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Re: Using the Writing Center to Make Money
WINTHROP UNIVERSITY Electronic Mail Message
Date: 13-Jul-1997 08:25am EST
From: Josephine K. Tarvers
TARVERSJ
Dept: English
Tel No: (803) 323-4557
TO: Remote Addressee ( _smtp%"wcenter@ttacs6.ttu.edu" )
Subject: Re: Using the Writing Center to Make Money
Like Pat and Jeanne, I have some reservations about what might potentially be a
good way to link a center with the larger community--that is, using it as a
consultant. But having run a consulting firm, and run a writing center at a
business (for Bell Labs), I want to pose a few questions that you might want to
think about before diving in.
1. Priorities. Usually corporate clients are on tight deadlines. They want it
now, if not yesterday. If you are short-staffed, who gets first priority--the
corporate person who needs help with her proposal or the freshman who needs help
with the essay due tomorrow? There will be pressure to put the corp client first
because s/he is a "paying" client. What will your policy be for handling
priorities, and will your administration support it?
2. Administrative costs. Running separate schedules and providing separate sets
of handouts, materials, etc., is expensive. Is your institution willing to
provide you with separate secretarial support (people, computer, copier)?
Who will pay for your fax machine, phone bills, mounting your corporate
consulting web page?
3. Marketing. There are good consulting firms out there who want the business
from those companies. They market, they network, they make cold calls, etc. Who
will do that for the Writing Center consulting service? Will you as director be
expected to do that as part of your duties? Do you want to do that, are you
trained to do that, will you be paid appropriately for doing that? (My marketing
people got bonuses for bringing in new client business. Will your budget allow
that, for instance?)
4. Training. The kinds of consulting your colleague suggests involve some highly
specialized knowledge and experience. Do your tutor/consultants have that
knowledge base and expertise? If not, how will they get it, or will you get
tutor/consultants who can offer it? Will the university provide/pay for training
for your consultants?
4. Fees. Pat is only touching the tip of the iceberg in his fee discussion. Your
community may not tolerate your charging fees comparable to consultants in your
area, because you are already "paid" by the taxpayers. You will have to either
set lower fees (in which case less money will trickle down to your GAs) or be
willing to spend a good deal of time justifying charging professional rates for
professional services. And if you charge what the other consultants in your area
charge, you will find yourself back in the marketing game--what will you have to
offer to have a client select your group instead of your competition's services?
5. Market. There is a lot less business out there for writing consulting than
there was ten years ago; the market (and corporate budgets) shrunk in the age of
downsizing. Corporate budgets for training and performance coaching are on
average about 35% less than they were in 1991. Before you commit the Center to
paying its GA's way through consulting, you need to know there is a market out
there--this will require a thorough, preferably professional market analysis.
Is your Center equipped to perform one, or is there a department at your
institution who can perform one? (And who will pay for it?) Given my own
experience, I would not encourage ANYONE--either a Center or an individual--to
try to support themselves by writing consulting without knowing exactly what the
market is. Anecdotal evidence is not enough.
6. Rhythm. The major times for corporate demand is at the end of quarters (end
of March, June, October, December), with June and December the busiest. Will you
have enough consultants around in the last ten days of December or of June to
handle demand? In late March and late October (midterm season), how busy is your
Center and will you be able to handle extra corporate demand?
7. Networking. Will the university pay for the Center to join the Association of
Professional Writing Consultants, the American Society for Training and
Development, and other professional networks for consultants? Or do they want
you to act like pros but not join them?
8. Revenue Stream. Your colleague suggested this as a way to pay for GAs in the
department. Will the Center GAs get this money, or will it be spread around the
department? I.E., will your GAs be supporting themselves or other students
through their labors? Consulting is also not consistent; sometimes you have a
lot of work, while at other times you will not. Will you be able to make a
steady weekly payroll with this revenue stream? What happens if a corp client
pays late or disputes the bill? Will the GA's check bounce? (And who will handle
billing and bookkeeping, btw? If it goes through the University, it may take an
extra month for the money to appear in your account.)
This is not meant to be a wet blanket for your plans. But having been there
myself, I know there are a lot of pitfalls lurking in the world of consulting,
and don't want you to have to repeat the mistakes I made! ;-) If your colleagues
see the complexity of this issue, rather than think of it as "Oh, the Center can
generate money for us," you may be able to have a productive discussion and set
up an arrangement beneficial to everyone. I hope for your sake that this can
happen.
Good luck!
Jo
-----------------
Jo Koster Tarvers
Department of English and Writing Center
Winthrop University
Rock Hill, SC 29733 USA
(803-323-4557 voice) (803-323-4837 fax)
tarversj@winthrop.edu
"This writing business, pencils and what-not. Overrated if you ask me."--Eeyore