One of my main messages in that post was that when the economy starts to go down the toilet, you need to find a niche that’s poorly served and offer new services that can expand your client base. For me, I honed in on the fact that there’s a looming labour crunch on the horizon (2015-ish) and started working with government and NGO agencies that have a vested interest in solving this problem.

While I’ve only had three clients in this area in the past year, all three are new clients and have brought in an additional $60K in revenue in the past year. I’ve also learned a lot about this market pain in the past eight months and am working on some very concrete solutions for clients that will result in more clients and more revenues for Friuch Consulting going forward.

A phenomenon that I had not expected was for my business to increase during the past year. I took on a retainer contract to weather the economic crisis and in retrospect, I didn’t need to. The phone has been ringing off the hook. Repeat customers have been coming back this year for more work and new clients have been finding me online or through referrals. This has forced me (happily) to grow, taking on nearly full-time sub-contractors and planning for more growth going forward. [READ]

In talking to my good friend Geoff Hansen at Rocket Builders, his theory is that tough economic times separate the “pros” from the “joes” – meaning that clients are less willing to take chances on poorly established consultants. One of my clients recently told me that he was intending to use my services more in future because his company has a stable of 7-8 consultants they use but they’re all getting older and, in his opinion, less reliable. In the eyes of my clients, Friuch Consulting is less of a risk and more of a safe bet the longer we’re in business.

Obviously, that doesn’t help out anyone who is just starting out in the industry but, as I argued in the interview I gave to the Edmonton Journal – the economic downturn does not make starting a consulting business any harder than it normally is. For most people, it takes them 10,000 hours of work (3-4 years) before they are recognized as a professional in their field and enjoy the benefits attached to that. You cannot shortcut this experience requirement.

In closing, I would give the following advice to consultants that are worried about the economy and how it is going to impact their business:

Established consultants

It’s time to step up your game. If you don’t have a growth strategy or a plan on how to increase your client base, it’s time to write one. Get a website. Get out there and network your butt off. Get proper business cards.

New consultants

Now is as good a time as any to start but remember that the first few years are going to suck. You can address market pains just as well as an established consultant but you’re going to have to work twice as hard as them to prove yourself to new clients.