Although really, it’s just an arbitrary date on a calendar, January often feels like a good time for goal-setting; making plans for the year ahead. You might assume that goals for a self-employed consultant might be financial – higher turnover, more clients. And of course, that stuff is important – you need to earn a living.
But everyone is an individual and the specific goals you might set yourself as a consultant could be very different from those others are aiming for. Or, if the ultimate goal of a higher income is the same as others, the specifics might be very different. You might want to increase numbers of a very specific type of client. You might want to do more of a certain type of work. Perhaps you’d like to add a new service to those you offer, or do more cross-selling to increase income without needing new clients. All of these are ways of increasing turnover whilst also creating the business you want.
And sometimes goals aren’t about increased turnover at all. You might want to maintain your current client base without increasing it, and make improvements to your work-life balance, maintaining a steady income to enable you to focus on your personal life.
Finding your own goals is a very individual thing, but once you’ve identified what it is you’d like to achieve, you can come up with a plan to get you there. For example, if one of our consultants wanted to increase the number of retained clients on their books, we’d talk about what specific marketing activities might achieve this. The consultant can then come up with a plan to target those types of clients, or a plan to convert other clients into retained ones. And a goal with specific actions then becomes more ‘real’ and also feels more achievable.
We’re actively looking for consultants to launch in April so if one of your goals is to start your own HR consultancy do get in touch even if it’s just for an initial chat!