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The article is more a FAQ to all consultants planning to launch an online business of consulting.
When you’re an advisor, and you think you don’t agree with me, I’m glad to hear your
Comments in the comments section. I would appreciate your feedback.
There are many kinds of consultants that might not fit your style of consulting. But these are general rules which are applicable to everyone.
Here we go…
1. How long does it take to get your first consulting client?
If your website and marketing are in place, you are likely to be able to find your first client to consult within 2 to 4 weeks of establishing your site and your marketing strategies.
You must be able to complete manual tasks and get your first client by using your immediate contacts. If you have difficulty accomplishing this and cannot do that, then consulting may not be the best career choice for you. It is also advisable to consider changing careers. One that you may be more enthusiastic about.
2. Should I start a blog?
Absolutely you need to blog. Blogs are the most effective way to spread your message to the people you want to reach. Write engaging blogs and then tweak the content to improve SEO. Once they’re on your blog, You can ask them to be converted for your consultation services.
Learn the basics of SEO as well as blogging when you purchase this Ahrefs blogger course here.
3. Should I start my consulting practice full time or part time? Or should I quit my job right now?
I suggest that people begin consultation as part-time job. Once they’ve learned their fundamentals and your current income from consulting begins to grow in line with your full-time occupation, this is the time to consider quitting your full-time job and get out and practice your consulting.
I wouldn’t advise the notion of leaving your job and following your hobby in a reckless manner.
Instead, for our consultants working with Us at Elite Consultants Mastermind, we advise them to gradually decrease their earnings and increase it when they feel comfortable.
4. When should I give up my consulting practice?
If you’ve identified your target market correctly and have the proper marketing procedures put in place, then you won’t be at the point where you’re ready to end your consulting business.
However, if you’ve built something, but you haven’t been successful in obtaining even a single consulting customer within the span of 3 months, you must be thinking about changing your approach to consulting before it rips the hole in your wallet. Perhaps you can meet with an expert to redefine your area of expertise for consulting because that’s typically the reason why you’re not getting clients.
5. Should I quit my full-time job?
You shouldn’t. It is possible to start your consulting business by working part-time and gradually ramp it as it gets earning more money in the bank.
6. How do I get new clients consistently?
One of the best methods to gain new clients is to drive lots and many relevant visitors to your website and guide them through the funnel. You can accomplish this by writing relevant blogs or driving traffic via paid ads via Google Adwords and Facebook ads.
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7. Should I ever focus on running webinars? Or workshops?
If you are noticing that running a business as a consultant today is ten times simple.
You can work from any place in the globe and receive clients from all over the globe.
Webinars let you reach more customers and allow you to market your products around the world. In contrast, events generally require you to perform an extensive amount of ground-level regional marketing in order to spread the announcement out.
If you’re just beginning in your consulting business and want to tap into an international market is much easier than facilitating live workshops.
Workshops can be a great way to earn premium money. However, webinars can also be a great starting point. The costs for organizing webinars are minimal when compared with running an actual event.
You can start by hosting events and consulting workshops, but first, you must begin with webinars and then earn some cash. If you’re comfortable, you can begin conducting live workshops and testers and then make a decision when you’re ready to go.
So, you’ll be able to reduce the risk of your consulting business and begin your consulting practice at lower expenses upfront.
Imagine how exciting it is to be able to connect to a worldwide audience via webinars.
Sounds amazing, doesn’t it?
NO. Concentrate on what will bring you income. The only thing you need to perform on social networks platforms is run ads that drive plenty of targeted traffic. This can be done through paid or organic ways to your website or a consulting site.
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9. What are the habits of a world class consultant?
Every world-class consultant is the best in their consulting business. But what I’ve observed is that the most important thing the world’s top consultants share in common is the right mindset and focus, which allows them to pick the appropriate consulting practice
10. I made a grave mistake. Should I tell my client?
Yes. Let them know everything that has happened. They’re the ones you should first notify in the event of a problem. Be honest and open about it.
