Blog » How to Guides » HOW TO BECOME AN INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT?
HOW TO BECOME AN INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT?
/
22th January 2022Are you also tired of the traditional nine-to-five job that is not only hectic but also doesn’t allow you to use your full potential? Or do you think that you have been gifted with the knack to solve problems and see the long-term results? Then you are at the right place. Stick with us, and by the end of this article, you will be able to know what basically an independent consultant is and the skills you need to become one.
- HOW TO BECOME AN INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT?
- What is an Independent consultant?
- Role of an independent consultant:
- Benefits of becoming an independent consultant:
- Educational Requirement
- Certifications
- 6 Steps to Become an Independent Consultant
- SKILLS YOU NEED TO ACQUIRE TO BE A SUCCESSFUL INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT
- How much does an independent consultant make?
- Difference between independent consultant and freelancer:
- Conclusion
What is an Independent consultant?
Before stepping into this field, let’s have an overview of what an independent consultant is. The term Independent consultant is often mixed with an independent contractor or freelancer. An independent consultant is a non-legal employee who works on a contract basis. They have an extensive role to play in an industry or firm with which they’re attached. Apart from expertise in their field, they require exceptional quality in solving problems and giving the best solution on a larger scale. They do a deep analysis of their client’s strengths and use them in all ways possible to minimize the drawbacks.
Role of an independent consultant:
From meeting the client to making his business progress, an independent consultant has several duties to perform, some being:
- Looks at the ongoing projects of the company from all angles
- Keeps an eye on the weakness of their competitors and implies effective strategies against them
- Ditches out all the ineffective and worthless strategies of the company he is working for
- Researches with the staff of all departments and finance manager to come up with ways of betterment.
Benefits of becoming an independent consultant:
Becoming an independent consultant has its benefits, but there are some challenges too. Whether the benefits overweigh the challenges or not varies from person to person, depending on the interests as well as the capability of that specific person. Some obvious benefits of becoming an independent consultant are enlisted below:
- They have the autonomy to select and pursue the project that grabs their interest instead of being bound to do the traditional job. A survey suggested that 97% of the self-employed consultants never want to opt for the traditional job again.
- As it is like running your own business, an independent consultant has full control over matters like traveling, health insurance, etc.
- As they aren’t legal or hired employees, they can work flexibly. They can freely choose where and when to schedule meetings and conferences according to their personal preference and convenience.
- There is no chance of losing a job, as it happens in nine to five jobs, where suddenly the number of employees is cut off without any reason. As an independent consultant, you are your own boss and responsible for everything that happens in your business, which means that you have more freedom.
Educational Requirement
Becoming a successful independent consultant requires no hard and fast educational requirements. A bachelor’s degree with few credentials, and a master’s degree in business administration, is more than enough to make you competent to apply as an independent consultant. Even your bachelor’s degree could have worked, but the more knowledge you have, the better you can spread. But you need to be the Jack-of-All-Trades. Maybe you have your bachelor’s degree in business or management, but you require a deep insight into IT, HR, psychology, and many more. You don’t need a magical paper showing that you have expertise in all the fields. You must have the habit of keen observation.
Certifications
In this field, your certifications and skills matter the most. These two things make you look more qualified, diligent, and the perfect candidate to hire. Some of the certifications that are available in information technology, marketing, project management that you can opt for include:
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional
- Certified Ethical Hacker
- Adobe Certification in illustrator or Photoshop
- Certified management consultant
- Professional Certified Marketer
6 Steps to Become an Independent Consultant
To thrive as an independent consultant, follow the following basic steps:
1. Choose your area of expertise:
The first step is to determine your field of interest. Instead of taking a new start, it is always better to examine your skills in the industry you already are. However, if you find yourself interested in some other field, do deep research on it, and try to link your present skills with it, making you a more competitive candidate.
2. Locate your clients:
Once you have known your area of expertise and gained sufficient experience, it’s high time to build a portfolio and locate clients. Use various marketing tactics to market yourself. As you are a new person, you need to market yourself by giving discounts to 1st five clients, special discounts for clients hiring you for the second time, etc. Once a client contacts you, the next step is to provide your best services to that client. In this way, he will also refer you to other people in his business circle.
