How I Find Consulting Clients

#1

Post by gk1 » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 8:06 PM UTC

How I Find Consulting Clients
gkogan.co

Re: How I Find Consulting Clients

#2

Post by samfisher83 » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 9:32 PM UTC

Here is the gist of what I got from the article.

Things that worked:

-Blogging

-Referrals through blogging

-Posting comments on HNs

Things that didn't work

-Networking Events

-Participate in marketing or consulting communities

-Partner with agencies or other consultants

-Hound people

-Cold outreach

-Advertising

-Handing out business cards

Re: How I Find Consulting Clients

#3

Post by finkin1 » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 9:32 PM UTC

tldr; "there’s no magic formula, so experiment faster until you find what works for you."

I manage a small full-stack design and development team. After 5 year, we have a pretty steady stream of clients. It wasn't easy. I like the idea of blogging to get leads - we haven't done much of that. Most of our clients come from referrals, but I strongly disagree about the don't send cold emails bit. I started sending out about 50 cold emails per month as an exercise, and have found a number of great long-term clients. It's a low probability game for sure, but it takes me maybe 1-2 hours per month and if I get a response I can generally determine if there's a good fit within a few back and forth emails.

Re: How I Find Consulting Clients

#4

Post by philbarr » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 9:35 PM UTC

samfisher83 wrote: post #2

Here is the gist of what I got from the article. Things that worked: -Blogging -Referrals through blogging -Posting comments on HNs Things that didn't work -Networking Events -Participate in marketing or consulting communities -Partner with agencies or other consultants -Hound people -Cold outreach -Advertising -Handing out business cards

Except that networking events definitely DID work because he says that the first gig he got was through someone he met at a networking event.

And the rest was basically, "be lucky".

Re: How I Find Consulting Clients

#5

Post by htormey » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 9:43 PM UTC

Apart from writing blog posts another good way to get clients is to give relevant high quality talks at meetups and conferences.

This has worked for me on multiple occasions. Pretty much every conference I have spoken at as a consultant has resulted in several leads or a contract.

Re: How I Find Consulting Clients

#6

Post by makk » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 9:48 PM UTC

philbarr wrote: post #4

samfisher83 wrote: post #2

Here is the gist of what I got from the article. Things that worked: -Blogging -Referrals through blogging -Posting comments on HNs Things that didn't work -Networking Events -Participate in marketing or consulting communities -Partner with agencies or other consultants -Hound people -Cold outreach -Advertising -Handing out business cards

Except that networking events definitely DID work because he says that the first gig he got was through someone he met at a networking event. And the rest was basically, "be lucky".

It's not "be lucky." It's "make your own luck."

Re: How I Find Consulting Clients

#7

Post by gk1 » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 9:49 PM UTC

Hi, today I added an update to this two-year-old post and in the spirit of "shipping fast" I published it without spending too much time on editing. Let me know if you find typos, have questions that the post doesn't answer, or if something in the post doesn't hold water.

Re: How I Find Consulting Clients

#8

Post by thestepafter » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 9:49 PM UTC

finkin1 wrote: post #3

tldr; "there’s no magic formula, so experiment faster until you find what works for you." I manage a small full-stack design and development team. After 5 year, we have a pretty steady stream of clients. It wasn't easy. I like the idea of blogging to get leads - we haven't done much of that. Most of our clients come from referrals, but I strongly disagree about the don't send cold emails bit. I started sending out ab…

Would you mind sharing how you obtain the list of contacts for sending cold emails to?

Re: How I Find Consulting Clients

#9

Post by tomashertus » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 9:52 PM UTC

philbarr wrote: post #4

samfisher83 wrote: post #2

Here is the gist of what I got from the article. Things that worked: -Blogging -Referrals through blogging -Posting comments on HNs Things that didn't work -Networking Events -Participate in marketing or consulting communities -Partner with agencies or other consultants -Hound people -Cold outreach -Advertising -Handing out business cards

Except that networking events definitely DID work because he says that the first gig he got was through someone he met at a networking event. And the rest was basically, "be lucky".

I think that the whole point of that was that the networking didn't scale well.

Re: How I Find Consulting Clients

#10

Post by jandrese » Thu, Dec 28, 2017, 9:54 PM UTC

philbarr wrote: post #4

samfisher83 wrote: post #2

Here is the gist of what I got from the article. Things that worked: -Blogging -Referrals through blogging -Posting comments on HNs Things that didn't work -Networking Events -Participate in marketing or consulting communities -Partner with agencies or other consultants -Hound people -Cold outreach -Advertising -Handing out business cards

Except that networking events definitely DID work because he says that the first gig he got was through someone he met at a networking event. And the rest was basically, "be lucky".

That gig was a lifeline, but didn't make him successful. It wasn't until he started getting visibility with the actual founders that he started to feel like he could do this as a job. Most of the don'ts are events where founders are too busy to attend or are swamped and it's almost impossible to stand out.

Really his takeaway is to make a name for yourself and the offers will roll in. Figure out a way to increase your stature or you'll never make it as a consultant. That's what all of the blog posts and hacker news articles were for, getting people who matter to know his name.