11. I feel I am undercharging as compared to my competition in the market. How do I increase it?
Do not be worried about it. Start charging less and be comfortable pricing at a low cost, and while you’re there, study how to provide value. If the time is right for you to seek the advice of a mentor to create an elite mastermind or a top-quality consulting course that your clients would be delighted to pay.
The trick is balancing the price-value ratio, so if you get advice from someone who has accomplished it, you will have no problem increasing the price.
I’ve increased my rates to almost 10x over the last 5 years, however, I did not do it on my own. I have learned this from customers who have charged similar amounts from customers who are in the market.
Then you can understand your own business strategy by talking to someone else who’s had it all and done it.
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12. How do I promote my consulting practice?
First, make sure you conduct your own research about it by seeking out a mentor studying books and trying out more with your company, and sure enough, you’ll break the current cost point by determination.
If you’ve been consulting for some time but haven’t managed to increase your business beyond [x] dollars an hour, advertising the business you run is a great idea.
There are many methods to advertise the success of your consultancy business. You could begin by writing blog posts for LinkedIn, Medium, Quora guest posts, guest blogs, or your own blog to advertise your consulting business.
13. When should I hire full-time employees for my consulting business?
If you think you are able to afford to pay their salaries each month.
14. Should I register my company or should I work as a freelancer?
When you’re starting out to build an enterprise for consulting, it is important to make sure that your expenses are as low as you can. Therefore, my recommendation is to be a freelancer because you’ll not know what you’re doing for the first three months and will be experimenting with a variety of different things.
As revenue increases and the business becomes stable, you may be able to register your company.
Once you have registered an organization, the procedures and due diligence are initiated, and you must comply with these rules. Therefore, be extremely cautious regarding these matters.
15. Should I patent or trademark my consulting style?
There is no requirement unless your brand or consulting style is utilized by many people. It is not necessary to have its patent or trademark. Look for things that will bring cash to the bank. They don’t.
16. Should I get a business partner for my consulting or not?
Well, it depends. If you think you’ve grown to the extent that you need expert knowledge or someone who is able to manage the operational aspects of your company, then I believe you should take action.
Be sure you have enough money to make these decisions since you do not want your business partner to be unhappy with the level of pay once they join your company full-time.
You must ensure that you and your partner share the same outlook and goals to grow the business. Sharing ideas about how to manage your company and business ways is crucial when selecting the right business associate.
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17. Should I build an information product? Or should I do one on one or group consulting first?
This is an excellent question. If I were to begin my career this day, I’d do one-on-one consulting and group consultation to gain information and knowledge regarding my clients who I consult with and their wants and needs.
Once I’m attuned with my target audience and have a decent knowledge, I can slowly create a product that will appeal to them. The goal is not to perform a large number of sales but to sell fewer units and then eventually earn higher profits.
Both have advantages as well as disadvantages. I’ve seen people start with a consultation and develop their products later as they gain expertise by then, allowing you to create an improved product for your customers.
18. What should you do if no one seems to be interested in buying my consulting practice?
In the ideal scenario, these are signs of a bigger issue. It is essential to talk to one of the experts or mentors and request their assistance in removing your company structure and getting rid of your problems.
You should rethink whether you’re asking the correct questions to your customers also. This could range from positioning to marketing, pricing and sales.
Therefore, it is best to talk to a knowledgeable mentor who will be able to explain the issue and the solution objectively for you.
19. What if my client asks me to do something that’s not in my consulting package?
Inform them in a polite manner that the services they’re seeking do not come with the package that they’ve signed up for. Since they’re already an existing customer, you could provide the services or products at a reduced cost, thus gaining their trust and loyalty.
20. I have a lot of ideas. How do I pick the right one?
Take it one at a time, and then try them out thoroughly and with your desired audience.
