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What’s freelance consulting?
Freelance consulting refers to providing consulting (skilled recommendation in a selected business) as an unbiased self-employed enterprise proprietor as an alternative of as an worker of a consulting agency.
For instance, a strategy consultant would possibly work for a giant agency like McKinsey or Bain. However a freelance technique guide works for themselves — therefore the time period “freelance.”
It’s much like the thought of entrepreneurial consulting. Extra on that within the subsequent part.
By the tip of this text, you’ll be taught all the pieces you wished to learn about freelance consulting — and how one can get your first freelance consulting purchasers.
Prepared? Let’s dive in…
Freelance Consulting: Fast Hyperlinks
Freelance Consulting Definition
Earlier than we outline “freelance consulting” in additional depth, it’s essential to outline the 2 phrases that make up the phrase.
A freelancer…
- Affords their companies independently as an alternative of working for the corporate;
- Manages their very own workload, selecting purchasers and tasks;
- Expenses for his or her companies primarily based on time, undertaking, or particular deliverables
Simply since you’re a freelancer doesn’t imply you’re a guide.
A guide…
- Offers skilled recommendation professionally;
- Works in a selected area or business;
- Diagnoses issues, recommends actions and options.
The faster you start to consider your self as a consulting enterprise proprietor — and be taught the abilities that that entails — the extra primed you’ll be to create a thriving consulting enterprise.
So, a contract guide is a guide who presents their skilled recommendation independently as an alternative of for a consulting agency.
A contract copywriter might write copy for purchasers. They’re taking the shopper’s temporary and offering their copywriting as a service.
Nevertheless, a contract copywriting guide might write copy for purchasers — however additionally they present their skilled recommendation as properly.
For instance, as an alternative of taking the shopper’s temporary and writing the copy for his or her e mail marketing campaign, they’ll instruct the shopper on the technique for his or her e mail marketing campaign.
And for those who’re a contract guide, you aren’t simply doing consulting work. Whether or not you notice it or not, you’re additionally working a consulting enterprise.
Why?
Since you’re accountable for marketing yourself, attracting preferrred purchasers, promoting your self, pricing your work, closing the deal — and then delivering your work.
An employed guide doesn’t have to fret about a lot however delivering their work. However for those who’re a contract guide, you will have many extra duties than your work.
That’s why it’s best to instantly begin considering of your self as greater than a freelancer.
The faster you start to consider your self as a consulting enterprise proprietor — and be taught the abilities that that entails — the extra primed you’ll be to create a thriving consulting enterprise.
Freelance Consulting Wage/Charges
How a lot are you able to make in freelance consulting?
Listed below are among the information on freelance consulting salaries and charges from our current Consulting Fees study.
Take into account that this information contains freelance consultants AND consulting enterprise homeowners. However it will provide you with a tough concept of what the higher-end freelance consultants in our community are charging.
How A lot Freelance Consultants Earn Per Month (USD)
Why must you start a consulting business?
One of many causes consultants begin a consulting enterprise is for the limitless incomes potential.
With the right technique and mindset, freelance consultants can earn 5/six figures — or much more — per 30 days.
Right here’s how a lot solo consultants and small consulting corporations are incomes per 30 days:
- 32% of consultants earn $10K-$45K per 30 days.
- 22% of consultants are incomes lower than $2K per 30 days.
- 20% of consultants are incomes $5K-$10K per 30 days.
- 20% of consultants are incomes $2K-$5K per 30 days.
- 3% of consultants are incomes $45K-$100K per 30 days.
- 1% of consultants are incomes $100K-$250K per 30 days.
- And 1% of consultants are incomes $250K+ per 30 days.
What Freelance Consultants Cost Per Hour
What are consultants charging per hour for delivering consulting work?
- 39% of consultants cost between $100-$250 per hour.
- 25% don’t use hourly charges.
- 19% cost between $250-$500 per hour.
- 12% cost lower than $100 per hour.
- 4% cost between $500-$1000 per hour.
- And 0.5% cost $1000+ per hour.
Common Consulting Challenge Worth
Right here’s how the numbers break down for the common consulting engagement worth:
- 23%: $500-$2000 USD
- 16%: $2001-$5000 USD
- 15%: $20,001-$50,000
- 15%: $5001-$10,000 USD
- 14%: $10,001-$20,000
- 10%: $50,001-$100,000
- 7%: $100,000+ USD
To learn the complete examine — in addition to our beneficial motion steps to boost your consulting charges — learn our full Consulting Fees Study.
As a contract guide, your incomes potential isn’t restricted by your employer.
Nevertheless, if you wish to earn extra, we suggest you shift away from typical pricing fashions like hourly-based charges.
The consultants in our Clarity Coaching Program commonly cost on the greater finish of those ranges by utilizing what we educate, together with…
Learn our client case stories to be taught how one can mannequin their success.
With the right technique and mindset, freelance consultants can earn 5/six figures — or much more — per 30 days.
How To Discover Freelance Consulting Jobs
If you wish to begin freelance consulting, you’ll want to begin by profitable some freelance consulting jobs.
We choose to consider them as “purchasers” or “tasks” as an alternative of “jobs.” It’s crucial to shift away from the worker mindset if you wish to succeed as a contract guide.
Outdoors of asking for referrals, the primary place freelancers usually seek for new purchasers is consulting marketplaces.
A consulting market is an internet site that connects firms on the lookout for consultants with consultants who can present that experience.
