With all of the corporate restructuring, layoffs, employee buyouts and business relocations, many talented corporate employees are looking for new careers. Many of these employees have gained valuable skills in marketing, finance, operations, customer service, human resources and many other functional disciplines. Ironically, Small business owners need these same skills to build and grow their small businesses, especially with increased global competition. Subsequently, corporate employees moving from offices and boardrooms to small business consulting is a match made in heaven.
The most important resource a small business needs is good people. Many corporate employees have developed excellent business skills that could be of benefit to small businesses. However, many small businesses shy away from hiring corporate employees because of fears of having to pay them high salaries and bonuses. An easier transition would be for a small business to bring these former corporate employees in as consultants in order to obtain the knowledge they need to grow their small businesses.
So how can a corporate employee make the transition to become a small business consultant? Here are some steps.
1. Take an inventory of all the skills and experiences you have gained in Corporate America and summarize then into a simple executive summary. You can use this document as your calling card when you are looking for new clients.
2. Set a theme for your consulting business. For example, market yourself as a growth consultant, franchise consultant, turnaround consultant, etc.
3. Determine an industry and/or area of expertise that you have knowledge in and target those businesses as potential clients.
4. Develop a simple marketing strategy to attract clients. Try to place quantitative objectives on your marketing efforts. For example, set a goal to contact 10 potential clients a day, post 20 classified ads per week, etc. Play the numbers game in your marketing efforts.
5. Use online freelance sites such as Guru.com, Elance.com and SoloGigs.com to bid on new consulting projects. You may also use sales software. Sales tracking software is comprehensive solutions for your business.
6. Nurture partnerships with other consultants and share projects and expertise whenever possible.
7. Find a good strategic resource to help you with your small business consulting efforts. A great resource is a software program called Small
Business Consultant published by South Beach Software. Small Business Consultant allows you to complete a profile of your client’s business and the program generates specific revenue growth, cost cutting, customer service and advertising strategies for your client. This is a great resource for all small business consultants. To get more information on Small Business Consultant, visit South Beach Software at:
http://www.southbeachsoftware.com/small_business_consultant
So if you have corporate business experience, don’t worry about finding a new job. You can use your business skills and knowledge to help small businesses reach their goals. You probably will enjoy consulting more than having a corporate position and make more money to boot.
Take action today and start your own small business consulting firm. Small businesses need your expertise so get out there and help someone grow their small business.