Make a Successful Career Change – Strategies & Tips For Starting a Consulting Business

You have worked your way up the corporate ladder, learned, listened and done your homework. Now you are looking out the office window and wondering what it would be like to work for yourself? Or it’s the same buildup and you’ve suddenly found yourself sitting at the kitchen table after a layoff or downsizing wondering, “What happened?”

One way or the other it’s time for a career change. You’ve seen consultants, either in person or on TV. They just seem to walk in, listen a little, talk a lot and leave. That’s followed by a fat paycheck. Now I know you realize that there is a lot more to it than that, but just in case, you don’t believe in unicorns do you?

What does it take to be a Consultant?

There are a number of things you need to know, be able to do and be willing to do to begin a career as a consultant. Here are the basic requirements.

Requirement #1- A solid base of expertise in process, content or both. It’s not enough to know a lot you have to bring something that isn’t already available to the client. You have to know something they don’t know and you have to know more than they do.

Requirement #2- Exceptional people skills. Social, listening, facilitating, problem-solving skills are just the minimum requirement.

Requirement #3- A positive attitude. You’ll also need a thick skin, patience and being comfortable working on your own.

Requirement #4- The ability to take whatever recommendations you suggest to a client and implement them to deliver the results you promised. Most consultants fail when they reach Requirement #4. Clients don’t want advice they demand results. They expect consultants to deliver them.

The Consulting Process

Let’s say you meet the requirements and you’re sitting down with your first client. What’s the consulting process?

Analyze the situation
Determine the specific results the client wants and needs
Decide if you can meet the client’s expectations
Develop a strategy to achieve the desired results in the shortest possible time
Determine if the client can act upon your recommendations within constraints of her/his organization
Outline an execution plan to achieve the strategy at the lowest cost, while paying you adequately for your time and expertise
Consistently demonstrate your value, insight and justify your fees
Be hired again
Convince the client that everything was his/her idea
The process changes based on the client, the situation and the solutions you suggest. The important thing to remember is that consultation is a slow process. You are building a relationship and no client is going to hand over the company’s marketing, manufacturing, management or money on the first date. As a wise man once said, “Consulting is a long, slow journey taken in baby steps.”
The Do’s and Don’t

Here are a few things to keep your eyes on as you build your business.

Be comfortable taking risks
Decide what you are prepared and qualified to do and don’t cross that line
Always under promise and over deliver
Don’t be tempted to lie about what you know or can do
Remember clients hire you to help them think and not to have you make them feel dumb
Be honest and impartial about problems and solutions
Be a trusted confidant and let clients know their information is confidential
Provide value for the client’s investment in you. Find ways to help make money or save it.
Go the extra mile instead of counting hours
Make communication an obsession, before, during and after the project
Consulting is a demanding, stressful job that’s also rewarding and interesting. Along the way you’ll have a multi-million dollar education taught by some of the best in the business. And, you’ll learn even more from the worst in the business. I won’t sugar-coat it and say it’s easy and you’ll be rich, sophisticated and have an eight-car garage filled with imported sports cars next to your mansion. I suppose it is possible but just in case, you don’t believe in unicorns do you?
Thanks for reading. Now, let’s go make some money!

Colour Consultants – How They Can Change Your Life

It may be a little over the top to suggest that a colour consultant can change your life, however, they can change your visual image, the way you shop and your wardrobe. A personal Colour Analysis by a qualified Colour Consultant can be highly informative and enlightening. The consultant will increase your awareness and appreciation of colour and how it impacts on you. In many instances she will confirm what you already know; she may articulate what you have sensed to be true about your own colouring and the colours that attract you. A Colour Consultant will explain the three qualities of colour; temperature, intensity and depth.The temperature of a colour refers to the presence of yellow (warm) or its absence (cool). The intensity refers to a colour’s light reflecting properties; highly reflective colour is bright while matte shades are muted. The depth of a colour is the most obvious trait to observe.

