69. How to Transition into Business Consulting, Coaching or Advising
How to Transition into Business Consulting, Coaching or Advising [Everything Business Consulting Episode 69]
A Transition Guide for new Consultants, Coaches & Advisors.
Get your FREE downloadable Transition Guide at www.consultx.com/transition
[Everything Business Consulting Episode 69]
In this episode, we look at making the transition into Business Consulting, Coaching, or Advisory.
The main questions we seek to answer are:
What is a transition?
What are the main things to consider when thinking about transitioning?
What do you need to prepare?
Where to start getting clients?
How can you leverage your current situation?
We then consider the 3 Methods people generally become Business Consultants, Coaches, or Advisors:
Immediate Transition
Prepared Transition
Long Term Transition
We conclude by promoting you to consider what method will best suit you and give the opportunity to download our free guide from www.consultx.com/transition
References:
Client Acquisition Methods: Podcast Episode 14
E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
Everything Business Consulting is brought to you by ConsultX, your complete Business Consulting Solution.
Visit www.consultx.com to find out more.
Transcript:
Julius: Are you thinking about taking the leap into the world of business consulting? Well, this episode is specifically for you. We're going to talk about becoming a business consultant and we're going to bridge the gap between where you are now and what you need to do to take the leap.
MC: Welcome to Everything Business Consulting, whether you are, or you want to become a successful and high-earning business consultant, coach, or advisor, this show is dedicated to help you. Here are our hosts, David Thexton and Julius Bloem.
Julius: Welcome to episode 69. This has been inspired by the large number of people who want to get in the profession of business consulting, but haven't got a plan on how to do it and are looking for some direction, a boost in confidence, or the age-old fallacy, David waiting for the right time. What is the subject we are broaching today, David?
David: We're going to be looking at transitioning into business consulting, and everybody comes from somewhere different, obviously. And we're going to talk about relevance to employment, we're going to talk about whether you're coming from self-employment. You might be running your own business and you want to be a consultant. The main thing is that you're wanting to leave wherever you are now and move into business consulting, coaching, or advisory services.
Julius: Why are we doing this, a show, you might be wondering? Well, we have had a huge number of requests and also conversations with people wanting to join us in some capacity. Just wanting to know more, really about becoming a business consultant, a coach, or advisor, but there is a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding on exactly how to do it. Now, if this sounds like you, make sure you listen to the entire episode, but also note that we'll be giving you our free transitioning guide at the end of this episode.
We're going to cover a few points today. The main points we're going to cover are what is a transition, what are the main things to consider in this transition process, and finally, the three different methods of transition we typically see. So, David, do you want to take off, take it up a notch and tell us what is a transition?
David: Well, a transition is the process, or it's a period of changing, and when you're going from one state or condition to another. For example, you might be coming from anything really, from being employed, self-employed, owning a business, working in corporate on and on it goes. Working for a salary, all of those sorts of things, but in this instance, we're talking about changing your current situation and employment to become a successful business consultant.
Julius: I want to dive in then to the six main things to consider and that need preparation when thinking about considering business consulting. The first point David is to prepare, what do you need to prepare?
David: Well, you need some assets basically and luckily, most people have got these assets, like a computer, a laptop computer, or notebook computer whatever you call them, a printer, a mobile phone or a house phone, and sometimes a car. Those are the assets and everybody we come across has already got those.
Julius: Now the next thing in this list of things to prepare is marketing, so consider how you're going to brand yourself, both offline and online. These are things like logos, getting some business cards sorted out, brochures, signwriting on your car perhaps. If we move to an online example, you probably will want to consider having a website, which is going to be quite basic for most people, almost like an online brochure, just to give you a bit of presence. So you can be found if someone was to Google you.
Now I was talking about Google, Google My Business, and the free listings you can get through them. Also give you a very powerful way of showing that you are a local business and in existence, this is kind of like the link between Google and your website, or you can even use the free websites that Google My Business provide. The main part of Google My Business that I really like is its ability to have reviews. So just think about this, if you walked in the door as a new or an established consultant, and someone was to Google your business, Thexton Consulting, for instance, David, they look that up online and you had 10 five-star reviews raving about how good you were.
Now, there are lots of strategies around this and I'm not going to go into them in great depth. But if you're just starting out and planning your assault on business consulting, you can look to get reviews and testimonials from people that you've worked within the past, in other capacities that aren't exactly business consulting.
