You can multiply the number of hours you're making money if you farm out jobs and skim money from the top. Stop giving information away. If there's going to be a quid pro quo, ask up front. When you make a pitch, never give away all your stuff. For instance, tell them you have a dozen strategies but detail only one.
Students are still powerful.
It is possible to call up nearly anyone and get information from him or her, if you say you're a student. Most of all, I learned that you can make consulting work an engine of social change, not solely an opportunity for self-advancement. For graduate students, however, consulting might be the ticket to an intellectual career beyond the university's vaunted halls. Michael Erard is a graduate student in English at the University of Texas, Austin. All rights reserved.