The colours that will best suit you are those colours that share the same qualities that you possess. For example if your overall depth of colour is medium, then you will be best suited to colours that are of medium depth. If the intensity of your colouring is muted, then you will be flattered by colours that are muted, softened or toned down. The fairer you are the more disconnected and unbalanced you will appear when very deep colours are placed below your face. Conversely, when someone with very strong and deep colouring wears pale colours they will appear drained by these shades. A colour consultant explains and demonstrates the quality of colour by a visual assessment of her client and the draping process. This allows you to see the impact of colours and their varying characteristics on you.

The knowledge and understanding that you acquire from a colour consultant will effect some very positive changes in your appearance, shopping habits and wardrobe organisation. When you embrace the colours that harmonise and balance your own colouring you will appear healthier, younger and more vital. Your skin tone will be more radiant and your complexion more even. Minor imperfections recede and the colour of your eyes and hair will be intensified.

You will find colour to be a great starting point when you hit the shops. A quick scan of the racks in your favourite boutique or department store will reveal whether there’s the likelihood of finding something fabulous. If the colours are not for you, there is no point in looking at the styles….Move on!

Back in the wardrobe at home, use colour as your way of organising and arranging your garments. Keep your neutral coloured items together and then group similar coloured garments together. Its great when all your black camis and tops are in the one drawer and not spread throughout your cupboard. When colour is the system you are working with, your clothes will remain in a logical and accessible order. This great strategy will serve you well on those mornings when the alarm doesn’t go off, the cat has disappeared and you’ve burnt the toast!

So, will a Colour Consultation change your life? That’s still debatable, however what is absolutely certain, is that she will impact your life in a very positive way.

IT Consulting Business Planning – How Deep Will Your Services Go?

Your menu of services is a keystone of your IT consulting business plan. To decide on this menu, you have to consider how deep your services will go into the companies you work with.

The Big Question

The big, initial question which determines what kind of services you will offer is whether you consider your business an IT consulting firm or really an IT outsourcing firm. A pure consulting firm would offer strategic advice, recommendations, and information, but would stop short of actually doing the IT work of the company. An IT outsourcing firm would take on these internal IT tasks, whether they are system design, implementation, and maintenance, software and web development, or other work. A third option is to try to operate as a combination of these two, but be careful of trying to do to much.

Tradeoffs

The highest level IT consulting work is to create overall IT strategy for the firm, looking ahead to how IT will both lower costs and increase revenue for their business. This type of work has an extremely high value for a forward-looking firm. It can save a firm the cost and overhead of hiring an IT director with deep enough expertise to manage these decisions. Your consulting firm should be able to charge a relatively high hourly rate for this type of service, assuming your firm’s expertise and reputation call for it.

Working more as an outsourcing firm which takes on the IT work which companies prefer not to do in-house (whether to save money or to focus on their core work), may not earn as high billing rates. However, this type of services can generally be undertaken by your employees or freelancers you enlist with narrower experience than you and your firm as a whole. This allows you to maintain higher profits when engaging in this “lower-level” work, on which customers expect to save money from the alternative of maintaining an in-house IT staff.

Are you looking for more tips on a consulting business or advice on developing a consulting firm business plan? Call 877-BIZ-PLAN to learn how Growthink can help you build your consulting firm.

Partylite Consultant Network Marketing Program Review

Whether you call in a PartyLite Consultant or become one yourself, you can transform any home event into something stunning and memorable. Okay, some may consider such an assessment to be more than a little lofty. Is this truly the case or can the company truly aid in exceeding expectations on the party event? Honestly, the success is based on how high quality of a party the individual wants to host.

What is it you would like a party or get together to look like? Would you want it to be average and unassuming? More than likely, you would prefer the event embodied some flair and atmosphere that would be beneficial to those that attend. Of course, while all this sounds like an excellent proposition there is the little matter of making it actually occur. Can this be done easily?

Yes, all you need to do is call in a PartyLite Consultant. Such consultants know exactly what is needed to get the most out of a particular event. All you need to do is contact them and let them work their professional magic for your event.