21. How do I find my niche? Should I do market research for it?
Finding your niche for consulting is among the most important tasks you can accomplish for yourself. If you do it right and you are able to do this, you will be able to earn a huge income from your consulting services; however, if you do it wrong, you’ll not be able to put any money into your account and will be struggling since you are attempting to reach an audience that won’t be interested in your messages.
This is a very complex subject and requires a thorough explanation. Luckily, I’ve created this blog that will help you identify your niche and gather feedback about your work.
Yes. Understanding your market and researching is the main goal of every expert consultant. The top consultants conduct lots of market research prior to launching a product, so they can be sure (for certain) of the product they’re creating and if there is a demand for it on the market.
Their efforts are not in vain.
22. When should I fire a client?
If they cost you more peace, time and money than you earn by serving them.
23. When should I increase my prices?
If you feel at ease and you know your market to charge high-end rates for clients who are your customers who are consulting with you. I am convinced that the majority of people aren’t aware of the process behind the creation of rising costs for self-development consultancy.
The ability to increase your price is an aspect of increasing your output and value in the field of consulting. Therefore, if you improve your value from your consultancy package, you may be able to raise your rates.
In an individual consultation, you may be able to charge $500 per hour. However, if you opt for a result-oriented consulting program that guarantees a certain amount of measurable results for your client, and demands more, they will be willing to pay.
Similar to that, you can make more money from the most expensive masterminds and intensives.
The more well-known the consultant is, the more you will be able to charge and, therefore, if you’re an aspiring consultant, you may not be able to charge the high prices that professionals in the field charge their clients, however, you could get a higher price through a step-by-step method, and we’ll teach this on our webinar.
24. Should I get a mentor or not?
Yes. You must. As a consultant, having an experienced mentor is the most efficient method to advance to your
The goal I had always wanted to achieve. It would have been impossible for me to create my consulting business if I had been unable to find a mentor who helped me develop my business.
25. What’s the best way to sell my consulting plans?
Personally, I’ve found webinars the most effective method of selling consulting services or packages.
26. Should I do per hour? Or per package or results-oriented basis?
Per-hour consulting is great for a start; however, if you are looking to make the numbers work to become an 6 figure consultant, you’ll need to move to higher-end, outcomes-based consulting programs.
27. What’s the most effective form of marketing for a consultant?
As consultants, you have the ability to perform 2-3 things, and they perform very well in the consulting business.
You can advertise or write blogs, do PR, score lots of media coverage, guest post on blogs of other bloggers, and listen to many podcasts, which will aid in increasing the value of your role as a consultant.
28. Should I give stuff away for free? Should I provide a discount for my consulting service?
Yes, you should offer your most valuable content for free so that people can come and are enticed to purchase your products because they know that if the free content is this great, the premium content is 10 times as good.
Be sure that your freebies or discounts become a Black Friday sale. This, in turn, will influence your brand’s image and your sales.
In other industries, this could work well. However, for consulting companies, You should not conduct any kind of sale that reduces the value of the product.
As you think about it, Luxury brands do not have sales or discounts.
Similar to that, you must be playing your game with value and not about price, which means that you shouldn’t cut the price of your product to attract a particular segment of your customers.
I believe that unless you’re running massive volumes such as Tony Robbins, you shouldn’t deny your services. If you’re at the beginning of consulting, you should be attracting high-end clients to cover the operational expenses.
Yes, but ensure that you’ve allocated some money to free giveaways like interesting mailings, books, or a free one-month subscription to your service. Items that don’t require your company lots of money.
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29. Should I go to industry meetups and events?
Avoid attending gatherings until you’ve earned an acceptable amount of income for your consulting business.
30. When should I say NO to a consulting client?
Suppose they’re not meeting your needs for consulting. Even so, it is important to determine your ideal client to consult with and what characteristics will you get from them.
31. When should I say YES to a consulting client?
If there’s a good match with your consultant client.
32. Should I even start a consulting business?
It’s a good question. If you’re really keen to discover the possibilities of your talents and share them with the rest of us around the world, then you should begin your own consultant business.