They might be associates, family members, friends, you might've given business advice to or work for them in some sort of professional way. And all you're looking from them is a five-star review and saying that David is a good guy and he knows a lot about business, he'd be great to work with. And if you've got five or 10 of them, that already gets you off on a really powerful foot.
Now, the next thing, when it comes to marketing is having a professional and clean-looking LinkedIn, and the same with your Facebook profile, what you want on a Facebook profile is if someone was to look you up is that they see that you look respectable and professional.
We don't want someone looking you up and finding that you go out partying every single weekend and that kind of thing. That's just not really a good professional look if you want to be in this sort of profession. What is number three on our list, David?
David: Well, you need some tools, Julius, and you need to consider the tools that you need, and you need to be familiar with them. At the minimum, how people normally start off, they need an invoicing tool, just a simple one.
Like you need to be able to invoice your clients and it needs to look professional, it needs to work properly and all the rest of it. You need to use Google Suite, which is free, or Microsoft Office and Zoom. Use those, I use Microsoft Office at the moment and Julius is trying to convince me to move over to Google Suite because it's free, and it's actually a lot better. We won't go into detail on that, but probably over Christmas when we have a few weeks off, I'm going to convert over. Ideally, you'll need a CRM system, that's a customer relationship management so that nothing slips through the cracks and you've got all the details are retained in your system, essentially.
You need a business diagnostic tool and software like our profit leakage calculator. You also need software and a system to be able to produce business plans, and part of that after you've got the business plan is to be able to manage the tasks that are delegated out to the management team of the client's business. And the final thing that you need is a management reporting tool and software where you can report very accurately on a monthly basis as to where the business is going, what results it's had in the past, and to measure those up against the forward forecast in the future.
Julius: David, I just want to ask you what exactly is a diagnostic software and how does that help you to become a business consultant?
David: Well, it's one of the tools that we use to be able to diagnose our prospect's business before they become a client. And it's a piece of software that enables us to find out what's going on in his or her business and where the key points are, where the problems and the challenges are coming from.
Julius: So training, certification, and qualifications are the next things to consider when transitioning to becoming a business consultant. Now, none of this stuff is a prerequisite, but it will definitely help you to improve businesses if you've got a clear idea on how to do that. Qualifications aren't required, we've seen all sorts of people become successful at this profession. Both people that are highly qualified, they might have an MBA or a CPA behind them and others that don't have that same level of previous education, but they have a desire to help business owners and they are able to pick up the skills through some kind of training or certification that gives them a foundation and framework to be able to work with businesses.
Now, this also has the ability to increase your confidence. Now, there are a few companies that do a good job of training you to become a business consultant and understanding the consulting process. What we do here at ConsultX is we put together a system and training that takes you right from the start on how to acquire clients through to the business improvement process. Kind of like an A to Z process and education system.
There are some other places out there that you can give yourself a self-taught education around business consulting, and this podcast is a great example of it. This is free for everyone to listen to, and it can help you go a long way to getting ready to becoming a business consultant. The final place you can give yourself a little bit of free or very low-cost preparation into this sort of thing is through books. Now a favorite, David of yours, is the E-Myth. Can you just tell us a little bit about that and how that can help you get ready to becoming a business consultant?
David: Well, the E-Myth goes through, it's written in story form, and it goes through the process that a self-employed business person, goes through before they start a business. And then it goes into, it takes a bakery owned by a lady called Susan. It takes that, and it runs through all of the trials and tribulations that she's gone through to start her bakery and to make it successful. And then a business consultant comes along or maybe he's called a coach, I'm not sure, and it describes all of that. So, that what you're getting in the E-Myth, is an example of what you're going to find out there in the business marketplace.
And that people start businesses with no training and no idea how to run a business. They might be a good baker, they might be a good engineer, but they don't know how to run a business. And that's where they get into trouble, and that's where the need for somebody, like a business consultant, becomes very apparent. Now one of the first things that you're going to do when you become a consultant if you become a consultant that has, is getting clients, and you need to start thinking about people and businesses that you already know. Now, everybody knows lots of people, you know family members, you know people that you work with, know, you know people who are self-employed, you know Bob, the guy that owns the mower center downtown and the electrician and on and on it goes.
So you need to start thinking about those people and you need to start making lists and stuff like that. And you need to think about any professional relationship, which you may have. It might be an accountant, it might be a lawyer, it could be a business broker, and the possibilities that you could turn these people into a client.
