Start and Run a successful consulting business
- Description
- Curriculum
- FAQ
- Reviews
What is the aim of this course?
No matter what you do at some point you will be fed up with your boss, your work, and corporate life. Most likely you will start thinking about having your own business – something that you can put your effort into and make great as well as profitable. Maybe, a small restaurant? Maybe, a startup? If you are working in professional services one of the options you should seriously consider is to start and run a consulting firm. It can be a very profitable business and help you build other businesses on top of that, especially technological startups.
In this course, I will show you how to start and run a consulting company fast and efficiently.
This course is based on my 15 years of experience as a consultant in top consulting firms and as the owner of a small consulting company (the last 7 years). I have been also a Board Member responsible for strategy, performance improvement, and turn-arounds in the biggest firms from the Retail, FMCG, SMG, B2B, and services sectors that I worked for. Thanks to my versatile experience I know the subject from all sides including the customers of consulting firms.
I have carried out or supervised over 90 different performance improvement projects in different industries that generated a total of 2 billion in additional EBITDA. Based on what you will find in this course, I have trained in person over 100 consultants, business analysts, and managers who now are Partners in PE and VC funds, Investment Directors and Business Analysts in PE and VC, Operational Directors, COOs, CRO, CEO, Directors in Consulting Companies, Board Members, etc. On top of that my courses on Udemy were already taken by more than 205 000 students including people working in EY, Walmart, Booz Allen Hamilton, Adidas, Naspers, Alvarez & Marsal, PwC, Dell, Walgreens, Orange, and many others.
I teach through case studies, so you will have a lot of lectures showing examples of analyses, and tools that we use. To every lecture, you will find attached (in additional resources) the Excels as well as additional presentations, and materials shown in the lectures so as a part of this course you will also get a library of ready-made analyses that can, with certain modifications, be applied by you or your team in your work.
I do not like to overcomplicate things so in every lecture I will be quite straightforward. Most lectures will have also a lot of additional resources: templates, examples, procedures, list of tools. The idea is that you have everything that you need to start and run a consulting business in one place. If you don’t find something that you need let me know – I will try to prepare something and I will add it to the course.
Why have I decided to create this course?
For our teams, we have created courses that help us improve the consultant onboarding and the teaching process. We have started to use them extensively also with customers that we work with and their teams. Since we made them available to a wider public we got many requests, especially on Quora, on how to run a consulting business. We try to minimize repetitive work so we decided to take this course in order to cut down on the questions we are getting.
This course is based on our extensive experience in working and running consulting companies. In many cases, we use also a lot of clever solutions from other service companies that we helped set up and improve.
In what way will you benefit from this course?
The course is a practical, step-by-step guide loaded with tons of, tricks, hints, and examples that will significantly speed up your process of starting the company and afterward scaling to a sensible size. There is little theory – mainly examples, a lot of tips from my own experience as well as other notable examples worth mentioning. We intend that thanks to the course you will know:
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Where to find ideas for consulting business, consulting firm?
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How to analyze in Excel whether the business makes sense or not?
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How to get the first customers?
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What to concentrate on if you are a 1-man show, a freelancer?
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What kind of tools you should have?
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How and in what way you can set up pricing for your services?
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How to prepare for scaling, and expanding?
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What kind of business you can build based on a consulting firm?
You can also ask me any question either through the discussion mode or by messaging me directly.
How the course is organized?
The course is divided into the following sections:
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Introduction. We begin with a little intro to the course and consulting
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Where you can get ideas for your consulting businesses. In the second section, we show where you can find ideas on how you can build a consulting business.
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The business model of a service company. In the third section, I will show you how to calculate whether your consulting business will make money. We start with a general service company and show how to put it in Excel, and how to draw conclusions from this.
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1-man show. The next section will show you what you should concentrate on if you are running a 1-man show, you are forced to be a jack of all trades. This is also very good for freelancers and coaches.
