How to make money as an independent consultant
You can absolutely make great money as an independent consultant working 30 hours per week or less.
And you only need two things:
The confidence that you can do it (belief)
The right strategy to make it happen (skill)
Today I’m going to focus on #2 – strategy and skill.
A good strategy is about figuring out the simplest path to achieve the result you want. It’s about identifying your immediate next steps.
This is where people get stuck, stalled, or confused. They truly can’t see what their next steps should be because they have no idea what strategy / tactics are appropriate for their current stage of growth. This leads to confusion, over-working, and burnout.
You’ll know you don’t have the right strategy if:
You’re spending tons of time marketing and trying to grow but getting nowhere
You spend more time in analysis paralysis than in action
You have no visibility into where your next client is coming from
You can’t confidently forecast what your revenue will be in the future
But don’t worry! I’m going to break this down for you so that the path forward is clear.
The first step is to understand what phase of growth you’re in and which activities are most effective at that stage.
There are three phases to growth:
FREELANCER - growing from $0 to your first $150K
SOLOPRENEUR - growing from $150K to $500K in revenue
ENTREPRENEUR - growing beyond $500K and creating a scalable business
These revenue ranges may vary based on the type of work you do and the industry you’re in. But the phases are still relevant in helping you determine the action to take (and not take) based on where you are today.
The most common mistake I see is people over-thinking and over-complicating the process.
When you’re in Phase 1, the strategy is actually quite simple: meet people, tell them you’re a consultant, and offer to help them. I learned this from my mentor, Stacey Boehman.
If you’re doing a bunch of complex analysis and/or marketing during the beginning stages of your business, you’re likely barking up the wrong tree.
This will slow down your progress / results and cause you to feel stuck, stalled, and defeated. I know so many talented professionals who’ve fallen into the trap of believing that starting a business is much more complicated than it really is.
This will kill your momentum. You’ll look around seeing others crushing it while you wonder why you can’t gain any traction.
That’s why – over the next three days – I’m going to break down each phase of growth and explain exactly what to do (and not to do) at each step.
I’m also going to extend an invitation for you to join The Independence Equation – my signature program designed to help white collar professionals make their first dollars as independent consultants. It’s specifically designed to take you from $0 and place you on the path toward your first $150,000 in revenue.
I’ll explain more in the coming days.
Until then,
Chris
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I am on a mission to help driven people find clarity in the fast lane – making great money doing work they love, on their own terms.
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