How to Start a Consulting Business: Get Ready to Launch

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Every day when I walk to my office in Brooklyn, the majority of people are walking in the other direction towards the subway. I assume many of them are heading to their jobs in Manhattan, and by the looks on their faces, that a good number of them are completely miserable. Mind you, it’s 8 am and they’re about to get on a crowded subway train, but I’m sure it runs deeper than that for some people.

It is my assumption and my experience that they’re marching towards a job that doesn’t inspire them or doesn’t pay them enough or doesn’t express who they are beyond what they do. This is one reason why we’re seeing so many professionals consider starting a consulting business. They want to operate in their zone of genius and do so on their own terms. 

I daydream about standing near the subway entrance yelling, “Turn around, come to my office, let me help you!” However, ignoring all the insane things you encounter on a daily basis is a base level coping mechanism for most people who live in NYC, so I don’t think that would work too well. This series of articles will have to do the trick. 

I help consultants monetize their knowledge so they can grow their business without sacrificing their health, family or personal interests. But it all starts with them knowing what they want to do. I know there are all sorts of tests you can take to find your true calling, but I’ll assume you already have an idea of the services you can offer based on your previous experiences. Besides, I took one of those “ideal career” tests in junior high and it said I should be a forest ranger. Ever since then, I’ve somewhat lost faith in a standardized test being able to determine your career. 

Assuming you have a general idea of what you’d like to do or are already offering consulting services, I’m going to detail how you can start or scale your business over a series of articles. Here are the first two steps. 

Do deep research on your target audience

I’m sure you have a target audience in mind, but you’ll need to perform extensive research to make sure you fully understand who they are and how you can help them. This goes beyond a user persona — you’ll need to develop a deep understanding of their psychographics as well.  I strongly suggest creating an Empathy Map. As per HubSpot, “Empathy maps visualize customer needs, condense customer data into a brief chat, and help you consider what customers want — not what you think they want.” You can view an example and a complete guide on how to build one on their website. If this sounds hard, that’s a good thing. Most people will skip this step so it provides you with an opportunity to separate yourself from the pack. 

As the name suggests, an empathy map will help you better connect with your audience. For example, let’s say you’re a sleep consultant. Sure, you know your target audience includes people who have trouble sleeping. You may even have some other basic demographics. Creating an empathy map will allow you to uncover how their lack of sleep impacts their life, how they’ve already tried to solve the problem, where they get information and other nuggets of valuable information. You can then say “I understand what it’s like when people think you’re moody or withdrawn, but the truth is, you’re just under-recovered. I’ll assess your sleep challenges and design a custom plan to help you get a sufficient night’s rest, so you can be the best version of yourself the next day.” That sounds a heck of a lot better than “I’ll help you get more sleep.”

When you do this research, it’s beneficial to focus on people who have already paid money to address the challenges or aspirations you help with. You want to take your cues from people who see the value in the services you offer. This is your audience, not just people who have a need for what you provide. 

If at all possible, you’ll want to get this information directly from these individuals through surveys and individuals. I understand this may not be an option for everyone, so I suggest performing social listening as well. As per Sprout Social: “Social listening refers to analyzing the conversations and trends happening not just around your brand, but around your industry as a whole, and using those insights to make better marketing decisions.” Let’s go back to the sleep consultant. She could follow #insomnia on Twitter and Instagram to research her target audience. For you, it might be #newparent or #relocating. Just find the hashtags that make sense for your audience. Seekmetrics.com is a free tool that will help you discover popular hashtags based on the keywords you enter.  

Define their problems and develop a solution

Now that you have a better understanding of your audience, you can craft a solution that addresses their specific challenges or aspirations. This is where being an expert can actually hinder you. It’s vitally important to craft this solution from your audience’s perspective. Minor details that seem obvious to you may be a critical step on their journey. If you fail to mention it, they may not think you understand them or are capable of helping them. 

Since I’m not a sleep consultant, I’ll talk about the clients that I do help: other consultants. 

Although every situation is unique, there are general themes I hear in regard to their challenges.

  • How much should I charge?
  • How do I get more clients?
  • How do I present myself?
  • How do I create proposals and contracts?
 

