Successful Business Analysis Consulting Strategies and Tips for Going It Alone

by Wiegers, Karl

• ISBN13: 9781604271683
• ISBN10: 160427168X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2019-05-22
• Publisher: J. Ross Publishing

Summary

This volume in the Business Analysis Professional Development Series by renowned expert and best-selling author, Karl Wiegers, and a group of noteworthy contributors, provides experienced, advanced-level business analysis and project management practitioners with proven strategies and tips for making the successful transition from highly respected internal expert to a fulfilling and financially rewarding career in consulting.

Key Features:

• Addresses how to effectively lay the foundation and structure of your consulting business; how to deal with or avoid the many pitfalls of working outside the corporate world and working remotely from home; and how to balance life, family, and work
• Presents a list of next steps at the end of each chapter with actions you can take immediately to begin applying the guidance and tips provided
• Furnishes valuable strategies and tips for such essentials as setting rates for your services, invoicing, purchasing appropriate insurance, establishing important business rules or policies, managing your finances and taxes, and other administrative aspects of your consultancy
• Articulates how to market your services, land both new and repeat business, negotiate deals, and craft written agreements with clients
• Describes how to establish multiple revenue streams, ways to leverage your work to develop sources of passive income, and some important issues of copyright, fair use, and managing and protecting your valuable intellectual property
• Provides sample checklists to help you keep all the activities you will be juggling as a consultant under control
• Identifies effective techniques for engaging clients in various situations, as well as warning signs about clients who can cause you headaches and how to deal with them
• Supplies solutions to a wide variety of problems and challenges of the consulting world, contributed by a group of noteworthy independent consultants with diverse experiences
• Discusses other common consultant activities that can generate a steady flow of revenue such as training, presenting at conferences, and other public speaking, and provides guidance and tips for delivering effective presentations with confidence
• Offers strategies and tips pertaining to partnering with other consultants on larger projects and how to make such arrangements work
• Examines the value of participating in professional associations and pursuing relevant professional certifications as a way to market your services and attract new clients and opportunities
• Explores the benefits of writing white papers and articles for magazines, journals, websites, and blogs as a means to simultaneously share your knowledge with the world and market your expertise to prospective clients
• Elaborates on the process and value of writing a book in the area in which you consult, how to get it published and distributed by a reputable publishing company that can reach your market, how to co-author a book effectively, and how a good selling book can be a powerful tool for getting clients and building your business
• WAV offers downloadable templates for consulting, writing, speaking, and licensing agreements, and checklists and forms to help you plan and manage your consulting business—available from the Web Added Value™ Download Resource Center at www.jrosspub.com

Author Biography

Since 1997, Karl Wiegers has been Principal Consultant with Process Impact, a software development consulting and training company in Happy Valley, Oregon. As a consultant, he has worked with more than 130 companies and government organizations of all types, helping them improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their software development activities. He has also delivered more than 600 training classes, keynote speeches, and conference, webinar, and podcast presentations on business analysis, software development, project management, and other management topics. Previously, he spent 18 years at Eastman Kodak Company, where he held positions as a photographic research scientist, software developer, software manager, and software process and quality improvement leader. Karl received a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois. Karl Wiegers is a sought-after speaker and author of the professional books Software Requirements, More About Software Requirements, Practical Project Initiation, Peer Reviews in Software, and Creating a Software Engineering Culture. He has also written nearly 200 published articles on many aspects of software development, business analysis, and project management. Several of this well-known thought leader’s professional publications have won awards, including the Society for Technical Communication’s Award of Excellence for his best-selling book entitled Software Requirements, 3rd Edition, and Software Development magazine’s Productivity Award for his leading-edge book entitled Creating a Software Engineering Culture. Karl has also served on the Editorial Board for IEEE Software magazine and as a contributing editor for Software Development magazine.