At the core of any PartyLite Consultant venture are found the many outstanding candles and home accents that PartyLite makes available. These items can thoroughly and completely transform a home or residence. Even the most “average of average” residence can be adequately transformed into something new, unique, and original. As a result, guests will find the event to be unforgettable and in a good way! The products that PartyLite delivers are like none found anywhere else. Again, that is why this remains a company well worth looking into.

You can even purchase such items through the website of a PartyLite Consultant. Then again, you could even become a PartyLite Consultant yourself. Simply having a website produced, designed, and published that promotes the excellent wears of PartyLite may be all that is needed to make sure you are in business for good. This could even turn out to be an enormously profitable venture for a strongly motivated individual. Hence, if you fall into such a descriptive category you may wish to look towards aligning with such a venture.

Becoming a PartyLite Consultant is relatively easy. You simply need to visit the website of the company and follow the very easy instructions. Within a very short period of time, you will find yourself in business and launching a new and rewarding career. This could lead to a game changing scenario where you are on to a solid entrepreneurial venture.

And those that want to hire a consultant simply need to visit the website as well and examine the available directory. Maybe some of you will want to do both! Whatever direction you follow you will be sure to discover a PartyLite Consultant has much value and rewards. Why not look into it?

Look Ten Years Younger With the Help of a Colour Consultant

Do you want to know how to look ten years younger without plastic surgery? Ask a Colour Consultant. Many women in their forties may reach a moment where they look at themselves in the mirror and acknowledge that even though their face show signs of middle age they feel no different inside than when they were young women.

It’s at this time that many women may entertain the idea of plastic surgery. Looking at ways to turn back the clock on their aging appearance simply because it does not mirror how they feel from the inside out. A Colour Consultant would recommend that before you outlay all that money, go through all that pain and suffering, and put aside all that down time to recover – have your “colours done.”

A colour consultation will provide you with the knowledge about your unique colouring that will impact on what colour clothes will suit you, the best make-up colours for you and how to colour your hair. The result is harmony and balance with your natural colouring. Your complexion will look smoother, your eyes look brighter and your overall appearance will be one of health and vitality. In other words you will look ten years younger.

Colour is the first thing that is noticed about a person’s appearance. It affects mood, apparent body shape, apparent age, your outlook to life and the overall impression you make on others. Wearing your best range of colours will make you look healthier, vibrant and energetic. You can discover the colours that work best for you by contacting a colour consultant. From your consultation you will receive a professionally made swatch containing 50 of your best colours. This takes the guess work out of shopping so that you will come home with garments that look great on you.

But looking ten years younger doesn’t stop there. For a more youthful appearance wearing make-up plays a crucial part. As a woman’s face begins to show signs of aging it is very tempting to try to camouflage everything with a heavier foundation. With many things in life, ‘less is more’ and make-up is no exception. A good foundation will be the perfect colour for you. A Colour Consultant will establish whether it needs to be warm, cool, or neutral depending on your skin tone. Discovering which colours are best suited to and show off your fabulous eyes are also a part of the consultation, along with your best blush and lipstick colours.

And finally colouring your hair is probably the most dramatic thing you can do to turn back the clock, especially if you are grey. But turning back the clock involves more than grabbing any bottle of colour.

A successful colour is one that suits:

· Your natural colouring.

· Is in tune with the changes caused by aging. As we age our skin gets paler and cooler and our eyes lose their intensity. Women who don’t realize this often purchase hair dyes that no longer suit their colouring.

A Colour Consultant is mindful of this fact and will make a recommendation for the right colour hair for you.

Looking ten years younger, therefore, will be as a result of discovering the perfect colours for you through engaging the services of a Colour Consultant.

High Priced Consulting – Simple Secrets to Achieve Blockbuster Success

What if you discovered simple three-step system that you can follow to get started with your online consultation easily?

Starting your own consultation program can help you to earn hundreds even thousands of dollars every month. Therefore make sure that you take this article seriously and apply the steps laid down.

