How to Start a Consulting Business

If you are an experienced consultant or just starting out, you must have a strong operational backbone to support your business as it grows. From managing projects to billing and invoicing clients, managing independent contractors and team members, logging billable hours, and managing bookings, we at SystemX have a solution to get you started. CLICK HERE to allow us to walk you through our cloud-based Business Management Platform and show you how we can help.

The dictionary defines a consultant as "an expert in a particular field who works as an advisor either to a company or to another individual." Sounds pretty vague, doesn't it? But unless you've been in a coma for the past decade, you probably have a good idea what a consultant is.

Businesses certainly understand what consultants are. In 1997 U.S. businesses spent just over $12 billion on consulting. According to Anna Flowers, spokesperson for the Association of Professional Consultants in Irvine, California, the association has recently noticed an increase in calls for information from people who want to get into the business. "The market is opening up for [the consulting-for-businesses] arena," Flowers says.

Melinda P., an independent consultant in Arlington, Virginia, thinks more people are getting into the consulting field because technology has made it easier to do so. "The same technology that has helped me to be successful as a consultant has made it easier for others to do the same," she says.

A consultant's job is to consult. Nothing more, nothing less. It's that simple. There's no magic formula or secret that makes one consultant more successful than another one.

But what separates a good consultant from a bad consultant is a passion and drive for excellence. And--oh yes--a good consultant should be knowledgeable about the subject he or she is consulting in. That does make a difference.

You see, in this day and age, anyone can be a consultant. All you need to discover is what your particular gift is. For example, are you very comfortable working around computers? Do you keep up with the latest software and hardware information, which seems to be changing almost daily? And are you able to take that knowledge you have gained and turn it into a resource that someone would be willing to pay money for? Then you would have no trouble working as a computer consultant.

Or are you an expert in the fund-raising field? Maybe you have worked for nonprofit agencies in the field of fund-raising, marketing, public relations or sales, and over the years you have discovered how to raise money. As someone who has turned a decade of fund-raising successes into a lucrative consulting business, I can tell you that fund-raising consulting is indeed a growing industry.

Things to Consider Before You Become a Consultant

What certifications and special licensing will I need? Depending upon your profession, you may need special certification or a special license before you can begin operating as a consultant. For example, fund-raising consultants don't need special certification, although you can become certified through the National Society of Fund Raising Executives. And in some states, you may need to register as a professional fund-raising consultant before starting your business.
Am I qualified to become a consultant? Before you hang out your shingle and hope that clients begin beating your door down to hire you, make sure you have the qualifications necessary to get the job done. If you want to be a computer consultant, for example, make sure you are up to date in the knowledge department with all the trends and changes in the computer industry.
Am I organized enough to become a consultant? Do I like to plan my day? Am I an expert when it comes to time management? You should have answered "yes" to all three of those questions!
Do I like to network? Networking is critical to the success of any type of consultant today. Begin building your network of contacts immediately.
Have I set long-term and short-term goals? And do they allow for me to become a consultant? If your goals do not match up with the time and energy it takes to open and successfully build a consulting business, then reconsider before making any move in this direction!

Why an Organization Wants to Hire You

According to a recent survey, here are the top 10 reasons organizations hire consultants:

1. A consultant may be hired because of his or her expertise. This is where it pays to not only be really good in the field you have chosen to consult in, but to have some type of track record that speaks for itself. For example, when I mentioned earlier that I had become an expert as a fund-raising consultant, I knew that every client who hired me was doing so partly on the basis of my track record alone. After all, if you are a nonprofit organization that needs to raise $1 million, it makes sense to hire someone who has already raised millions for other organizations.

2. A consultant may be hired to identify problems. Sometimes employees are too close to a problem inside an organization to identify it. That's when a consultant rides in on his or her white horse to save the day.

3. A consultant may be hired to supplement the staff. Sometimes a business discovers that it can save thousands of dollars a week by hiring consultants when they are needed, rather than hiring full-time employees. Businesses realize they save additional money by not having to pay benefits for consultants they hire. Even though a consultant's fees are generally higher than an employee's salary, over the long haul, it simply makes good economic sense to hire a consultant.

