How To Start A Consultancy Business From Scratch! (Beginner's Guide)
‘Book a 1 on 1 call with me for only a thousand bucks!’
I think you're familiar with these kinds of statements – since most gurus and mentors charge thousands of dollars for their consulting services.
Consulting is a very lucrative business model since you can make a tremendous amount of money in just a short period of time.
And the beauty part is that you get paid for sharing your knowledge – which is kinda interesting.
Although this all sounds ridiculous, most people don't know how to start their own consulting businesses – since there is a whole set of myths regarding this business model.
These includes:
‘You need to know everything in your industry in order to be come a consulting agent'
‘You need a fancy website, logo, banners, etc. before getting started'
‘You need to have some fancy credentials like a PHD in a certain industry'
I’m here to tell you that all this staff is just complete BS!
You can literally start your own consulting business without all these things.
This article will show you a 5 step process that you can follow in order to setup and run your own consulting business – SUPER EASY!
Thus, you should read till the end if you want to learn more about this subject.
Steps Involved:
Without further ado, let me jump straight into more detail.
1. Identify Your Area Of Expertise
When l say ‘expertise’, l don't necessarily mean that you must know everything about that industry.
But what l mean is that you should find a niche which you have some bit of knowledge.
This will make it ‘easy' for you to deliver your services to your clients – since you'll be doing something that you're knowledgeable about.
For example, if you're someone who has some marriage experience, you can decide to become a marriage consultancy – since you'll be equipped with some knowledge relevant to that particular field.
Assuming that you're confused about choosing your area of expertise, you can try to think about your passion i.e. what do you love doing the most – something that you can do regardless you're getting paid or not.
If you're passionate about something, you'll develop some knowledge in that field – since you'll be spending more time doing what you love.
You can also check your browser search history to see the topics that you search more frequent.
2. Research Problems Within That Industry
Assuming that you've identified your area of interest, it’s now high time to do some bit of research – to identify the problems that exists in that industry.
Remember, a consultancy business exists to solve particular problems – thus, it is key to identify major problems in your niche.
Problem identification will help you in crafting your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) – since you will know exactly ‘who' you want to serve and ‘how' you're going to serve that person.
Using our previous example, you might discover that most couples divorce in the first decade of their marriage life – due to lack of communication.
Thus, your USP will be something like:
‘l help young couples improve their communication skills – so that they can stay longer in their relationships’
Using a USP like this, you can easily attract the right audience for your services – since clients will know exactly what you have to offer to them.
Thus, it is key to dig deep into problems affecting your target audience – so as to know how to position yourself in that industry.
You can join Facebook groups & Forums related to your niche – since these platforms attracts like minded people who share similar characteristics.
Thus, some of the problems will be posted by various individuals in those groups – hence allowing you to observe the trends and frequency of different problems.
3. Master Your Craft
Now that you have identified your area of interest and you're now aware of the problems which exists in that industry, it’s now high time to immerse yourself into valuable resources related to that niche.
It’s very important to seek more knowledge related to your niche – so that you become equipped with relevant information.
The truth is, people don't easily pay a thousand bucks for just some general staff that they already know.
The reason why people seek consultation is that they're looking for a survivor to their problems – thus, you must be ready to face any kind of problem related to your industry.
With that being said, the best way to equip yourself is through podcasts, YouTube videos, books, blog articles, etc.
But if you want to take things to another level, you can enrol into some courses – so as to level-up your skills.
Either way, the key is to have some kind of knowledge which people are willing to pay their hard earned money – just to get that knowledge.
4. Setup Your Sales Funnel
Assuming that you're now equipped with the necessary knowledge, and you now feel comfortable about serving people, it's now high time to setup your sales funnel.
If you're not familiar with a sales funnel, it is basically a roadmap that is designed to lead a visitor into a paying customer.
The truth is, it's difficult to sell a $2 000 consulting service with just a simple link click.
You definitely need a highly converting sales funnel – so as to turn ordinary visitors into paying customers.
For example, your sales funnel can have a free pdf checklist at the front end – so as to collect your clients’ email addresses.
Once you have their email details, you can then start sending some follow up emails – which leads them to booking a call with you.
Once someone books a call with you, you can then sell them your service through that call – since calls are very powerful when it comes to selling high ticket products/services.
Alternately, you can use a webinar funnel – whereby you invite potential clients to a free webinar then at the end of that webinar, you'll then pitch them your offer.
Anyways, this is not a sales funnels tutorial – thus, l wont go into much detail about this topic.
But l think you get the idea behind this concept.
And you can build highly converting sales funnels using a tool like ClickFunnels – which is known as the ‘father' of sales funnels.
5. Look For Potential Clients
Assuming that your sales funnel is setup, it’s now high time to go out there and ‘hunt' for potential clients.
Most people struggles to get clients since they don't know how and where to find them.
But lm here to tell you that customers are already out there – you just have to know where they hang out the most and how to ‘fish' them.
This can be in Facebook groups or Forums – where groups of like-minded people congregate to share ideas.
Thus, your job is to join groups and forums related to your niche and start adding massive value in those groups.
Don't try to show your intentions from the onset – but just focus on adding value through answering people's questions, posting valuable tips, etc.
If you stay active for a significant period of time, people will start noticing you and they will eventually start to like and trust you.
Some might even add you to their friends list – since they'll be benefiting from your free-valuable content.
In some cases, you might start receiving some DMs from people who're interested in learning more from you – since you’ll be viewed as a ‘survivor' to their problems.
And if you manage to build strong relations with those people, you can eventually sell them your services.
And guess what?
Most people who benefitted from your free content will buy your paid services since they'll be interested in learning more from you.
That's just human nature! It's called reciprocity.
Then if you want to take things a step further, you can then start running paid ads in the future.
This will help you to reach more people in less time – since paid ads are highly scalable.
Also remember to add testimonials of your successful clients (in future) – so as to provide social proof to future clients.
Also, testimonials helps to convince doubting clients who might be on the fence of buying your services – but not so sure if your services are the right cure to their problems.
But once they see some testimonials, they'll be like;
‘Let me take the leap of faith. Maybe l can become like this successful client'
Thus, it is key to always add testimonials to your funnels as you start getting great results.
Wrapping Up
I hope that you've gained some value from this post.
I hope that you're now ready to go out there and start your own consulting business.
Most people thinks that you have to be this big ‘expert' with dozens of PHDs in order to start a consulting business.
But this is just a myth!
‘Expert' is just a vague word used to make things complex.
But everyone has some specialised knowledge in a particular field which other people are keen to pay for.
Thus, don't underestimate yourself.
Your knowledge might help thousands (if not millions) of people out there.
Now, before summing up, l came across this awesome book by Russell Brunson called Experts Secrets.
In this book, you'll learn how to sell your services to other people – even without the so called academic credentials.
This book changed my beliefs towards selling my services since l was that kind of person who was ‘shy’ to sell my services.
I always thought that no one is willing to pay for my services – since l thought that l was not good enough.
But after reading this book, my whole belief system changed.
You can read the full review of Expert Secrets here (and the book is free by the way!)
