Starting a part-time consulting business is a great side hustle (for those of you not familiar with a “side hustle”, it’s something you do for money aside from your regular day job). Aspiring consultants sometimes think that they have to ditch the day job, and go full-time into consulting, and the fear of not having […]
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First off, let me acknowledge that most any business textbook or other traditional source of business info will tell you that the first thing you should do even BEFORE you start a business is to write up a business plan. And that can be good advice. But for most folks–and I think especially for a […]
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When you start consulting, it can be easy to devalue the service you provide. Even as you become a more seasoned consultant, devaluing your services can creep into your projects and practices, so it pays (literally) to guard against it. When you start a consulting business, your first priority is to get clients–and, of course, […]
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I firmly believe that the best way to maximize your revenue is by finding a good niche for your skills. For example, my main source of consulting business is SQL and VBA development for Microsoft SQL databases. There are probably tens of thousands of people who can do that, and if I entered that marketplace, […]
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The common wisdom is that starting a business is risky, but I think that’s untrue. In fact, thinking of a job as secure can actually be dangerous thinking. On the contrary: I think that having a regular job is risky. For example, with a typical job, you’re tied to 1 employer, who can decide to […]
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How much cash do you need to start your own business? It depends on the kind of business. But, generally, if you’re going to start consulting, you DON’T need a big hunk of cash to get started. Realistically, you could probably start independent consulting for less than $100 in start-up funds. When I talk to […]
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Growing up, I assumed that I’d get a job with a big company, work my way up the corporate ladder, increasing my income along the way, etc. The imaginary job would have good benefits, health insurance, retirement, etc. But as we all know, that image of job security is a myth. In the past 20 […]
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Going forward, I’ll be posting my monthly income summary, but first, I wanted to recap my income since I started my own consulting business. Why am I posting my income online? I want to show how much you can earn as a freelance consultant. My results may not be typical, etc., but hopefully it’ll give […]
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As an admitted perfectionist, when I heard someone say “start before you’re ready,” it made me a bit anxious. What if I make mistakes? What if it doesn’t work? What if it fails? And on and on… But it’s really great advice. I’ve talked to lots of people who have the skills and experience to […]
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