So, you want to start a consulting business? Or interested in taking your consulting business the next level?

Most high-achieving professionals at some point in their career dream of ditching the pressure of the 70-hour workweeks and start a consulting business. But there are many factors that hold them back.

This year, we created a survey that we administered to both new and seasoned consultants to learn more about what drives smart people to start their own consulting businesses and what stands in the way of their success. And we're super-excited to share the findings below. 

Read on if you'd like some instant validation that consulting is right for you, insight into the predictable challenges that most consultants face and strategies for overcoming hidden barriers to success.

Why Smart People Start Consulting Businesses

Starting a consulting businesses is a massive career transition. There are five reasons that drive accomplished professionals to a make a move of this...

One of the biggest questions that keeps both new and seasoned consultants up at night is, "How do I get consulting clients?" The question that I wished that asked instead is "How do I predictably get consulting clients so I never had to ask this question EVER again?"

Forget one-off marketing tactics that give you hit or miss results. Instead building a marketing system that puts your client attraction on autopilot.

The System that Helps you Get Consulting Clients with Predictably and Ease

If you want a steady stream of right-fit consulting clients who are excited to work with you and are more than willing to pay you what you're worth, you can't rely fully on those tactics that require you to go out and FIND clients. 

You also can't rely on finding referrals who will introduce you to that perfect client who will magically want to hire you as an advisor and pay you a good sum of money for that advice. 

Instead you need a system that ATTRACTS high-paying executive...

Got a conflict-avoidant client and not sure how to help them? I want to give you some message points to help them understand why holding their employees accountable is in everyone's best interest and some ideas on how to equip them to more effective. 

The Message Points - Why Accountability is Good for All

Holding people accountable for results is about providing the conditions for an employee to freely choose whether to meet or exceed expectations and experience the resulting consequences (positive or negative) of their choices.  It is not about communicating blame, frustration and/or disappointment in a monthly meeting or performance review.

A leader who holds his or her employees accountable is treating these individuals as self-directed, empowered responsible adults.

Other benefits of increasing the accountability in others include:

1. Visibly demonstrating of the law of the universe where there is cause…there is effect.
2. Communicating with actions that your...

One thing that both new and seasoned consultants hate is marketing.

It's the fog of all that marketing entails and the fear that they are going to become some slick used car salesman is what keeps smart people stuck in soul-sucking corporate jobs.

And it's the exhaustion of the constant effort of trying to find the next lead that causes really talented consultants to give up on their dreams of running their own businesses and return to those soul-sucking corporate jobs.

Here's the deal -  you cannot have a successful business (consulting or otherwise), without effective marketing.

Without making others aware of who you are and what you have to offer, you have no choice but to either become the "world's best-kept secret" or become a sub-contractor, extra pair-of-hands who is paid by the hour.

Before I share with you what you need to embrace marketing, I want to first validate why marketing is really hard for consultants. 

FOUR REASONS WHY SMART CONSULTANTS HATE...

Interview Transcript:

Betsy Jordyn: Hey, it’s Betsy Jordyn of the Consultant’s Institute, and I’m so excited to interview Charles Browne.  And our topic today is really focusing on those product companies.  You know what I’m talking about, the companies that have had a good run, because they had a great innovative idea.  And now, somehow things have fallen off the rails, and they want to establish a company.  And I’m bringing in the expert to tell us all about it. 

So, why don’t you introduce yourself, and share a little bit more about your business, and how you help your clients. 

Charles Browne: Sure, yeah, thank you, Betsy.  So, you know I started my career in the Navy.  I was part of their nuclear power program.  After eight years of service, I left and worked at a couple of commercial nuclear power plants and earned a project management certification...

Interview Transcript:

Betsy Jordyn:    Hey, it’s Betsy Jordyn.  I am super excited to introduce you all to Charles Browne, the latest graduate from the Consultant’s Institute, who has got an amazing new business that he is launching, so welcome.

Charles Browne:  Hi.  Thank you.

Betsy Jordyn:  So, what I would love to do first, is like just take us back in time, and tell us a little bit about your journey.  So, I know that you didn’t just wake up one day and say hey I want to start a consulting business, you’ve been thinking about it for a while.  So, take us back to your journey.

Charles Browne:  Yeah, absolutely.  That’s exactly the best way to describe it too.  So, I started my profession career in the Navy, as a member of the Naval Nuclear Power Program.  And when I left the Navy, I worked at a couple of commercial sites, and then for a couple OEMs, Westinghouse and GE.

And through both...

Today is April Fool's Day. Doesn't feel like a day to be pranking each other given the current global health and economic crisis. But that doesn't mean we can't celebrate the Fool archetype.

I am a massive fan of mythology and archetypes. In fact, I love the archetypes so much that I became a certified archetype consultant through Caroline Myss' CMED program. To me archetypes are a short-hand way to connect our individual stories to transcendent universal ones.

Archetypes the secret behind all the success of the movies that we love. We don't just watch Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter or Shrek go on magical journeys. We see the Hero and his journey in action. We love Tom Hanks because he is the Everyman that we all can relate to. Hugh Jackman is the Warrior that overcomes incredible odds for the sake of freedom - from Curly in Oklahoma, Valjean in Les Miserables and PT Barnum in The Greatest Showman. 

What A Fool Believes...

Right now we're in the age of the Fool....

Oil...water, consultants...marketing. In general, consultants are not the biggest fans of marketing, even in the best of times. The marketing challenge is definitely exacerbated in times like these, when there is a massive threat to our global health and economy.

But here's the deal - how you treat your clients (those you already know and are working with AND the ones you don't know yet that you meet through marketing) could define your consulting brand. 

If you say and do nothing, you might be perceived as out of touch and irrelevant.  If you get super aggressive, you might be seen as an ambulance chaser.

So what can you do? Let me give you a few ideas:

1. Make sure your auto-responders and messaging aren't tone deaf

• Update auto-responder emails for lead magnets with customized messages for today's situation. You don't want to come across like you're unaware of what is going on in the world.
• Pivot webinar descriptions, content and calls to action to be relevant...

As a business mentor to aspiring consulting and coaching business owners, I deal with people who have been laid off all the time. I sit with their shame and fear as they find their courage to pursue the entrepreneurial dreams that the layoff simply accelerated. It's hard enough when it's only your career that takes a hit. For many who are dealing with layoffs right now, it's a career hit, in the middle of a health crisis, in a market where no one is hiring.

Here's some advice that hopefully will help you cope and see the light at the end of this trial:

1. Normalize any and all feelings you might have

Getting laid off, even in times like now, is a shock to the system. The losses are on multiple levels that begin with money and fears around how you're going to provide for yourself and your loved ones. But the real shame that keeps many people stuck is the personal rejection after years of investing oneself and talents to help grow someone else's bottom-line. On a rational level, you...

"Playing small" is making choices that put a lid on your true potential. It's the part of you that wants to protect your comfort, security and validation in the short-term at the expense of what is possible in the long-term.

These feelings are particularly acute for both new and seasoned consulting and coaching business owners which in comparison to other business owners, growing to the next level is personal because your business is based on you. Your ideas. Your expertise. 

It's hard for everyone to step outside their comfort zone, but for you, it can be excruciating because it can feel that not just the business is at risk but everything you have worked so hard to achieve will come crashing down.

You're probably very well aware of the impact that playing small is having on your self-esteem and business results. You're not getting your website copy done, under-charging your clients, and taking work that makes you feel more like an employee vs. an advisor. 

Let...