You’ve been working in your industry for years. You’re great at what you do. You have a corporate support network around you. Everything is familiar and runs like a well oiled machine.
Then one day you decide to go it alone, offering your services as an independent. All of a sudden you’re on your own. No company branding. No marketing department. No sales team or boss bringing you work. It’s just you. This is the freedom you dreamed of. Yet fear strikes you.
Why will anyone want to work with you? What will your former colleagues think of you? Who are you to think you can attract clients and make a success of this?
You are not alone!
It’s perfectly natural to experience this feeling, no matter how experienced you are in your field. Here are a few things you can do to boost your confidence and credibility from day one.
Simple steps to boost your credibility and confidence
- Be yourself – After all, that’s why you chose to do this on your own. Let your personality and unique approach show. This is why your ideal clients will choose to work with you.
- Demonstrate your achievements – Don’t hold back on sharing your story. Your past experience is massively relevant. Tell people about your career and life achievements and the expertise that you have to help them.
- Show the difference you make – Get clear on what you do and why you do it. Make sure you can articulate how you help your ideal clients. Use case studies to demonstrate this as you build up your independent experience.
- Create a website you’re proud of – You don’t need to spend a fortune. You can set it up yourself in WordPress. Get some design help if you need to but make sure you have control to make minor edits yourself – keeping it up to date is key.
- Use ‘social proof’ – To supplement what you say about your expertise, your clients will look for some external reassurance. If you’re just starting out you may not have client testimonials from your new business. Make sure you start collecting these as part of your very first project. In the meantime, your former employer or colleagues may be happy to provide an endorsement you can use.
- Create content – Demonstrate your expertise by sharing it, either in written blog posts or videos, whichever you feel most comfortable with.
- Volunteer as a guest speaker – Start with a small networking event where some of your ideal clients will be. They will see your knowledge in action and get to know you better.
Be yourself - after all, that’s why you chose to be an independent consultant. Click To Tweet - Use a branded email address – Having an email address that uses your business name (yourname@yourbusinessname.com) underlines your professional approach. Never use your Gmail account or personal email address.
- Get a professional logo – This is an area that is worth investing in to make you memorable and stand out from the crowd. Find a designer at local networking events or ask your business contacts for a recommendation.
- Use good quality business cards – Don’t underestimate how much your card says about your brand. It’s the lasting impression you leave people with. Invest in a professional design if you can. In the meantime, you can design these yourself in Canva and get them printed at moo.com
- Get some professional photos – People want to get to know, like and trust you so it’s essential they can see you. Not many of us like having our picture taken. So find a photographer who makes you feel comfortable. Start off by getting a few headshots, ideally in a few different outfits.
- Make sure your social media profiles are consistent – Use the same photo of you (not your logo) across LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc and keep your profile description consistent. Tip, if you’re going to be joining Facebook groups, these will use your personal profile so make sure that photo portrays the image that you want.
- Find a support network – Connect with other people who are on a similar journey. Networking is great for this. Over time, consider hiring a coach or mentor or joining a mastermind group.
- Get in the right mindset – Believe in yourself and think big. By all means use descriptions like ‘boutique consultancy’ but never allow yourself to say ‘it’s just me’ or ‘my little business’.
- Don’t procrastinate – Don’t be tempted to get any of these things perfect before you start putting yourself out there as an independent. However soon you start, you’ll wish you started sooner!
Working as an independent consultant is a fabulous way of life, if you’re committed and open to seeing what the journey brings for you. Good luck!
Photo by Corinne Kutz on Unsplash