Efforts in starting a Consultancy Firm!

This is where the Rubber Hits the Road
- Welcome to Bootcamp DAY1…

There is a significant amount of work to do in starting a consulting business and you should not underestimate the challenges involved. It is quite likely that you will need to do much of the planning and preparation alongside your day job i.e. in the evenings and at weekends.

You might think that some of my suggestions are odd and maybe radical. I make no apology for this. My intention is to challenge You to work through a decision process that has the potential to change your working life and financial future fundamentally. You will NOT do this from the comfort of your arm chair – you need to Get Up, Get Out There and Make It Happen.

If you’re going to successfully complete the preparation required to make the transition to working as an Independent Consultant you’ll need to Review, Challenge and probably Change your priorities and particularly how you spend your time. In my experience people who achieve their goals in life actually get on and do the things that others do not like to do and choose not to do. For example, get fit and sell your television. Just two examples of life changes that made a fundamental difference to my perspective and my probability of success in making the transition that I made six years ago. But more of that later…

Given that you are browsing this website you are likely to be at a crossroads or key decision point in your career. If after working through the material on this site and progressing your own investigations and preparations you make the decision that starting a consulting business is NOT for you, then that too will have been a success. The objective of the independent consulting bootcamp site is to assist you in making the right decision and that decision may well be to maintain the status quo and continue in your current employment.


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Maintaining Momentum
In my experience at least half the challenge in starting a consulting business is in maintaining momentum. One tip that I found useful and still use today when undertaking a project that is not my full time focus is simply to ensure that you Do at least one thing every day to move you towards your goal, even if it is just to make one phone call or send one letter. If you take this approach you will be amazed at how quickly you will complete tasks and these positive experiences will be like the wind at your heels – they will carry you forward closer and closer towards your goal.

You will need to be structured and organized in your approach and this site will help you with that. I would also suggest that you find a Mentor; someone with experience beyond your own who will agree to meet with you regularly to discuss challenges, monitor progress against your plan and help with overcoming obstacles. There is little more motivating when undertaking a challenge than involving others who have a genuine interest in your success.

Another proven idea that delivers tremendous results is to grant ‘Nagging Rights’ to someone. This simply means that you agree with someone that they will contact you at regular intervals - usually monthly, to follow up with you, discuss progress and refocus on priorities for the month ahead.

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Activities to start ASAP
There are a number of areas that you need to start to work on as soon as possible:

Understand your basic proposition or offering as an Independent Consultant
Review your skills and experience
Update your CV or Resume
Investigate your marketability and the current market value of your skills
Identify and plan any training or professional development activities that you need to undertake prior to establishing your consulting business
The answer to the question - When to quit your job partly lies in your honest assessment of whether you currently have the skills and experience to operate effectively as an Independent Consultant

Intellectual Property

Collect together and organize your intellectual property
Identify all of the papers, materials, reports, business models, ideas, insights, and methodologies that you have created that together comprise the practical output of the application of your professional skills and experience most likely over a period of many years
Start to build a repository of material that represents the body of knowledge that you will use in winning and delivering consulting assignments going forward

Financial Planning

Understand your current financial situation including your insurance and pension requirements
Determine your financial goals – what will your personal balance sheet look like in say five years and then ten years?
Understand the cash flow implications of starting a consulting business and making the transition from employment to self employment

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Seek a mentor
Identify and approach a small number of people who would potentially be willing and able to act as a mentor as you work through the process of starting a consulting business
These will need to be high integrity individuals who can be trusted to maintain confidentiality, have experience beyond your own and a good understanding of the profession or industry that you intend to target as an Independent Consultant
Contact these individuals, discuss your ideas in outline and ask for their assistance, making it clear that you are looking for them to provide input as a mentor or coach and to challenge you as you work through this planning process
Make an arrangement to meet and prepare yourself for that first discussion

Improve your Physical Fitness

Take a long hard look at your current lifestyle, health and general level of fitness
Success in the planning process will be partly determined by your success in quite fundamentally changing the way you operate and how you currently spend your time
Take a look at your waistline! Do you smoke? How many hours of physical exercise or activity to you undertake each week? Do you eat healthily? Do you get enough sleep to allow you to be effective during the day? Do you drink enough water through the working day? How many hours a week do you spend watching television?...
I recommend that you look on this planning and transition process as a true bootcamp experience – if you are physically fit you will find that you have much more energy & focus and the right mental attitude to apply yourself successfully to the tasks that need to be completed
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Build and Manage your Network - an essential activity when starting a consulting business
Identify and start to effectively manage your network of contacts, colleagues, general associates, fellow professionals, professional advisers, mentors, future suppliers and clients
Start to apply some rigour in your approach to this task – you’ll need to be structured and disciplined to wring the most benefit out of this, but if you do it right it will pay you back tenfold
Start to make full use of the power of Microsoft Outlook to manage your Contacts




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Starting a Consulting Business: T-12 months
In this first month we cover Business Planning -- it is important to invest time in the creation of a straightforward and robust business plan. The document does not need to be particularly lengthy or overly complicated, but it will provide structure for your thinking and allow you to capture the key information about your proposed consulting business.

