Who you calling an expert? Becoming a small business or independent consultant may seem out of reach to some of you because you just don’t think you’re enough of an expert to be a consultant.
Let me tell you right now that becoming an expert is not as complicated as it sounds. When you’re a consultant, you are offering your clients something of value–your expertise. But expertise doesn’t have to mean that you are the world’s foremost expert in your field. No, expertise just means that you have more insights than your client does on your given area of expertise.
For example, you may be a home staging consultant. Now, you may never be called on to provide staging services for Oprah, but you do know something about home staging, right? You’re passionate about home staging, you’re up on all the trends and you’ve even taking courses on the subject. And if your client is a color-blind bachelor who doesn’t know the difference between orange shag and a neutral berber carpet, then you are by all means a total expert in this situation. So don’t feel intimidated by the fact that you may not be a home staging guru to the stars. Rest assured that you can be an expert and provide value to your clients.
In order to build your confidence and really feel like an expert, there are numerous things you can do to jumpstart your expert status, from teaching a course, having an article published in an industry magazine, or providing services to a high-profile client in your community.
Whether you’re dreaming of consulting or are already running a business of your own, you probably know that gaining expert status can help you with building client relationships. That’s why we offer Six Tips for Jumpstarting Your Expert Status when you sign up for our newsletter.
- Have the confidence to see yourself as an expert
- Promoting your consulting business
- Become an independent consultant
- Become a small business consultant
- Consulting Fees: A Guide for Independent Consultants
- Discover Your Inner Consultant
- Discover Your Inner Entrepreneur (for moms)
Great advice! Linked to you here: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/project-management/what-it-takes-to-be-a-consulting-expert/2827
You make and excellent point regarding providing value. Companies hire consultants to provide either advice or specialized services. I’ve often compared it to a homeowner hiring work to be done. They may hire a plumber to fix something they don’t have the skill to do. But they may also hire someone to mow their lawn because they don’t want to use their own resources for something that is not in their expertise.
Lew Sauder, Author