Are you earning what you’re worth? Take the quiz.

dollar sign

It's probably safe to say that most of us would like to boost our incomes. How do you do that without burning  yourself out? How do you break the income barrier, especially when the economy is poor, unemployment is high, there are many consultants competing for the same business, and clients are trimming budgets? Perhaps you've wondered why some consultants maintain high incomes in good times and challenging ones. Take this simple quiz developed by Linda Popky, a million-dollar consultant … [Read more...]

Top 10 Ways to Grow Your Consulting Business

I’ve been consulting full-time for over 13 years and a member of Women in Consulting (WIC) for close to 10 years. And during that time, I’ve learned a thing or two from my fellow consultants—many of whom are tops in their field—and test drove a few other ideas. Below are my top-10 favorite ways to grow a consulting business. They follow no particular order, other than the way they came to me. All of them will benefit you—just don’t try to do them all at once. It’ll kill … [Read more...]

The Global Economy: Are You Ready?

Are you keeping abreast of the megatrends that could impact you and your clients? In preparing for an upcoming speaking engagement, I did some research on current business trends and became aware of one trend that has increased its impact on my business over the past few years. We live in a global economy…. We are all impacted by the increasingly global nature of the economy.  Our clients need our help in figuring out global markets and how to respond to them as well as how to take … [Read more...]

Consulting Tip: Give Procrastination the Heave-Ho

dreamstime_8420453 (Red To Do Paper)

I have a nifty little calendar on my desk called The Woman’s Advantage. I give them as gifts each year, and my clients love them, too. Each day has a piece of wisdom from a successful woman. Well, I was a little behind in pulling off the pages, :-) and in doing so yesterday, I came across two related to procrastination: Action is faster and more satisfying then procrastination. Act Now. (Joyce Shevelev-Putzer, Famous Marks) Start your day by doing the three things you dread, then get … [Read more...]

Guerilla Marketing: 3 Cost Effective and Powerful Tactics

Part 2 of the Series: Developing a Marketing Plan for Your Small Business Guerilla Marketing is the countless free or very inexpensive tactics you can deploy do to build awareness for your brand and generate new business. Guerilla Marketing takes creativity, persistence, and work to make things happen with very little investment. A key strategy in Guerilla Marketing is to know your customer. Define your ideal customer and all of the offline and online places you can reach them. Create a … [Read more...]

Four Hours to Brilliant Blogging

Monitor Megaphone

Are you blogging? If you answered “No,” read on. If you answered “Yes,” read on. Why? Because if you have your own business, you should have a blog. No excuses. (I’ve personally run out of them. Starting a blog is one of my 2011 business goals.) And, if you already have one—a blog, that is, not an excuse—you want it work as smartly as you do by drawing more readers, positioning you as a thought leader, improving search engine results, and generating new … [Read more...]

Oh a-huntin’ we will go!

Join us on Thursday night, 10/21, at the WIC general meeting for a fun scavenger hunt. From 6:00 - 6:30pm,  you can team with two of your friends to seek answers hidden around the room to some tough questions for a chance to win some prizes. Along the way, you'll learn more about WIC and the pro bono experience. Make sure to stop by the Pro Bono table to learn about the many opportunities to power your business growth by becoming a pro bono team member in 2011. Then stay to learn to how to grow … [Read more...]

Mentoring…are you a good candidate?

The Fall 2010 WIC Mentoring Group is quickly taking shape, with just a couple of spots still available. Again this Fall, WIC Members Desiree Lehrbaum and I will lead the Mentoring Group. We developed and piloted the program in 2009, and also led the Spring, 2010 group. If you think a peer-to-peer mentoring experience may be right for you, take a close look at this opportunity. We will meet by webinar (and have an in-person kickoff session, if we can) on Wednesdays, 10-11 am, starting … [Read more...]

Acknowledging Your Own ‘Stock Value’

Recently, I had a big ‘personal event’ in my life (I got married!) and for the week before and the week after the wedding, it was difficult to stay as focused on my work and my clients as I normally am. I had every intention of working on client projects right up until the day before the wedding and to return to work the following Tuesday since we weren’t taking our honeymoon right away—I wanted to minimize the impact of my marriage on my clients. However the clients I had active … [Read more...]

Prepare for Abundance…Do a Resources Inventory!

Recently, in a spurt of ‘abundance thinking’, where I was convinced that 2010 is going to be a MUCH better year than 2009 (I can’t afford to think otherwise, can you?!), I decided to do an inventory of people/resources I can turn to when my workload is too heavy to do it all myself. Like many fellow consultants, I can perform every function needed to support most client projects myself, but have found it very wise to outsource certain portions of my research projects when I have a heavy … [Read more...]