4. A consultant may be hired to act as a catalyst. Let's face it. No one likes change, especially corporate America. But sometimes change is needed, and a consultant may be brought in to "get the ball rolling." In other words, the consultant can do things without worrying about the corporate culture, employee morale or other issues that get in the way when an organization is trying to institute change.

5. A consultant may be hired to provide much-needed objectivity. Who else is more qualified to identify a problem than a consultant? A good consultant provides an objective, fresh viewpoint--without worrying about what people in the organization might think about the results and how they were achieved.

6. A consultant may be hired to teach. These days if you are a computer consultant who can show employees how to master a new program, then your telephone probably hasn't stopped ringing for a while. A consultant may be asked to teach employees any number of different skills. However, a consultant must be willing to keep up with new discoveries in their field of expertise--and be ready to teach new clients what they need to stay competitive.

7. A consultant may be hired to do the "dirty work." Let's face it: No one wants to be the person who has to make cuts in the staff or to eliminate an entire division.

8. A consultant may be hired to bring new life to an organization. If you are good at coming up with new ideas that work, then you won't have any trouble finding clients. At one time or another, most businesses need someone to administer "first aid" to get things rolling again.

9. A consultant may be hired to create a new business. There are consultants who have become experts in this field. Not everyone, though, has the ability to conceive an idea and develop a game plan.

10. A consultant may be hired to influence other people. Do you like to hang out with the rich and famous in your town? If so, you may be hired to do a consulting job simply based on who you know. Although most consultants in this field are working as lobbyists, there has been an increase in the number of people entering the entertainment consulting business.

Why is Project Management an Important Skill for Managers?

One recent study shared an alarming statistic: 57% of employees have left a job specifically because of their boss.

Yikes. As a manager yourself, you don’t want to be part of that figure. You want to become better in your role and lead your team more effectively.

But how do you make that happen? Cross your fingers? Close your eyes and click your heels together? Sleep with some leadership books under your pillow and hope that knowledge magically transfers to your brain?

Sure, you could give those a try (though we don’t guarantee any results). However, like any other position, improving your leadership expertise is all about honing the right skills.

In this article, we’ll break down some of the most important competencies you need to be an effective manager — with a healthy amount of emphasis on the importance of project management.

What skills do you need to be a manager?

When it comes to being a top-notch leader, there are a lot of important manager skills you’ll lean on — and many of them will depend on things like your company, industry, and even your team.

The good news is that it’s surprisingly simple to figure out what areas of improvement you should focus on as a manager – just ask your team. Yes, it’s your role to offer feedback to your direct reports, but it’s just as important that you ask for it.

In fact, 80% of survey respondents said their boss has a significant weakness that everyone recognizes and covertly discusses with one another, but not directly with their manager. That’s valuable information you could be using to boost your leadership skills.

But if you at least want to get started with the basics, there are some soft skills that remain consistent between successful managers. Here are five of the most important project management skills.

1. Communication

Managers are the link between the company’s overarching vision and their own teams. That means they need to communicate effectively to eliminate confusion and ensure alignment.

Working on verbal and written communication that’s frequent, direct, and concise will help set leaders apart — especially when one survey found that 91% of employees claim that their bosses lack communication skills.

2. Decision making

Naturally, teams look to their leaders for direction. They trust their managers to make informed decisions about priorities, challenges, and next steps.

Decisiveness doesn’t come naturally for all of us, but it’s a skill worth honing if you want to take your management skills up a notch.

3. Delegation

As the manager, you’re ultimately the one in charge. But we can likely all agree that there’s nothing more frustrating than a boss who exercises total control and refuses to loosen the reins every now and then.

Unfortunately, 59% of employees say they have worked for a micromanager at some point in their career. And, even worse, that constant supervision had a negative impact on their work. 68% of those who had been micromanaged say it decreased their morale, and 55% said it hindered their productivity.

