Guide: Starting a Consulting Business in 2024
Did you know that the strategy Consulting Business market is projected to experience substantial growth, reaching $70.08 billion between 2023 and 2027? This presents a remarkable opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to establish their consulting businesses this year.
If you possess a genuine passion for assisting others in your industry and are widely recognized as an expert in your field, a career in consulting might be an excellent fit for you. Consultant roles are expected to witness an 11% increase from 2022 to 2031, indicating a higher demand for consultants than ever before.
To delve deeper into the realm of consulting and learn how to effectively market your own consulting business, we have compiled a comprehensive guide. Discover various consulting specialties and gain valuable insights on how to launch a prosperous consulting venture.
What is consulting?
Consultants are esteemed professionals in their respective fields, offering their invaluable knowledge and expertise to individuals, departments, or entire organizations. The scope of consulting extends far beyond providing advice; it encompasses problem diagnosis, data collection, feedback, strategy development, and implementation.
According to Hrair Tcholakian, founder of eksperts.net, the distinguishing quality of a consultant lies in their innate ability to see beyond the surface, forge connections others might overlook, and inspire initiative and confidence. Business leaders often require a fresh perspective, and as a consultant, you can provide that impartial viewpoint. Consulting firms and consultants are highly sought after for their ability to offer novel insights and solutions to critical business challenges. Ultimately, consultants strive to enhance the success of their clients.
Consultant vs. Contractor: A Comparison
The terms consultant, contractor, and freelancer are often used interchangeably, but there are distinct differences between them. While all these professionals work with businesses as non-employees, their roles and responsibilities vary.
Contractors, including freelancers, are independent workers contracted by companies to provide specific services. On the other hand, consultants primarily offer assessments and expert advice. They can work independently or be employed by consulting firms. However, in certain cases, consultants may also take on contractor-like roles if they are asked to provide services or deliverables.
Now, let’s delve into the process of starting your own consulting business, considering these nuances.
How to Start a Consulting Business?
- Assess your skills and strengths to choose your niche.
- Analyze your market needs and pain points.
- Develop your brand, website, and service offerings.
- Open your business.
- Market your business to attract new clients.
- Stay organized and scale.
If you possess specialized knowledge in a particular field or niche industry and believe you can provide valuable guidance to others, establishing your own consulting business could be a viable option. Here are six essential steps to initiate a consulting business that ensures mutual success for both you and your clients.
Evaluate your skills and strengths to determine your area of expertise
A crucial initial step in establishing your consulting business is to engage in brainstorming and clearly define the valuable skills and strengths that position you as an exceptional consultant. Reflect upon the following inquiries:
- What factors contribute to your expertise?
- What topics do you genuinely enjoy discussing and delving into?
- If you were to instruct a class, what subject matter would you choose?
- Which areas do your friends, family, and colleagues seek your guidance on?
I consider myself an authority in content marketing. Therefore, during this phase, I would explore the skills that frequently draw inquiries, such as SEO, website and user optimization, and more. Additionally, it is worthwhile to consider the skills that played a pivotal role in your past employment, as these could potentially become your most lucrative offerings.
Analyze your market needs and pain points
Once you establish your consulting niche, it is important to gain a deeper understanding of the industry and market you will be targeting. Focusing on your market as a consultant enables you to comprehend the needs, challenges, and pain points of your potential clients. This clarity will allow you to leverage your skills effectively and provide tailored solutions.
For instance, content marketing encompasses a broad spectrum, but my expertise lies in tech content marketing, particularly in SaaS companies and cybersecurity firms. By positioning myself in a niche industry, I can maximize my impact and deliver exceptional results.
Just as you specialize in a specific skill set as a consultant, it is equally crucial to specify the services you offer to your clients. This information not only helps you better market yourself but also enhances your ability to cater to the unique needs of your clients, which we will discuss in more detail below.
Develop your brand, website, and service offerings to enhance your business presence and engage customers effectively
Next, develop the external-facing components of your business, including your website, branding, and services. These assets can assist clients in distinguishing you from competitors.
Whether you associate your business with your name or with another name, it is crucial to give it an official name and a professional website. Reflect on the unique value you bring to the table and emphasize this offering.
