How to Scale a One-Man Consulting Business

Do you own a one-man consulting business and you are looking for how to scale without sacrificing your life and time? If this is you, you need to make sure you take the right and appropriate steps or you end up killing the business.

Consulting is a huge industry. It is one of the largest and rapidly growing sectors within the professional service industry. And with the increase in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), this translates to more clients, which means more money to your business. But there is a limit to how far you can go running the business all by yourself.

Consulting is a service-based business where you are selling your expertise, knowledge, and experience through time. Consulting is a great business idea as you are trading your time for money. You can scale your consulting business and generate more revenue without trading more hours of your time.

Please note that by one-man consulting business, we mean you are the only professional (consultant) in the firm that attend to clients professionally. No partner or junior associates. That said, here are 6 steps you need to take to scale your one-man consulting business to your desired height.

1. Develop and Grow Your Team

To be able to render your service to so many clients without selling more hours of your time, you will need to develop and grow a team. You shouldn’t be the one handling advertisement, sending out invoices, handling clients, or even answering all the calls that come in if you want to scale your consulting business beyond just you.

To scale your one-man consulting business, you will need to hire a team of talented, motivated staff who believe in the company’s mission and vision that will assist you in other areas.

Your only focus should be on attending to your clients and thinking of different ways to grow your business. As ideas come, you share them with your team and they put their heads together to make the idea work.

Have someone who handles your social media marketing, run social media ads and take advantages of these digital marketing tips to promote you and your consulting firm. Have someone who sends out invoices to clients and answers calls coming in and can also manage your website and content creation for your blog. Delegate as much as you can so your mind can be free to think of ways to grow yourself in the profession and the business as well.

There is no way you can scale your consulting business when you are busy sending invoices to clients, creating content for your blog and social media accounts, pitching to clients via the phone, etc.

To scale, you will need to develop and grow a team.

2. Get a Mentor

No matter your years of experience and how much you are making from your consulting business, you can benefit from mentors.

Some people are doing 10X more than you and can give you invaluable advice that can turn your business around for good. You need to seek out these people and sign up for their mentorship program.

There is no limit to what you should learn as a consultant. If you are serious about scaling your consulting business, you should get a mentor who you can pay for one-on-one help and consulting.

Mentoring will increase your productivity and help you succeed. To find the right mentor for you, you need to look for someone in the same consulting niche who has taken his or her business to the level you are aiming for. Don’t go out and buy a course from a marketer claiming to be a coach or mentor.

3. Offer Group Workshop Program

Instead of being hired by a company to offer your service, you can scale your revenue by holding group workshops. With group workshops, there is no limit to how much revenue you can generate.

With this method, you are serving more clients at the same time and making more money. This will save you all the numerous travels, and you will have time for yourself and your family.

And with the internet, this can be done online with apps like Google Meet or Zoom. You don’t need to rent a hall or any equipment to hose this group workshop online.

With group workshops, you can help more clients, create more awareness of your consulting firm and make more money.

4. Create a Premium Price Package

When you know what you offer and the value you bring to your client, nothing should stop you from charging a premium price for your service.

A premium package will not be for any clients. It will be for the 1% of your target audience who can afford it. Pricing your premium offer $10,000 is not bad at all. Most top consulting firms are doing it and clients are still signing up for their offers. It all boils down to the value you provide and the solutions you offer to clients problems.

Some high profile consultants generates more than one million dollars annually by offering $10,000 for premium package with just 10 clients per month.

You can do it. You just need to first overcome that mental barrier that will make you feel guilty for wanting to charge a premium price for your service.

5. Think Multiple Streams of Income

Consulting should not be your only stream of generating revenue for your business. You need money to scale. This is where thinking of more ways to generate revenue comes in.

You can consider becoming an author. You can go into public speaking. Other consultants in different niches do this. This doesn’t only generate revenue for your business, it also helps in marketing your consulting business.

The more you speak at events, the more people get to know about you and how you can help them. Also, as your books get into the hands of more people, more people get to know you and be able to contact you to enroll in your workshop, pay you to come to speak at their event, or book a consultation session with you.

6. Think Long Term

Scaling a one-man consulting business doesn’t happen overnight. You need to develop a long-term mindset and stay true to your vision. Have short-term and long-term goals. This will keep you organized and help you stay on track.

Don’t give too much attention to competitors. Your focus should be on how to dominate your market and have that first-call advantage. Make sure you and your team are working towards your short-term and long-term goals.

Conclusion

To scale your one-man consulting business, you need to think about leverage so you don’t end up sacrificing your life and time for money. This is why having a team, getting a mentor, offering a workshop program, having a premium package, and thinking of more ways to generate more revenue are important.