3. Request Recommendations:
Once you have completed your contract with the client, always ask for recommendations and testimonials from your previous client. Positive feedback for the client is a stamp to verify your capabilities. In this way, you will be able to build a professional reputation in the market.
4. Personal Branding and Active Marketing:
Create your own online website as a means to attract more clients as it shows your professionalism. A well-designed website includes:
- Your resume
- Skills you have in a particular field
- Services you are offering
- Previous work samples
- Verified certifications
Another way that is found to be quite effective is to brand yourself. All you need to do is create a professional resume or portfolio on various platforms and let the experts/ clients reach you out. Remember, online platforms are only the means to find your clients but once a client has contacted you, always opt for an in-person meeting, which is far more effective than online.
5. Creativity:
Yet another important step is to develop the ability to create creative and feasible answers to the problems faced by the client. With creative thinking, an independent consultant would be able to formulate strategies such as unique pricing and better demonstrations that will cause his client to win a competitive proposal.
6. Practical and Rational Thinking:
Independent consultants should have the ability to gather information, deeply analyze the facts and statistics based on past experiences and personal assessment. Then they come up with several ideas within no time and make practical decisions accordingly to address the problem faced by his company in the best way possible.
SKILLS YOU NEED TO ACQUIRE TO BE A SUCCESSFUL INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT
One requires a lot of skills to be successful in this field like determination, audience-centered approach, time management, and many more. Some of them are enlisted below:
- Problem-Solving Skills:
It is the most important skill to have hands-on. A successful independent consultant cannot only access the problem before time but also give innovative and new solutions. For this, you require problem-solving skills along with critical thinking, the ability to analyze problems beforehand, and creativity to solve them.
- Communication and interpersonal skills:
If one doesn’t have the ability to put his point of view and express his ideas effectively, how can he work with clients and end up with some positive results? So, to achieve the desired results, you need a confident tone, should have the ability to appreciate positive criticism, and convey your points to your customer.
- Determination and Patience:
These two skills are the ones you always need to master, no matter what your job is. So, they are equally important for an independent consultant too. You need to be determined as you will obviously face difficulty initially in approaching new clients and meeting their expectations. You should always set your goals and patiently try to achieve them, no matter how much time it takes.
How much does an independent consultant make?
When it comes to earning and making a living, independent consultants are found to make an average earning of $57,457 per year and $28 per hour in the United States. Various surveys lead to the conclusion that independent consultants make 40 to 60% more than an employee. Not only do they earn more, but they also feel satisfied with their job and the service they are providing to their clients. A survey of independent consultants in North America and Europe in 2018 showed that 90%of them choose to be independent consultants by their choice and feel satisfied. Of those 90%, 91% agreed to the fact that they are paid more. Moreover, 68% of them claimed to remain independent consultants for life.
Difference between independent consultant and freelancer:
The terms ”independent consultant” and ”freelancer” are often thought to be the same. Although both of them work as non-legal employees of a company, there are differences in their nature of work.
- Freelancers work remotely, while independent consultants have to pay visits to the company and client they are working for.
- Freelancers don’t sign contracts with a specific company and can work with many of them at a time, but an independent consultant can work with a single client at a time until his contract finishes.
- Freelancers only need to learn specific skills related to their work like website development, graphic designing, coding, etc. But if you are an independent consultant, you not only need expertise in your field but also need to have basic knowledge of other fields too, as only then you can come up with good strategies.
Conclusion
Everyone has their own preferences. Not everyone wants to be an independent consultant, and even this job is not perfect for everyone. However, it has many benefits like autonomy, flexibility, better lifestyle, etc. On the other hand, they encounter several new challenges every day for which they need to have excellent problem-solving skills and intelligence. Our goal was to give a deep insight into an independent consultant. Now, it’s your turn to decide if it is the right job for you or not.
0 Comment