And also too, you need to start thinking and looking around for people who can give you strategic referrals. In other words, an accountant could probably give you two, three referrals a month. And a bank manager is another one for strategic referrals, as he knows, he'll know before business is entering severe financial difficulties, and he may refer you to them. There are other types of people that we call them affiliates, and I'll just mentioned an accountant and a broker, there are also mergers and acquisition specialists, all sorts of people who are working with businesses, who could give you that referral. It could be insurance. Could be a supplier, all sorts of people.
So you also need to think about what other strategies are you going to use beyond the ones that we've just spoken about? And that is another one, one of the best ones that I found was networking and association. Businesses associations and networking groups, and I joined two. And I'll tell you what, it was like having a pot full of money. There were so many people in the networking groups that I belong to and the associations that I found myself sitting swimming round in a swimming pool of very, very good prospects.
I found them easy to approach because I was a member of the network or the association. And, I did keynote speeches to them, three or four that I did, I got to the bottom of the stairs on the stage, and they were waiting for me down the bottom with their business cards. One networking group that I belong to, I was given the job as sitting at the guest table, cause every month they would get probably 10 guests would come along and then I'd sit down and I'd say to them, tell me what challenges are you having with your business today?
And then they would pour their heart out on the table and I would take the notes down. And I would find that out of those 10, there was probably two or three that I could offer my specialization to. There's also things like lead lists, buying or creating your own, and using email to send out newsletters and things like that to them, that's very, very handy as well. And then there's online marketing, Julius, you're a bit of an expert on that.
Julius: Yep, you can use online marketing as a great place to start reaching out and gaining a bit of presence in the marketplace. There's obviously tools like Facebook and LinkedIn, which we've already discussed setting up, but you can start to do things, like on these platforms, connecting with the types of people that would make good leads.
Maybe you want to work in a tight business area and you want to start connecting with all of the people that would belong to a particular group or in a particular industrial area that you want to start approaching. So they start to become familiar with you and see you before you've even actually started as a business consultant. So it's like a very soft way to start getting in front of them, and then over time, you're able to start the conversation and introduce yourself as time goes on.
If you want to know more about client acquisition, we do have a very particular episode that dives quite deep into that, and that is episode 14 of Everything Business Consulting, which you'll be able to listen to on whatever platform you're listening or watching us right now.
Now the sixth point to consider is the situation that you're currently in. Will your current employer allow you to transition, transition from where you are now to business consulting? You're not going into competition with them in most cases, you're taking the skills you've learned, and you're combining that with the skills you're picking up as a business consultant and teaching yourself, and you're starting out fresh.
So in a lot of cases, your previous employer or your current employer will allow you to do some kind of transition and hand over your role to your replacement. And what this does is it makes it a lot easier for your boss or your current employer to have less effect on their business, and it gives you the ability to very gently become a business consultant. We're going to dive into this in greater detail shortly. Why are you transitioning versus going full-time immediately is a question you should ask yourself. You're going to have to weigh this up because, with one option you can dive in and give it all of your attention and your effort, and the other option it's going to protect your income a little bit more, but it's going to mean that you may not get that same aggressive really rocketing fast start out of the gate.
So just keep that in the back of your mind as we move forward in this podcast and hopefully answer some of the questions you might have around that. Now, the last couple of questions to consider and ask yourself is how long is your ideal transition? Is it going to be really quick? Will your employer allow it to be really quick or do they want to drag it out so they can ring every last little bit out of you, and does that suit your situation? Now finally, will your current employer or the business you're currently working in, or perhaps you even own it and maybe you're selling it, is it possible that they could become a client. And we've seen this a few times in the network, haven't we, David, where the employer that you used to work with, or even the business that you've previously owned and sold, actually becomes one of your first client.
David: Yes, that can happen and it's very common.
Julius: I want to dive into the final part of this podcast and perhaps where the most value lays. And that is what are the three methods that people usually use to become business consultants? Now, the first of these three methods is the immediate transition, can you take us through that?
David: Well, the immediate transition is no transition really, and it's essentially a finished on Friday and start on Monday as the no transition. A lot of people do that, they've been thinking about this for a long, long time, they've got a bit of an idea as to what to do, they've listened to a lot of our podcasts and they're pretty much pre-trained almost, in this situation. So they finished Friday, start Monday and they actually know who their clients are going to be, or prospects are going to be. They earmark them, got a list, might have 10 or 20 people that they've already met or they know, or they've done a little bit of research and earmarked them, so they're all ready to go.