Another vital aspect of this step is clearly outlining the cost of your consulting services. Provide clarity on the inclusions within your pricing structure.
Open your business
This step is more intricate than simply transitioning from Closed to Open. Firstly, it is crucial to consider the legal structure of your business. Establishing the legitimacy of your business provides credibility and guidance in areas such as taxes, staffing, and other legal aspects.
Next, assess the necessary tools to conduct business and connect with clients. These tools may include means to acquire new clients and jobs, such as a LinkedIn membership, as well as video conferencing software like Zoom or Skype.
From my experience, generating substantial hype around your new business yields significant benefits. Request the support of your friends, LinkedIn contacts, previous clients, and others in promoting your new venture. Consider offering future service discounts as an incentive for their assistance.
Moreover, it is advisable to open a business bank account, engage an accountant (and eventually an assistant), and order business cards that reflect your brand and contain relevant information.
Market your business to attract new clients.
Now that you have launched your business, it is crucial to focus on growth. Effectively marketing yourself is key to attracting new clients. Consulting marketing encompasses various methods:
- Blogging.
- Webinars.
- Podcasting.
- Speaking and teaching.
- Social media marketing.
- Print or digital advertising.
- Referrals.
- Cold calling and emailing.
Regardless of the approach you choose to promote your consulting business, it is important to invest in methods that allow direct contact with potential clients. While blogging, podcasting, and social media marketing may not directly lead to immediate revenue, they are powerful tools for increasing awareness and establishing expertise. Content marketing is a long-term strategy, so maintaining a consistent publishing schedule is crucial.
Once you have the opportunity to engage with potential clients, make sure you have a well-crafted elevator pitch and a ready-to-use client proposal template. Providing advice is just half of the consulting process; the other half is effectively selling your expertise.
As your client base grows, consider using a CRM like HubSpot’s all-in-one CRM platform. It can help you manage client information and maintain context for each client relationship.
Maintain organization and facilitate growth
To ensure the growth and mastery of your consulting business, maintaining organization and consistency is paramount. Delivering high-quality results not only satisfies your clients but also stimulates valuable referrals – which can be a significant source of new sales. As you cultivate strong client relationships, have the confidence to request referrals for new leads. Regularly evaluate your consulting business, examining your client portfolio, software tools, and overall business practices. Identify areas where you can streamline efforts and allocate resources wisely to optimize cost savings. Lastly, stay abreast of industry trends to keep your business relevant to the evolving challenges and demands faced by your clients.
The Various Categories of Consulting
- Management Consulting
- Strategy Consulting
- Operations Consulting
- Financial Strategy Consulting
- Human Resources Consulting
- IT Consulting
- Business Consulting
- Sales Consulting
- Marketing Consulting
- Environmental Consulting
- Financial Consulting
- Career Consulting
- Healthcare Consulting
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consulting
- Public Relations Consulting
- Brand Consulting
Consulting encompasses a wide range of specialists across countless industries. In this section, we will delve into some of the highly sought-after types of consulting practices, explore niche opportunities within them, and provide insights into potential career paths in these respective fields.
Management Consulting
Management consulting is the most prevalent form of consulting, encompassing various specialized consulting careers. Prominent firms such as McKinsey, Bain & Company, and Deloitte mainly operate in the field of management consulting. With a market value of $366 billion as of 2023, it is a substantial industry.
As a management consultant, your role would involve collaborating with business leaders to enhance the efficiency of their organizations. This typically entails evaluating existing processes and providing recommendations for improvement or implementation of new strategies.
It is important to note that not all management consultants follow the same approach. Some adopt a generalist perspective, assessing the organization as a whole, while others specialize in specific departments or fields.
Strategy Consulting
A crucial component of management consulting, these consultants assess fundamental business strategies and offer expert guidance on enhancing or creating new ones.
Strategy consultants are typically industry or field specialists who provide counsel on high-level, strategic business choices, including company vision, resource allocation, and investment decisions.
Operations Consulting
Strategy consultants primarily focus on the “why,” while operations consulting deals with the “how.” These consultants specialize in areas such as procurement, outsourcing, and supply chain management. They also provide implementation and deployment services to assist clients in effectively implementing new processes.
