Dear Tanique,

In my prior life, I did a great deal of business planning and feasibility work. I can tell you that for a company to hire consultants, it is patently impossible to stay in business without something in the range of the 3x times mark-up you have mentioned. In fact, even a sole practitioner who operates only his or her own business, the rule still holds...to pay the consultant $100 it generally requires another $200 to cover expenses like space rental, licensing, telephone (especially Yellow Pages ads) insurance, payroll taxes, secretarial support, marketing, unemployment insurance, not to mention the most basic level of benefits (some level of health insurance,paid holidays, earned vacation etc.) etc, etc, etc,.


Best wishes, Chris