Business Consultant

Carol, I had my own consulting practice for 7 years before I closed my practice and joined a consulting firm, and I can tell you from experience that unless you have a portfolio of relevant experience in the area of consulting you are pursuing, it's going to be very hard for you to find work, or at least choice consulting jobs with clients.

When I say experience, I don't mean simply time spent working on the job or holding the title, I mean making a measurable impact through quantitative and quality results that you can sell to a client that you know what you're doing. Clients want to know that they are getting experts in their field who know what they're doing and can solve their problems.

There's also the issue of "rainmaking" (read: client recruitment). Do you know what kind of clients you're looking for? Do you know what kind of clients you should avoid? Do you know how to effectively sell a client your services? Do you go to networking events and know how to effectively be a resource so that people will refer clients to you?

Then there's risk management? Do you have a good contract/engagement letter? Has an attorney reviewed it for any litigation loopholes that can be exploited? Do you have E&O insurance and does it cover the type of consulting you do (for the level of CFO consulting I did, it was very difficult finding an insurance carrier and when I did find one, I had a $1,000,000 policy with a $10,000 deductible that I had to pay $3,500/year to adequately insure myself).

I can go on and on, but I think you get my point. Bottom line is this: If you don't have any consulting experience, you may want to find a consulting firm where you can get some real experience under your belt because frankly, very few clients are going to want to utilize your services solely on the basis of your education alone. Clients are not going to pay an inexperienced consultant who is solely using them as an experimental guinea pig while they "learn the ropes".

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