Three Tips to Start a Consulting Business, pt.2

Thank you for reading along to part 2 of my article, Three Tips to Start a Consulting Business. If you haven’t done so yet, I invite you to read the detailed part 1 here.

Here’s a summary:

1. Establish your reputation before striking out on your own

• Join a Professional Associations and participate
• Network Within Local Communities
• Offer content through your own website

Now that you’re all caught up, lets get right down to business and discuss the next tip.

2. Partner with another firm while building your business 

One of the best lessons I learned during my career as a United States Marine was to work smarter, not harder. As such, I feel it is smarter and easier to offer your services to a warm market, rather than to create new leads from scratch. I am not referring to “poaching” or luring customers from other consulting companies, instead, consider finding an audience within complementary products/services. Here are two examples:

Join a complementary company

Consider working at a company that offers a complementary service, which you will not be in direct competition against.

For example, if you seek to start your own photography business or photography consulting services (teaching others how to start their own photography studios, companies, etc.), you may benefit from working with a local wedding/bakery/flower shop and offer your services to these same companies or their clients. Networking with the companies you choose can prove to be a key resource. These companies have lists of clients you may offer your services to. Not sure where to start? Try searching local businesses in your town’s Chamber of Commerce, or through a local Meetup.

Another option is to join or network with professionals online. You may seek to join an organization of Graphic Designers, since these companies will have a client listing of customers related to digital media standing to benefit from your services.

Joining and networking with complementary companies is a great way to increase your reach, while helping to raise awareness of your expertise. Once you’ve met with other industry professionals and discussed sharing your client lists, what next? Offer valuable content!

Related content: Turning Your Hobby Into a Full Time Job, in 8 simple steps

Offer your expertise/service as a freelancer

As with any courtship or new relationship, you do not want to make the relationship exclusively about you or your business. My advice is to offer value to your network, in any way that is mutually beneficial to all parties involved. Here are some suggestions you may want to consider:

• Offer original, relevant articles to be shared with the company’s audience.
• Offer your expertise (your consulting services) to the company itself.
• Offer an e-Course on your website about a hot topic within the industry and offer it in exchange for the client’s contact information.

Offering your expertise can help you earn the respect of your fellow professionals. In turn, this will make it easier to join their circle of trust, and you will benefit from a larger pool of clients to screen and attain a higher conversion rate. Offering your expertise/service as a freelancer, and joining a complementary company are excellent ways build your business.

Like what you’ve read so far? Help someone else out by sharing this content to your peers. Stay tuned for tip number three coming up next.

As always, if you have any comments, questions or tips to offer, comment below or reach me on social media. The links are listed below.