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Free Agents at the Top of Their Game
by John Rossheim
Summary
There is such a thing as a dream gig.
The "one-for-love, one-for-money" philosophy.
Working 25 hours a week and making seven figures.
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 Do you ever imagine what life would be like in Free Agent Heaven? Scintillating clients and mind-bending projects would queue up, vying for your attention. You’d travel on business just as much as you like, and each trip would be like an adventure vacation. And your fees would make your rivals queasy with envy.
Some independent professionals don’t have to imagine because they’ve made it happen. Recently we spoke to a New York writer and a "consultant’s consultant," each playing at the top of his game.
Paid to Be Funny
Henry Alford writes for the kind magazines the journalists dream of writing for: Vanity Fair, Travel & Leisure, the New York Times Magazine, and many more. "I was lucky that my first writing job was at Spy magazine, which was a real launching pad for editors," says Alford. When editors left Spy for other publications, he maintained contact, setting the stage for his freelance career, which began 13 years ago.
"With magazine writing, it really helped to have specialized early on," says Alford, who is 38. Alford’s best-known specialty is first-person participatory journalism, which he practiced in his most recent book, Big Kiss: One Actor's Desperate Attempt to Claw His Way to the Top.
Is Alford at the point where he doesn’t have to worry about what he’s getting paid for a particular project? Well, no. "I just bought a house in Connecticut, and that’s been a real kick in the pants" financially, he says. "I subscribe to the one-for-love, one-for-money program of freelancing. Every other assignment is something that I’m really excited about." Alford might get paid a relatively modest $1000 for a 1000-word humor piece, his preferred genre; whereas a magazine feature might earn him a hefty $4000 to $6000.
Getting Paid to Add Value
Management consultant Alan Weiss measures his success in much larger numbers: a $10,000 fee for a 45-minute keynote speech; a cool $100,000 for a one-year retainer. Weiss, founder and president of Summit Consulting Group in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, plies his trade for a variety of organizations, from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to Fleet Bank and GoldMine Software Corp. He even consults other consulting firms -- and big ones at that -- such as Arthur Andersen.
Weiss, the author of Getting Started in Consulting, started his work as an independent consultant began 15 years ago, when he was fired from a job. At the time he said to himself, "I’m never going to work for a moron again," and that was the turning point in his career. "I decided that I was only going to charge by the value of my contribution to the project," rather than by the hour or day, he says. Much of Weiss’ current practice involves showing other consultants how to value their own work to boost their income.
Weiss travels about 15 percent of the time, which he says suits him. "I like it now because it’s almost at my discretion," he says. Earlier in his free agent career, Weiss traveled 60 or 80 percent of the time, which he says was a terrible grind.
Does Weiss, 54, still get a thrill from an occupation that he’s mastered? "I like everything that I’m doing. I got rid of the stuff that I don’t like." His workweek is also one that many free agents might envy: about 25 hours. In the summer, "I’m usually at the pool by 2 p.m.," he says. Not too shabby for a consulting practice that generates a seven-figure income. 
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