Sometimes, you’ll apply to affix certainly one of these marketplaces. Should you’re authorised, you get entry to the undertaking listing. If you win a undertaking, {the marketplace} takes a charge.
Professionals & Cons Of Utilizing Consulting Marketplaces
Professionals
- Consulting marketplaces (like Catalant) can offer you further alternatives: leads, tasks, and purchasers.
- Consumers utilizing these marketplaces have a selected want and are actively in search of a guide, which might shortly result in an engagement.
- These marketplaces present quite a lot of instruments and assets that make it simple to collaborate with a number of purchasers.
Cons
- You usually have to surrender a big proportion of your charge (20-30%+)
- You don’t personal the shopper relationship and could be penalized for contacting the shopper outdoors of {the marketplace}’s system in some instances
- You threat turning into reliant on a selected platform and your enterprise takes on their threat — in the event that they improve charges or shut down, you pay the worth
(Learn extra on our full article: 7 Consulting Marketplaces For Finding New Clients)
Consulting marketplaces is usually a nice further supply of latest leads and engagements.
Nevertheless, at Consulting Success, we consider that freelance consultants ought to not depend on referrals or marketplaces.
As a substitute, it’s best to discover ways to construct a Advertising Engine: a advertising system the place you discover ways to appeal to purchasers like an actual enterprise.
What does that entail?
Right here’s what you need to deal with along with your advertising:
1. Outreach: reaching out straight to begin having significant conversations along with your preferrred purchasers.
For instance, a direct LinkedIn message or e mail sharing beneficial content material with a perfect shopper so as to add worth to their lives — and to get them fascinated with what you supply.
2. Observe-up: following up with preferrred purchasers and including extra worth.
For instance, sending a unsolicited mail to them — one thing they might discover fascinating, significant, distinctive (like a case examine or white paper), and prompts them to achieve out to you to be taught extra.
3. Authority-building: Publishing content material to place your self as an authority and to assist your outreach/follow-up efforts.
For instance, utilizing your consulting website to publish articles that assist your preferrred purchasers.
Should you mix outreach, follow-up, and authority-building, your advertising shall be efficient and fulfill its function: to construct relationships along with your preferrred purchasers and to create conversations with them.
To be taught extra about advertising — and how one can place your self as a consulting enterprise proprietor as an alternative of a “freelancer” — learn our article/examine on How To Start A Consulting Business in 2024.
Freelance Consulting Case Research: Be taught From Our Purchasers
Chris Bilich is an engineering proposals guide.
He’s a grasp at serving to engineering corporations assemble profitable proposals and polished shows to safe profitable authorities contracts.
He guides his purchasers by way of your complete course of: from drafting eye-catching proposals to delivering knockout shows that left choice committees awestruck.
Nevertheless, earlier on in his enterprise, he confronted one of the vital frequent issues amongst freelance consultants.
Chris was utterly reliant on a significant “whale” shopper.
Not solely that, he was making one other frequent freelance consulting mistake: charging by the hour.
“From a monetary perspective, I wasn’t actually working a enterprise. I used to be working an hourly facet hustle,” he realized.
Chris knew he wanted to construct his consulting enterprise on a stable basis earlier than one small mistake may finish all of it.
So, after Googling for recommendation particular to consultants on advertising, charges, and pricing, he discovered the Consulting Success blog.
Discovering the knowledge helpful, he utilized to our Clarity Coaching Program.
With the assistance of his coach Patrick, Chris made fast, drastic modifications to his consulting enterprise:
- He realized to convey the worth may convey to his purchasers
- He stopped counting on an hourly charge and switched to a higher-leverage pricing mannequin
- He started sharing his experience, attracting significant connections
- He created a bonus construction in his contracts so he was paid pretty for the outcomes he created for his purchasers
The consequence?
Chris went from 1 shopper to five high-paying purchasers.
He raised his charges by 40%.
And at present, he isn’t a glorified contractor. He’s a real consulting enterprise proprietor.
How did Chris go from 1 shopper paying mediocre charges to five six-figure purchasers?
- He did the identical factor Kevin did to boost his charges from $10K to $50K.
- He did the identical factor Eli did to rebuild her enterprise as much as 6-figures (after the worst yr of her skilled life).
- He did the identical factor Tony did to extend his income by 4x — and construct a crew of full-time staff.
Chris reached out for assist.
Get Assist Getting Into Freelance Consulting (& Rising Past That)
The quickest approach to degree up from “freelancer” to consulting enterprise proprietor is to work with a coach and group that has helped hundreds of others do exactly that.
If you wish to bypass years as a struggling freelancer and skip straight to adopting the mindset and practices of an entrepreneurial guide, we will help.
At Consulting Success®, that’s our mission:
“Serving to Entrepreneurial Consultants Construct Worthwhile, Scalable, and Strategic Consulting Companies”
In our Clarity Coaching program, our consulting coaches have helped over 1000 consultants to construct a extra strategic, worthwhile, and scalable, consulting enterprise.
LEARN MORE ABOUT CLARITY COACHING
We’ll work hands-on with you to develop a strategic plan after which dive deep and work by way of your preferrred shopper readability, strategic messaging, consulting presents, charges and pricing, enterprise mannequin optimization, and provide help to to arrange your advertising engine and lead era system to constantly appeal to preferrred purchasers.
You’ll discover ways to generate extra revenue with each undertaking you tackle — and how one can land extra purchasers than ever earlier than. Learn more about Clarity Coaching and get in touch to talk about your situation and goals.
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