Hours real talk. I've always been very "bill what I work" so that means light weeks I'm destroying my own utilization/billing initiatives instead. Meanwhile peers bill 40-45 regardless. Am I an idiot?

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You won't last long in consulting.🙄

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Aw, OP! You should bill what you work!

...and you should always "manage your workload to 45 hours each week."

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You are an idiot

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I tell this to all my advisees: to be successful and stand out in consulting, you don't want to do the same as everyone else in less time. You want to to more than everyone else in the same amount of time.
What that means is we make money by billing the clients, the speed at which you do tasks is canceled out by the less amount of time you are billing the client. What makes to stand out is if you are billing the same but your output is of higher quality

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My "light" weeks are 45 hrs. What the heck are your light weeks?

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You should bill what you work, but never less than 40. Reason being, client contracted you for work, for a period of time, based on about 40 hrs a week. If they can't give you 40 hours of work to do, it's their fault. Otherwise, you could be off somewhere else working 40 hrs a week.

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I would rather be an ethical idiot than a liar

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When I first started I was on an FFP project and learned that the less we bill is more profit for us so I thought it was good to get my work done fast. I later learned that every hour billed is actually profit for us. Thought I was being ethical and actually helping the firm, but yeah, looks like I'm actually a dumbass and hurting myself instead. This is depressing.

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Idiot. They won't be as kind when you're benched

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So do you bill more than 45 if you work more? Generally that's a big no no, so I just bill 45 every week and tell myself it kinda works out in the end. Also, at least in Monitor virtually all of my projects are fixed fee so the client pays regardless of what you bill and your hours only effect the profit.

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The less you bill, the more profit for the project, not for you. The more you bill, the more earned revenue for your senior manager/partner.

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Bill 45. No matter what.

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Yeah both of your comments kind of make you sound like an idiot OP

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Let's not discuss this issue further. There can be legal implications to your firm...

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You're doing the right thing. I live by those rules too. Sometimes I bill 30, sometimes 60. Give your project leadership a heads up if you're working significantly more or less than the budgeted hours. They can help balance workloads.

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On top of willingly decreasing your utilization you're also hurting the firm. We build pricing models based on a 45 hour work week and the firm recognizes revenue when you bill hours to the client. So billing less hours than expected to the client results in lower revenues than expected for the firm.

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👆🏻 And if you really only have a few light weeks, it is not going to hurt your utilization if you are killing yourself the rest of the time. Bill what you work. If you don't have work, please don't bill 45 just because.... find something else to do

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Yes u are , and I have been too in the past

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I was like you when I started until I had a happy hour with my orientation class and learned that I'm the only one doing it. Now I bill all friggin day.

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@OP Now you know so just make the adjustment. You'll be fine.

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