How Can I Build and Run My Consulting Business More Effectively?

Sometimes running your own consulting business can feel daunting

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Sometimes running your own consulting business can feel daunting, and at times the stress makes you wonder why you wanted to own your own business in the first place. But it doesn’t have to be that way!

The key is to choose which types of medium-sized business owner you want to work with and always remember it doesn’t need to be perfect at the start. If you are a perfectionist you will tend to procrastinate, and that will probably mean your business, along with over 90% of small businesses, will fail in the first 5 years.

So adopt the following mentality from the start “Take Imperfect action” In other words, just start, don’t procrastinate. It doesn’t have to be perfect (in fact it never will be- life and business is dynamic and will change constantly). So just get out there ASAP. Yes-you will make mistakes-but that’s fine, because they are not really mistakes, they are learning experiences and will help you to perfect your strategy and model as you move forwards.

Remember, there are no such things as mistakes, just learning experiences. If you never make mistakes you will Fail! Because that means you are not getting out of your comfort zone, and your comfort zone is not where a successful business is built.

Every successful businessperson has “failed” multiple times on their journey, because every so called failure is actually a learning experience which enabled them to adjust and move forward, step-by-step until they come-up with a model that worked..

So take action today.

Here is a step-by step checklist with the key steps to follow to get focussed, and get started.

1. Determine your areas of expertise and the niche that most suits you.
2. Identify your mission and vision for your business. (How can you succeed if you don’t know what you want to do, who you could help?)
3. Design your business model-keep it simple.
4. Package and price the services you offer (Don’t undervalue yourself. There are people out there that would pay for what you know)
5. Determine your financial model – your fixed expenses, and your break-even revenue. If it is impractical, increase your rates.
6. Choose core marketing techniques and design your marketing plan
7. Brand your business with words, graphics and your core message
8. Assess your competition and determine how you can be remarkable in a crowded marketplace (We are all unique, so this is possible)
9. Develop your pipeline and nurture leads
10. Create a sales process and sales script
11. Systematise your business and get organized. Don’t get bogged down in the small stuff.
12. Get productive: Manage your time, deal with overwhelm and get into action.
13. Create strategies for leveraging your time and increasing income
14. Hiring, working with, and firing staff and sub-contractors. You cant do it alone and you don’t have all the skills. The best businesses are built by people who know their strengths and weaknesses and focus on their strengths and hire people with the required skills they don’t possess. We live in a world of specialisation, and it will become more-so

Feel free to ask my a question.