That’s why successful managers need to know how to delegate. They should provide the necessary context, resources, and support, but then get out of the way so their teams can do their best work.

4. Problem solving

Here’s one of the challenging parts about being a boss: You don’t get to stand on the sidelines and hope that somebody else solves the problems on your team. It’s quite literally your job to resolve conflicts and help your team overcome roadblocks.

Demonstrating that you’re willing to step in and provide guidance when the road gets rocky reinforces the fact that you’re in your team’s corner and, as a result, boosts trust and morale.

5. Project management

You knew we wouldn’t make it through this list without mentioning project management skills development. When bosses are the ones leading the charge, it’s undeniably important that they know how to confidently spearhead projects from inception to completion.

Why is project management such an important skill?

We know we might seem a little biased in terms of the importance of project management. But there are a few reasons that a leader with top customer facing project management skills will be far more effective. Let’s dig in.

1. Managers need to steer the ship

Even if managers don’t personally have a hand in every single project, they’re still the ones who have to provide leadership to their team and ensure that expectations (including project timelines and budgets) are being met. They can also answer some of the most frequently asked questions from team members, such as "Why are projects important?"

Additionally, not all projects go according to plan. So when things run off the rails, managers will need to step in on a variety of projects to help navigate any roadblocks or conflicts, regardless of how much individual involvement they have with that particular project.

Finally, the team’s manager is the one who oversees bandwidth and ensures that projects and requests are a productive use of the team’s time that brings them closer to company-wide objectives.

Whew, that’s a pretty big job, right? And that amount of leadership and decision-making is all the more challenging if you don’t have any project management skills.

2. Managers need to balance team-wide priorities

As much as you might wish you could say “yes” to everything, there are only so many people on your team and so many hours in a day. It’s up to the manager to decide what projects and tasks deserve a spot at the top of the list.

Should your team tackle a refresh of your onboarding process or should they work on revamping your benefits enrollment? What should come first?

Oftentimes, it can feel like you have competing priorities, and you’re bound to juggle a lot of projects, objectives, and deadlines at one time. Project management expertise will help you effectively identify things like project goals and scope, and then prioritize and schedule them for your team accordingly.

3. Managers need to effectively oversee resources

Your team is highly focused on a pressing project when you get an unexpected request from another department. Should you accommodate that? Or keep your employees on the task at hand?

These are decisions that managers need to make every day, and project management skills can help them be mindful of their resources (think things like budget, time, and team bandwidth) and manage them appropriately.

Without thinking through those resource limitations, it’s far too easy to bite off more than you can chew and spread your team too thin. And that constant, overwhelming state can quickly tank morale.

According to a report from the Society of Human Resource Management, 38% of people feel overwhelmed by the amount of work they have to get completed when they’re on the clock.

Understanding resources not only helps you be more realistic about your team’s workload and avoid stressing out your team, but it also helps you plan out more accurate project calendars and manage the expectations of other stakeholders.

4. Managers need to track progress toward goals

Do you want your team to complete projects for the sake of checking them off the list? Or do you want a team doing work that really moves the needle for your company?

Obviously, the second option, right? That’s where project management expertise comes in.

Leaders with project management knowledge can successfully provide strategic direction by clearly stating a goal or vision (which should be highlighted in the kickoff meeting and the project plan) and then frequently tracking team progress toward that agreed-upon goal.

Managers can use a variety of systems (like KPIs, OKRs, or SMART goals) for doing this. But, regardless of the specific goal-setting technique or framework, one thing remains the same: They should know how to monitor progress and course-correct when necessary, and project management skills will help.

Boost your project management skills and fearlessly lead your team

You want to be an effective leader who helps your team meet goals, maintains a positive culture, and keeps your top talent around — rather than sending them straight for the door.

There are a lot of skills you’ll need to make that happen, but we think that project management deserves some special attention. Why? There are a few reasons:

Project management skills help you provide leadership.
Project management skills help you balance priorities.
Project management skills help you oversee resources.
Project management skills help you track progress toward goals.

