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Ask HN: How to Become a Consultant?

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Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Consultant?

#31

In my experience, scaling a consulting business is more to do with sales and building long-term relationships. Sales is a skill that can be acquired, and you don't have to be very good at it to get started. Learn the basics of business development and sales; try experimenting with different approaches. See what fits you best. IMHO, I think the problem is "getting projects from 0 to POC/MVP state." These are projects…

Thanks for the insightful advice, this is very useful.

Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Consultant?

#32

Patrick McKenzie's writing has been fundamental in getting my consultancy business up and running. Here are a few of my favorites: - https://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/09/17/ramit-sethi-and-patrick... - https://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/09/21/ramit-sethi-and-patrick... - https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/08/25/the-hardest-adjustment-...

Thanks, I'm gonna take a look!

Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Consultant?

#33
post #25

Highly recommend from Steve Friedl's excellent Unixwiz.net Tech Tips collection[0]: "So you want to be a consultant...?" [1] [0] http://www.unixwiz.net/techtips/ [1] http://www.unixwiz.net/techtips/be-consultant.html

Thanks, I'm gonna take a look!

Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Consultant?

#34
post #9

0) First step: read Jerry Weinberg "The Secret of Consulting" 1) Understand that Consultants solve problems when asked for against money. 2) People need to start asking you to solve their problems. So first step is to tell people that you have the potential to solve their problems. So I recommend to start giving talks on (virtual) meetups, start publishing in some way (articles, blogs, podcasts, newsletter, video) ei…

That's great, I'm gonna take a look!

Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Consultant?

#35

You need to build an audience on the internet to get a steady pipeline of leads. It sounds counterintuitive, but, share everything you know on the internet for free (Blog for SEO), and then collect emails at the bottom of each post promising further valuable information. You’ve now got a list of leads who think of you as an expert and specifically need help with your niche area. You need to email them regularly with…

This is a great idea. I already have some bits and pieces there (a blog for example) but this somehow never occurred to me.

Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Consultant?

#36

In my experience, scaling a consulting business is more to do with sales and building long-term relationships. Sales is a skill that can be acquired, and you don't have to be very good at it to get started. Learn the basics of business development and sales; try experimenting with different approaches. See what fits you best. IMHO, I think the problem is "getting projects from 0 to POC/MVP state." These are projects…

> upgrading business development

Any tips on that?

Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Consultant?

#37
post #15

I’m a software engineering looking to work on a project of mine. I’m looking to learn from others’ software engineering experience. I am interested in learning from you. I would be happy getting on calls and paying per hour. Let’s discuss? Side note: How do I find consultants for: React, React-Native, Node.js servers, Chat client-servers, and architecting/planning solutions? Can there ever be a legal issue with me ge…

Can you tell more? How do I contact you?

Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Consultant?

#39
In my company, salers are who can make a deal without complete product. That's it. You can talk about other's product that you want to achieve.

So the point of consultant is, you need to understand what to deliver instead of what to have.

Re: Ask HN: How to Become a Consultant?

#40

You need to build an audience on the internet to get a steady pipeline of leads. It sounds counterintuitive, but, share everything you know on the internet for free (Blog for SEO), and then collect emails at the bottom of each post promising further valuable information. You’ve now got a list of leads who think of you as an expert and specifically need help with your niche area. You need to email them regularly with…

Is this your actual experience? Can you provide more specifics? I can’t imagine too many people hiring consultants from pure Internet marketing.
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