Financial Strategy Consulting
Financial consultants specialize in various areas of expertise, including corporate finance, financial restructuring, risk management, and real estate. These highly skilled advisors assist businesses in making well-informed, objective, and legally compliant decisions to enhance their returns on investment. All financial consultants must meet specific requirements and obtain the necessary licensing to provide professional financial advice.
Human Resources Consulting
These experts handle HR processes, such as training and development, conflict resolution, management philosophies, benefits, and employee satisfaction. HR consultants play a vital role in assisting companies in hiring and retaining exceptional employees. Additionally, HR consultants ensure that businesses adhere to legal and ethical personnel practices.
IT Consulting
Information technology (IT) consultants are responsible for implementing and managing new technologies, including systems integration, software development and management, and enterprise architecture. This specialized consulting division is highly lucrative, with a market worth nearly double that of the management consulting industry, amounting to $692 billion. As an IT consultant, you play a crucial role in assisting businesses in determining the optimal software investments and utilizing them effectively to achieve their goals.
Business Consulting
Business consulting is a comprehensive field encompassing specialists who guide businesses on various aspects such as financial advising, training, and even layoffs. It is worth noting that this category may intersect with other areas within this list.
As a business consultant, your focus will primarily be on assisting small to midsize businesses (SMBs).
Sales Consulting
Sales consultants strive to enhance the performance of sales teams, irrespective of their size or industry. As a sales consultant, your primary focus will be on sales training and development. Additionally, you may be engaged for various purposes, such as CRM selection, sales process improvement, or team morale enhancement. Given that sales are widely regarded as a vital aspect of any business, both financially and otherwise, the expertise of top-notch sales consultants is greatly appreciated and in high demand.
Marketing Consulting
Marketing consultants assess a business’s marketing endeavors and offer expert advice on enhancing strategies to achieve goals and generate revenue. As a marketing consultant, you may specialize in specific marketing domains such as content marketing, PR, or social media marketing. Alternatively, you could focus on niche marketing processes like defining target audiences, customer acquisition, or brand awareness.
Environmental Consulting
Environmental consulting plays a crucial role in helping companies minimize their long-term environmental footprint. As an environmental consultant, your expertise is invaluable in advising businesses on the impact of their practices on the surrounding environment. You often collaborate with industries such as construction, waste management, real estate, and energy, although your services can be enlisted by any type of company.
Financial Consulting
Financial consulting has some overlap with the previously discussed financial strategy consulting. However, the key distinction lies in the inclusion of independent financial consultants who serve individuals, families, and entrepreneurs.
As a financial consultant, your expertise spans various areas, ranging from day-to-day expenses, investments, and taxes to cash-flow management, insurance, and financial legal matters.
Career Consulting
As a career consultant, you play a crucial role in assisting clients with skill development, crafting effective resumes, navigating job applications and interviews, and gaining a comprehensive understanding of the job market. Both individuals and businesses rely on career consulting to empower themselves or their employees to thrive in their respective roles. If you possess a background in HR or recruiting, career consulting could be a perfect fit for you.
Healthcare Consulting
The goal of healthcare consulting is to optimize the effectiveness and outcomes of healthcare organizations. Healthcare consultants, as management consultants operating within the healthcare sector, evaluate an organization’s personnel, profits, and processes to guide on enhancing and resolving critical challenges.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consulting (DEI)
It is not uncommon for companies to encounter a deficiency in the specific skill set that diversity and inclusion consultants possess. Merely hiring an HR consultant is insufficient to address bias within an organization. This is precisely why DEI consultants are highly sought-after professionals.
As a DEI consultant, you will offer an impartial perspective to address equity issues within businesses, particularly those concerning personnel and culture. If you have a background in HR, psychology, or nonprofit management, you may discover that DEI consulting could be a suitable career progression.
Public Relations Consulting
While public relations is commonly integrated with marketing and communications in smaller companies, it is important to recognize that public relations is a distinct discipline. Unfortunately, this realization often comes amid a crisis.
As a PR consultant, you may work on a retainer basis to proactively plan for potential crises or be engaged during an ongoing crisis to assess the most effective strategies for engaging with the public and media.
