Tips on Starting a Consulting Business
Here are several tips on starting a consulting business:
Q. What do you think is the greatest misconception about consulting?
A. Being an “expert” in your field does not insure your success as a small business.
Q. What is one “success tip” can you share?
A. Be very good at networking!
Q. What kind of capital investment is required?
A. Consulting service start-ups are the least expensive (estimate $10K). For example, home office automation, website and/or graphic design, printing (biz cards, brochures, etc.), phone lines, answering services, local advertising, direct mail, etc.
Q. What is a reasonable time frame to achieve positive ROI? To expect salary comparable to your recent full-time job?
A. Realistically, 6 to 12 months
Recommended Reading
- Spin Selling By Neil Rackham
- How to Make it Big as a Consultant By William Cohen
- High Impact Consulting By Robert Schaffer
- Power Networking By Donna Fisher and Sandy Vilas
- Flawless Consulting By Peter Block
- Good to Great By Jim Collins
Questions to Ask Yourself
- What net income do you want to make?
- How much revenue or sales is needed to make this much net income?
- How many customers or buyers are needed to accomplish this net income?
- To get customers, how many prospects do you need to talk to?
- What is the customer closing ratio needed to meet your objectives?
- What type of activity are you willing to do to attract new customers? i.e. Marketing, Advertising, Public Relations, Promotions, Networking, etc.
Follow Hire Consulting on Linkedin for talent management solutions and executive career transition coaching to help reach your full potential.
Mark James, CPC is the founder and CEO of Hire Consulting Services (HCS). Established in 1999, HCS is a highly customized executive outplacement and career coaching firm for executive-level professionals.
Mark is equipped with over 25 years of experience in Executive Career Management Coaching, as well as Outplacement and Executive Search Consulting. He is the author of the three best-selling books—Keys to the C Suite: Unlock the Doors to Executive Career Path Success, The Interview Mindset: The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Your Career, and The Recruiter Mindset: The Ultimate Guide to Working with Executive Search Recruiters.
Mark uses a proven and successful strategy and structured process to fully enable his clients to conduct a professional job search campaign and with the singular goal of securing their next career opportunity in significantly less time it would take without a career coach. Clients gain a new perspective of their marketing value coupled with executing a strategic plan and closing the deal on their new role in their next job.
