Are you considering taking on a side job as a consultant while working full-time? It's a great way to test your business and consulting skills, and it can help you break free from the 9-to-5 life. In this article, we'll discuss how to make the transition from a full-time job to a part-time consulting career and still earn a decent wage. Many companies are open to involving people, especially former employees, on a part-time basis. To get started, talk to your current supervisors about ways you could reduce your hours and continue to engage with them.
You can even try to turn them into your first customer. When it comes to pricing, if you're good at estimating the time it takes to complete a project, you can get better financial results if you offer your services on a project basis, rather than by the hour. Set your prices based on what the customer would have to pay someone else to do the same job or show how much money your work will save the customer and make your prices represent a percentage of those savings. To create your client list, do the same type of networking you would for a job: contact old acquaintances from work and school, etc.
To cement your relationship with this customer, try to develop relationships across the company, so that you don't depend on good contact with one person. Also, be proactive when requesting tasks. Don't wait for them to call you. Knowing your business as well as you should, periodically suggest projects or tasks that you can undertake and that you think should be done. To expand beyond this customer, turn this customer into your secret weapon.
Don't hesitate to ask your current contacts with customers to introduce you to non-competitive companies that you have identified and with which they have relationships. If you have a good relationship with your existing customer contacts and assure them that you will continue to give their account the highest priority, they should be willing to recommend you to other firms. Mass action is key to starting and growing your consulting business. Make sure everyone in your network knows that you're doing some consulting work, and you'll dramatically increase your chances of winning referral business. As soon as you have a strong financial track record, you'll feel much more secure as you develop your consulting business. By the end of this post, you'll have learned how to transition from full-time work into part-time consulting and how to build up a successful business if that's the path you choose.
So don't let fear stop you from taking the leap into owning a full-time consulting business.
