The world is undergoing the coronavirus outbreak catastrophe. However, for an HR manager ‘crisis’ is just another word for ‘daily task’. This new pandemic is both threatening in health and financial aspects, threatening jobs worldwide. Consequentially, it is imperative to recognize this is the moment to start an HR consulting business.
HR leaders are expected to lead the way to economic uprising. Recruiting will become an essential point for employers to build their workforce as they will be searching for all the help they need. Therefore, HR businesses will have a huge market. This is the right time to get a small business funding to kick start your new start-up HR consultancy.
SHAPING THOUGHTS
For a new business to succeed it is essential to determine the type of business it will be. HR consulting agencies have a considerable number of areas of expertise:
- Freelancing companies or franchises.
- General consultants or specialized in a market-focused area/niche.
- B2B for larger companies or small market segments.
- Embedded roles or part-time jobs.
Knowing which services are in high demand could also help to define from the start the type of service offered. This is key because it leads to different types of budgets and projects that add real value to the business. Those initial decisions are a fundamental part of driving forward the business starting process.
LEGAL STRUCTURE FOR OF THE NEW HR CONSULTING BUSINESS
It is crucial to define from the beginning the right legal structure for the business. HR consulting agencies are commonly led by freelancing forms or as a sideline while the owner has a part-time job. However, it is better to be legally founded. The legal form can be as a corporation, an LLC, or a DBA. This is key to protect the company from legal issues.
It is also highly recommended using a registered agent service to protect business privacy. Get advice from a qualified professional to fill all the needed documentation. Include an expert for federal and state tax advisory as well.
STRATEGY REQUIRES PLANNIFICATION
To successfully launch a business, you must lean on planning as one of the first steps. A hundred pages review ready to gather dust in a drawer will not do the job. Nowadays, digital tools can help to structure the firm’s idea and purpose in an easy way to digest, ready to overview throughout the process.
CASHFLOW AND BUDGET
Starting an HR consulting business can originally look like a low investment. No special equipment is needed, keeping minimal ongoing expenses is possible, and not even an office is required since meeting with clients can happen in restaurants or a cafe. However, it can become particularly costly due to delayed payments from clients, and a long waiting time for starting receiving paychecks. On average, this is a period of 6 months where the client base starts to grow and an initial budget should include this economic drought.
As in other businesses, the budget should contemplate insurance expenses, particularly needed if other employees are hired.
SALES AND MARKETING PLAN
Nowadays, there are hundreds of approaches for a marketing plan for business. SEO, PR, SEM, social display ads, viral and email marketing, old school offline ads and events. Furthermore, there are referral programs, business partnerships, social media, content marketing, community building, and trade shows. Those are all approachable and sustainable marketing techniques for a consulting business.
To make things easier, it is better to pick two or three and focus on them. Otherwise, marketing can become complicated and ineffective.
Networking will be a centerpiece while working with HR. Professional organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Society for Human Resource Management can provide new clients. It is also wise to have a private mailing list or email newsletter. This enables the business to expand its network.
Today, providing a cost-effective professional human resource service can occur in an online-only scenario. Thorough platforms like Wix or WordPress, website domain names can be bought and guarantee an online presence. This can be a clever approach to the new platforms, ensuring mastering the marketing variants, and even merging all of them in one place eventually.
In a tech-world, building a virtual brand for the start-up HR consulting business reassures its clients about their skills and professionalism. Understating this can lead to failure even if prior points have been covered.
To summarize, all that is needed is making the decision to start an HR consulting business. About half of Americans already work as freelancers since there are no limits when owning a small business. The HR consulting business market is rapidly growing; according to 2019 IBIS numbers, the market size in the US only was over $240 billion. After the pandemic economic instability, these numbers will only grow and new potential clients for every niche will appear. There will always be risks implied, but succeeding only comes after taking them.
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- How to Start an HR Consulting Business In 2020 - April 2, 2020
