First, look in your local Yellow Pages under "Engineer, Structural" and see how many pages there are. In a town of any size the listings run to many pages. You need to ask yourself "why would someone select me rather than these 200 other guys?" What differentiates you? From what I've read on eng-tips.com, Structural Engineers pull their client pool from: (1) homeowners (not willing to pay much); (2) contractors; or (3) architects. You can get in with the first group through your Yellow Pages add (expensive for a low return, but most Structural firms feel that it is necessary).
That leaves the other two groups. They are going to find SE's through word-of-mouth (not much use for a start up), personal contacts through industry societies, trade shows, and community involvement. You have to remember that these guys are getting hit by 20 hungry SE's a month and will mostly throw a cold call in the trash. Were I you, I'd:
[ul]
[li]Become an officer in your local professional society[/li]
[li]Write a few papers for journals/conferences, there are a lot of both that are screaming for quality content[/li]
[li]Build a web page that has content of value (the pages that just say your name and e-mail don't get much traffic, you have to give people a reason to come back)[/li]
[li]Get active here at eng-tips.com (all of my current [industrial] clients found me through my activity here, followed the link in my signature, and asked themselves "if he's giving this much content away for free what do I get if I pay him?")[/li]
[/ul]
None of this pays the bills the first quarter, and maybe not the second or third quarter either. When I started my ME firm I had a year's operating and living expenses in the bank, not relying on having any billable hours for 12 months. It turned out that I did better than that, but so what? If you plan on no revenue for a quarter and it goes to two quarters then you are out of business and maybe in receivership. If you plan for no revenue for a year and break even in the first quarter then you are profitable with money in the bank which is never a bad thing.
One other thing, diversity is key. For my first two quarters I had one client, they paid really well, but they were the only client. When that client decided to move the work I was doing in to company employees I was out in the cold with zero clients. Kind of scary after a gang-busters start. I still had my reserve to carry me until I found may second and third clients, but it was still scary. After that I have always had 2-3 active clients and 3-4 others that were either current with no active projects or prospective--I make it a point to keep in close touch with both of these groups.
David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering
Law is the common force organized to act as an obstacle of injustice Frédéric Bastiat