Here are 3 simple steps to get you started…

Step 1 – Get to know your expertise in your niche.

Step 2 – What is the value of your time per hour?

Step 3 – Let your clients arrange questions before hand and give them an action plan to follow.

Here are step by step details that you can apply quickly and easily…

Step 1 – Get to know your expertise in your niche.

Before you get started with your consultation program it is extremely important that you know your expertise in your niche. Do not price your consultation watching other experts, rather you should price the consultation based on the value that you will provide your clients.

Make sure you know what you are worth…

Step 2 – What is the value of your time per hour?

Before you know the value of your time it is extremely impossible to price your consultation. You should know exactly what is the value of the time and the value of the information that will allow your clients to solve their most pressing problems.

It is important that you plan up your consultation program in a very systematic fashion…

Step 3 – Let your clients arrange questions before hand and give them an action plan to follow.

Before you go about starting a consultation it is important that you tell your clients to prepare their questions list. This will save time right on the call and will also allow you to communicate more with your clients rather than they getting confused about the questions they need to get solved.

Consulting – 2 Types of Financial Consulting

If you are seriously considering a career in financial consulting, you need to know the clients that you will be serving. These are the following:

1. Companies or business organizations. Business owners usually hire financial consultants when they need advice about pending government regulations, long-term viability, risk management, and industry trends. Typically, business owners have a solid idea as to how they would like to handle their finances but they want an independent opinion about it to reduce risks. The financial consultant is expected to review the proposed plan and determine its flaws. He will then make recommendations or offer his expert advice to help clients make well-informed decisions about their money.

2. Personal. Financial consultants may also be hired by individuals who have significant financial resources or investment portfolios. These consultants are expected to offer advice on taxation planning, risk assessment, income management, and long-term planning so clients can obtain maximum benefits with the lowest amount of possible risks. Consultants can also offer their services to couples who need financial advice. These types of clients usually look for advice regarding saving for retirement, saving for a college fund, mortgage rate, etc.

For financial consultants to perform what is expected of them, they must have a good basic college education. They must have a degree in economics, business, or education. It’s better if they have advanced business degree and financial adviser certification. They must also have at least 5-10 years experience in finance management. It would also help if they have also attended relevant trainings and seminars that can increase their knowledge in this field.

The Ideal Search Engine Marketing Consultants

Summary: Choosing the right search engine marketing consultant is absolutely mandatory when it comes to improving the ratings of your website. The articles guides you on how to choose the right consultant.

In the competitive arena of the World Wide Web, it isn’t enough to have a good web site. What you need is visibility, for which you have to figure out a way of topping the charts on the popular search engines such as Google or Yahoo. An estimated, 85 to 90% of the traffic that a website gets is generated through search engines. These figures should be more than enough to show you the importance of a good placement on popular search engines.

As a result of this trend most websites realize that what they need is an e-marketing plan or solution that will help them make it to the top of every search engine charts. Having said that, not all of us are familiar with e-marketing trends that often regulate search engine rankings. This is where we seek the help of search engine marketing consultants.

Search engine marketing consultants are basically specialists who usually work in tandem with an SEO optimization firm to give us advice regarding-

o How to go about effective SEO strategies
o Site promotion plans
o Techniques and latest trends that govern search engine ratings
o Internet marketing strategies

While there are those who argue that a good content is all that is needed to make a site popular, the fact remains that in order to generate that popularity you need to get placed in the top pages of the search engines, which by itself is a feat. Apart from this the rules and regulations governing search engine strategies keep changing making it difficult for those not familiar with these rules to get high rankings. Since it is the job of search engine marketing consultants, to keep abreast with the latest trends in the field of SEO they are in a position to give us correct advice regarding the same.

A search engine marketing consultant has a knowledge base of search engine advertising, web designing, effective coding, link development, and SEO related content writing, apart from e-marketing strategies too. It is their duty to study the market and help you in determining the options you should opt for in your line of business. Always remember that when you search for search engine marketing consultants, zero in on some one who not only has enough expertise but also someone who will provide you with customized solutions.

