Presented at Grant Professionals Association Annual Conference

You've officially started your consulting business. Now what? We asked ourselves this same question years ago, and we are now here to share some of our successes, challenges, and answers.

You've just signed your first client. Now what? How do you get more? Should you network or advertise? What happens when you don't have enough business? What happens when you have too much business? How do you know which clients to take and which ones to turn away? How do you work with difficult clients? How do you grow your business? How do you effectively work with subcontractors? When is it time to hire an employee? What happens when life happens (death in the family, an emergency surgery, illness, etc.)? Join us for a look at what has worked (and not worked) for us, while building successful consulting businesses over the years. We will share helpful tips we wished we would have known from the beginning and lessons learned along the way.

This presentation will harness the knowledge and experience of two full-time consultants who successfully left full-time employment almost ten years ago and never looked back. Now, almost a decade into their consulting careers, they will provide valuable insight to help you manage and grow your consulting business to one that fits your individual needs and lifestyle.

By the end of the session, attendees will achieve these learning objectives: (1) Gain knowledge about different ways to grow your consulting business; (2) Develop strategies to manage client relationships; 3) Realize the importance of continually networking throughout your career; and 4) Develop business strategies for working with subcontractors to cover your workload when unplanned things happen in life.

This presentation is tailored to newer consultants, those who have been consulting for several years, as well as veteran consultants.

GPC Competencies Addressed:
Organizational development as it pertains to grant seeking
Practices and services that raise the level of professionalism of grant developers