When I speak at public events or even just go to industry cocktail parties, people often come up to me and ask about consulting. Often, they’re interested in getting into consulting but they’re just not sure what kind of consulting they should do. I get asked this question so often that I wrote Discover Your Inner Consultant, a workbook for helping people figure out just what kind of consulting they could do.
Many people dream of having independence, flexible work hours, the ability to pick and choose clients or to charge a high hourly rate. Some feel like they have specialized knowledge that they could use to help individuals, businesses, non-profits or government. They know that, as consultants, they could apply this in a way that perhaps they cannot in a regular job. Still others have a dream of entrepreneurship and this business allows them to capitalize on their knowledge and try their hand at running a business.
But what if you aren’t really sure what kind of consulting business would suit you? Maybe you have had a varied career, a series of successes in different areas, or you’re wondering if there’s a way to pull your skills and experiences into a new kind of business, perhaps creating a role that you haven’t pursued before?
That’s why I wrote Discover Your Inner Consultant. It helps you profile your own unique skills, experiences, training and interests, so that you can figure out what kind of work you want to do. Before writing this book, I spent years consulting to government, university and non-profit organizations and developing career materials for use in both universities and high schools, as well as throughout the US and Canada. In doing so, I developed a pretty good knowledge of what it takes to find your career path and get moving on it. And, of course, as a consultant, entrepreneur and small business advisor, I know what it takes to turn that into a consulting business.
One of the key tools in this book is the development of a personal inventory. It’s a tool for taking stock of yourself, so that you can figure out where to go. If you’re not sure what kind of consulting you want to do, not sure how to combine your unique attributes or still hunting around for the kind of business you want to start, take a look at Discover Your Inner Consultant.