Ask HN: how to become a consultant? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: how to become a consultant?

11 pointsclistctrl7 comments

I've been building my savings for a while, and today I finally reached my target.

Now that I can afford to live for several months without any income, i'm interested in working on building a business. Currently i'm interested in building enterprise software. My plan is to find a target market (I've been looking at either healthcare or telecom since these are the industries i have the most contacts in already) then begin consulting in an attempt to search for opportunities. When I find the right opportunity i'll build the solution, and go from there.

My question, for those of you who have done this before, how did you enter the world of consulting? Who do I contact, what do I say? I have a lot of experience in a variety of industries, but I wouldn't say i'm an expert in any.

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To be honest, it's not easy without existing contacts. You can build yourself a website, advertise and cold-call companies, but you're not likely to get a good response from that alone.

Basically, your first goal is to gain contacts and a good reputation. A few ideas for doing this:

* Find another consulting company in your target industry and subcontract to them to start out with (or even go on staff for a year or three).

* Although this is less relevant for enterprise work, see what you can find on freelancing sites and build up a good reputation.

* Attend technology user groups in relevant domains and network extensively.

* Become an expert in some niche technology. Maybe write a book (easier said then done, but still, probably less difficult than you'd expect).

In consulting, esp. in telecoms, there are lots of deals and politics at the higher manager level. Pretty good strategy is to work as a subcontractor for several consulting companies - when they see you're good they will spread a word about you which helps getting next project - under their flag or even other. The good thing is that they will handle most of the political stuff for you.

I successfully shuffle several consulting companies each few years or even months - they have no problem with it assuming you work for only one of them at a time and you do really work hard to bring every value you can to their project. Of course one should negotiate to not sign non-compete agreements when working this way.

The crucial thing is to communicate to them in a polite way that you enjoy working with them but you don't necessarily want to become part of their organisation. Not easy, but doable.

>"I can afford to live for several months without any income"

That's an acceptable approach for a startup, because during that time you will develop a product. It's not so sound for a consultancy. With a consultancy, a good time to quit your day job is with a contract in hand. That probably means working your contacts and assessing the actual consulting opportunities will be your second job for a while.

Don't try to sell broke. Once you quit your job, it is easy to get the stench of desperation - particularly with only several months worth of savings and no consulting gigs.

"I have a lot of experience in a variety of industries, but I wouldn't say i'm an expert in any."

This is going to be your biggest challenge. You need to become an expert in something. Or at least, adopt the mindset that you are an expert. Consulting is one of those careers where image matters quite a lot, and if you aren't very confident in your own abilities, clients will pick up on that doubt and pass on hiring you.

You can even be a technology generalist, but at least position yourself as an expert in "using technology to solve whatever problem in whatever industry".

Remember that the reason companies hire consultants it to get problems solved. You have to know a lot about what those problems are and how they are being solved by other companies already.

1. Acquire expertise. 2. Leverage contacts. 3. Profit.

Of course, this glib recipe is for those who already know how to do it. In your case, I'd suggest networking with larger consulting companies and seeking subcontracts from them.

How extensive is your telco/healthcare knowledge?

I think the more established the industry, the harder it is to enter as a consultant on your own. In telecoms the only true "independent consultants" I know of have 20+ years of experience. Otherwise most people are either contractors (usually 6M+), or consultants within a larger organisation.

I'm interested in telco enterprise software myself. dm me on twitter if you want to chat about ideas (@MarkSwanb) (currently working on my side project in that sort of area ish, have considered many many other options).

The answer is contained in your own post:

...since these are the industries i have the most contacts in already...

Work those contacts!

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