Can you start your own professional
consulting practice? How about in 90 days? And you thought writing a book was
challenging.
A new book claims you can learn how to
kick-start a successful consulting practice in 90 days, Million Dollar Launch. It’s written by Alan Weiss, PhD, who is the
founder of the Summit Consulting Group, Inc. He is also the author of 55 books,
including the bestseller, Million Dollar
Consulting. The Hall of Fame Professional Speaker and recipient of the
Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Press Institute, lays out a
fast-paced timeline to getting rich.
In
just three months, you’ll:
·
Cultivate
your contacts
·
Build
your brand
·
Get
your finances in order
·
Obtain
client leads
·
Create
a powerful marketing presence
·
Establish
your expertise
·
Lay
the foundation for further growth
·
Develop
a passive cash flow
The book isn’t bad or inaccurate, but I
didn’t feel it gave me something special or something new. The 90-day gimmick
is, well, gimmicky. Consulting isn’t just about having great ideas or executing
good work. It’s about cultivating great relationships, and forever networking
for repeat business and referrals. It’ll take you more than 90 days to do all
of that.
The author presumably knows what he’s
talking about, having earned millions from his consulting practice. But as he
lays it out on page 209, the list of what a consultant should be doing can be
exhaustive. He notes that as you grow and prosper, you’ll need more and more
trustworthy supporters. Here’s a list of 10 things he says you should monitor (excerpted from his book):
·
Calibration of
your progress: Even
if you’re securing business, is it fast enough and the right kind of business?
·
Use of money: Are you
collecting fast enough, charging appropriate fees, conserving profit?
·
Quality of your work: Are client complaints – which are inevitable – legitimate or distractions, and are you handling them well?
Quality of your work: Are client complaints – which are inevitable – legitimate or distractions, and are you handling them well?
·
Business
Development:
Are you securing both solicited and spontaneous referrals, following up, and
closing new business with little cost of acquisition?
·
Lifestyle: Are you
spending quality time with family and/or personal interests, or are you
consumed by work?
·
Growth: Are you getting
better and better at less and less, or is your value expanding and your brand
growing in repute?
·
Intellectual
property:
Are you creating new and innovative approaches and models that you’re
protecting legally, exploiting, and publicizing?
·
Marketing
prowess:
Are you engaged in promotion and market gravity in increasing ways, including
print, speaking, web, networking, and so forth?
·
Support and
infrastructure:
Are you securing cost-effective help in the form of vendors – printers,
designers, and so on – and subcontractors who can take delivery burdens off
your shoulders?
·
Strategy for
growth:
Are you taking the time to step away and consider your practice and goals to
adjust your current efforts toward important outcomes in your life?
The book, published by McGraw-Hill
Education, does inspire and make the consultant-to-be feel he or she can pull
this off. Sometimes, the best advice is from the one who tells you, with
confidence, “Go for it.”
SPEAKERS TOOLKIT FOR AUTHORS
Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas
expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media
Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter
@theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more
important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted
by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014
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