Links to Build a Consulting Practice

Our firm gets 4-5 calls/month from people wanting to know how to start or grow a consulting practice. Obviously, there’s no standardized procedure for that. It depends on the nature of the service you’d offer as a consultant. If you’re selling services to develop job descriptions for rural electric co-ops in Kansas, well your service and market are very specific — and limited. If you doing web design, you could work for anyone who can pay.

But there are some general considerations to address and in a certain order if you want to carefully and systematically start or grow a business. A list of the detailed considerations would comprise numerous blog posts — and there’s already many books about how to start a consulting business.

The following links are to free, online resources with guidelines to address the considerations and in the right order. They assume that you already have some expertise that you could provide to clients in exchange for a fee and that you also have a good understanding of a consulting process, and that you also are thinking about starting a business to be a professional consultant. (To learn more about consulting processes, see the topic Consultants in the Free Management Library.)

Are You Really an Entrepreneur?

• Are You Really an Entrepreneur?
• Preparation for Starting a New Venture

Starting a New Organization?

• Should You Start a For-Profit or a Nonprofit?
• Starting a For-Profit Organization
• Starting a Nonprofit Organization

Planning Your New Organization

• Strategic Planning
• Business Planning

Deciding the Legal Structure of Your New Organization

• U.S. Enterprise Law — Forming Organizations

Or Expanding a Current Organization?

• Business Development

Or Starting a New Product or Service?

• Product Development

Marketing Your Organization, Product or Service

• Marketing
• Social Networking
• Authentic Marketing vs. Self-Promotion

Getting and Keeping Clients

• Sales
• Customer Service
• Customer Satisfaction
• Close More Business (Get More Clients)

Getting Paid

• Getting Paid What You’re Worth
• What To Do When A Client Can’t Pay

Dealing With Clients

• Types of Clients (to answer critical question: “who is current client?”)
• How to Fire a Client (Without Killing Your Business)
• Defining Success Between Consultants and Clients

When to Bail from a Project

• When to Bail from a Consulting Project

Minimizing Risk

• When Should Consultants Buy Liability Insurance?
• Minimize Consulting Liabilities and Risk
• Risk Management

Staying Centered as a Consultant

• Work-Life Balance
• Personal Wellness

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Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD – Authenticity Consulting, LLC – 800-971-2250
Read my weekly blogs: Boards, Consulting and OD, Nonprofits and Strategic Planning.