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How to Start A Consulting (Coaching) Business as a Side Hustle

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Written By Ideas Plus Business

How to Start a Consulting Business

Want to learn how you can quit your job 3 months from today and start working full-time on your business?

Imagine how much you could accomplish this year if instead of the usual 10-20 hours per week you could put in 40-80 hours per week on your business.

Could you reach $100,000+ per year?

Could you move to paradise?

Could you build something that you’re truly proud to have created that will stand the test of time?

Thinking about the possibilities is like plugging yourself into a high
voltage outlet.

It’s electrifying.

Is quitting your job in 3 months ambitious?

Hell yeah.

Is it impossible?

Not even close.

Most of you can quit your job in the next 3 months if you implement the right strategy.

What is the right strategy?

Consulting.

Here’s why:

1. Consulting makes you quick money.

It can take months to build up an email list and launch a product, but you can get your first client within a week.

Seriously.

I guarantee that you would get a client paying $100+/hour in the next week if I hopped on the phone with you right now and walked you through exactly what to do.

2. Consulting is an amazing way to validate product ideas.

Doing market research for an eventual product?

Why not pick up a client so you can establish an ongoing dialogue about what he/she wants and what it will take to get there?

Then build a product based on those desires and pains and the strategies you employed to solve them.

3. Consulting gets you better at sales.

WAY better.

You learn all the objections to buying. You learn when the customer is ready to buy based on their language. You learn how to sell hard and sell right.

Everything you learn selling person to person can be applied to selling through any platform – it’s all based on human psychology.

4. Consulting has no downside.

Sure, it takes up time.

But you can easily buy that time back by hiring virtual assistants and staff. I guarantee any objection you can come up with can be solved by the extra money generated.

Granted, there are certain people for whom consulting isn’t the best option.

However I would estimate that you could earn $1,000-$2,000 per month within 3-months by adding a consulting business to your existing side business.

Quick note: When I say consulting here I am also including coaching, which is usually distinct.

Which one is best for you depends on your background, your goals and your target market.

So how, exactly, do you build this consulting business?

Here’s the system I used to build my consulting business to $1,000+ per month, charge $500/hour and sell packages of up to $6,000.

Step One: Find potential clients and get them on sales calls

A few of my favorite client recruitment strategies:

1. Find relevant social media platforms.

Provide massive value. Tell people to comment if they want to learn more.

When someone comments, invite them on a Skype call, provide them with more tremendous value, and the pitch your product if it is the right fit for them.

2. Write a guest post and as an opt-in carrot offer a free 1-on-1 consultation.

If it’s not a good fit on the call, cap it off at 30 minutes. If it is a good fit, go the full 60 and pitch then at the end.

3. Send an email to your email list.

Offer to teach people the basics of how to get some highly desired outcome (like how to reach 6-figures per year) in a 1-on-1 free consultation. If they are a good fit, pitch them your program

Using these strategies you can easily generate 10-30 leads within the next two weeks.

If you can close 20% of the sales (reasonable) at $100/hour twice per month you will have 2-6 clients for $400-$1,200 per month. This is with modest estimations.

You can do this. It’s just sitting in front of you waiting to be plucked.

Step Two: Close the Sale

1. How to ask questions

For the first 20-30 minutes, ask them targeted questions and listen carefully.

Your goal here is to understand them better than they understand themselves and to make them feel truly listened to and understood.

2. How to offer advice

Then start offering targeted advice, adding a success story (or yours or someone else’s) to back up each piece of advice.

3. How to introduce your program and prime them for a sale

Explain that each piece of advice comes out of a new program you are creating and that this is would they would do if they were your client (this puts then in the mindset of being you client).

4. How to close the clients

Keep asking question and providing advice wrapped in stories in the context of your client program until they are clearly excited and engaged (i.e. they are asking questions back, smiling, you’re getting a very positive vibe).

Then ask a question like:

“Now in terms of accountability and coaching, would you prefer to meet once per month for two hours or twice per month for one hour?”

If they pick one, they will buy from you.

Ask a few more similar questions then ask which payment plan they would prefer in the same fashion.

If they say “Oh, I’m not interested in buying,” then explain that you weren’t trying to push into anything, it just helps to understand so they can set up an accountability system that works for them.

Then keep asking questions and providing advice until they are clearly ready to buy (or you realize they aren’t a good fit).

This approach (yes or yes questions) takes out the awkwardness of asking, “Would you like to join my program?”

Many people will say no just because you asked them.

Follow this system and you can be making enough money to quit your job within 3 months (6 months max).

I’ve used this system to sell $6,000 packages, charge $500+ per hour, and support myself while I work on my business full-time.

There you have it.

If you want it badly enough, you can quit your job in the next 3 months by setting up a consulting business.

It’s not nearly as hard as you might think and the rewards are enormous.

If you have any questions or want me to hop on a Skype call to help you find clients and close sales, leave a comment below!

Ian Luebbers lives in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.

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