The questions you hear will inform the solution you create. When creating this solution it’s extremely beneficial to map things out in a way that is easy for your audience to understand, while also deploying empathy. This is the solution I offer clients in my consultant training program. 

Clarity: We’ll nail down the services you offer, how much to charge, who you offer them to, and why you’re their obvious choice

Process: Focus on doing what you love by implementing routines, apps and services to streamline your business process

Branding and marketing: You’ll learn how to position yourself, provide value to your audience and perform “passive prospecting” through in-person events, media mentions and podcasts

Pitching and proposals: I’ll supply you with training and templates to make this part simple, pain-free and predictable

Fulfillment: From onboarding to relationship management, I’ll teach you how to deliver on the promises you’ve made with a systematic approach

My goal is to demonstrate an understanding of their challenges, and a defined path towards resolution. Often, a prospect will say “I don’t need help with that, but I really need help with this part you mentioned.” That’s totally fine, my goal is to reflect the journey then refine it based on their needs. 

Back to you. What journey will you take your clients on? Developing this narrative is extremely important. Unfortunately, I see many consultants exhaust themselves trying to develop and reinforce a unique differentiator. Your audience doesn’t want unique, they want to be understood. Once you prove you understand their challenges, they’ll want to hear about your plan to solve them. That’s it.

Packaging your solution in a concise and understandable way also makes it much easier to navigate sales or prospecting calls. You won’t say, “Um well, it kinda depends on, let’s see here…” You’ll simply say, “I have a process to address your situation. Now, I know every situation is unique, but this process is aligned with the outcomes you’re seeking. So long as we follow the process, we can be as creative as we’d like while still reaching the goals we’ve established.” From there, you can walk through your process and address their unique situation as you go along. 

 

Next Steps:

Perform audience research. If possible, connect with people who have paid for the service you offer, or something similar in the past. As a bonus, this will also help you determine pricing, which we’ll address in the next article.

Develop your solution. Based on your research, and your area of expertise, determine how you can help. It’s perfectly fine if you can’t address every challenge they have. You want to operate in your zone of genius and not overstate what you’re capable of.

Digital enablement, embrace technology, Edvysor

THE NEED TO EMBRACE INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

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In a matter of months, the world has changed forever. The global economy, our businesses, and our personal lives have been transformed. While this may be a gloomy picture to some, others are using rose-tinted glasses to assess opportunities from the pandemic.

Here at YVR Consulting, we fall into the latter category and reflect on this regularly. Not only has the process of getting our products and services to the marketing drastically changed, but so too have our clients and consumers.

For businesses to remain sustainable, market understanding and a need to remain agile in our dynamic environments are essential. Businesses are being forced to do so much more with so much less, and have been forced to embrace and leverage technology which has resulted in organizational culture changes. This pattern will not diminish any time soon and businesses would need to embrace the new way of working moving forward. Business owners and Executives will feel the costly effect of staying in their comfort zones. Now more than ever reassessing business- and go-to-market plans and incorporating the learnings from the pandemic, will give businesses a fighting chance of survival. We have detailed why we believe this is the case:

  1. Advancements in technology.

Globally, the adoption of technology can be witnessed – the redesigning of supply- and value chains, a greater focus on reduced wastage in manufacturing plants, and an overall focus on operational efficiency. This has also been catalyzed by the new way of work, be it remote working or hybrid working arrangements. Employees need access to information wherever they are working from along with effective tools – PCs, laptops, or tablets. Other immediate shifts critical for business contingency are noted: – better cyber security, migration to cloud solutions, and even the incorporation of AI /machine learning to help facilitate better employee output and efficiency. These have contributed to more manageable working hours, a work-life balance, and an even better understanding of customers and their demands. 

With the increase in new technologies, apps, and solutions hitting the market every day, we can anticipate some exciting shifts in the way customers and consumers can experience our offerings through the incorporation of Virtual Reality (VR) too.

The pros of adopting technology far outweigh the cons. Initially, there is a steep learning curve as with any software or technological advancement, but the return on investment in the tangible and intangible form is irrefutable.

Scale, upskilling, alignment, and consistency of messaging have become much easier, not forgetting the monitoring, evaluating, and reporting for businesses which have always been one of the age-old pain points.

