Comments on: What you can fund with your consulting work

By: Amy Alkon

Amy Alkon — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 11:17:01 +0000

Grant, sorry to post this here – can’t find your e-mail address, and I’m in a hurry and wanted to send this to you — please feel free to delete, but do consider:

I wanted to recommend HBES to you — the Human Behavior & Evolution Society (HBES.com). I think you’d get a lot out of joining and going to the next conference, which is in Fullerton. I’m an advice columnist, not a Ph.D., and I’ve gone for years, and incorporated a lot of what I’ve learned in my work. In fact, it’s been transformative, and I have anthros’/evolutionary economists’/ev psychs’ studies as the cornerstone of a book I’m writing, and as the background/backbone of my weekly syndicated column. And the researchers in the field have been quite welcoming to me and others who seek to bring more science rather than just opinion to the underpinnings of their work.

By: Grant McCracken

Grant McCracken — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:06:33 +0000

Mia, good questions, I would choose one of these options according to your interest. So in my case, I made american culture my specialty. Some clients would then ask me to go abroad. I would warn them that Mexico and France and China was not my area of expertise, but they say, “that’s ok, we want the same set of eyes.” So off I went. So I could specialize in one…and take on the others if and when they look interesting. I haven’t gather data for commercial purposes and then tried to sell it. But when I publish stuff on American culture that I collected for academic purposes, I guess that has the same status. I guess that would be my choose: do something for your own purposes, and let would-be clients use it to judge your fitness for their purposes. Hope this helps. Best, Grant

By: Mia

Mia — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:13:04 +0000

Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with this series. I do have two questions: 1. Which is the in the most demand? Data abroad for USA corporations, USA data for USA corporations, or USA data for foreign companies? 2. How does one ‘hang’ their shingle for the first client? Do you gather data and then try to sell it? Start a blog offering free insight, hoping that someone will stumble up your site and offer work?

If I’ve overlooked the answers in your essays, I apologize. I’m not trained academically but I do have a niche, and want very much to begin.

By: Mia

Mia — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:11:40 +0000

If I’ve overlooked the answers in your essays, I apologize. I’m not trained academically but I do have a niche, and want very much to begin.