Choosing the right consulting business

So you’ve decided you want to become a consultant. You’re ready to start consulting – at least, in theory. The problem is – you don’t know what kind of consultant you want to become.

Sure, you’re on board with the lifestyle. You’re willing to work hard to set up a business. You want the flexible hours. You want to call your own shots. You want to have the credibility of owning your own business. You want to be in charge of your work life. There’s just one problem.

You don’t know what business to start.

Or maybe you’ve got an idea, but you don’t know if it’s the right one for you. Perhaps you’re also juggling a day job, parenting, family obligations, financial stresses and other life stresses. It’s not uncommon to feel a bit frozen, where you’re not sure what step to take or what to do next.

Doing a self assessment and working out a personal career inventory can help. You can use the exercises in Discover Your Inner Consultant to work through the most important issues. Or you can hunt around online, read a bunch of career books and try to imagine how that will affect the decisions you make about what consulting business to start.

No matter how you go about doing the assessment, the assessment itself is important. Spending a little time on an internal review of your qualities, interests, expertise and other assets will help you make strategic decisions. You can also look at the realities of how much time you have available, what savings you have on hand, how this will affect your homelife and more. From there, you can go on to start planning and launching your business – full-time, part-time or a bit at a time.