Organizations and individuals, at times, may have a need to seek out someone skilled in a specific area for advice and guidance. This is the essence of the consulting practice—being able to provide advice and guidance in areas of specific expertise.
Most people develop specific skills through education, training, and experience. A lot of those people have a desire to market those skills to those who need them. Starting a consulting practice is often a gratifying and fulfilling means of taking those sought-after skills to market.
Starting a consulting practice allows a person to work for individuals and companies that are likely to value the skills and experience offered.
As a consultant gains clients and grows the consulting practice, the control of the consulting practice’s time and resources must be carefully managed to insure that projects are profitable and the consultant can serve several clients simultaneously.
To start a consulting company in a way that has the greatest chance to succeed over the long-term requires attention to building the practice one project at a time. Each project should be subjected to a process that will have the best chance of yielding a successful outcome.
The purpose of this book is to take the reader through each step of building a consulting practice by understanding how to acquire and execute a consulting project. By creating successful projects, a consultant can build a reputation, acquire more projects, and create a successful consulting practice.