The freelancing business model and the consulting business model go hand in hand, and some of the most successful freelancers on the planet (those pulling down six figures or more every single year with really no extra effort) have found ways to perfectly dovetail these two models together.
We are talking about real powerhouse income potential here.
Of course, making the move from being strictly a freelancer to freelancing and consulting – or just consulting – can be a pretty scary transition. There are a lot of unknowns, especially for those that have never even worked with a consultant before, let alone attempted to turn it into their source of income.
Hopefully the secrets below will give you a shot of confidence to help you out, while at the same time pushing you in a direction that really lets you boost your income through the roof.
You can “systemize” your consulting process with ease
The first thing that you’re going to need to do is systemize absolutely every component of your consulting as much as reasonably possible.
Obviously, each and every new consulting client is going to bring something else to the table, different problems, different specific situations, unique challenges and goals, etc. – but much of the “grunt work” (especially in the discovery phase of the relationship) can be systemized to speed things up.
You’ll want to have all of your important documents built as templates (including your consulting agreement template and all of your marketing and advertising pieces) so that you don’t have to waste any time with paperwork but can instead dive right into the “meat and potatoes” of helping your clients out.
Build a mastermind to take the weight and pressure off of your shoulders
If the idea of having to cook up winning ideas time after time just to justify your position as a consultant and a leader really freaks you out, you might want to dip your toe in the water first by creating a mastermind group.
Get together a bunch of clients that are all interested in getting help (and helping others), and you’ll be able to act as a leader and facilitator for conversations between group members. This gives you the opportunity to show your stuff off in front of clients when you’ve got a real winner, but it also gives you the opportunity to lean on other mastermind members to help you out when you are coming up blank.
Best of all, everyone gets a tremendous amount of value, and the networking contacts that this kind of group can create for you are second to none.
Record, package, and sell consultations to leverage your effort
Finally, you need to realize that the real secret to a six-figure plus income as a freelancer comes from leveraging absolutely everything you do and making the most money off of all the effort you put in.
If you are going to give consulting sessions, try to give them over the phone, over Skype, in a webinar style format, or somewhere else where you’ll be able to produce recordings and transcriptions. This will allow you to effortlessly create information products or teaching courses that you can then package, market, and sell (usually at a premium price).
Not only will this let you to “double-dip” on all of your paid consulting clients without hurting the relationship or negatively impacting anyone, but it will also allow you to attract new consulting clients by pushing them into your sales and marketing funnels through these information products.
Now we are talking about a real win-win situation.