So, if you’re going to start somewhere, focus on honing your project management skills as a leader. We promise it’ll take you (and your entire team!) far.

Ready to take your team’s project management up a notch? Start your free trial of SystemX Business Management Platform.

SAAS Business Model and How it can save businesses money?

A SaaS company is a company that hosts an application and makes it available to customers over the internet. SaaS stands for Software as a Service. This infers that the software sits on a SaaS company’s server while the user accesses it remotely.

A SaaS company maintains servers, databases, and software that allow the application to be accessed over the internet — most likely by web browsers. Users can access the software from almost any device.

SaaS customers usually pay a subscription fee— often monthly — to access the application. Some subscriptions are based upon how much data needs to be stored, the number of users who will access the application, or the level of technical support desired.

EXAMPLES OF SAAS COMPANIES

Customer resource management (CRM) — These applications allow SaaS customers to manage customer information and track sales through their pipeline.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) — This is a system of many SaaS applications most suited for big organizations.
Accounting and invoicing — Some SaaS companies focus on billing and invoicing services. Others offer a full range of financial tracking and reporting services.
Project management — Software can help collaborators communicate and stay on track.
Web hosting and ecommerce — Remote servers can handle everything a business needs in its online presence.
Human resources — SaaS companies can offer tools to track employee hours, manage payroll, schedule and manage the hiring process.
Data management — SaaS products can help analyze and secure a company’s data.

The Advantages of SaaS

1. It Can Save You Money

Traditionally, deploying large-scale business-critical software systems, such as ERP and CRM application suites, has been a major and costly undertaking. Deploying these systems across a large organisation can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. The time, staff, and budget requirements of a deployment of this magnitude represents a significant risk and expense for a business of any size, and often puts such software out of the reach of smaller organizations.

SaaS applications on the other hand don't require the deployment of a large infrastructure at the client's location, which eliminates or drastically reduces the upfront commitment of resources. Also, giving prospective customers a chance to try the software for a limited period before they buy it helps eliminate much of the risk surrounding software purchase. If a piece of software is only needed for a limited period then it is only paid for over that period and subscriptions can usually be halted at any time.

There are of course no additional hardware costs as the processing power required to run the applications is supplied by the cloud provider. There are also no initial setup costs as applications are ready to use once the user subscribes. Updates are automated; whenever there is an update it is available online to existing customers, often free of charge. No new software will be required as it often is with other types of applications .

SaaS applications are usually licensed with a usage-based transaction model, in which the customer is only billed for the number of service transactions used. Or, there's the time-based subscription model, in which the customer pays a flat fee per user for a particular time period such as a month or a quarter - and is allowed unlimited use of the service during that period.

2. Multitenant Architecture

All users and applications share a single, common infrastructure and code base that is centrally maintained. SaaS vendor clients are all on the same infrastructure and code base, so vendors can innovate more quickly and save the valuable development time previously spent on maintaining numerous versions of outdated code.

3. Easy Customisation

Each user can easily customize applications to fit their business processes without affecting the common infrastructure. These customizations are unique to each company or user and are always preserved through regular upgrades, with less customer risk and much lower adoption costs.

4. Get Better Global Access

You will get improved access to data from any networked device and at the same time make it easier to manage privileges, monitor data use, and ensure everyone sees the same information at the same time. All users will have the same version of software which allows for easier collaboration.

SaaS is accessible from any location so rather than being restricted to installations on individual computers, an application can be accessed from anywhere with an internet enabled device.

5. It will transform your IT Department

SaaS has the potential to transform the way your IT department relates to and even thinks about their role as providers of computing services to the rest of the business. With SaaS, the job of deploying an application and keeping it running from day to day - testing and installing patches, managing upgrades, monitoring performance, ensuring high availability, and so forth - is handled by the provider. By transferring these responsibilities to the provider, your IT department can focus more on high-value activities that align with and support the goals of your business. The department will have an opportunity to contribute to the success of your business more directly than ever before.

