3 ms·

I wanna try this, few questions: - how do you find clients, or found when you started - how do you handle health insurance

ksaj 5y ago
I contacted consulting firms and told them what I was up to. Not the big ones - they won't deal with you unless you also are a bigger deal. I essentially offered a deal where they marketed my services along side theirs (complementary) and they keep a portion of what is made from it... call it sales and project management. I got bigger customers after a few years, but only because they knew me by that point through working alongside the smaller firms. My first years definitely were helped along by getting to know the recruiters. After a few years of that, it became almost entirely word of mouth and repeat gigs spanning outward from people I worked with. It helped (a lot!) that I did a fair amount of public speaking and TV appearances at the time as well, but that totally depends on the industry you are in. I live in Canada, so health insurance is already dealt with. As for business insurance, there are a gazillion insurance companies out there for that. If your first gigs are through recruiters, you won't need it right away. I don't do much consulting (or working, for that matter) these days since the lockdowns began, but for the most part I took any between-gig downtime as self-improvement time, taking whatever courses etc. that were necessary or useful. In each business, there are predictable down-times throughout the year, so you start to schedule those events for then. I'll warn you this: taking courses is a double whammy - you pay for them yourself, and usually aren't getting paid while taking them. That's one of the negatives, but if you get a name for yourself, it pays off just fine. The first time is extremely daunting, and you'll learn the true meaning of imposter syndrome as you watch those funds evaporate.

ksaj 5y ago

I contacted consulting firms and told them what I was up to. Not the big ones - they won't deal with you unless you also are a bigger deal. I essentially offered a deal where they marketed my services along side theirs (complementary) and they keep a portion of what is made from it... call it sales and project management. I got bigger customers after a few years, but only because they knew me by that point through working alongside the smaller firms. My first years definitely were helped along by getting to know the recruiters. After a few years of that, it became almost entirely word of mouth and repeat gigs spanning outward from people I worked with. It helped (a lot!) that I did a fair amount of public speaking and TV appearances at the time as well, but that totally depends on the industry you are in. I live in Canada, so health insurance is already dealt with. As for business insurance, there are a gazillion insurance companies out there for that. If your first gigs are through recruiters, you won't need it right away. I don't do much consulting (or working, for that matter) these days since the lockdowns began, but for the most part I took any between-gig downtime as self-improvement time, taking whatever courses etc. that were necessary or useful. In each business, there are predictable down-times throughout the year, so you start to schedule those events for then. I'll warn you this: taking courses is a double whammy - you pay for them yourself, and usually aren't getting paid while taking them. That's one of the negatives, but if you get a name for yourself, it pays off just fine. The first time is extremely daunting, and you'll learn the true meaning of imposter syndrome as you watch those funds evaporate.