Tips On Being An Independent ConsultantWritten by Colin Ong TS
1)Do Your Budget ProjectionsEvery business has to have a proper system of budgetary planning. This is vital because you do not want to lose a potential contract because you can’t afford to take a plane flight to sign it! If you are unsure, it will be advisable to meet up with friends in same industry. But do your homework first and check if they will be in direct competition with you; they may not give you accurate advice because they may reveal vital information about their core competencies. Alternatively, you can source out information from your business association. 2)Get a Private Banker Every Consultancy needs good financial advice. Learn to delegate some financial requirements to professionals. They may actually help you to avoid pitfalls that can impede progress of your consultancy. 3)Private Funding If you believe that foundation of your consultancy is built on a franchise or a first-mover opportunity, you should seriously consider getting private funding. However, before you start to “hit streets with your business plan”, get legal advice about protection of your intellectual property and do a background check on venture companies that you are approaching. A big advantage of getting venture funds is that principal sum is much bigger and there is better support. 4)Consistent Pricing Plan In order to be credible and professional, you should put serious thought in pricing plan for your services. The basis can be drawn from a Per hour/Per contract basis. However, you can make exceptions if you have intentions of creating alliances with you customers or embark in a co-branding exercise (online and offline).
| | REFLECTIONS: WHAT IS TO COME?Written by David Stoddard
Welcome to December. The home stretch of a year which has shown us that terrible things do happen to good people just minding their own business. At same time, we've seen that good common people can become better than anyone could have believed when mission they find themselves in becomes greater than all their days combined.As years end, it's often a time to look back on what has happened. We look at where we are, what we have and where we were 12 months ago. We may think about what we wanted to accomplish during year but just never got around to. We see all daily interruptions that got in our way of doing something we would rather have done. We look around at others who seem happy and we think about how much we "wish" we could be like them or do what they are doing. But we just "know" we don't have time to do it. Either that, or our life-long circumstances have made it impossible for us to come even close to doing something as "wonderful" as that. Looking back is all too easy to see where we fell short, things we should have done differently, things we should not have wasted time or money on. Boy, if we only had a dime for every time each of us felt that way in our lives, there would be so many more millionaires in this world. Unlike many sports where you get an intermission between quarters or can call a timeout as in football, life doesn't work that way. It's more of an auto race or a marathon. It doesn't just stop at certain points giving us a chance to rest, clock is always ticking and we are always moving forward (if we want to, or not). In a race, we look back to compare ourselves to everyone else. In life, we look back to compare ourselves with, well… ourselves. Sure, we may not as wealthy as John Doe nor as happy in our career as Jane Doe seems to be, but they don't matter when it comes to our own ideas and hopes for ourselves.
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