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Getting first customers. In the fifth section, you will learn how to sell your services, where you can get the first customers for your consulting services. For the time being, we show 8 ways but we will constantly update with new ideas
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Tools you need in a consulting company. To be successful in consulting you need a lot of tools created in a proper manner. We will show you what you should use and in what way to be successful in your business
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Pricing. One of the most important things in the consulting business is pricing. I will show you how you can set your price, what should be your pricing positioning and how you calculate the price and margins of a specific project. We will talk also about dynamic pricing and how to sell cheap projects to your customers with high margins for you
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Managing consulting company. We have a separate section on the organization of the consulting company. We talk here about the structure of the company and the role of specific positions.
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Preparation for scaling of consulting company. In this section, we talk about things that have to be properly set up before scaling them to significant sizes. If you have already a functioning consulting business this section is for you.
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How you can expand. In the last section, we talk about ways in which you can expand and build based on consulting new businesses.
You will be able also to download many additional resources
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Examples in Excel, Word, PowerPoint
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Presentation of slides shown in the course
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Links to additional presentations and movies
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Links to books worth reading
So enjoy the course and if you have any questions let me know
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1Introduction
Here I will say what this course will be about and what you can learn on building the consuting firm
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2How to deal with Blurry image
Here I will show you what to do if a blurry image appears
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3How to reach additional resources
Here I will show you how to find additional resources attached to the coruse like Excel files, presentations, links etc.
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4How to find information and ask questions
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5What is the value of consulting?
In this lecture I will show you why firms decide to hire overpaid consultants and what is the value of consulting? This will help you later build your value proposition and the sales strategy
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6Around what you can build consulting?
To build a consulting firm you need some pillar around which you can build. There are 2 viable options and I will show you which is the best choice for you.
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7Satisfy your own need
Many businesses are built in order to solve your own problems, to respond to your own needs. I will show you when you can use this approach and what conditions have to be met for this method to give you interesting, valuable ideas that you can work with
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8Carving out
You can create your consulting business by carving out a department, team, function and to create around it independent business. I will show you when you can use this approach and what conditions have to be met for this method to give you interesting, valuable ideas that you can work with.
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9Cloning
Sometimes you don’t have to create a business from a scratch. You can take a business that works on another market and copy it successfully to another market.. Obviously it requires a lot of changes but can bring nice results. I will show you when you can use this approach and what conditions have to be met for this method to give you interesting, valuable ideas that you can work with.
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10Walk away and become independent
If you work already in a professional service company, consulting firm you do not have to come up with new ones. It’s enough to walk away with people and become independent player or join another company. I will show you when you can use this approach and what conditions have to be met for this method to give you interesting, valuable ideas that you can work with.
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11Transform a product or a service into consulting
You can create a consulting on the basis of existing product or service. It requires a difficult, often changing product but is done quite often. I will show you when you can use this approach and what conditions have to be met for this method to give you interesting, valuable ideas that you can work with.
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12Introduction to service company
Here we will talk abou the model of service company and consulting firm. It is an introduction to modelling it in Excel
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13Mechanics of business model for a consulting firm
Before IÂ show you the model in Excel IÂ want to present you in this lecture the overall logic
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14The business model of a consulting firm in Excel - Capacity and revenues
I show you in the lecture the model of the consulting firm in Excel. After modifying it you can use it for your purposes (we attach the Excel files to the lecture). This model will let you check whether your business idea makes sense.
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15The business model of a consulting firm in Excel - costs and profit & loss
I show you in the lecture the model of the consulting firm in Excel. After modifying it you can use it for your purposes (we attach the Excel files to the lecture). This model will let you check whether your business idea makes sense.
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16Steal customers
The easiest way to acquire a customer is to steal it from somebody else. I will show you when you can use this approach and what conditions have to be met for this method to give you interesting, valuable ideas that you can work with.
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17Take over director / partner from a competitive company
You can try to establish a consulting company by convincing a senior personal with a good relation with customers to join you. This method gives you fast growth of revenues. I will show you when you can use this approach and what conditions have to be met for this method to give you interesting, valuable ideas that you can work with.
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18Use marketplaces
For some consulting services you can start with marketplaces. I will show you when you can use this approach and what conditions have to be met for this method to give you interesting, valuable ideas that you can work with.
