Want to Make a Career as a Freelance Consultant/Trainer ? Here are Some Things to Know

The Benefits of Freelancing in Times of Job Insecurity

In these times when job insecurity is rampant, and when professionals are increasingly finding their full-time jobs suddenly at the risk of downsizing and redundancies, there are many among these professionals who are considering switching to the freelancing mode.

This way, they either become freelance consultants offering their rich and varied skills and experience to organizations or trainers wherein they use these same traits to make a career.

Indeed, many veteran freelance consultants and trainers often make good money especially when corporates want the best advice or training for their firms and employees.

Further, as a freelance consultant or trainer, you get to choose the assignments that you can take giving you the flexibility and freedom which full time and regular jobs do not provide.

In addition, once you have made your mark and established yourself in the field, the returns from freelancing can be quite lucrative as well as the career itself rewarding as many such consultants and trainers find the fulfillment which they did not experience in full-time jobs.

Moreover, as a freelance consultant, one can also expect to rub shoulders with the who’s who of the corporate and social elite as well as be invited to premier conferences and talks by think tanks and media outlets.

A Career as a Freelance Consultant is not All Milk and Honey

Having said that, a career as a freelance consultant or trainer is not all Milk and Honey as it sounds since the key aspect is to develop a network of contacts and reliable customers who you can tap for assignments.

This can take a few years and moreover, in the initial years, you might have to struggle a bit to gain the confidence of corporates as the testing and checking of mutual compatibility and needed experience can take a while.

Further, you might even leave this career if you find that clients are hard to come by or your flow of assignments is drying up due to recessionary environments or obvious failure to make a mark in the field.

What You Can Do to Prepare

Of course, this means that while freelance consultants are in demand, they are also expected to deliver the goods so to say since the work itself can be quite demanding.

Indeed, imagine having to spend days and possibly nights poring over the requirements, coming up with a Statement of Work that would outline the proposal, identify the problem, and propose the solution that can be intellectually draining and physically taxing.

In addition, freelance trainers are expected to put up with bad tempered attendees who take them for granted since they know that their firms are paying for the training and the trainer cannot actually penalize them in any way for their misbehavior during the workshops and the trainings.

Develop a Roadmap

Having said that, there is no reason to be discouraged as the slogging and fighting it out with the competition is inevitable in any career and hence, anyone aspiring to be a freelance consultant or trainer should prepare themselves accordingly instead of giving up hope or becoming disheartened.

This would entail a thorough assessment of where one stands at the moment, where one wants to go in the future, and accordingly developing a roadmap or a plan of action that would be based on an honest appraisal of one’s strengths and weaknesses and the ground market realities.

As mentioned earlier, the key is to develop a network of clients and contacts and hence, networking is the Holy Grail of Freelancing and especially for consultants and trainers. Indeed, once one has developed familiarity with a band or circle of corporates, it is easy to bag lucrative assignments as the feedback loops are activated if you succeed and this would bring you repeat assignments.

Moreover, it also pays to develop a bottom up as well as a top down approach meaning that you should first work on the key contacts or liaison people in each corporate that you would interact with and then work down the ladder so that the nuts and bolts, as well as the clinchers for the assignments, are in place.

Be Careful with the Pricing, Bidding, and the Eventual Release of Payments

A key concern for many aspiring as well as existing freelance consultants and trainers is the optimal pricing of the assignments.

In other words, determining your rates has to be scientific exercise wherein you assess your experience, your skills, the clients’ ability to pay, and the overall market situation and bid accordingly.

There are many who either bid too high or too low and consequently, lose out on opportunities. Moreover, to ensure repeat business, you might also need to offer discounts as well as price your services in such a way that neither the client nor you feel that they have been shortchanged.

Another concern for freelancers is the actual payment or the release of the monies for their services.

This is where there is Many a Slip between the Cup and the Lip meaning that while you might have thought that you have closed the assignment, the client might have other ideas and might withhold payment pending internal review and assessment as well as evaluation.

Indeed, this is one aspect that can cause friction between the client and you and hence, you need to tread very carefully here.

Apart from this, there are many instances where the contact person in the corporate approves your payment, but the finance or other departments might hold back the payment for various reasons.

Conclusion

To conclude, a career as a Freelance Consultant or a Trainer is like sailing in an ocean where there are Sharks as well as Pleasant Weather, and hence, it is how you navigate the waters that make the difference.