  1. A new growth mindset is required.

More and more we are seeing that businesses don’t just have to sell tangible products. Cryptocurrencies, the rise in the demand for NFT’s, and the increase in businesses that aggregate services, prove there is far more opportunity to start and grow a business. Copious amounts of data currently exist for hitting the sweet spot of supply and demand, all at the click of a button.

While technology has shifted the way we get our products and services to consumers, our consumers have been demanding far more from us as providers, this includes an online presence. Consumers need to know that other customers have rendered your business credible, they can compare your offerings to that of other suppliers and there is value in your business as a supplier.

The pandemic has proven that side-hustles are now not uncommon, and there has been a massive increase in the number of small businesses contributing to the global economy.

As exciting as it is to see the number of new businesses, our concern remains the sustainability of these businesses, to survive the dreaded business failure rates in the first four years of operation.  

  1. Cost-effective consulting services are the new norm.

The consulting industry pre-covid was already growing year on year. In a post-covid landscape, this industry is highlighting the digital skills needed for a differentiated value proposition. Remote working, shifting human capital operating models, and accessibility of data are all factors contributing to a “new normal” for businesses and consultants. There is no better time to be thinking about the operational effectiveness and performance improvement.

But how do consultants meet the demands of the “new normal”?

For the most part, market-entry initiatives have never been easier, automation is now high on executive priority lists and leadership engagement and capability are more important than ever. If mid-market businesses are to survive and, grow, consultants will need to be able to integrate innovation and technology into their service offerings.

Agile businesses that have adapted to dynamic environments at the onset of the pandemic are seeing growth and sustainability. Digital solutions that have supported their human capital have been the solution. 

  1. Training and upskilling: Considering remote or hybrid working, new operational procedures, consistent application of operational practices across geographies and staff turnover requires a new way of ensuring capable staff, LMS systems available are on the rise.  
  2. Collaboration for remote working: Instant messaging, better internal communication platforms, and project management programs have helped manage workflow and employee output.
  3. Strategic planning to tactical implementation: It is proven that only 4% of Senior Management know what’s happening in their businesses at a tactical level, this is probably lower in a remote environment. YVR Consulting has identified these learnings early in our journey and is proud to be at the forefront of a different type of support that facilitates simultaneous top-down and bottom-up operational performance management – in a single place, at the click of a button. Over 15,000 businesses globally have already been supported through our cost-effective digital business support solutions, for aspiring entrepreneurs, start-ups, or small businesses as well as the medium to large organizations. 

The post-covid world will be an exciting time to adapt to our next generation of change. Contact us to have a discussion on keeping up with the changes for your business.

Yushini Maharaj

CEO – YVR Consulting

yushini@yvrconsulting.co.za

Tel: +2782 377 6950

www.yvrconsulting.co.za

A Consultant’s View On Getting Comfortable With The Uncomfortable!

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Between two trapezes – The Transition Zone!

Don’t you feel like life is a series of trapeze swings? You either hanging on to a trapeze bar swinging along or, for a few moments in life, hurtling across space in between trapeze bars, hanging on for dear life to the trapeze-bar-of-the-moment. Today the moment is Covid-19. Six months into the pandemic, it’s carrying us along at a certain steady rate of swing with the feeling that ‘I’m in control of my life.’ I now think I know most of the right questions and even some of the answers.

As I move from one point to another, it’s that in-between, uncertain time of letting go and waiting to grab the next thing – a new trapeze bar, that’s the most challenging at the best of times and for some, even debilitating.

I know that this new trapeze is my next step, my growth, my aliveness coming to get me. In my heart, I know that for me to grow, I must release my grip on this present, well-known bar or old world and move to the new one, the world ahead.

We really do not like change, so part of me hopes that I won’t have to let go of my old bar completely before I grab the new one. But I know that I must totally release my grasp on my old bar, and, for some moment in time, I must hurtle across space before I can grab onto the new bar. In that transition, the uncertainty & unknown, I am filled with terror. It doesn’t matter that in the past, I have previously made it. I am afraid that I will miss, that I will be crushed on unseen rocks between bars. I do it anyway and leap ahead. Perhaps this is the essence of what the mystics call the faith experience. No guarantees, no net, no insurance policy, but you do it anyway because somehow to keep hanging on to that old bar is no longer on the list of alternatives. So, I soar across the dark void of “the past is gone, the future is not yet here.”

