What does it take to become a Consultant?

The #1 question I get, aside from asking me what I do, is how to become a consultant or get my job.

Disclaimer: I am not saying that I am an expert on all consultants, so this is just from my own perspective as one.

So here it is.

WHO ARE CONSULTANTS?

In its simplest form, it is people who teach or analyze things and/or come up with solutions. They teach companies skills or they analyze business scenarios and come up with solutions.

They aren’t there as employees, they are there for a short amount of time for a specific purpose.

This is a very broad term “consultant”.

So how do you see if you can be one?

DO YOU HAVE ANY SKILLS YOU CAN SELL?

What can you do?

ARE YOU GOOD AT IT AND INTERESTED IN IT?

This goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway.

Just because you know basic math, it doesn’t make you a math major who is able to go as a statistics consultant and provide analysis on complex probabilities for a company.

People are good at what they are passionate about. What are you passionate about?

WHAT ARE YOUR CREDENTIALS?

I am assuming that you don’t have a network to go to where your uncle recommends you for a job to his friend, and POOF! you’re a consultant.

No one needs to go to special schools or to get a special degree to be a consultant, but it sure helps if you don’t have experience.

If you have a degree, it means (to companies) that you passed a filter (presumably) for college applicants in business for instance, and they will be able to train you to become a consultant in business easier than picking some random person off the street who has had no background or clue about what the business principles are.

If you don’t have a degree to get in the door, it means you have field or work experience.

You have done the job and you know how how to do it well.

Field experience trumps any degree, in my opinion.

If you don’t have either, then you need to find a way to get into both.

CAN WHAT YOU DO, TRANSLATE INTO CONSULTING?

Some jobs don’t translate. The best “consulting” jobs are ones that are contract or project-based.

It means you have a specific purpose, you are in and then a prescribed time later, you are out.

You don’t stay forever.

For instance, being an administrative assistant seems like it can’t translate into consulting, but there are people out there who are willing to pay for a research or admin assistant for a few hours a week to help them out, but they cannot afford them as full-time employees.

DO COMPANIES WANT TO PAY FOR IT?

Imagine you’re a consumer.

You’re in a shop and you want to buy some oranges. The woman says that all she has left are apples, but she can paint them orange if you want.

Do you buy the orange painted apples? No. You go to another shop to buy real oranges.

It’s the same basic principle for anything, and that includes consulting.

If you have skills, like juggling feats that no one can imagine, perhaps a company wants to hire you to teach new performers how to juggle. Or even major poker players are “consultants”, they teach others who want to be better at the game, how to play the game.

HOW MUCH WOULD COMPANIES PAY FOR IT?

The next question is always how much you can sell it for.

If you can sell your skills for $2/hour, perhaps you are better off working a minimum wage job at $10/hour, unless you can figure out some sort of other arrangement where it’s a side job, and not your full-time job.

You have to do your research, you have to ask around, price out your skills.

HOW DO YOU FIND JOBS AS A CONSULTANT?

It depends on the industry and the job, but I get jobs by word of mouth, applying online to companies looking for my skill set, via brokers or my network.

For people starting out, if you are in a field that embraces those kinds of contracts such as graphic design or writing. They are not labeled as “consultants”, but what they do is very consulting-like.

Think about it: A client wants a graphic design for their site but doesn’t know what they want.

You get there, you give ideas and CONSULT with them, and then you execute the approved vision.

They’re called “graphic designers”, but I think of them as consultants as a broad term too.

GIVE ME A SPECIFIC PATH AS AN EXAMPLE!

Your best bet is to start at a corporation as a consultant and build experience there before trying to freelance. The job market isn’t easy
to enter as a freelancer as a consultant and you will need 5-10 years of experience at a well known company such as Bain, Proctor & Gamble
or Goldman Sachs depending on what kind of consulting you want to get into.

You may not even need to get into a well-known big company, you could just work in a niche, build a knowledge, leave, and sell your services to other companies in that niche trying to improve their businesses.

I know this sounds so open-ended and vague, but I don’t know what you want to do, what you are capable of and what your skills are. Becoming a consultant isn’t like becoming a doctor where you have a set path. ANYONE can become a consultant, the real question is: What do you have to offer, and to sell to companies as a consultant?

NO GUARANTEES!

I should warn you that even after 5-10 years of experience (or more!) there is no guarantee you will ever be able to freelance depending on your industry and niche, even if you want to.

Some industries and areas are just not conducive to consulting, because the companies in those industries are not interested in hiring outsiders to help them run their business.

That’s just the way it goes.

AND THAT’S IT.

And that’s really it.

I know it doesn’t seem like much because I am not telling you to how to get a specific job as a consultant, but I hope it dispels some myths such as:

• Not all consultants are paid a lot of money, some are paid $1000/hour, others $20/hour or a fixed fee
• Not all consultants are only in business
• Not everyone can just decide to become a consultant without any credentials
• You have to have skills to sell that companies are willing to pay for
• You don’t just apply online to an ad saying: “LOOKING FOR $120/hour GENERAL CONSULTANT”
• You have to work and gain experience before you can even THINK about becoming a consultant
• You have to know what you want to sell your clients as your services (i.e. to improve their business)
• You have to know what to charge
• You have to know there is a sustainable career in being a consultant (that you can get more work every year)

It isn’t a job for everyone, and frankly in some cases you might make more money staying with a company than being a consultant. It all depends on your field and industry.