Brand Consulting
Brand consultants collaborate closely with marketing and sales consultants to successfully launch products and optimize pricing strategies. These experts provide creative insights to strategically position a company in the minds of consumers.
As a brand consultant, your responsibilities include evaluating the current brand positioning. You may also be involved in competitor analysis, research, and design, although specialization in a specific area is also possible.
Tips for Expanding Your Consulting Business
Establishing a consulting business is an impressive accomplishment, but the journey doesn’t end there. Incorporating these five activities into your strategy will facilitate the growth of your consulting business.
Perform a competitive analysis
If you haven’t already done so, it is recommended to conduct a comprehensive competitive analysis of other consultants or consulting firms in your niche and area. While examining your competition can be a daunting task, approaching it with the right mindset can provide valuable insights to enhance and expand your consulting business. Additionally, this analysis can help you identify market gaps and uncover new strategies for improvement.
If I were to conduct a competitive analysis of other tech consultants, I would focus on researching industry trends through LinkedIn posts, identifying prevalent issues in the tech sector, leveraging my expertise to address these challenges, and creating a comprehensive spreadsheet to compare competitors’ pricing. It would also be essential to evaluate how competitors market their businesses and the range of services they offer.
Throughout this process, there is a possibility of identifying a unique skill set or service that sets you apart from others, potentially becoming your new consulting vertical.
Discover new consulting verticals
Review your competitive analysis: Have you identified any verticals or specializations that your competitors offer but you don’t? It’s worth considering adding new verticals to your services to differentiate yourself and expand your business.
For instance, if you’re a content marketing consultant, you could explore offering consulting services for email marketing and social media marketing. However, it’s crucial to ensure that you possess relevant experience and expertise in these areas. Don’t introduce new services just for the sake of expanding your business.
Start a blog
Blogging offers a highly effective approach to marketing your business, establishing authority in your niche, and improving your business’s online ranking organically. Many individuals hesitate to start a blog due to uncertainty about the content. Thankfully, we have compiled a comprehensive guide to assist you in overcoming this obstacle.
Your client base can be an excellent source of valuable blog content. Paying attention to the issues and questions your clients face and gathering feedback on the type of information they find helpful can provide valuable insights for your writing and sharing.
Furthermore, blog content can also serve as sales enablement material. Sharing a couple of popular blog posts with potential clients can effectively convey the reasons why they should consider hiring your services.
Share valuable thought leadership content
Similar to starting a blog, publishing thought leadership content can greatly enhance your authority. Consider leveraging platforms like Medium, which already have an established audience. Utilize these platforms to share your most authoritative, data-driven content and elevate your brand awareness.
In addition, you can leverage tools such as HARO to connect with journalists and bloggers who are actively seeking expert quotes, anecdotes, and stories for their content. By responding to their queries, you can position yourself as a thought leader in your consulting niche and have your insights prominently featured.
Network and make new connections
Through various online platforms like social media, dedicated Slack channels, and online masterminds, the power to establish new connections and make friends is in your hands.
Networking in person is a straightforward process, but online networking can be challenging. Fortunately, with today’s technology, there are numerous opportunities to network and forge new connections.
Among the different platforms, Twitter stands out as my personal favorite for networking. It provides the easiest platform to engage with individuals and initiate compelling conversations. Additionally, it serves as a reminder of past connections that can be revived with a short Tweet or email.
According to Angelique Rewers, founder of Premier Global Community, clients require a compelling ROI story. “Employee experience is reportedly facing budget cuts this year, along with many other things. This means that every dollar companies invest must deliver a significant and lasting impact. Decision makers expect to see tangible results quickly and want them to endure, rather than being short-lived,” Rewers emphasizes.
When networking, it is crucial to communicate the specific benefits that organizations can gain from investing in you.
Experiment with different platforms and programs to identify the ones that facilitate connections, attract clients, and build a strong community.
Begin your consulting journey today!
Consulting is an intriguing and rewarding profession that requires a specific mindset. The foundation of a successful consulting business lies in the dedication of experts who are driven to assist others. Irrespective of the scale of your firm, staying focused on your passion and expertise will lead to continued success. Exceptional consultants excel in planning, presenting, and marketing their services. Begin crafting your consulting business plan by accessing our complimentary consulting templates provided below.
