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I'd really appreciate your advice and suggestions. I hope to be successful with this and forge my future. Thank you in advance.
My first three clients were an ex employer, 2 local startups (reaching out to startups), and a real estate company (craigslist)
I've been in SEO for the last 4 years. I do in-house enterprise stuff now, but I had started a consulting gig for a little while a few years ago. I spent 1 month telling everyone and anyone that I was doing free SEO consulting in exchange for a great testimonial (read: Yelp review). Got 8 or 9 free clients. Two insisted on paying me after the work was done, and the rest wrote me fantastic testimonials and sent me referrals for months. Afterwards, your testimonials and Yelp reviews will be the catalyst for more business in the future. My 2 c's.
His take is that consultant is someone who shares their knowledge of process and works strategically with the client's decision makers... not someone who is knee deep in doing the work of implementing a project. If you're talking about writing PHP code, you may be more setting yourself up as a one man staffing agency, not as a consultant. I'd suggest reading Weiss, think hard about what you really want to do, and go from there.
[1]: http://www.summitconsulting.com/about-alan/
[2]: http://www.amazon.com/Million-Dollar-Consulting-Alan-Weiss/d...
[3]: http://www.amazon.com/Consulting-Bible-Everything-Seven-Figu...
I highly recommend working for free for 1-2 months. I've been in SEO for the last 4 years. I do in-house enterprise stuff now, but I had started a consulting gig for a little while a few years ago. I spent 1 month telling everyone and anyone that I was doing free SEO consulting in exchange for a great testimonial (read: Yelp review). Got 8 or 9 free clients. Two insisted on paying me after the work was done, and the…
How I started: - Called up past employers and let them know what I was up to. Asked if they "needed any help" - Reached out to local startups and asked if they "needed any help" - Trolled craigslist for projects, built POCs quickly, then responded to the ad with a link to the proof of concept. My first three clients were an ex employer, 2 local startups (reaching out to startups), and a real estate company (craigslis…
I highly recommend working for free for 1-2 months. I've been in SEO for the last 4 years. I do in-house enterprise stuff now, but I had started a consulting gig for a little while a few years ago. I spent 1 month telling everyone and anyone that I was doing free SEO consulting in exchange for a great testimonial (read: Yelp review). Got 8 or 9 free clients. Two insisted on paying me after the work was done, and the…
Please don't work for free. Offer an awesome discount or accept something instead of money (a computer, a telephone, anything), but don't offer your services for free. Establish, from the very beginning, that your services are valuable.
There's a guy named Alan Weiss[1], who is widely regarded as an expert (maybe the expert) on consulting. He has written several very popular books, including Million Dollar Consulting [2] and The Consulting Bible [3]. You may find his work useful. However, note that he would probably not classify what you're talking about (if I understand correctly) as "consulting" at all. His take is that consultant is someone who s…
Also known as a contractor.
There's a guy named Alan Weiss[1], who is widely regarded as an expert (maybe the expert) on consulting. He has written several very popular books, including Million Dollar Consulting [2] and The Consulting Bible [3]. You may find his work useful. However, note that he would probably not classify what you're talking about (if I understand correctly) as "consulting" at all. His take is that consultant is someone who s…
(I personally do both, and honestly have more fun 'freelancing' than 'consulting').
I highly recommend working for free for 1-2 months. I've been in SEO for the last 4 years. I do in-house enterprise stuff now, but I had started a consulting gig for a little while a few years ago. I spent 1 month telling everyone and anyone that I was doing free SEO consulting in exchange for a great testimonial (read: Yelp review). Got 8 or 9 free clients. Two insisted on paying me after the work was done, and the…
Please don't work for free. Offer an awesome discount or accept something instead of money (a computer, a telephone, anything), but don't offer your services for free. Establish, from the very beginning, that your services are valuable.