As many of you know, I do Macromedia seminars around the world. A fair number of participants are independent contractors. The number one question I get asked isn't about the latest programming techniques in Flash or how to develop dynamic pages in Dreamweaver. The number one question is: How do I market and charge for my services?

I always hear a collective gasp when I say that I usually charge a minimum of $250,000. I also make that the wake-up call to the participants. There are a large number of facts to support my position.

For starters, get rid of the "hourly-rate" mentality.

Think about any number of sports figures today. Why do team owners pay them tens of millions of dollars? The answer is quite simple: because those team owners are making considerably more as a result of the high-paid player.

Imagine for a second that you are called in to build the reservation system for ABC Hotel. ABC Hotel projects that it will receive $5 million in additional annual bookings as a result the site. Because of your skills, you can build the system in 100 hours. Considering that the average consultant is charging about $75 an hour, conventional thinking will dictate a fee of $7,500. Just think about that: charging $7,500 so that someone else can make $5 million.

Would charging something like $250,000, or even $500,000, be out of line? Of course not! Yet I see stuff like that happen everyday.

The answer is never an hourly rate, but what is it worth to someone.

As a society, we tend to be more concerned about the price than the worth. Something is only expensive if the rate of return is a low percentage compared to what we paid. A MacDonald's food franchise may seem prohibitively expensive. However, when you find out that you will make that investment back within a year or two, with a considerable profit, suddenly the price seems irrelevant.

Bottom line: think in terms of percentage rather than price.

The next question is how we position ourselves to get the large enterprise sites. The process will usually go something like this:

Get your name out there by publishing a lot. Publishing will not get you work directly; instead, consider it your letter of introduction. It has been my experience that when you publish, people are more willing to speak with you and, in some cases, will even seek you out.

Along with publishing, attend trade shows such as MAX and FlashForward. Go to the event well-armed with business cards; be aggressive about both collecting and handing-out cards. Once again, if you have already published, that is a great door-opener.

Finally, enterprise websites will not come to you directly. Affiliate yourself with major consulting firms such as PriceWaterhouse, and so on. Again, you will see them at the trade shows and, if you have published, the door is open for you to market.

If I had to break the whole thing down to one word, it would be: networking.

In many respects, this is just as important as keeping your technical skills a bit ahead of the curve. If you do your job correctly, you will soon get a great reputation and will be a sought-after, high-paid consultant.

As a final bit of advice: always look toward the future and never to the past. Try to get a feel as to where the market is going and then try to get there before anyone else.

Each day offers us new opportunities: learn to take advantage of them.