When it comes to running your own business, you’re always going to have a range of options. Regardless of who you are or what your business idea is, you’re going to want to choose from setting up as a solo entrepreneur, or launching into a full-fledged business right off the bat. Sometimes, the latter can feel quite intimidating. It might be something that you’d like to do in the future, just not right now. Because it can feel like such a big job. Instead, you may feel so much more confident with the former, becoming and entrepreneur in your own right, all by yourself. And there’s definitely something empowering about that.
No matter what your area of expertise may be, when you set up on your own, you’ll be a kind of consultant. Sometimes, you may want to produce a product, but when it’s just you, you’ll often offer your skills or knowledge in the form of a freelance service or consultancy. And that can be pretty cool. It’s also a great way to enter into the business world. But at the same time, you really do need to know what you’re doing to make a success of things. And as a part of that, there will always be certain steps that you’ll want to follow. So let’s take a look at seven key checkpoints that will help you to do that.
- Get Set Up
The very first thing you need to do is establish your presence. And that means getting yourself set up. The world needs to know that your consulting business is here and ready to help them. And the best way to do this, is be setting up a website and email address connected to it. Whether you want it to be a business name, or use your name, be sure to get a personalized domain for your website. That way, it will look much more professional.
- Promote Yourself
Your next step is to them start to promote yourself. And yes, this can feel quite strange at first. Because it always seems a bit self-indulgent to promote yourself. But remember, this is all in the name of business. And promoting yourself via social media, PR, advertising, or SEO is the only way that you’ll get custom.
- Sell Yourself
Alongside your marketing efforts, you’ll also want to make sure that you’re going what you can when it comes to sales. Because getting clients is hard, and you will get minimal interest coming in to start with. This means that you need to be pitching like crazy in order to get the work. After awhile, this will feel quite natural, and you may start to get referrals and more inbound enquiries, but until then, it’s up to you to sell yourself.
- Nail Your Operations
At the same time, you also need to establish some kind of process when it comes to your everyday operations. From direct deposits to mpos, you need to know how you’ll accept payments. You’ll also need to know what paperwork you need to fill in for things like licenses or taxes. And you’ll also want to make sure that you’re sticking to any rules that relate to your specific industry too.
- Set Up Systems
It’s also going to be useful for you to be able to have systems when it comes to doing your work too. Because when you have one client, you may find it easy to just get on with their work, but it’s useful for them to know when they can contact you. So setting working hours is useful. And when you get busier, a system for working will be a lifesaver.
- Excel At Customer Service
Just because you’re an independent contractor doesn’t meant that you shouldn’t act like a big business. In fact, you should be able to operate better than them – especially when it comes to customer service. You’ll want to make sure you give your clients a reason to work with you and not anyone else, and excelling at customer service can help with that.
- Have Vision
Finally, you’ll also want to make sure that you have vision. Because it’s useful to know where you want to take your efforts, and where you see yourself in so many years time. By having vision, you’ll know where you want to be, and how you’re going to grow. Then you can start putting the steps in place to make it all happen.