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19Content Marketing
For some consulting services you can get customers by proper content marketing. I will show you when you can use this approach and what conditions have to be met for this method to give you interesting, valuable ideas that you can work with.
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20How do we do content marketing?
In this lecture we show how we use content marketing for one of our service. You will see also what results we generate.
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21Event Marketing
For more stubborn clients you have to go for events marketing. I will show you when you can use this approach and what conditions have to be met for this method to give you interesting, valuable ideas that you can work with.
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22Trainings Marketing
Similar yet more subtle to event marketing is trainings marketing. Here you acquire customers via trainings (paid and free). I will show you when you can use this approach and what conditions have to be met for this method to give you interesting, valuable results that you can work with.
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23Cold Calling
At some point you will have to try cold calling. I will show you when you can use this approach and what conditions have to be met for this method to give you interesting, valuable results that you can work with.
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241-man show introduction
We start this section with an introduction to the main issues that a lonely cowboy consultant faces and how he can increase his profits.
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251-man show improving the ulitization of your time
We show here how to get more out of the time you have as freelancer to have bigger revenues without scaling up the operations
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261-man show - how to increase the average price
AS a freelancer, 1-man show you can play with pricing. It may drastically improve you profitability. I will show you the ways in which you can boos average price of a project.
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271-man show - additional revenue streams
There are plenty of ways to get additional revenue streams without selling your hours. Here we will have an overview of what you can consider doing.
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28Using the right tools
Here IÂ will talk about tools that you may find very useful in your practice
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29Standardize everything
A lot of things are repetitive. Therefore, it makes sense to standardize everything. In this lecture we will show to do it in practice.Â
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30Create templates
Next step after you created standards is to create templates. In this lecture I will explain how to do it in practice
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31Example of standards and templates for Excel analysis
Here I show you templates of excel analysis
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32Power point templates
Power Pointe presentation is the second most important tools to be used by Business Analyst in his work. After all it is not only important to analyse data and draw conclusions but also to show them in a nice manner to decision makers. Here you will learn basic rules on how to build your Power Point deck in fast and easy manner. You will see also some examples of good and bad slides. There are many advanced tools for presentation (i.e.) Prezi. Still Power Point is the most often used and widely accepted
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33Create modules
For some things standards cannot be applied straightforward. You need to introduce modules to move forward. I will show you in this lecture how to implement it in practice
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34Create universal structure of folders
Standard folder structure is important  tool to save time and introduce order. I will show you the principles of using it as well as a practical exampl
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35Example of a proposal for a consulting project
In this lecture we show how you can build your proposal and what kind of elements you should have there. You can also download the example we are showing as a Power Point version
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36How to describe your experience for your proposal
In order to provide social proof and show that you are the right firm to get the contract you have to provide some sort of summary of your experience along with results and success you have generated for your clients. Here we show how you can build the section on your experience. It can be a separate document or a section in the proposal.Â
You can also download the example we are showing as a Power Point versio
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37Kick-off meeting presentation
The kick-off meeting is the first meeting you will have at the project. The purpose of it is to show what you will do, how and who will be involved. The main target of this presentation are the employees of your customer that will actively participate in the project. You can also download the example we are showing as a Power Point versio
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38Alternative slides for the proposal
In your proposal you can use more sophisticated slides. Here we show some that you can find useful.Â
You can also download the example we are showing as a Power Point versio
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39How to present results of market resarch analysis?
Hi
We are sometimes getting questions about how to present the results of research in a form of presentations, especially when you are doing them for somebody else.
Therefore, we have decided to share with you 2 cases studies
1. Plant-based yogurt. In this case study, you will see the results of the analysis of the market of the yogurt market. We analyze there the market size (using bottom-up analysis), competition, and market structure (using financial reports and store checks). On top of that, there is an analysis of the sales market. Attached to the lecture you will find the final presentations, along with certain analyses that we had to create to fill the presentation with data
2. Home & Garden market – online segment. In this case study, we show an analysis of the Home & Garden market. Apart from the usual analyses, we also have analyzed the user experience.
I hope those examples will help you create your own analysis.
Best regards
Asen
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40Pitch Deck example
In some cases, you will also have to create the so-called pitch deck.
