The Internet continues to lure new entrepreneurs who are looking for ways to beat the global recession and experience financial freedom away from their low-paying desk jobs.
This trend has created a growing need for courses and information products that teach secrets and shortcuts of internet marketing. If you’ve been successful in Internet marketing and have a good grasp of its many facets, then you could earn a living using what you know by starting a consulting business.
What to do:
Have a plan
Everything starts with a plan, whether you’re starting an online or offline internet consulting business. Plans set you in the right direction and keep you on track when you encounter distractions. Need help with planning? Seek the advice of someone who is already successful, who has a system.
If venturing out on your own, you should create a plan of action for launching your consulting business. Your checklist should include announcements to friends, family members, colleagues, and everyone in your social network.
Prepare a short outline of the services that you can offer as well as resources that your clients will find useful. Other things in your to-do list may include registering your business, creating a website, networking, developing systems for generating leads and serving clients, calling on people support as you anticipate client base growth.
Take action
Using your plan as a guide, take the first few steps by asking for referrals and then following up leads and proposals to prospective clients. Most people find it easy to pick up one or two clients from their immediate circles.
Get in the loop by being active in relevant forums, creating links to your website, joining groups with similar interests, and attending live events that draw large crowds of potential clients.
Develop systems
Don’t let your business turn into a job. Discover and adopt ways of doing things in less time. As you settle into consulting, you will find that some of your business processes are repetitive. Examine these processes and develop a system for doing them automatically and quickly. Having systems for generating leads, converting leads into clients, producing results for your clients and any other regular task produces maximum profits in less time.
Learn new things daily
Internet marketing evolves quickly along with the constant development of web technology. What you know today may be old news and obsolete tomorrow. As knowledge is your primary capital in this business, you need to stay ahead of your clients by learning and testing new techniques often.
Just as any business has its challenges, being on your own as a consultant also has its disadvantages. There may be lean times, problematic clients, unexpected problems and days that feel like you have lost your groove.
This is where having a mentor, coach or trainer will make the world of difference. Having someone who has been there before, and who has negotiated these obstacles, will help smooth the way for you.
While earning 6-digit incomes is a good reason to be an internet marketing consultant, it should not, however, be your only motivation for starting a consulting business. An honest desire to teach others are essential as well or you’ll easily give up as you encounter rough patches along the way.