6. Ease of Management

SaaS applications are completely managed by the vendor or SaaS hoster; in fact, the implementation of management tasks and responsibilities is opaque to the consumer. Service-level agreements (SLAs) govern the quality, availability, and support commitments that the provider makes to the subscriber.

7. Cross device compatibility

SaaS applications can be accessed via any internet enabled device, which makes it ideal for those who use a number of different devices, such as internet enabled phones and tablets, and those who don’t always use the same computer.

BEST PRACTICES FOR CHOOSING A SAAS COMPANY

SaaS companies work very hard at making their applications easy to use for users. And they try to make it just as easy to purchase their SaaS products. Perhaps too easy. Slow the process down and consider some best practices in choosing a SaaS partner for your business.

Find out what happens when you are no longer a customer. Can you get your user data back in a standardized format easily?
Test customer support. Just how good is it when you’re a paying customer?
Get as much training and migration help as possible. Or use it as leverage in negotiations.
Find out what is the backup plan. Nothing is bulletproof. There will be downtime. Have a plan for when the system is unavailable.
Look for data vulnerabilities. Speaking of vulnerability, does the SaaS company offer strong defense against hackers and data breaches?
Understand the prices. Look for hidden fees and what kind of usage will trigger a higher subscription tier.
Make sure your systems are compatible. The promise of SaaS is functionality on any device used anywhere. But does the application really work with all browsers or phones?

SaaS companies can provide needed business services at a low cost. Due diligence will help ensure the user experience matches expectations and promises.

ONCE YOU FIND A SAAS COMPANY

Even if you find the perfect solution, there is a chance you won’t use it to its full potential. For complicated software, there is often a learning curve. There are a number of steps to take for each new tool your company uses.

Utilize educational materials — Most SaaS products have tutorials, knowledge bases and other material to help users get the most out of the product.
Speak with the onboarding team — The next level is to get on a call or video conference with a rep(s). Make sure key members of your team are there, too.
Consider third-party setup — Some SaaS tools are so complicated, having an outside contractor set everything up is ideal. The company may also offer this service.
Get the team onboard — The right tool paired with education and ample communication will make adoption easier, but all change takes effort to make it successful.
Re-evaluate use at regular intervals — After a few months, it’s a good idea to see if the software is doing what you hoped it would. This is a good, regular practice for every tool your company uses.

SaaS companies can provide needed business services at a low cost. Due diligence will help ensure the user experience matches expectations and promises

Solution Focused Approach

The Solution Focused approach was developed in America in the 1980s by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg. After spending many years studying problem behaviour and trying to change it they switched to studying 'solution behaviour' and how to promote it! Two simple ideas lie at the bottom of solution focus.

Nobody is perfect and this applies to our problems as well as everything else. If no-one can 'do' their problem perfectly there must always be times when they don't do them so well. These times de Shazer and Berg called exceptions. Whatever the person is doing differently at these 'exceptional' times will be the basis of a potential solution. Part of the solution focused practitioner's task is therefore to discover whatever a person is already doing which might contribute to the resolution of the problem with which they have come.

The second simple idea is that knowing where you want to get to makes the getting there much more likely. One of the common consequences of a serious problem is that it clouds our view of the future. We know that we don't want the problem but we have lost sight of what it is we do want. Solution focused practitioners ask lots of questions about what life might be like if the problem was solved. As the answers to these questions gradually unfold both practitioner and client begin to get a picture of where they should be heading. The clearer this becomes the greater the possibility of it beginning to happen.

Macro shot jigsaw puzzle missing solution concept

SystemX Business Management Platform as a Solution

The Business Management Platform is a solutions based platform that is completely modular in nature and fully customizable to solve problems. As it stands, the BMP has different modules each solving a problem for instance a project manager wanting all of the projects in one place, break down projects to milestones, associate files to a project or a team member and so on. If you are having any problem that your current system could improve on or use our system to improve operational inefficiencies, visit https://systemx.net today.