Your first year as a consultant or freelancer is pivotal. It’s about converting the contacts and reputation you’ve built over the years into tangible opportunities while setting up a sustainable and balanced way of working

1. Define Your Offer

Clarity is key. Your scope of practice needs to be razor-sharp so potential clients understand exactly what you bring to the table.

  • Specialisation: Identify your niche. Are you focusing on digital transformation, fundraising, user experience, or strategy - and in which sector? A good way to decide on this is to think of the people you know and ask them what they’re looking for at the moment…

  • Find your way - most people tend to start out with a fairly wide range of services they offer to clients. This is natural. It’ll take a bit of trial and error and discussion with people to work out exactly where the cross over is of what you can do, what you want to do and what people need

  • Deliverables: Be clear about the outcomes you provide, whether it’s strategy development, training, or campaign delivery. Try and describe these in the language that your clients use rather than your own. This can often be more specific than you might like - but this is the quickest way to get people to understand how you can help.

Dani Hughes is a great example of a consultant with a clear offer that’s aligned with what her clients are looking for.
This image is an "About" section for Digital With Dani, highlighting a Digital Specialist and Marketing Consultant. It features a professional photo and bold branding. The content includes:  Role: Digital Specialist & Marketing Consultant. Services Offered: Freelance digital marketing and paid media expertise for audits, consultancy, interim cover, and delivery. Support for closing digital skills gaps and advancing women in leadership through training, resources, mentoring, retreats, and courses. Contact Information: Email address provided (info@danihughes.co.uk). Call to Action: A "Learn More" button encouraging engagement. The design includes a bold red background with a curved "DIGITAL WITH DANI" text and a portrait, complemented by clean, minimalist typography.

2. Apply the Kraljic Matrix to your offer

The Kraljic matrix defines projects based on the number of people that can do them and the impact on an organisation. As a freelancer, you can flip that view to understand where you should invest your time and effort. The matrix below breaks work down into:

  • Best Work: Building long-term relationships with those who align with your expertise and goals

  • Work to pay the bills: Projects that are well paid but low effort

  • Feel good projects: This work can help you to build your skills and the number of people that know you - but won’t be sustainable in the long term.

  • Decline: Minimise low value work whilst helping people to find others who are a better fit

The Kraljic matrix helps you to define what kind of work is the most valuable to you, giving you more balance in the types of projects you take on. Reproduced courtesy of Gatenbys consulting
"Graph titled 'Kraljic Matrix' dividing work into four quadrants based on profit value and strategic value: 'Work to pay the bills,' 'Best work,' 'Feel good projects,' and 'Decline,' each with explanatory bullet points."

3. Blend Retainers and Projects Wisely

Most service industries are feast and famine to some degree. It is often said that you are either too busy or too quiet, with very little time in the middle. However a mix of client relationships can help to smooth this out.

If you can sign up clients to some form of retained work - then this will give you a natural foundation to build from. This might be a fractional / interim role, ongoing coaching or long term content design - all of them will pay little and often which can be truly helpful.

A great approach is to remember to speak to your one off project clients about the possibility of future, ongoing work.

“One of the most valuable lessons I learned was transitioning one-off projects into long-term retainer clients. Early on, I would finish a project and move on without considering future opportunities. Now, I always provide a detailed scope of work for potential follow-up projects, inviting clients to continue working together. It’s a simple step, but it’s made a significant difference in building lasting client relationships”
– Dani Hughes

However you want to leave space for the one off projects where you can often help a client make a step change in their impact. They tend to focus on clearly defined, time-bound initiatives with specific deliverables.

4. Harvest Your Contacts

Your network is your greatest asset. When you start out, you should invest time in reconnecting with former colleagues, partners, and clients.

  • Get visible early: Aim to secure speaking opportunities at industry conferences before you leave your in house role. Visibility on conference agendas helps position you as an expert from day one.

  • Keep it personal: Personal outreach, such as tailored emails or calls, goes a long way in turning contacts into clients.

  • LinkedIn for the win: The main social network where people can see more about who you are and what you do. Don’t just stick to updates - try and get your face out there with video, imagery etc.

The reality of stepping out on your own is that meeting people is an important part of finding work. You can do this in lots of different ways that suit your personality and strengths, but you need to find a way to make it happen for you.

James Barker’s LinkedIn content to promote his coaching support is a great example of personalised, approachable and clear communication
"Side-by-side images of James Barker in casual attire speaking directly to the camera. Text highlights professional reflections on leadership challenges and the ineffectiveness of New Year’s resolutions."

5. Create a Content Plan & stick to it

Content is the backbone of your credibility and visibility especially across networks like LinkedIn. Use the core model to think about the people you are trying to reach and what they need. Even better, use your contacts and ask them! It’s a great way when you’re starting out to build your understanding and get exposure to potential clients.

