O'Clock Club）總裁的溫德?tīng)栴D這些年來(lái)既雇傭過(guò)許多顧問(wèn)和自由職業(yè)者，也指導(dǎo)過(guò)不少自立門(mén)戶(hù)的專(zhuān)業(yè)人士。她說(shuō)：“收費(fèi)結(jié)構(gòu)的變體幾乎是無(wú)限的。”

????例如，在一些領(lǐng)域，公司支付的是“成功費(fèi)”（也就是說(shuō)，“如果相關(guān)項(xiàng)目運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)良好，你會(huì)獲得一大筆報(bào)酬，但如果項(xiàng)目搞砸了，你就沒(méi)有任何報(bào)酬，”溫德?tīng)栴D說(shuō)）或者某種修改版本，比如，有一種成功費(fèi)有最低酬勞保證，無(wú)論結(jié)果如何。“如果你正在與一家初創(chuàng)公司合作，你或許會(huì)同意收取以股票形式支付的報(bào)酬，”溫德?tīng)栴D說(shuō)。“其他常見(jiàn)的報(bào)酬安排包括預(yù)付聘金，傭金，銷(xiāo)售額提成。如果你的工作是主持研討會(huì)，那就可以按人頭計(jì)算。當(dāng)然還可以按小時(shí)，按天計(jì)算酬勞，或者采用上述方式的某種組合。”

????聽(tīng)起來(lái)很復(fù)雜，但決定服務(wù)價(jià)格的基本因素通常只有兩個(gè)。首先是市場(chǎng)的承受能力，尤其是當(dāng)你只是剛剛起步的時(shí)候。為避免要價(jià)過(guò)低或者提出超過(guò)客戶(hù)愿意支付額度的要價(jià)，溫德?tīng)栴D建議，“最好先了解一下，在你所在的行業(yè)，像你這種專(zhuān)業(yè)水準(zhǔn)通常收取多少費(fèi)用。”

????如果你在IT顧問(wèn)圈內(nèi)沒(méi)有熟人，沒(méi)辦法打聽(tīng)行情，你可以問(wèn)問(wèn)你所在公司的同事，甚至可以向老同事詢(xún)問(wèn)相關(guān)信息。你還可以在商務(wù)社交網(wǎng)站 LinkedIn上搜尋IT咨詢(xún)費(fèi)用的大致范圍以及典型的收費(fèi)結(jié)構(gòu)。溫德?tīng)栴D建議，尤其有必要向你所在領(lǐng)域那些經(jīng)常聘請(qǐng)顧問(wèn)的經(jīng)理人討教，了解他們通常采用的付費(fèi)方式和標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。

????你需要弄清楚的第二件事情是你自己的開(kāi)銷(xiāo)，即你需要賺取多少顧問(wèn)費(fèi)才能收回成本。溫德?tīng)栴D列舉了這樣一道數(shù)學(xué)題：先用你目前的工資加上獎(jiǎng)金（為了舉例方便起見(jiàn)，我們假定你每年的工資加獎(jiǎng)金為5萬(wàn)美元），再加上這一數(shù)字的20%——這是你目前的雇主為你支付的醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)和工資稅。用計(jì)算結(jié)果（6萬(wàn)美元）除以你合理預(yù)期的年均工作小時(shí)。每年需要剔除包括節(jié)日在內(nèi)的10個(gè)休息日，以及4周的假期和病休時(shí)間，所以溫德?tīng)栴D建議把每年的有效工作時(shí)間確定為1,600小時(shí)。

????然后用6萬(wàn)美元除以1,600小時(shí)，計(jì)算出時(shí)薪為37.50美元。這就是你的開(kāi)銷(xiāo)。溫德?tīng)栴D指出，這一數(shù)值僅僅與你目前的收入持平。但你的計(jì)算還沒(méi)完。你不僅有可能無(wú)法全部完成這1,600小時(shí)的工作時(shí)間，而且必須運(yùn)營(yíng)你自己的辦公室，購(gòu)買(mǎi)你自己的醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)，全額支付社保金，積攢一些度假開(kāi)銷(xiāo)，充實(shí)退休計(jì)劃資金儲(chǔ)備，還需支付目前由你的雇主承擔(dān)的其他費(fèi)用。

????這就是為什么溫德?tīng)栴D認(rèn)為，“確定短期咨詢(xún)費(fèi)的經(jīng)驗(yàn)法則是，你的小時(shí)費(fèi)率應(yīng)該是成本的兩倍。”就我們正在討論的這個(gè)例子而言，小時(shí)費(fèi)率應(yīng)該是37.50美元的兩倍，即75.00美元。一旦你計(jì)算好你的小時(shí)費(fèi)率，你就可以用它作為基準(zhǔn)來(lái)設(shè)定你的收費(fèi)額度。例如，一位潛在客戶(hù)有一個(gè)估計(jì)需要花費(fèi)你120個(gè)小時(shí)的項(xiàng)目。如果按照小時(shí)費(fèi)率75.00美元來(lái)計(jì)算，你的要價(jià)將是9000美元。

