So you’re thinking of starting your own consulting gig….

After years of working for someone else you’ve finally decided that you’re going to start your own gig.

You’re going to take what you know about engineering, consulting, designing, drafting or whatever it is you do and build a business around it. Or perhaps you’re even more daring and have decided to pursue some other passion you have, in spite of not having any previous experience.

Exciting times friend. Stay strong and push on.

I’ve written this article to try and help you get started as quickly and effectively as possible. I recall how muddled my head was when I first started thinking about leaving the safety of a corporate job to start my own thing — who am I kidding it still is muddled, but hopefully you can benefit from some of the things I learnt in those early days and continue to refine now.

After the excitement of finally listening to that voice in your head wears off, you’re going to come to the realisation that there is a heap of shit to get done, and no one to tell you what to do, what order to do it in and how much time to spend on each one. The good thing is that if you don’t overthink and procrastinate, given the accessibility of the internet, most of these things are relatively quick and cheap to do.

Here’s a list of things you need to figure out:

• What to call your business
• What business structure to go with
• Do you register for GST? Quarterly or annually?
• Are you going to team-up with someone else?
• What do you call your business (it’s in here twice, because as minor as it is, if you’re not careful you’ll lose days or even weeks on this)
• Are you going to look for projects to deliver directly for clients or simply contract your time to a larger company?
• What‘s a fair and reasonable rate to charge clients?
• How will you find work?
• How do you find peers to review your work if needed?
• Do you need a logo and where can you get one?
• How much money do you need to get started?
• What insurances do you need?
• How do you manage, time sheets, invoicing and accounting?
• Do you need a website?
• How do you set up a professional looking email?
• Where do you get business cards?

And the list goes on. I will try to provide links to help you complete all of these things as quickly, effectively and cheaply as possible.

Stay motivated.