The core model forces you to think about the target audience for your content, what they need and how they’re going to find it.
This image represents a Core Model framework for web page planning. It visually organises the essential components of a core web page, focusing on aligning business goals with user needs. The framework is divided into sections:  Core page: Central focus of the framework, representing the specific page being planned.  Business goals: Objectives the organisation aims to achieve through the page (e.g., conversions, engagement).  User tasks: Key actions users need to accomplish on the page (e.g., finding information, making a purchase).  User context: Circumstances or motivations users bring to the page (e.g., time constraints, device usage).  Inward paths: How users arrive at the page (e.g., search engines, social media, internal links).  Core content: Main information or functionality the page provides to meet user needs and business goals.  Forward paths: Next steps users can take from the page (e.g., links to related content, completing a transaction).  This structured approach helps balance organisational objectives with user-centred design.

Once you have your content plan, keep at it. It’s so easy to put content writing to the end of your to-do list but if you can be consistent, you’ll be ahead of many others. If you manage one article a week, in a year you’ll have a book’s worth of content.

Finally, keep an eye out for opportunities to collaborate with others on creating content. It will help you create better outputs and reach a wider audience other than your own contacts.

6. Build Communities of Practice

Forming or participating in communities of practice not only generates leads but also provides invaluable insights into client challenges. Speak to people to find out what they need and then work hard to recruit a diverse group of people to help each other.

  • Structure the group: Define a clear purpose for the community, whether it’s skill-sharing or tackling sector challenges.

  • Lead with generosity: Share knowledge to establish your authority while creating genuine connections.

When these communities of practice become really valuable, you can even get people to pay to participate in cohorts. The amazing Ray Cooper and their facilitation cohort is a fantastic example, as is Ettie Bailey-King’s Bold Type and Paul McKenzie’s fundraising leadership groups…

See our own Yas Georgiou’s blog for some tips on how to set up effective Communities of Practice:

https://www.williamjoseph.co.uk/blog/communities-of-practice-an-introduction

Setting up and getting involved in communities can give a wide range of benefits including meeting new people whilst also improving your own skills
"Digital whiteboard with two sections titled 'We value...' and 'We are mindful of...' populated with yellow and green sticky notes. Notes under 'We value...' include keywords like consent, kindness, curiosity, honesty, patience, and solidarity. Notes under 'We are mindful of...' highlight topics such as cultural differences, equal vs fair treatment, learning diversity, brain fog, and the impact of long COVID. The layout reflects collaborative brainstorming, with overlapping ideas and emojis showing engagement."

7. Set Up Essential Systems

Efficient systems reduce friction and free you up to focus on high-value work. It’s not always the most glamorous of work, and it’s almost certainly not why you got into being a consultant, but if you spend time at the start of your journey it’ll really pay off.

  • CRM: Choose a simple tool like HubSpot, Copper or Zoho to manage contacts and leads. Even a well put together (and securely stored) Google Sheet is better than people just sitting in your email account. Gareth Ellis-Thomas has invested in this kind of tooling early and it really comes across in how you can get in touch with him at GET consulting

  • Accounting: Platforms like Xero help you keep track of income and expenses whilst allowing you to generate invoices. There are a wealth of accountants who can help you set this up and run your financial operations (including the fabulous Glyn from Summit Accountants) and they tend to be worth their weight in gold

  • Email marketing: Platforms like Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign ensure professional communication with your audience. When done well they can really add an extra dimension to your content and service offering

There are lots of different ways to get in touch with Gareth Ellis-ThomasGET consulting
"Green and beige banner with text, 'I help organisations to become stronger in the digital age,' featuring Gareth Ellis-Thomas standing in front of a blue shutter."
Tereza Litsa’s LinkedIn course via email series is a great example of what can be done when the right systems are combined with the right content
Blue graphic featuring a smiling individual in casual clothing. Text reads 'Make LinkedIn work for you: A free 10-day email course with practical tips to improve your presence.

8. Balance Paid and Unpaid Work

One of the best things about starting out on your own is that you have more control of your time. No longer will you have huge, poorly designed meetings put into your diary or see it filled up with 1-2-1s and team management (you might miss this quicker than you imagine!).

However, that means it’s entirely your responsibility to plan your week to be as effective as possible.

Non-paid work, such as speaking engagements or volunteering for high-profile projects, can position you for future paid opportunities and are well worth investing in. However they take time and are best structured by allocating specific time weekly for non-billable activities like networking, thought leadership, or industry events.

9. Prioritise Partnerships & Community

40% of work in the agency sector is through partnerships according to the sector leading Benchpress report. This means that finding people who work in agencies, or other consultants, is crucial to helping your growth.

Be proactive and reach out to people you know, or those you don’t, that run other organisations. They are always looking for quality and flexible people to join their teams when demand is high. If you can spend time building trust ahead of working on a project together, then it’s much more likely to be effective.

It’s also worth spending time in communities of practice with other freelancers. Not only can it be helpful for finding work, it’ll also give you the human support that you need at this time which can be a big and challenging change. Check out Agencies for Good as a starting point.

Year 1 is about planting seeds for long-term success. By focusing on relationships, clarity, and sustainable practices, you’ll create a strong foundation for a thriving consultancy or freelance career.