Business management

With any small business, it’s possible to get caught up in administration. Consider taking steps to automate your business processes, so that you can focus on paying work. How to automate your consulting business Develop "boilerplate" responses for emails and proposals Implement a customer relationship management system for handling incoming leads (like calls and emails) […]

Tax time isn’t that far behind us and, well, you just know it’s going to be sneaking up again. Via the IRS website, I found a guide to telling whether your business is a hobby or not. But, let’s look at things another way. What are five things you can do so that you run

Via Trevor Speirs of MyTechnologyCompany.com, I found a top five list of business interests. And that got me thinking about my own interests. I’ve got a list of my passions on the website of my marketing company, but what about right this very minute? So, off the top of my head: Improving productivity Social proof

In Stay true to the cause, I talked about meeting the goals you set when you started your business. In the past few years, I’ve found a great way to stay true to my goals. I outsource — to other consultants. Yep. I focus on what I do best and try to hire other people

Consulting can give you the freedom to do anything you want. Take Fridays off. Be home for your kids. See matinees. Take your aging parent to the doctor’s office. Semi-retire. Travel the world. But are you really staying true to the cause? IT consultant Alex Williams notes that he originally aimed to take Fridays off

Consulting can give you the freedom to do anything you want. Take Fridays off. Be home for your kids. See matinees. Take your aging parent to the doctor’s office. Semi-retire. Travel the world. But are you really staying true to the cause? IT consultant Alex Williams notes that he originally aimed to take Fridays off

Customer service can make an incredible difference in professional services business, such as consulting. Regular Consultant Journal reader Tony Rose blogged about his experiences with customer service at a major department store. I especially liked Tony’s last paragraph: No matter what business you are in, excellent customer service will help you win and keep loyal

Consulting tends to be a people business and people like to do business with people they know. Every so often, you may be approached to by a friend who has a great personality but makes a lousy business partner. Many years ago, I fell ill and knew I wouldn’t be able to complete a project.

Back in December, I noted that I was planning to read a book by Timothy Ferriss called The 4-Hour Workweek. I read the book in early January and have finally got around to implementing some of the ideas. Although I don’t advocate everything in the book, it certainly got me thinking about ways to streamline

It’s St. Patrick’s Day, which has me thinking about all things green. And, speaking of green, are you someone who falls prey to consulting envy? If you’re self-employed (or even just thinking about it), it’s easy to think everyone else is doing better than you are. I know I’ve fallen into this trap. I frequently