I’ve always had the firm belief that all consultant were w^#$ers – charging lots of money for stating the obvious, living the fat cat life and doing nothing productive – yep when it comes to consultants I have a pretty “blue collar” attitude.
I had an email exchange with a friend though who told me that you’re only a consultant if you’re charging for the advice you give – at the moment I’m sitting in Chennai, India while here for a week helping out Zoho fortunately I’m doing it for “love” not money so I’m not yet a consultant 
Anyway – the following sign greeted me at Zoho. Thanks for the welcome guys and stoked that I’m not a consultant – welcome signs or not!
Ben Kepes is an analyst, an entrepreneur, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergance of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users. 
Neat, would have been a nice surprise for you.
So that job you did for Telecom wasn’t consulting? If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck,…
Remember way back when entrepreneurs and consultants were thought of as folks who couldn’t get a real job? Now it just has to be about the adventure doesn’t it. I did a similar gig to Brazil a few years ago and can’t wait to return. Make friends, have fun and bring lots of stories home for the kids Ben. Safe travels buddy.
@Jim – ouch (although I can always count on you for an ouch
)
The Telecom thing isn’t consultancy – they’re sponsoring a community I’m helping build. (and yeah maybe some of the earlier stuff I did for them bordered on consultancy)
Basically I’m trying to differentiate myself from the blood sucking vultures – I’d like to think that I’m a little different from them…. maybe?
@Steve – Thanks for the kind thoughts (and words!)
Does this mean we have to call you Mr Ben from now on?
We spent a few months in the middle east a couple of years back – they’re big on the Mr Ben thing there to so I can handle it.
How ’bout you Mr Raf?