33. My client is getting into my personal space. Should I ask them to respect boundaries?
You can solicit your client’s permission to give you some space, and then inform them to do so. Most of the time, what occurs is that since we are consultants and we value the needs of other people, we tend to do our best to assist those in need.
This very behavior of ours could setup incorrect expectations for our customers. They can also invade our private space and create issues for us for this.
As an advisor, you must make sure you are assertive in your approach.
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34. What do I do when I have doubts?
Contact your mentors and business support groups to ask for assistance with your concerns.
35. My Wife/Husband doesn’t support me in my consulting practice. What should I do?
I’m sure I’ve seen numerous cases in my day-to-day life that the person believes that they can become a consultant and create an online business of consulting.
The best way I’d suggest is to get your partner to trust you and then ask them to grant your 6 months to achieve your goal and negotiate a compromise around it. If you aren’t able to achieve this within 6 months, then think about the idea and consider other alternatives.
36. Should I sell my consulting to people all across the globe?
Naturally, this is the most effective method of doing it. If you’re selling to a particular geographic region, you’re limiting your business to a specific region. However, if you are selling to a wider market, you will have access to a greater number of buyers.
So you can earn more of the revenue from clients around the world that are looking for consulting services.
37. Should I get a website or app? What should I do first?
Use the website to ensure it works first. Do not fall for the tempting attraction of an application. It’s best to wait. Concentrate on revenue first.
38. I have no traffic. How do I get traffic?
Find out more about how to get the most traffic here.
39. How to name your Consulting packages?
Naming your consulting package is a crucial aspect of becoming a top-quality consultant. This is such an arduous task, that’s why I’ve written this article that I’d like to share with you.
If you review the document, it will be obvious to you what you need to label your consulting package.
40. How do I convert Facebook page likes into customers?
Don’t be concerned about turning your Facebook followers into customers. If they truly desire to purchase from you, they’ll come to you. However, if you’re looking to get them to do that, then you must display Facebook advertisements that are targeted at your Facebook followers, and this is how you’ll be able to make them your customers.
Image taken from unsplash.com
41. How do I build a high converting website?
A website that converts well for consultants implies that you must have an attractive landing page with an action call and incentives to join your services.
If you’re looking for ways to build a highly-converting website, then take a look at our site, as we’ve spent hours trying to understand and improve it until it can be converted very well by our targeted users.
42. What should be my starting pricing?
It all depends on which market you’re in and the demographic you are selling to as well as what exactly services you’re selling at.
Ideally, for those who have completed the course, we recommend that they start at least $300 per hour. We strongly recommend against following the hourly structure, which is why I recommend an hourly high-end, results-based consulting, which can be much more rewarding than the hourly model of work.
43. How long does it take for a consultant to go from low ticket sales to high-end consulting?
If your mentor is there, taking that route won’t take much time. However, if you’re working on your own, it will take quite a long time. It all comes down to finding the best capabilities of a consultant to grow your business.
That’s why at the elite consultant mastermind, we begin the top-of-the-line consulting programs that allow students to earn up to USD 10,000 per month in the first month when they graduate from our program.
44. Should I hire a PR agent?
It is not recommended to hire an agency for PR. There are plenty of online resources that will show you how to do PR for free, and you can study them, follow them, and start with free.
If you can earn some income through your consulting business, you may be able to hire someone else to handle public relations for you. However, until then, you must be able to work at it on your own.
45. What if my competition offers the same consulting services for lower pricing?
Do not worry about the cost aspect; if you find the right niche for your consulting, then you will not have to be concerned about the competition. Additionally, you must begin with results-based consulting, which takes the competition from the picture.
However, on the other side, if there are competitors in your field, there are consumers who are willing to pay for services similar to this, which means that there is a legitimate demand for the service you intend to provide.
Actually, it’s the perfect reason to establish your own consulting business in the same space.
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