Did you ever think about kicking the routine 9-to-5 job and going the freelance consulting route? We bet the answer would be yes if you are a mid-career professional with a solid 10+ years of hands-on-experience in any particular industry. However, very few of us actually take the plunge. The reason is that while rich sector experience is a solid foundation for building a successful consulting career, this alone is not enough to catapult you to a handsome earning consulting career. However, if there ever was a right time to give your thoughts a shot than its now. The post Covid-19 world is creating a more level playing field and opening up opportunities for people with the right experience and drive to create a niche for themselves in the consulting business.
The Consulting Industry is a highly competitive space with top consulting firms, boutique consulting firms, and freelance consultants all vying for a slice of the cake. Consulting industry has traditionally attracted the best of the talents. Top Consulting companies generally get a Day zero at premier MBA schools and get to hire the top performers with great grades. Even boutique consulting firms have some of the best minds working for them. Creating a space for yourself in such a competitive landscape is challenging though not impossible. Good news is, experience counts more than the pedigree when it comes to delivering the right punch in the consulting space. What it requires is a passion for the domain and an awesome strategy backed with granular planning and execution.
Thorough Evaluation of your Expertise & Prospects:
Before you decide to take the plunge, you need to test your expertise, passion, and commitment for the initiative. Ask yourself; is this what you really want to do? If it doesn’t feel right, you may want to re-think your move. If you do not fall in a high-risk taker category, then you may want to reach out to your network, colleagues for initial validation and clearly identify your support system.
You need to take a clear & hard look into your expertise and personality to assess your suitability for pursuing freelancing as a consultant. Some of the questions you might need to ask yourself could be: What is my area of expertise and how difficult is to find this expertise in the market? What sets me apart from other people in my field? Do I have certifications, qualifications & work-experience that establish my credentials in this field? Do I have a strong enough network through which I might find consulting work? Am I ready to extensively travel and actively scout for new opportunities? Can I handle my own business, including taxes, invoicing, benefits, etc.?
A Strategy:
Great that you have decided to take the plunge. However, building a successful career as a freelance consultant will require you to have a well thought through strategy in place.
First and foremost, you must always pick an industry where you actually have real expertise. Don’t get swayed by market trends, stick to areas where you have extensive knowledge and can deliver real value to the clients.
While you are starting out, it may make more sense to pick a particular niche within the industry. You can pick your niche through an in-depth analysis of the industry. Find out which parts of it are already saturated? Find areas where there’s a supply-demand mismatch or which require niche expertise. This will sharpen your focus and also earn credibility with the prospective client. You may expand your portfolio as you find your feet in the industry.
An important component of your strategy is your positioning & pricing strategy. You need to decide the positioning of your services and accordingly fix your price. If your services are exclusive then you may want to go for premium positioning and charge a premium pricing. While you may start with a market-researched rate, you may soon need to revisit this to adjust to market realities. If you find yourself getting too busy with new projects, then that’s a signal that your price needs upward revision.
Platform to Market & Showcase:
The first thing you need to have is an awesome LinkedIn profile. Though not exactly a lead generation platform, an updated LinkedIn profile articulating your expertise will act as credibility enhancer. People will generally check out your LinkedIn profile if they come to know about you through referrals, etc.
If you can put together a nice website, then you may want to create one. But a website is not critical to get things moving initially. However, if you are putting up a website, then you need to carefully work on its content with a clear articulation of your services, value propositions, credentials, etc. Also, do make efforts to put some testimonials to back you up.
From a Lead generation point of view, you will need a presence on some of the top freelance marketplaces. While a presence on marketplaces will improve exposure, you need to associate yourself with top end Global marketplaces like GLG, Catalant, gigHub, Talmix, etc. to get discovered by some clients across the world.
Communication & Networking:
The cornerstone of a successful consulting career is the art of making connections. The resourcefulness of the network not only helps one get more opportunities but also comes handy when one is solving complex and often times completely unheard of problems. You got to get this rolling immediately if you haven’t already done so. Start with your existing professional and personal network. Who do you already know who might send clients your way? Send out messages to your friends, family, and former work clients letting them know you’re moving on your own and looking for referrals.
Gradually, you will need to look beyond your close network. For this, you may want to increase your online visibility. Make sure you are part of relevant online communities related to your industry and start making your presence felt. For a career in consulting, a high visibility LinkedIn account is a big plus. Following and engaging with other professionals in your industry can help generate healthy referral flows for you. One thing to remember here is that for networking to become productive, you will have to be relentless and disciplined. It’s not a one-off activity, rather it’s an on-going process that you can’t give up on.
Flexibility in Execution:
Finally, be mentally prepared that all your strategy, network effectiveness, and assumptions will get tested once you are in the thick of the things. Be quick to assess the market and make timely remedial changes dynamically as you go along. You have to constantly adapt and be as flexible as possible with your strategy, pricing, approach, and even areas of focus.
Being flexible in approach, however, doesn’t mean that you start taking everything or anything that comes your way. Every assignment you take up must fit into your long-term professional goal. You must be able to say no to projects that are not in sync with your long-term strategy,
While these five things are not exhaustive, they will definitely help you plan out better and avoid surprises as you take your first few steps into becoming a highly paid freelance consultant. You can leave your comments or queries below. All the Best!