Consulting Business Plan
Consultants work differently from other businesses. They don’t offer any tangible products rather consultants provide solutions to businesses. Consultants are paid for their time, skills, knowledge, and expertise. Every business needs a business plan to operate. Similarly, if you want to start a consulting business, you’ll need a consulting business plan. But, consulting business plans are somewhat different from other business plans.
Any business plan consists of three things;
- Who are you?
- What is your plan to do?
- How you are going to do it?
Here’s, how you create a consulting business plan and get your consulting career off the ground;
For whom you are writing the plan?
It is an important question to ask before initiating. Most of the conventional business plans are written for the banks and investors. It is because many businesses need loans and funds to start their business.
Consulting businesses don’t require much funding. But still, it is important to write a consulting business plan to make things clear and pen down your business thoughts. It will help you in understanding your opportunities and risks.
Consulting business plan will cover all the points from marketing to finance to strategies. But, it also depends on the target market.
Consulting Business Plan For Banks & Investors
The introduction phase of any business is a difficult time. Worries regarding cash will make it more difficult. Even if you don’t need any loan or funding. You still need a loan to make your business stable until you start generating cash flows.
You will need funds for your office space, you will need your own office or you will need to rent out one. If you are in competitive market or not, then you might need funds for marketing and advertisements.
You can look for raising capital from crowdfunding, can also look for grants or apply for bank loans. Whichever method you might use, you will need a business plan show, which mentions all the important figures.
You need to stay formal when writing following points as you are going to convince lenders and financers for the investment. You will need to cover the following points of the business plan;
- Describe your business
- Define Your Business Goals
- Describe Your business Products and Services
- Market Research & Analysis
- Establish Marketing & Sales Strategies
- Establish Your Business Financial Analysis & Projections
There is a possibility that you might not have some data from these points or may be difficult for you to estimate. But you can present your projections and estimates of cash flows, expenses and revenues. An accountant can help you in adding information.
Consulting Business Plan For Your Own Self
You might have enough cash and investment before starting business and you don’t need any funds. If cash and investment are not a problem for you, you still need a business plan. But you can stay less formal in it while drafting it.
Business plan will help you in staying focused on your goals and what you want to achieve. You are again required to cover all these points, making realistic predictions and setting achievable goals;
- Describe your business
- Define Your Business Goals
- Describe Your Business Products and Services
- Market Research & Analysis
- Establish Marketing & Sales Strategies
- Establish Your Business Financial Analysis & Projections
In this overall consulting business plan structure you can also consider some other points;
Why Are You Doing This?
Add the question and answer honestly. Your potential answers can be;
- To earn money
- I am good at it
- I love to provide consultation services
Whatever your answer is, write it down. It should be convincing, and it should provide you a motivation and focus in achieving your goals.
Before initiating your own consulting business you should consider following things and they will guide you through your plan;
Risking relationships
If you have a family or group of friends, think of an impact your business would be having on them. It is because consultants work tirelessly for irregular hours, even on weekends, sometimes from home or office.
You need to balance both things. Set a schedule and boundaries for when, where and how much will you work.
Which clients to attract and avoid
While conducting your research on your target audience, you will get to know different types of customers in the market. Then you can develop an idea of which clients you will attract and which ones you will avoid.
In the industry, there are many types of clients which you will attract. Like, someone who is reliable, gives clear-cut instructions about what they want, pays on time, gives feedback and more.
Similarly, in industry, there are many types of clients which you will avoid. Like, someone who is indecisive, demanding or aggressive customers, complainers, impatient, the one who knows everything and more.
Training and certifications
In industries like IT and other technical fields, you need to have skills and certifications. You are required to attend training courses to stay up to date and this expense you will have to bear.
But after initiating this type of business, how will you manage to go on training and certifications? It is better to take such training and certifications before initiative. Otherwise, on business, you won’t have much time to attend.
Additionally, you can stay up-to-date through industry magazines, websites, talks, forums, news, conferences, courses, self-teaching, and distance learning.
Personal goals
You should have some personal goals while initiating a business. Similarly, you should have a plan for your business where you want to take this in the future. Write down your goals and plans and keep them in mind while making decisions.
You might have a plan to grow your business into a firm, or an agency, hire employees or sell it. Or you might have planned to do this business for some time and get back to your job or any other.
It isn’t important what your personal goals are but having some goals is more important.
Savings
Consulting business means an irregular income just like a job. Sometimes you get paid, sometimes not, sometimes higher, sometimes lower, sometimes you are busy, sometimes not.
So, it is better to save money for rainy days and keep some cash in saving account. It will help you in bearing expenses, paying taxes and much more.
Profits utilization
Before initiating your business, think of how you will charge, how much you will charge, and what will you do with it. How much you will charge will include all of your costs, and expenses too.
You can also decide on how you want to charge your consulting service, like one-time payment, hourly, project rates, or monthly. You also need to decide on what will you do with it, like bearing costs, reinvesting or any other.
Revisiting Your Consulting Business Plan
Business plan is not a static document which means that once you have made it, it won’t change. Rather, it should change and grow as your business grows. The idea is to revisit your business plan on monthly basis.
You will learn many things during writing of your business plan. But you will also learn many things in first few months of your consulting business. You should revisit your business plan mention them in your business plan.
You might identify mistakes, overestimates, underestimates, and some other things to add in your initial business plan. It is normal and no one can predict the future and next steps or phase of the business.
An important and essential thing is to learn from everything and utilize that knowledge to improve your consulting business plan.
The Bottom Line
Writing a consulting business plan is important for you and it makes you focus on the things that are essential. Business plan helps you clear your mind, set your goals, making plans and strategies to achieve them.
Business plan is a basic and essential step before initiating any business. It is important for consulting businesses too where in which you need to take initiatives and achieve your goals.
