Developing your reputation is perhaps the most important part of being a consultant. Consulting is perhaps the most easily created entrepreneurial business to undertake primarily because of the almost nil startup costs. You do not have to rent an office or purchase inventory or special equipment, pay franchise fees or incorporation costs, and spend as much or as little as you need on marketing and advertising efforts.
What you really need to do is do something that most of the people do not know how to do, and will be ready to pay money for learning how to do or have it done for them. In fact, any body can say that they are consultants by profession. This is one of the reasons why consultants have developed a bad reputation in various ways. A lot of people believe that consultants are people who are paid to tell you what you already know. Consultants are people who have no job or who have been fired. People even believe that consultants make simple things look complex.
A lot of professional organizations have surfaced in the field of consulting and in specific areas of practice for addressing these issues. They offer different standards of practice and certifications for increasing the level of professionalism in the industry. Some people out here will argue about the fact that one of the most important intangible assets of a consultant is knowledge, although the truth is that a consultant should have reputation. You can easily buy knowledge or even sub contract it, but you cannot do that with reputation.
You may know everything under the sun, but if you do not tell anyone what you know, you will not be able to make a living with it. The most effective way through which you can market yourself as a consultant is through word of mouth referrals which depend solely on reputation. A few consultants are fortunate enough to start with an already established reputation in the industry. If you are one among them, you have made a huge head start.
For those who are initially starting out, even before you have clients for giving a reference to, you need to follow a few important rules such as being ubiquitous, prolific, dependable, credible and generous.
|