It’s called “transition.” I have come to believe that this transition is the only place that real change occurs. I have noticed that this transition zone is looked upon as a “no-thing,” a no-place between places. Sure, the old trapeze bar was real, and that new one coming toward me, I hope that’s real, too. But the void in between? Is that just a scary, confusing, disorienting nowhere that must be gotten through as fast and as unconsciously as possible?

NO! What a wasted opportunity that would be. I have a sneaking suspicion that the transition zone is the only real thing and the bars are illusions we dream up to avoid the void where the real change, the real growth, occurs for us. Whether or not my hunch is true, it remains that the transition zones in our lives are incredibly rich places. They should be honored, even savored. Yes, with all the pain and fear and feelings of being out of control that can accompany transitions, they are still the most alive, most growth-filled, passionate, expansive moments in our lives. But we can only experience it by being fully present in it!

We cannot discover new oceans unless we have the courage to lose sight of the shore.

Anonymous        

True transformation is about giving ourselves permission to “hang out” in the transition between trapezes. Transforming our need to grab that new bar, any bar, allows ourselves to dwell in the only place where change really happens. It can be terrifying. It can also be enlightening in the true sense of the word. In the transition, we just may learn how to fly. 

As Covid’s dizzying spin starts to slow, leaders steel themselves for the long road to recovery. An essential early step will be effectively addressing the anxieties of millions of workers worried about the future of their work and their health. Given the pain of this moment, leaders are urged to handle the journey’s challenges mindfully with resilience, authenticity, and connection.

With the ringing injunction to “normalize the new” and get back on the treadmill.  If leaders want to use this moment to do more than return worried, distracted employees to old jobs they once knew, we need to still the maelstrom in our minds; most of all, we need to break the semi-automated responses that continue to chain us to the old trapeze. If we don’t, we will find ourselves frantically doing the same things yet expecting a different result. We must become comfortable with the uncomfortable and embrace the suck.

To embrace the suck means to have discipline. Having that mental toughness to see the hard work through to the end. You continue with the hard-charging attitude of being able to keep moving forward and never give up.

We are wired for survival and staying in comfort – every fiber in our being wants to hold on to the old trapeze and not let go, but nothing will come of staying put; we have to keep moving. “The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you are not going to stay where you are,” JP Morgan

According to a Green Beret, Jason Van Camp, there are 7 ways to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

1. Start.

The first step is always the most uncomfortable. All you have to do is show up. The battle is half won if you just show up.

2. Don’t quit.

You’ve decided to start. You do not see the results. It’s difficult. You want to quit. It’s OK. Just keep pushing forward. That voice in your head is going to make you think of a way out. Don’t do it. Don’t give yourself an out.

3. Push yourself past your comfort zone.

At some point, you are going to say to yourself, “I’ve never done this before” or “I don’t know what I’m doing.” We’ve all been there. Here’s a trick: Just pretend to be confident. Fake it till you make it.

4. Embrace “the suck.”

The situation is bad–deal with it. And don’t just deal with it–open your arms and welcome it as you would an old friend. You know him well. You are building your mental and physical toughness.

5. Be around like-minded people.

Create a support network. Talk about your experiences. The worse the experience it is to you, the better the story it is to everyone else.

6. Recognize your improvements.

Track your progress. Revel in it. You are now a changed person. You know it because you see it. Build your confidence by going back to what before was uncomfortable and go through the experience again.

7. Rinse. Repeat.

“repetition is the mother of learning.”

The more you perform the same activity, the more confident you become. Confidence is a tangible thing–it comes from practice and repetition.

 

Perhaps the most difficult part of this pandemic is the uncertainty we are all facing.  Uncertainty about how contagious and deadly Coronavirus is.  Uncertainty about the travel that we have planned.  Uncertainty about the economy. Uncertainty about our jobs. But the real world is highly uncertain, and that can be uncomfortable. So, to succeed, we must keep moving, take that next step in faith, and welcome in the discomfort of the transition zone as you reach for your new trapeze of growth.

 

-Priyal Ramdass