I'm thinking of trying out online and local small business consulting. I don't come from a consulting background, but after reading the threads on here and doing a little research I think I can pull it off. Would $60 be about right?
I was inspired after reading the recent posts on this forum and reading the McKinsey way. I figured as long as I can sell my services, perform root cause analysis, and keep my clients happy I'll succeed. Keeping the clients happy might be the tough part when the issue they face are management related or when they realize that some changes take time and effort., but I'm sure I can figure it out or pay for the mentor sessions on WSO to get feedback on this.
I make $60-65k a year so if this works out even part-time I'll be making more than at my regular job.
What do you guys think?
I plan on getting an MBA to attempt consulting but why wait?
Hi InspecturGadjet, whoops, looks like nobody chimed in here.... maybe one of these discussions below is relevant:
More suggestions...
If those topics were completely useless, don't blame me, blame my programmers...
I've read several comments speaking on the cons/barriers, so allow me to play the devil's advocate and speak on the pros/advantages.
Small Businesses focus on Operations
Never Underestimate Referrals/Word of Mouth
If some of these skills are outside of your experiences, take free courses and start small. Just my two cents on the pros to this.
Think from the perspective of your customers. I wouldn't pay a penny to someone to "consult" for my small business who has zero experience in consulting, and just got inspired to do consulting after reading some promotional material about the "McKinsey way". If it is my own business, I sure as hell can figure out the root cause 20x better than you could.
Me neither but not everyone will feel the same way, but as long as I can deliver something it doesn't matter. Also, a lot of consultants for small businesses don't start of with consulting experience rather industry experience who consult with smaller companies.
Your entire argument rests upon the assumption that small business owners, who are already more stingy than large corporations, are going to pay you $60/hr to find the solution to problems that they themselves are way better equipped to solve. I mean dude, let's be real, if you were offering a tangible skillset like, idk, IT consulting, sure. But if you're gonna sell services about "root cause analysis" or other buzzwords that consultants use, I doubt you're gonna get enough business.
Your business plan, in a nutshell, is, "I'm gonna tell people with years of experience in their respective industries on how to solve problems within said industry, all without having any experience. I wouldn't even pay for my own services, but I'm sure I'll find those dumb enough to pay."
Depends on your resume and area of expertise. If it is light, start with $80/hr and negotiate up or down based on your read of client's willingness to pay. The challenge is to secure these gigs. My plumber charges $150/hr. :(
The best way to sell consulting to companies like this is to focus on a niche and offer several "go to" packages with clearly defined outcomes.
This way you have great margin with minimal time invested and still secure a strong outcome for your clients. A lot of the basic BI stuff you see in PE is mindblowing for SMBs.
What's BI? I'm thinking of starting small with basic things that can be measured. ie.optimizing utilization of cash and financing for their operating cycle.
I need to sell something without revealing my ""inexperience" and avoiding lawsuits etc.
Assume you will get sued at some point. General, and maybe even professional, liability insurance policy with some basic limits won't be expensive. You don't want your gains wiped out by one disgruntled client.
Try to align the incentives as much as possible. Charge a “fixed” fee for the service over 3 payments and deliver top notch value.
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