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How to Successfully Branch Out As a Consultant

By crooky | February 22, 2008

Many consultants get stuck in a rut where they are considered a subject matter expert in a small, niche area and have trouble finding work outside of that area. I myself have had a hard time breaking out of science and technology policy research for government agencies. I’m slowly branching out into other areas such as product and program marketing and development as well as ghost writing and design. How does one make the leap? In my experience, there are several tactics you can try:

1. Do Pro Bono or Volunteer Work

If you want to prove to potential clients that you can do something that you haven’t done extensively for other clients, the best proving ground is the voluntary sector. Put your consulting chops to use for a non-profit or charitable foundation. This, of course, has benefits beyond showcasing your skills. It’s also an excellent networking opportunity.

2. Casually Mention Your Other Skills and Projects

At a recent BNI meeting networking event where I had 60 seconds in the spotlight to talk about my business, I casually mentioned that I am working with a couple of aspiring authors to help ghost write their books. The very next week, one of the BNI chapter members contacted me and wanted to go for coffee. It turns out that she’s thinking of writing a book at had no idea that I could help someone like her with that kind of project.

3. Give a Little Extra

I had a public policy project that I was recently doing for a client who was completely unaware of my background in visual and written communications. I had some extra time to complete a conversation piece that I was working on for them (not in terms of budget, but in terms of deadlines) so I did some pro bono work to pretty the report up using Adobe InDesign and iStock. They were completely blown away by the report that I produced. They were not expecting it to look so good.

A few weeks later, the client asked me to do the graphic design work on a poster for a major international conference. I turned down the opportunity but it was a good lesson for me to learn that a little extra effort to highlight complementary skills can really pay off.

4. Ask and Ye Shall Receive

My friend Murdoch from Canadian Career Moves in Surrey likes to tell the job-hunters he counsels “if you don’t ask, you don’t get”. I believe in this 100%. If you want to start branching out your repetoir, you need to ask your existing clients for some opportunities to work on other things. If you’d like to do PR for them, ask them if you can do PR work for them. If you’d like to design their next website, ask them. You’ll be surprized how often they’ll give you a shot. To them, the fact that you’re a competent consultant is more important than your experience level in certain areas.

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Aaron “Crooky” Cruikshank is the Principal and Founder of Friuch Consulting. He has written professionally about science and technology for ten years.

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Topics: Business of Consulting |

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