Shortage of funds does not stifle creativity or ideas to grow your consulting practice
Not everyone gets to appear on Shark Tank. Or to receive funding from angel investors.
But that should not stop us from growing our 1-person business. Limited financial means call for exceptional creativity.
There are many questions surrounding this topic. They typically take the following shape or form.
How can we grow our business with no external funding?
How do we invest back into our business when our revenues are stagnating?
Where do I get the best bang for my buck?
I think long and hard about such questions. And I am sure you do.
And when you do, what do you see?
I see the entire spectrum of the business value chain. I can see myself creating, nurturing, and realizing value. And that means I spend time on public speaking, lead generation, sales closing, service delivery, and keeping customers happy for as long as possible.
It is a barrage of work.
And then, I ask myself questions about business growth and constraints.
Question: How many hours am I working on my consulting practice on the side per week?
Answer: 4 hours per day, 28 hours a week.
Question: Do I need to work on all aspects of the business (personally)?
Answer: No. I need to focus on areas that drive the business.
I will not bore you with the list of 2,000 questions I have. My point is a simple one. We must ask ourselves thoughtful questions and carefully go through every constraint we face.
When I assume a bird’s eye view of my 1-man consulting practice, I realized that there are (really) only 2 parts to the business.
The first part is Pre-Sales. It is everything and anything before a sale. And then there is Post-Sales. That part of the business takes care of the work delivery, customer service, and account longevity.
And then, I asked myself this question.
Where would I invest in the business when I have the money?
“A business is like a living being. It’s more of a process than a stagnant thing. The way you manage your business today shouldn’t be the same way you managed it ten years ago or even ten months ago. Because your business should have evolved and changed and adapted in some way during that time — just like living beings evolve and change and adapt to their environments.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr
This is the million-dollar question. Where can I get the highest return from my investment? Is it Pre-Sales or Post-Sales?
These are my thoughts.
Where Do I Get the Highest Value from?
You will have a different answer from mine. That is okay. It just means we run our consulting practice in our own different ways.
The Pre-Sales piece of the value chain is where I bring the highest value increment to my consulting practice. Thus, I must focus my time getting in front of customers, sharing ideas and knowledge, and being at the forefront of industry trends.
So, you are guessing that I will plow money into the Pre-Sales component, right?
Nope.
I choose to invest money in the Post-Sales process. Here’s why.
I am currently running a 1-person consulting practice with limited free cash. Hiring a direct headcount increases my cost of business operations by 30% — 40%. I must explore ways to automate and delegate the Post-Sales process to stay price competitive.
There is no way to automate and optimize Pre-Sales work. Consulting business is about presence, service, trust, and human connection. I don’t think a robot can do what I do and do it better.
And… I enjoy connecting with people. That is why I set up a consulting practice in the first place!
How to Invest in the Post-Sales Process?
My keywords are delegation and automation.
Study the consulting projects you offer to customers. What do you have to do to complete delivery?
Let me take my side-hustle example of copywriting projects. It covers the following tasks.
- Analyzing customer requirements.
- Type out initiate draft to capture the key ideas.
- Walkthrough the draft with the customer.
- Seek in-principal agreement to proceed.
- Write.
- Deliver for review. Edit if necessary.
- Collect payment.
How many of these points do you have to work on personally? Think about it.
I delegate all writing to my mentees or freelancers I trust. I hire a team of virtual assistants (V.A.) to help me ensure that all requirements are met. And oh, ensure that payments are received on time too.
The money required to hire freelancers, pay my mentees, and subscribe to monthly V.A. services is nothing compared to hiring a headcount. Of course, affordability is my top consideration.
What about automation?
It depends on the niche of your consulting business. I require software tools that keep me on top of things.
Therefore, I automate my calendar booking using Calendly. Hubspot takes care of my social media posts and email campaigns when I am busy.
I recommend 2 more handy tools that will not blow your pocket. You should give Harvest a go if you bill by the hour. It helps you monitor time spent on projects. You can keep your time expense under control.
Trello is my favorite for project delivery or workshops. This application gives you a bird’s eye view of the progress of work and delivery in stages defined by you.
Lastly, make sure you have your Linktree or Popl with you wherever you go. You get to share your portfolio of work with interested customers as you exchange profile information. And you have a reference of people to talk to based on information captured.
Treat it as a real-time rolodex, if you will.
They come in handy when you are out for speaking events or business networking.
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