What do you do if you want to launch your own consulting business in the startup industry?

> Focus on a specific area like fundraising, marketing for startups, or product development. Become an expert in that area. > Network with founders and industry players. > Contribute content online, speak at events, and showcase your expertise. > Develop a strong online presence with a website and social media. > Target your ideal clients and craft compelling proposals.

Advising and building tech hubs and accelerators across 23 international countries, I am actually asked this question quite often. And my answer is quite unorthodox. But here it is: Take a look at the journey and critical stages all startups go through: Understand the problem, building their product, designing a business model, going to market, acquiring customers, growth, generating revenue, building a team, raising capital and more. Which of these stages do you have experience in? Which of these can you not only help startups with but also become one of the best in the world at? Which do you find yourself talking about most of the time? And which of them makes you feel alive when you help others? Focus on that.

To launch a consulting business in the startup industry, conduct thorough market research, identify niche expertise, and craft a compelling value proposition. Establish a robust online presence through a professional website and leverage social media for visibility. Network extensively within the startup ecosystem, attending events and engaging with potential clients. Offer initial consultations to showcase your expertise. Implement effective SEO strategies in online content for heightened visibility. Maintain clear, concise communication in marketing materials to resonate with your target audience and foster credibility.

As far as it concerns about niches, not every niche is a paying niche. Your skills or expertise might resonate with an unpaying niche. Unpaying niche are niches that don't need your service because they can access them for free. Therefore, you are useless to them. Imagine if that is all you know? You will end up with no business. The key for finding the right niche is by engaging with the sector in a whole and then tick the boxes as the needs rise. At some point you will need to create the need, in order to group your own niche. Finding a niche is not about who do you want to serve, but who actually needs your help and is willing to pay for it.

It's important to understand who you enjoy working with and what kind of problems you want to solve as you define your niche. This will significantly impact your quality of life and motivation. The problems you can solve for your niche have to be of significant value to create the profit stream you need to support the business.

Be ready to do a lot of 'FREE' consulting. Startups love an expert advice but do not have the money to pay for it. Providing FREE consulting is where frameworks and proven models come in handy.

When it comes to pricing a consulting service, I usually advice consultants to go with value based pricing approach, as this sets their earning expectations higher and market positioning. This plays with clients psychology because people still think that the expensive the service or product, the higher quality or faster delivery.

Your rates will be determined by the perceived value of what you are offering your clients. If your rates are too low they will question your quality. If your rates are too high then they will chose to work with someone else. This is why rate setting is such a dance. This is why a success based or value created component can enable you to earn more. The challenge then is can you trust the client to pay? I prefer a retainer plus upside. This insures that both parties incentives are aligned. Then you need some agreement on what success is and a fair way to measure it. Over time, you should be making 2X or more than what you would working full time because there is overhead in finding clients and managing the business.

People buy form people they know. In other word TRUST. Building a strong personal brand means to build presence and credibility. This is key to getting clients through referrals and sometimes independent clients will reach out to you because they have heard, seen you somewhere or even followed you on something. In consulting business a strong Personal Brand is the foundation for success. Get to be know. Get to be trusted.

When building a personal brand recognize the value of social proof you can gain through being mentioned in major media outlets and speaking from a stage. The trust the reporter has in you and the quality of there publication is conveyed when you send a client a publication you are mentioned in or they see the logos in your profile. Speaking from a stage is one of the best samples of your work you can give prospects. They are pre-qualified because they came to hear you speak. A meeting organizer chose you so you've passed a gate keeper. Think of the cues a client would use to determine whether or not to trust you as you build your brand.

Make it easier for your network to refer you by sharing valuable content they can share with their networks. Give people an incentive to refer you by sharing a percentage when appropriate. One friend helped me land the largest consulting firm in Japan as I client. Over the course of the relationship she earned $50,000. Not bad for forwarding a presentation. Always look to reverse the risk of working with you.

Set specific times you will work on a project and stick to them. Create metrics if you are managing a team to stay on top of output. Poor project management leads to project failure.

All ideas are valid. However, a more accurate or effective market penetration for any type of business (including consulting business) require a sound understanding of your target market. Point 1 - Choose a sector within a specific industry. Don't choose a niche until you are certain of the needs involved in that selected sector. Point 2 - Engage on market research. And to make it effective, avoid secondary sources. Do it yourself. This will help you identify the real problem by talking to really people within the sector, build your own market research report, group your own niche, and draft robust market integration strategy plan around that. The market integration strategy will be the key for the launch of your Consulting Business.