Surviving the economical climate as a consultant

These are hard times, but there are in my opinion some healthy rules one should remember to survive in this difficult economical climate. Those are only nine, not to be blaspheme...

1. Be prepared. It sounds obvious, but you need to know your stuff very well. For example, JEE is not about knowing many different application servers (I don't even understand what it means to "know an application server"), it is about "how to design that process so that I am in control of the distributed transactional context". Something like this. Filling your CV with buzzwords and acronyms can lead you to get interviewed by superficial recruiters, but then you are naked if you don't have concrete skills.
   
2. Be versatile. You have to be mentally prepared on how to deal with unforeseen environments, technologies and unknown situations. Be prepared to work abroad and to get a flight early on Monday mornings. This is quite usual for US consultants, but young consultants and consulting companies in Europe should start thinking at the whole Europe as a huge market. Exit your comfort zone.
   
3. Be consistent. Deliver quality and think on how to solve your customer's business needs, IT issues can't be your only priority. Do not think on how to consume hours and days, instead focus on delivering useful stuff. Be prepared to suggest fixed-price packages: if you really know your stuff you can make good estimations and take the risk, you cannot just move the deadline's responsibility into your customer's shoulders and throw out a timesheet each Friday, it is no more enough.
   
4. Improve your skills. Take time to revitalize some old skills and to learn something new. Buy books and study, but expecially experiment on your own.
   
5. Accept short terms activities. Learn to live in a world where things change daily, if you are flexible you will have more chances. Being squeamish about a five days assignment don't provide you with a good credit nowadays.
   
6. Do not undersell yourself. Flexibility doesn't mean you have to drastically reduce your consulting rates only because a couple of recruiters tell you to do so, it is easier to negotiate discounts before than to increase rates afterwards.
7. Be business-oriented. Knowing your IT stuff is no longer enough, try to understand and study basic economy, marketing and generally speaking how your customers make their money. Your salary or your consulting fees don't come from magic, there should be a sustainable business and usually has nothing to do with the latest Linux distribution or that cool scripting language that you are so eager to learn.
8. Learn foreign languages. I wish I studied another language in addition to English when I was at school. Decent English in IT is of course mandatory, French, German and Spanish can open a wide set of new opportunities. Of course you need to always remember point #1, you need to be technically prepared: a silly thing in seven different languages is still a silly thing.
9. Sell. Work is no more jumping into our head, it is necessary to go out and find it. Garden your network, market your skills and then be ready to sell them more often than usual, as assignments and contracts are getting shorter. Presentation skills, technical writing abilities and speech skills in front of an audience are the main sales tools of a freelance consultant, being the best hacker is no more enough.
   

By the way, I think most of these rules apply to both individuals and organizations. I see many consulting companies reacting to the crisis by just enforcing their usual behaviours and keep on providing exactly the same set of services of their competition. Differentiation is key.

Good luck, we need it anyway.