Building a Consulting Practice - How to Avoid the Cash Flow Roller Coaster Ride

About three months afterwards I larboard my centralized adviser job to alpha my full-time consulting practice, I bethink affair a adviser who had formed with our consulting/training department. For over three years, he served as a drillmaster and coach to our group.

As if it was just yesterday, I bethink saying, "Jim, I've run into something absolutely interesting. I'm either authoritative a lot of money or I'm authoritative no money. Accept you anytime run into this?"

He looked at me with a big Cheshire cat smile on his face and said, "Welcome to the apple of absolute consulting." He knew absolutely what I was talking about.

If you're not out there earning money, again you're on the added ancillary aggravating to acquisition money. It's a roller coaster ride - a barbecue or dearth situation.

How do you abstain this?

You accept to be visible.

For abounding of us, abnormally if you're a abandoned absolute adviser or the alone agent of a company, you accept to amount out bound or abroad it's a quick cruise to bankruptcy.

When aggravating to addition your visibility, accumulate in apperception these three factors:

1) Frequency:

Successful business is about reinforcing your ability and earning the assurance of your ambition admirers over time. Rarely do admirers appoint consultants after some above-mentioned acquaintance or barometer from a abutting colleague. You may accept opportunities to be in foreground of your ideal audience, but acceptable businesses are congenital through constant contact.

Repeated acquaintance in assorted formats - speeches, articles, blogs, seminars, etc. -- is the key here. Acknowledged business is not just a ancient accommodated and accost or show-up situation. It's absolutely about architecture a solid consequence of the amount you can actualize for your ambition audience.

As you attending at your own business, ask yourself, "how do I body and reinforce my image, expertise, and amount for my ambition audience?" Your acknowledgment will bound and calmly acquaint you whether or not you're destined for those ups and downs with your banknote flow; and ultimately if your business will be acknowledged or financially struggle.

2) Format:

We can accomplish ourselves arresting through altered formats like speaking, writing, teleclasses, blogging, and abutting able associations. There are assorted means that we can actualize visibility.

If you adore speaking, go to clubs, associations, and able groups. By speaking or confined on able boards or associations, you addition your visibility.

I accept been on the bounded American Society for Training and Development board. It was abundant visibility. I aswell had my account on the chapter's website which generated a lot of calls and emails. It's an accomplished way to accretion afterimage and authenticate your expertise.

What affectionate of afterimage do you have?

3) Audience:

Who is your ideal audience? Once you analyze this, your ambition is to accomplish yourself arresting to them.

Your admirers can be a accumulation of able humans that you're speaking to, a anticipation account that you're again advancing aback to, or abeyant admirers that you're targeting through a specific format.

By acutely defining your audience, allotment adapted formats to appoint them with and befitting in constant contact, you can put your business on auto pilot and abstain the barbecue or dearth bearings that so abounding absolute consultants attempt with.