Therefore, for the yogurt case study that we have shown you in the previous lecture, we have created an example of a pitch deck.
You will find it attached to the lecture.
I hope it will prove useful.
All the best
Asen
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41Examples of presentations form McKinsey, BCG, Bain etc.
Every consulting firm has a different standard of presenting the data, telling the story using slides.
We have gathered publicly available examples from firms like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Roland Berger, BCG.
Enjoy the selection
All the best
Asen
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42How to define the scope of a consulting project
Here I will show you how to define the scope of a consulting project
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43How you can price consulting projects?
There are many ways in which you can set the price for a consulting project. I will show you different methods in which you can set your price, what are the implications of each and one of them and when they can be used. I will also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each and one of them.
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44Calculating the price and profitability of a consulting project
Here I show you how to calculate the price and the profitability of a consulting project using fixed fees and times and material formulas. You will get also a template in Excel shown in the lecture as an attachment in additional resources
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45Price Positioning
Here IÂ show how to position your consulting business
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46Discounting consulting project - Introduction
In this lecture, I will talk in general about how you can not be forced to give discounts on the consulting project you are trying to sell to the customer.
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47Discount policy - alternatives
Here I will show you using the case of a due diligence project what you should do instead of discounting. The methods I will show you on one hand will keep the customer happy and your margin safe.
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48Dynamic pricing in consulting
In consulting you have low seasons with little or no work. Therefore, makes sense to use dynamic pricing. You identify the low seasons and try to sell them at a lower price or a higher price.
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49How to sell at lower and keep high margins? Introduction
I will show you an example of a project sold at very high margins yet at a lower cost for customers thanks to proper structuring of the project scope.
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50RFP that I received - details
In this lecture, we will analyze in detail the RFP I got from the customer and see what are the implication of it for the whole project, the offer, and the real underlying problem.
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51My first proposal - introduction
Here I will show you the first proposal I have created for the project. I will explain to you the logic behind it and why certain things are presented in such a way.
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52My first proposal - details
Here I will show you the first proposal I have created for the project. I will explain to you the logic behind it and why certain things are presented in such a way
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53What happened during the negotiations?
The meeting totally changed the approach to the project and I learned a lot. I will show you what I have learned during the meeting, how it influenced the whole project. I will show you also the result of the negotiations
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54Second offer - how I redesigned the project
During the negotiations, I learned enough information to adjust the offer for the customer. The aim was to create a more appealing (for both sides) offer that would reflect what we have agreed on during the negotiations.
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55Organizational structure and responsibilities
Consulting companies operate using pretty flat structure. I will show you some examples how you can organize it and what are the roles of specific positions
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56Roles and responsibilities
In this lecture I describe the roles and responsibilities for each and every role
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57Typical structure of a project
I show you the team structure and duration of typical projects done in management consulting
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58How to avoid mutiny?
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59Rotation
Rotation is one of the nightmares of a consulting business. It will differ on every position. Here we show what values you should expect in your consulting firm
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60Scaling of consulting business - Introduction
The scaling of a business can be very challenging. In this section, I will show you what are the steps to scale your business
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61Valley of death
There is plenty of small consulting businesses and only a few big ones (above 100). Most get killed in the valley of death - the space between 10 and 100 consultants where the fixed costs are dragging you down and lack of flow in the pipeline eats away your cash
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62Recruitment
In the beginning, you will be competing for the best candidates from the best universities. In this lecture, I will show you how to overcome this problem and get a hold of the best people on the market
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63Training
In order to fill in the gaps done by the rotation and provide. To create proper training you have to take care of a number of issues. I will show you what is important and how to achieve it
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64Scalable selling machine in consulting
To scale the business you have to have scalable sales. Here we start the topic
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65Analyzing the profitability of sales channels - introduction
Here I show you how to analyze the profitability of sales channels in Consulting
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66Analyzing the profitability of sales channels -example of audit services
Here we show to analyze the profitability of sales channels
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67Analyzing the profitability of sales channels -example of selling small services
Here we analyze the situation for cases when you are selling smaller services i.e.per hour consultation on SEOÂ tactics
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68How to scale up a business – best practices from top firms