So you want to be a consultant

SOME POPULAR CONSULTING BUSINESSES

• Every business needs the best financial controls it can afford. Using an accounting consultant may be able to accomplish this objective.
• Successful businesses must have a great strategic advertising plan. An advertising consultant can cover this requirement.
• Small businesses require audits of small things like utility bills to control costs, while larger businesses require audits of much larger projects like telecommunications. Here is an opportunity for general auditing consultants.
• Consultants who know how to make a business profitable are the most in demand people, second only to computer consultants.
• Most home-based entrepreneurs, as well as business owners in general, do not like to write. From in-depth reports to simple memos, they all scare those who run a business. If you can supply writing consultation, you will make everyone happy.
• With the effects of the current stagnant recession, and the results of corporate downsizing, there is an increasing demand for career counseling. These consultants try to guide their clients into a job that will make them happy.
• Skilled communications consultants are in demand to help employees in businesses of all sizes communicate better with each other. This makes a business more efficient.
• The most in-demand consulting field is computer consulting, both software and hardware.
• Editorial consultants are in constant demand to produce everything from newsletters to annual reports.
• If you like finding talent for employers, you may be interested in executive search consulting.
• Those knowledgeable about gardening may be in demand with both businesses and individuals who don’t have time to look after their own gardens. This is a fairly new consulting field.
• If you know how to write grants, you can pretty much write your own fees. To participate, you may need some formal training.
• Businesses always have a variety of people problems. If you are skilled in human resources issues, consulting in this field may be your ticket to wealth.
• If you are skilled in marketing, there is a demand for consultants to write marketing plans, or develop a system for the company to sell its products or services.
• The payroll is one of the most important functions for most businesses. Your knowledge of how to pay people and keep the appropriate records can be the base of your payroll consulting business.
• A good public relations consultant will have a client for life.
• Every business requires an expert tax consultant to advise on legal ways to pay the least amount of tax.

WHO WILL WANT TO PAY FOR YOUR CONSULTING?

Even though you are the most knowledgeable expert in your field, someone most need you enough to pay for your consulting services. Here are some reasons why a client will want to hire you:

• You may be hired to consult because of your expertise. This is where it pays to not only be really good in the field you have chosen to consult in, but to have some type of track record that speaks for itself.
• Because employees are too close to the problem, a consultant may be hired for their outside view.
• Often a business discovers that it can save thousands of dollars a week by hiring consultants when they are needed, rather than hiring full-time employees.
• A consultant may be hired to install a change, because they can do things without worrying about the corporate culture, employee morale, or other issues that get in the way when an organization is trying to institute change.
• A good consultant provides an objective, fresh, viewpoint–without worrying about what people in the organization might think about the results and how they were achieved.
• A consultant may be asked to teach employees any number of different skills.
• No one wants to be the person who has to make cuts in the staff or to eliminate an entire division. Why not use a consultant for the job?
• Do you like to hang out with the rich and famous in your town? If so, you may be hired to do a consulting job simply based on who you know.

CONCLUSION

Most of us have experience from former jobs and our lives before being a home-based entrepreneur. Some of the expertise we have may be helpful to businesses or individuals. Consulting will fit in nicely with most home-based businesses. It may also become your primary full time business.

If you are interested in consulting, be on the lookout for a future article about marketing your consulting service. This was an article from IAHABE.

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