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Business Strategy: As an accounting graduate with no money and no connections, how do I start my own consulting firm? And how do I get clIents?
ET
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esther tan, Advisory Board Member | Award Winning CEO | answered:

Congratulations! Yes, you absolutely can do that.

In order to do so, you need to establish your online presence. The fastest and the cheapest way is via social media. Since you are starting an accounting consulting firm, I suggest you to use LinkedIn, Medium, and Quora (as opposed to Instagram or Pinterest if you are fashion or interior designer). These three platforms will get you rank on Google faster (and for free) compared to some SEO work.

You need to start publishing high quality case studies. Since you don't have clients yet, you can start by reviewing other consultant's work, or writing your own point of view on particular situations.

You also need to have a few or at least one original white paper, on the area that you are consulting. This white paper will be the file or document you hand to your prospect, to get them to hire you. Ensure that you give your all to this white paper. Again, in the beginning, since you don't have any clients yet, you can review other consultants' work, or you can write your point of views on particular situations. As your clientele grows, you can replace those white paper with your own case studies.

Ensure that you share your works/posts often. With social media, it is really a number game. Most people don't see results not because they don't do a good job, but because they quit before they see result. Join social groups where you think your prospects are hanging out, then share your works in this group.

If you do that consistently, and if the work you present is of high quality, you will start to see people contacting you, sending you enquiries.

While you are building your portfolio, you might want to offer to do your first initial projects for free or at least for the fraction of your actual cost. You can then increase your rate gradually once you have stronger portfolio.

Let me know how it goes and as always, I am open for call for further discussions.

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