A good search engine marketing consultant, should not only be able to bring your site to the first page of search engines, they also need to check out the competition in similar fields and devise your strategy based on that. A good consultant will keep track of what your competitors are doing in order to gauge where you are lacking in marketing.

Before you select a particular search engine marketing consultant, be very careful of whom you select. If necessary compare and evaluate the services that few of the other agencies offer and make a decision that is based on references, style of work and actual capacity of delivering. That way you will be ensured of seeing your site zoom into the first few rankings.

Delve Into the Complicated World of IPTV – Hire IPTV Consulting Firms

IPTV is defined as Internet Protocol television which is a system, where services for digital television are delivered through broadband IP link with the use of data communications. There are established organizations offering IPTV consulting to assist vendors and operators to safely enter the complex world of IPTV. They offer services that can help reduce complexity and uncertainty and also assist in managing financial and operational risks that are often associated in this sector. Not only do they reduce risks, but they also help operators to create and validate business options and market strategies.

Technology is evolving in a rapid pace, and this makes it important for operators to keep up with these changes. IPTV focuses on digital technology that currently replaces traditional forms of transmission of TV that includes cables and satellites and even radio broadcasting. Hiring an IPTV consulting firm to help operators and vendors can put an organization several steps ahead of their competitors as they are assisted and educated in the area of digital technology.

These consultants are experts who can offer high quality services to implement new technology. Below are some of the benefits:-

  • Most of the IPTV consulting firms provide services that include formulation of entry criteria in the IPTV market.
  • They also help to identify IPTV technology options which are best of the breed.
  • These companies also create IPTV architecture design and perform integration of the IPTV system. Performing IPTV testing is also included in their services and they also assist clients in testing strategies.
  • You can expect complete planning, execution and reporting developments.
  • You also get assisted in selecting and managing IPTV vendors and get complete documentation for IPTV platforms.

Services provided by IPTV consulting firms can be listed in four major categories:

  • Planning – They help a company to strategize and develop business cases. They also assist in managing the project and implementing plans as well.
  • Technical services – Their technical services mainly focus on providing technology analysis, integration of systems, and architecture designs.
  • Operations – When it comes to assisting clients in their operations and business, they provide operational gap assessments and service monitoring.
  • Business assistance – Their services also oversee contract negotiations and content acquisition.

With services from IPTV consulting firms, companies will be enlightened in the complicated world of digital technology and can use this advantage to become the leader in this business. They could be a blessing to those organization, who are planning to enter in this sector.

High End Consulting – Tools You Need to Set Up

What if you discovered various types of consultation sessions that you can provide your clients to get them solve their problems?

Here are 3 simple steps to get you started…

Step 1 – Setup a one on one phone based consulting session.

Step 2 – Setup a one on one webinar based consulting session.

Step 3 – You can even provide your consultation absolutely free.

Here are step by step details that you can apply quickly and easily…

Step 1 – Setup a one on one phone based consulting session.

It is highly important that you setup a one on one phone based consultation with your clients before you do anything else. The reason to do this is that when you speak with your client it builds a sense of relationship and trust which makes your clients feel really good that there is someone to help them out to solve their problems.

You can even go about setting up a webinar session…

Step 2 – Setup a one on one webinar based consulting session.

Webinar presentation involves audio and video session where you can provide complex technical consultation to your clients.

Here your clients will hear your voice and see your computer screen live where you can demonstrate some technical stuff to make their life easy.

Here is a simple tip that you can use to provide a free consultation session…

Step 3 – You can even provide your consultation absolutely free.

Providing a free one on one consultation as a bonus to sell your high ticket product is really a big advantage to your clients.

However for this free consultation you can save your long distance phone call fees by using a free service named skype that you can use to speak and call your clients absolutely free.

Make sure you use the tips displayed in this article and get started today.