Starting a Consulting Business – Mistakes to Avoid

June 7, 2016 7:19 am

 

Many people are interested in pursuing a career path as a consultant for obvious reasons including: financial gain, flexibility, freedom and amazing business opportunities. Before beginning a venture in any field, however, read on to find out what the most common mistakes are for entrepreneurs just starting out in the consulting field.

 

  • Financing Errors – Seek the advice of a financial adviser before you begin your consulting company. People who are successful at launching a consulting company, no matter what the field, find out how much money they have to play with for payroll, offices, products, marketing and so on. As you become a more established business it will become more clear how much revenue should be spent on different expenses.
  • Lacking Focus – When first starting out many consultants can get distracted by all of the areas that need attending to: employees, marketing, sales, and the list can be endless. Have a business plan or strategy thought out well in advance that allows for many contingencies.
  • Legal Errors – Consult with a lawyer regarding all of the setup of your venture. Infringing on another company’s trademark, not completing needed human resources paperwork or licensing and insurance issues will land you in legal hot water. An experienced business attorney will be able to steer you in the right direction and save you a lot of time and energy making “newbie” errors.
  • Family/Friends Errors – Starting a business means long hours and numerous errors. As you get your business off the ground, you may need to forgo some luxuries you took for granted before, such as personal time. Prepare your family and friends that the first five years are the most time consuming a brutal on a new venture.
  • Pricing Errors – The single largest mistake entrepreneurs make is bad pricing. Bad pricing comes from a lack of understanding of costs. Miscalculations like this can be avoided by careful scrutiny of costs vs revenue of similar companies.

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