If you are reading this blog, you probably have been thinking about becoming a consultant. You are not alone. There are a surprising number of people in a variety of industries that feel the same way. But how do you become a consultant without experience? So read on as I explain how to Become a Consultant with no experience.
But many people don’t feel comfortable taking the first steps to chase their dream of working for themselves and determining their future by becoming a consultant. To help you get started, I. will go through seven steps to get you started. So, let’s get started.
Learn a Few Things – 1st Step Gain Experience
If you don’t have any experience, then the first step is to learn a few things. Start by reading two or three books on the subject. I love the book written by Alan Weiss, “The Consulting Bible: Everything You Need To Know To Create and Expand a Seven-Figure Consulting Practice.” [By Clicking this link will take you to our Amazon Associate page. If you purchase the book, I will receive a small commission. I wanted to say “Thank You” for supporting our website]. By reading two or three books, you will have a greater understanding than 90% of the audience. I had a mentor tell me the same thing. You just need to know more about the topic than the person you are talking too. There are multiple parts to step one. So let’s get started.
- Go to the Amazon Kindle eBook Store and grab a couple of books on the subject. (Note: This is an Amazon Associate link. I will receive a small commission on purchases. Thank you for supporting our website.)
- Go to Google and search for your topic. Start to follow two or three most popular blogs and make sure to read 10 to 20 posts for each.
- Head to Clickbank and find the best-selling products in your niche. These results will serve two purposes. The first is it will let you know what products are available in your niche. The second is this will provide ideas on products that you could sell in the future.
- Find someone in your field that you can trust. The person could be another consultant in your niche, someone you know, or someone online. Follow them and buy at least one of their products. Follow them and see what they are doing.
When you have finished the first step it is time to move on the the second step. The second step is key.
Apply Your Knowledge To Gain Experience– 2nd step
You are going to be your first client. How? By applying what you have learned so far in your own life or your own business. Don’t stop, continue to apply what you know until you see results. The reasons for this are twofold. Also, you will need all of them later to build a successful consulting business.
- The more you practice, the better you will become. You will learn by applying your knowledge. No one runs a successful consulting company without actual practical experience.
- Also, by applying your knowledge, you will become more confident in your abilities. Plus, the more your confidence grows, the more self-confident you will be. Remember, you need to be self-confident to be a consultant.
- If any of the material you learned is crap, you’ll simply find this out without harming your clients or your consulting business.
- You can use your success as your first success story.
Claim Your results – 3rd step
The biggest stumbling block, when starting a consulting business, is not having any results. Your clients are going to want to see results. The results matter more than anything else. Your clients are going to want to see your latest works. Whatever you do, do not answer, I don’t have any clients yet, or I have no experience yet. The result will be guaranteed rejection, failure of your consulting business before it has a chance to get off the ground.
Instead of hiding the fact that you have limited or no experience, claims the results in your own life or business. (See step 2). Claim your expertise by consistently publishing your results. From my personal experience, more potential clients want to see your results more than your experience.
Find Anyone You Can Help – Step 4.
You have reached the most crucial step in the process. You need to find a couple of clients, and you need to start acting as a consultant. Now is not the time to start rejecting clients. (That will come later.) At this point, your only experience is from what you applied to your own business. To solve this problem, you need to obtain a couple of clients. You can now use the knowledge that you learned in your business and apply it to your client’s business. After you have a couple of clients under your belt, you will have the experience of your business.
Rely on Personal Relationships
I know you are asking how to find this first client. When I started my consulting business, I relied on personal relationships to obtain my first few clients. I suggest that you do the same. It makes it easier to eliminate the wall of distrust that is evoked by your inexperienced. Here are a couple of ideas to get you started:
- Create social media posts highlighting your newly acquired skill. Don’t forget to highlight the fact that you can help people.
- Reach out to old business acquaintances. You can either do this by e-mail or phone.
- Don’t forget to let your family and friends know what you are going to. I got a few clients this way when I started.
- Start marketing your business through local meetups and let people know how you can help them or their business.
Remember that it is not about money. Never is it about the money. It is always about helping your clients first and foremost. Do you charge clients for your services? Yes, you do. But do not expect to be paid as much as a professional and well-established business. Your special introductory price is one of the reasons you will be able to obtain your first clients.
Learn to Say No – Step 5
Never, ever take a consulting job where you have no clue what to do. Yes, I am saying turn down your first client if you don’t know what you are doing. Remember to acknowledge to yourself that you just recently started your business with no experience. There are going to be situations where your knowledge is not enough. Your potential clients will respect you more by saying no in these cases. A professional knows their limits. You will “thank yourself later,” by saying no.
Successful Consultants are Continuing to Learn- Step six.
Great consultants continue to learn throughout their careers. You need to do the same. Remember you just started
- You need to continue to read books. If you enjoy an author, then read all their books.
- Also, enroll in courses. Even if you learn just one skill from one program, you can reuse it with several clients.
- Don’t forget to continue applying your knowledge to your own life or your own business. The principles in step 2 never go away, and you can learn a great deal this way.
Watch Your Clients Closely – Step 7.
A great consultant will learn from their client’s cases. You will learn more from your clients when you’re just starting your consulting business. In the beginning, every situation will be new, or there will be something to learn. After years of consulting experience, I can say I am still learning something new. That is right. I have learned something from each client. That is why you need to watch every case closely. Take notes of what you’ve done and what your clients have done. Was it successful? Did it fail? By watching clients, you can learn what type of clients are most successful, and what you need to do to prosper. One of the key strengths of a great consultant is the ability to bring about results, no matter what excuses arise from the clients. With this in mind, let’s discuss the consultant’s most precious weapon.
Consultant’s Weapon – It Is Not Experience.
To build a successful consulting business, you need to understand what your most precious weapon is. This weapon will help you, especially when you are starting your business with no experience. Your most precious weapon as a consultant is people having trust in you. You need to continue to build on that trust. Let people know that they can believe in you, and you will be successful. However, if you or someone else destroys that belief, your business will struggle.
I know that you are probably thinking about how you can build trust without experience. However, you need the expertise to make sure that your recommendations will work. Yes, this is a catch 22 when starting a consulting business with no experience. That is why I believe steps 1 and 2 are powerful. You need to learn and apply the knowledge in your business or life first. That way, you can see the results and know if it will work or not. It is that simple. You just need some time to get this done and some persistence to never give up after the first few failures. I will give you a hint. I have learned more from my failures than I ever did my successes. So, don’t give up!
- You can be successful in starting a consulting business with no experience.
- No, there is no escape from the stead learning curve. Remember that you cannot make money as a consultant without having any experience on the topic.
Now that you have learned the steps to become a successful consultant with no experience, it is time to apply the skills. I wish you the best in your new endeavor.
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