In this article I’m going to discuss the act of managing projects from a consulting angle. I’ll approach it as if you’re coming in to run an engagement as an independent consultant rather than a project manager from a PMO. I’m guessing our readers come from both professional walks of life…

So, you’re an independent consultant and you’re looking to add new clients to your project management or IT consulting practice? Who isn’t? The ideal consulting practice scenario has you receiving income from multiple revenue streams at the same time. Depending on the type of IT consulting that you regularly perform, that may require to you to branch out into new areas. If your typical revenue stream comes from one client that you are performing work for on, say, a 6-12 month software installation and it’s not practical or even possible for you to run two of these at the same time, then you’ll likely need to broaden your horizons on how you’re going to add additional sources of income coming in at the same time.

If you have clients – both potential new ones and past clients wanting more – lined up and ready for your next opening, you may ask, “Why would I care about branching out my service offerings or adding multiple sources of simultaneous revenue.” The answer is simple….security. A project customer could leave you at any time. They might even cancel a project in mid-stream no matter how well you’re managing and performing the work for them. And how many times has a potential client simply vanished into thin air? It happens more than you’d like to admit – usually because they realize they’re not quite ready financially to take on the project they originally thought they needed ‘right now.’ Our clients start out ambitious – often looking for free advice – but sometimes disappear quickly when the real money is discussed.

With several sources of income coming your way at the same time, you’ll be more easily able to remain viable when one or more leaves. And some just will leave from time to time. It’s the nature of our business. We can never ‘make’ them move forward with a project – the best we can hope to do is wow them with our knowledge and expertise and give them the right price to do the engagement. The rest is up to them. And they can still say ‘no.’ Or they can leave after one project – or midway through a project. You need to be ready for when that happens. You need to branch out.

You may already be practicing one or more of these strategies, but these are key actions I’ve taken to help ensure that I won’t lose all my revenue at once due to fickle clients or potential customers who just can’t quite decide what to spend their money on…

Continually seek out clients in new ways

This is an obvious one, but the method may be new to you. I look at what I’ve been doing and how I could offer the same services to some other client in the same industry. Once engaged with a client, I’m often requested to do something that was not planned on the engagement – possibly even something I’ve not performed for a client before. Clients have allowed me to go through a learning process on something I’m implementing for them – getting paid to learn is nice – and the result is a new offering that I can provide for potential new clients. I then use that new experience as a marketing tool. Search for vendors who match well with existing clients and send out a list of options and examples of what you can do for them. I’ve found that I generally get at least a 40% return inquiry rate from this process.

Create an online presence

First off, if you don’t already have a website, you’re crazy. Get your domain name, get hosting space and build one – or have someone build one for you. It doesn’t have to cost you thousands. And it can cost you as little as $10-20 if you buy your domain through a company like Godaddy, use their free ad-based account, and then build it and host it with another free place like Weebly where there are no ads, just some limitations on space, etc. If you’re not out to build an e-commerce site, that will actually work just fine. The key is to update it regularly and let people know it’s updated. You do that through the next option…

Promote your offerings through social media outlets

You do what you do well, otherwise you wouldn’t be making money doing it. And you wouldn’t still be doing it. So promote it through whatever means possible. And today, social media is at the forefront of self-promotion. If you’ve developed a new piece of software that will solve some problems for potential customers – let them know on Twitter. Create a business page on Facebook and post information about what you’re doing and who you’re consulting for on that site. If you write informative, professional articles (hopefully like you consider this one to be), tell the world through a social media site. You’ll gain followers, make new contacts, network with peers you didn’t know before, and generally expand your reach with every word you put out there.

Showcase your expertise

Finally, do what I just began describing above. You’re an expert at something – otherwise you wouldn’t be an IT consultant. Showcase it. I’m an IT consultant who specializes in project management. I’ve been an IT professional for over 25 years and I’ve managed projects for more than 19 of those years. I never dreamed people would want to read about it, but they do. It’s an excellent way to promote your expertise in a specific area. People in every field are looking online for expertise to advise them, help them out on projects, or even consult for them on an engagement. Either find a niche site and write articles for them or create a blog section on your site and put your articles there. And definitely promote each one through social media outlets. Word will spread.

Brad Egeland

Brad Egeland is an IT/PM & Business Strategy consultant and author with over 25 years of software development, management, and project management experience leading business and IT initiatives in nearly every industry imaginable. He works with organizations of all sizes from startups to Fortune 500 leaders and has overseen the creation and execution of multiple PMOs. Brad is married, a father of 9, and lives in Las Vegas, NV. He can be reached at brad@bradegeland.com or you can visit his website at www.bradegeland.com.