Planning for Success: 3 Ways Independent Educational Consultants Can Flourish and Thrive

Photo credit: Marta P on Flickr

First published June 2014

As an Independent Educational Consultant, you are primed for success. After all, you spent years in the educational system, paid your dues, maybe moved up a rank or two and are now ready to take your career in a different direction.

So you left the system got your business cards printed with your fancy logo and are now sitting in your empty office waiting for the phone to ring and for the clients to start pouring in.

But hold up. Aren’t you missing something here?

You sure are. Exactly how do you intend to get those clients? Which options have you looked at that you believe will be more beneficial and lucrative for you?

Hmmn, sounds like there are still a few things that you need to sort out before hanging that open sign outside your door.

Let’s face it, no business can survive without clients and in order to get them they first have to know that you exist. This article is to point you to actionable tips that you can immediately implement to help you start the process.

1. Have a plan: a business one that is.

A friend of mine, Robin Hannah*, always has these grand ideas to make money and to use the skills he has been blessed with.

The other day he came to me with tears in his eyes. Miss B (he calls me), every time I put something in place it always falls through. Whether I try something big or something small it always fails. Why? We sat down and chatted. My first question was where is the business plan?

He looked blank. Plan, what plan? I don’t need a plan because everything I need is up here (tapping his head).

That’s the problem I told him; it should not be up there it should be down here (I tapped some blank sheets of paper on my desk). Imagine the sleepless nights you would have prevented if you had a clear goal as to where you wanted your business to go and how to get there.

Having it down on paper will help you to concretize in your mind what you are doing and where you are going. So get that plan down on paper right now.

Tip # 1: It doesn’t have to be elaborate but your business plan should answer the following basic questions:

a. What is your business all about? — e.g. What do you do?

b. Who are my ideal clients? — e.g. perhaps midsized companies? Parents? Educational institutions?

c. Where will you work and operate? -e.g. In an office? 100% online? Maybe a combination of both? From home?

d. When will you work? — e.g Can I give 40 hours per week? 4 hours a day? I will not work on Saturdays. Only in the afternoons.

e. Why am I an Educational Consultant? e.g. to make more money, to extend my reach outside of the classroom.

f. How do I intend to reach those goals? e.g. marketing my services on LinkedIn, contacting potential prospects through various media such as email.

g. How will I follow up with clients? e.g. Will this be a part of my process or do I end the relationship once our goals have been achieved?

Take half an hour, an hour or as long as you like to work on this but don’t put it off any longer. A cliché this may be but you know it well: those who fail to plan, plan to fail. And my goal is to help you get out there to do what you have to.

2. Build your network

Don’t for one moment think you don’t have a network because you are surrounded by people with whom you can connect to help you grow your business. Get clear about this: as a professional you are going to need as much help as possible to make the transition from boss-minded to self-employed minded.

Although both require a lot of the same basic characteristics you won’t have the benefit of falling back on that sure but small income you once received.

The bad news with networking is it requires commitment and follow-up. The good news about networking is it requires commitment and follow-up.

The choice is yours: you can choose to wallow in the bad news or you can grab the good news and run with it.

At this stage in your life, I am sure that you have invested lots of time and money into being the professional that you are. Why would you throw it all away by not reaching out to prospective clients?

It’s like saving up to purchase your dream car but then end up splurging it all on a weekend trip to Vegas! All those sacrifices, and penny pinching gone down the drain and then you have to start all over again.

I enjoy working alone, being alone and doing lots of things on my own so networking was never something that I looked forward to doing, but I put my fears aside and connected with people in simple ways. I ensure that I give without looking for something in return right there and then from that connection.

Inc. com in How to Network Effectively gave a few pointers on how to network smarter for greater benefits:

a. Build relationships before you need them. Connect with persons who could probably be clients or refer you to clients. Always offer more than you receive in return.

b. Divide your network into categories such as database, friend and family network, inner circle, personal board of advisers and friends, family and fools. — this will make it easier for you to keep each group separate.

c. Engage your network on LinkedIn — this is arguably the best social networking site where like minded professionals can connect and share with each other. Carefully construct relationships and share, share, share. No one wants to connect with someone who is all about himself.

Tip #2: always create time to reach out to network. Utilize Social Media as much as is needed. As indicated above LinkedIn is a great way to begin to engage prospects. Join like minded groups, answer questions and show your expertise. Create discussion questions and get others involved.

Bonus tip: create a blog and post relevant articles frequently; not when the spirit moves you or when you feel like it. Create an editorial calendar to help you with planning out your articles. You have a lot to say: share it!

3. Manage your time wisely.

I know, it is easier said than done when you consistently have to check your email inbox instead of writing that email to send to a prospect.

Or there is a sudden need to eat, or sleep or run errands rather than doing the ‘business-y’ part of your work. It has to be done so put that sandwich down, turn off the television in the corner, log out of Facebook and start working. After all there are things that you have to accomplish so that you can feel good about yourself at the end of the day.

Strangely enough, there are times when there isn’t a legitimate distraction but subconsciously we invent one! I still don’t understand how that one works, but I have fallen into that trap a time or two myself. To help you on this journey remember this equation:

Time lost= money not being made. Or if money is not necessarily your focus feel free to substitute the word money with another that applies to your current situation.

Tip #3: create a timetable and stick to it- be it in Excel, using good old pen and paper, Goggle Docs, or any other device or app that you may feel works best for you.

Outline how you expect each day to go and put it down accordingly.

Of course there will be those times when you will have to run off to the pharmacy to fill out the prescription when you should have been responding to emails; I’ll forgive you.

Simply find some time during the day (perhaps an hour before bed) to complete those things that were not completed previously.

John Wood put it best in this blog post: learn the supreme art of getting sixty seconds out of a minute, sixty minutes out of an hour and twenty four hours out of a day because we all have the same 24 hours to work with.

The three tips that you have received are enough to get you on the right track to start building a profitable consulting business. Begin to implement them right away. If you get stuck drop me a comment and I’ll be glad to help you.

* name changed for privacy purposes

Click here to contact me for help with putting your business plan together.

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Over to you.

How have you prepared yourself for success? Has the transition been easy?

Please comment below and share this article with a friend.
Photo Credit: Success is brewing, a photo by martapiqs on Flickr.

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Tasia Gonsalves-Barr

Written by

Professional Blogger. B2B Copywriter. Content Writer. Social Media Consultant

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