????“請(qǐng)記住，有人會(huì)判定你是否值這個(gè)價(jià)，但其中有很大的靈活性，”溫德?tīng)栴D說(shuō)。“如果還有許多人能夠以更低的收費(fèi)完成你的工作，招聘經(jīng)理就會(huì)從中隨便挑選一位。另一方面，如果你的技能獨(dú)一無(wú)二，而且很受歡迎，特別是如果你是某一領(lǐng)域的知名專(zhuān)家，客戶(hù)往往愿意支付高于現(xiàn)行市價(jià)的報(bào)酬。”

????有時(shí)候會(huì)獲得高得多的報(bào)酬：溫德?tīng)栴D認(rèn)識(shí)一對(duì)獨(dú)立顧問(wèn)，他們每人都有兩個(gè)大客戶(hù)，每周為每家公司工作兩天，每年向每家公司收取10萬(wàn)美元的固定報(bào)酬。這兩位顧問(wèn)“都在各自的領(lǐng)域耕耘多年，擁有豐富的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，完全配得上這筆酬勞的每一分錢(qián)，”她補(bǔ)充說(shuō)。“如果你自己的職業(yè)生涯能夠發(fā)展到這個(gè)程度，那倒不失為一種不錯(cuò)的謀生方式。”

????反饋：如果你已經(jīng)開(kāi)始獨(dú)立從事顧問(wèn)工作，你怎樣確定收費(fèi)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)？請(qǐng)?jiān)谙旅媪粞栽u(píng)論。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：葉寒

????Dear Annie: A friend sent me your column about how to make sure you get paid if you're freelance, and I'm holding on to it just in case that becomes an issue. But I'm not quite at that stage yet. Right now, I have a full-time job but, after several years moving around among a few different employers, I've built a reputation as a troubleshooter in a highly specialized area of IT, to the point where people at other companies now are calling me to see if I would do projects for them on the side. So I'm thinking about going out on my own as a consultant. The thing is, I have no idea how or what to charge for my services. By the hour, by the day, or per project? And how do consultants decide how much to charge (per hour, for example)? -- Antsy in Austin

????Dear A.A.: It's no wonder you're in the dark about this since "the variety is endless," says Kate Wendleton. As head of national career-counseling network the Five O'Clock Club, Wendleton has both hired her share of consultants and freelancers over the years and coached people who have put out their own shingles. "There are almost infinite variations on fee structures," she notes.

????For instance, in some fields, companies pay a "success fee" (where, "if the project works, you get a big payday -- but if it doesn't, you don't," Wendleton says), or a modified version, like a success fee with a guaranteed minimum you earn regardless of the outcome. "If you're working with a startup, you might agree to be paid in stock," says Wendleton. "Other common arrangements are retainer, commission, percent of sales, per head if you're running seminars, or, of course, per hour or per day -- or some combination of the above."

????As complicated as that sounds, two basic factors will determine how you price your services. The first is what the market will bear, especially when you're just starting out. To avoid either underpricing yourself or charging more than clients are willing to pay, "find out what the standard fees are in your industry, at your level of expertise," Wendleton suggests.

????If you don't know any IT consultants well enough to inquire about this, you might ask around at your own company, and maybe even in the places where you've worked before. You could also ask people on LinkedIn for a general range of IT consulting fees and how they're typically structured. In particular, Wendleton advises, find out from managers in your field who routinely hire consultants what, and how, they typically pay them.

????The second thing you need to figure out is your own overhead, or how much you'd need to earn as a consultant in order to cover your costs. Wendleton lays out the math like this: Take your current salary plus bonus, which we'll say just for the sake of this example is $50,000 per year, and add about 20% for the health insurance and payroll taxes your employer now pays. Then take that $60,000 and divide it by the number of hours you can reasonably expect to work in a year. To figure in 10 days off, including holidays, and four weeks of vacation and sick time annually, Wendleton recommends using 1,600 hours as your guideline.

????Next, divide $60,000 by 1,600, and you arrive at an hourly figure of $37.50. That's your overhead, which Wendleton notes is what it will take just to stay even with what you're now making. But you're not finished yet. Not only is it possible you won't work every one of those 1,600 hours, but you still have to run your own office, buy your own health insurance, pay 100% of your Social Security, put money aside for vacations, fund your own retirement plan, and cover any other costs your employer now bears.

????That's why, Wendleton says, "the rule of thumb for short-term consulting fees is, your hourly rate should be twice your cost" -- in the example we're using, two times $37.50, or $75.00. Once you've arrived at your hourly rate, you can use it as a benchmark to set your fees. Let's say, for instance, that a prospective client has a project you think will take 120 hours to complete. Your fee for that project, at $75.00 per hour, would be $9,000.

????"Remember that someone will be deciding whether or not you're worth it, and there is a lot of flexibility," Wendleton says. "If lots of other people can do what you do for less, hiring managers will just pick someone else. On the other hand, if your skills are unique and in demand, especially if you're a known expert in something, clients will often pay more than the going rate."

????Sometimes much more: Wendleton knows a couple of solo consultants who each have two big clients, work for each company two days a week, and bill each one a flat $100,000 a year. Both consultants "had paid their dues in their respective fields and are worth every dime," she adds. "If you can get to that point in your own career, it's not a bad way to make a living."

????Talkback: If you've worked as an independent consultant, how did you determine what fees to charge clients? Leave a comment below.