Fast-track the preparation of your Consulting Business Plan using the free templates, resources, ideas and information available from one of our trusted partners at Business Plan Master.


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Starting a Consulting Business: T-11 months
This month I share with you my experience of how to get organized and minimize the percentage of your time that you spend on activities that will distract you from your main objective.

There is a lot to do to enable the effective planning and set up of any business. Furthermore, it is likely that you will be doing this work in addition to your current day job and other family and social responsibilities. Therefore, it is essential that you are disciplined and well organized and that you have in place a number of basic tools and approaches that will enable you to make best use of your time.

I guarantee that if you follow my advice in this respect you’ll be amazed at the increase in your effectiveness and the number of hours per month you are able to win back to invest in planning your new consulting business.

To reinforce the importance of effective organization you should think ahead to when you actually start working as an independent consultant. Every hour you spend chasing your tail and dealing with administration will be an hour of lost chargeable time. The foundations that you put in place during your planning phase will enable you to build a business that runs like a well oiled machine and will allow you to focus your effort and energy on delivering for your clients.


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Starting a Consulting Business: T-10 months
In month T-10 we plan the technology requirements of your consulting business considering both hardware and software. It is likely that you will require a reliable laptop computer and a range of other hardware and software to enable you to work effectively both during the planning phase and when you are working with your clients.

I describe the equipment that I use, the reasons for my choices and experiences that I have, both good and bad.



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Starting a Consulting Business: T-9 months
Following on from our consideration of technology requirements in the previous month, this month we work through whether there is value in creating and maintaining a Website for your consulting business.

Is a quality business Website essential to have OR simply unnecessary vanity and therefore an avoidable overhead?



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Starting a Consulting Business: T-8 months
Next up we carefully consider the Professional advice that is required both during the setup and operation of a consulting business. By now it will come as no surprise to you that in my opinion it is of critical importance that you seek professional advice from qualified and experienced advisers across a range of disciplines.

I will assist by giving you insight into my experience of identifying, engaging and taking advice from accountants, tax advisers, lawyers, insurance advisers and financial planning consultants.

Whilst we're on the subject of lawyers... Another key area to understand and get right is the Consulting Contract.

Whether you are contracting direct with the end client, working indirectly through an intermediary or engaging subcontractors, there is a lot to consider. Take a look at Contract Basics and Sample Contracts for a solid grounding.



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Starting a Consulting Business: T-7 months
Now its time to consider explicitly When to make the move i.e. When to quit your job.

In this section we work through the main considerations that will influence the timing of your resignation from your current employment; this will help you identify the potential start date for your new venture!


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Starting a Consulting Business: T-6 months
Here I share with you my experience of the practical steps required to give you the best chance of securing chargeable and profitable client work as soon as possible after you commence trading.



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Starting a Consulting Business: T-5 months
In this section we consider personal insurance requirements . When you resign from an employment it is likely that you will lose a number of important employee benefits including health and dental insurance.

This cover will be lost for you personally but possibly also for your family. Therefore it is important to take steps to replace the insurance cover that you will lose when you start to work independently.



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Starting a Consulting Business: T-4 months
A key part of your planning will be the identification and assessment of the risks that you will face in operating your consulting business.

You will need to determine which risks you are willing and able to bear and which will require insurance cover.

An All Risks policy is just that; it provides cover for the main risks that a Professional working independently will typically face.

Alternatively, separate policies can be purchased to cover the range of exposures including Professional Indemnity , Public Liability , Product Liability , Slander and Libel.

In addition, if you intend to employ staff you will require Employers' Liability Insurance.

The related pages provide detailed information to enable you to more fully understand the risks that you will face when starting a consulting business and the importance of Insurance as part of your Risk Management Strategy.

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Starting a Consulting Business: T-3 months
In this section we consider a range of finance related matters including:
Business banking requirements including borrowing if appropriate
Invoicing your clients
Managing your cash flow
Accounting and financial control
Business charge cards


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Starting a Consulting Business: T-2 months
As an independent consultant you will find that for certain clients in some industry sectors perceptions can be of critical importance. Therefore it is important to anticipate clients’ expectations and maintain an appropriate professional image.

I’m not suggesting that you need to engage an image consultant or anything as radical as that, however depending on your profession and the clients you will be targeting there will be an expectation that you will dress and generally present yourself in a particular way.

When you’re working independently it could be said that you are the product i.e. the client is paying for your skills and experience and they come delivered in a wrapper which is simply you and the way you dress, behave and present yourself.

Therefore, whether you like it or not you will be on display when you are working with client staff and you need to think carefully about your image and also that of your business including subcontractors, staff, company vehicles, business stationery and business website.



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Starting a Consulting Business: T-1 month
In this final step we consider the main issues and actions associated with leaving your current employment.

This includes much more than merely drafting and presenting a letter of resignation, and working your notice period. You need to consider a significantly longer time period that begins when you make a firm decision that you will be leaving the organization and extends well into your first few years of operating independently.

It is important to ‘leave the door open’ and do all that is possible to maintain a positive working relationship and open communications with your current employer. It could well be to your commercial advantage if this can be achieved...