And the other important thing is they have, need to have, or they feel they need to have money saved to allow them to do this because these people are going to be well, these people tend to, if you're finished Friday and start Monday, then the income stops. But they might get a big payout, they might have a lot of savings, any of these things. So the last part of this is they might be made redundant. Like there's stuff going on all over the world, people who have been with companies for 5, 10, 15 years of being made redundant and they get given obviously a redundancy payment and they feel that will hold them over until their consulting income comes in.
Julius: Now, the second method is the prepared transition, do you want to take us through that, David?
David: Sure, well some people we've found probably about 30%, maybe 40. They typically do their training and do their research and do their setup after hours. So they keep on working for their existing employer for a while, and just so they can get a level of comfort. They work on the weekends and they work after hours, and then they're basically because they've done all their training and done everything that they need to do, they are ready to get started and have a pretty swift launch.
They set up their, well they do their training, of course, with ConsultX, they set up their business cards, brochures, and marketing all after hours, and then they become a business consultant. Now, what that does is, as I've said, a couple of times, is that you save probably two or three weeks, by taking your time in this prepared transition.
Julius: So the prepared transition is a little bit slower, but it also allows you to hit the ground running. Now the final one that we have to consider, David, is the long-term transition.
David: Yes, what these people do and they're probably 20, 25% or so, and it actually differs slightly from country to country, but the idea is to slowly transition over a period of time from your current situation to become a business consultant. So what you're doing is you're trying to protect your income. We've all got mortgages, we've all got all those sorts of bills and phone bills and power and so on, food, clothing.
So some people will know they're a little bit risk-averse and they want to do it over a longer period of time. And some people negotiate with their employer because if you tell your employer, I'm leaving, he's going to be really upset. And if you then say, I'm going to become a business consultant, helping small businesses to improve their profit, growth, and value, then you're essentially putting yourself in a position to work with your employer and work with the new replacement for you and still get paid.
So you train your replacement, normally people give a month's notice, and it's very hard. It's very hard on the employer, sometimes he can't find a replacement, it might take two months. So with you offering to train the new person, then this is pretty darn good. So you start running your hours of work down over the coming one or two months and still getting paid. And that would really, really be a good thing for your employer to support you. And of course, don't forget that if you've done this and he can see what you're doing, as we mentioned earlier, it could be a pretty good way for you to open the door to you becoming his business consultant after you've finished a hundred percent.
Julius: The main thing here, David, is that there are three options, and as a business consultant or someone who's becoming a business consultant, you need to figure out the transition method that suits you the best. To help the listeners of this podcast do that, we've got a free downloadable guide and a video on transitioning. Now, this is available on our website and it will walk you through the plan. Right from defining your consulting goals at the start, and then it will look at the times and the strategies to get you from where you are now, to becoming a successful business consultant. You can find this guide at consultx.com/transition, that's consultx.com/transition.
There were three key ways to transition into this fabulous profession, David, can you just remind us what they were?
David: Yeah, absolutely. Immediate transition, in other words, jump into it. Finish on Friday, start on Monday, most people do that. With maybe a little bit of pre-work being done. The second one is a prepared transition where you prepare yourself, you do your training, you make lists of prospects and things like that, and you're preparing yourself, and then you jump. And then of course long-term transition, which is slowly move from where you are now to where you want to get to. It might be one or two months, you might be working with your employer, you might be training the replacement for you, but what it does do is it protects your income, right until you're actually consulting and you're earning a consulting fee.
Julius: So there are a few things to think about before you start, as we've discussed in this podcast, now working through these slowly and having a bit of a plan can be important to your success. We have tried to make this process as simple as possible by offering you that free transition guide, which again, you can find on our website, consultx.com/transition.
For all of the show notes on this episode, please visit consultx.com/episodes/69. And don't forget, we do have that transition guide available to help you get started. Please leave a review on your favorite listening platform, as it really helps us to reach more people and hopefully help them transition as well. Finally, don't forget to reach out to ConsultX on social media, YouTube, or through our website to request a topic or have your business consulting questions answered.
David: You've been listening to Everything Business Consulting with David Thexton and Julius Bloem.
MC: Everything Business Consulting is brought to you by ConsultX. A complete training, software, and community for business consultants, coaches, and advisors. ConsultX guides you through the entire process to success to find out more, visit consultx.com.