Re: Using the Writing Center to Make Money

["Writing Consulting: Faculty Resources" <writingc@falcon.cc.ukans.edu>]

On Sun, 13 Jul 1997, JO KOSTER TARVERS wrote:

> 
> 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
> 
> 

A very helpful verbal summary of the issues playing around in my head when
I was working with the numbers.

Pat (Patricia) McQueeney
Writing Consulting:  Faculty Resources
KU's Writing Across the Curriculum Service
(913) 864-4232
http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~writingc/index.html