Successful Independent Consulting [Paperback]

Doug Florzak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2010

Presents a clear road map for starting and maintaining a successful consulting business. Whether you are already a consultant or thinking about becoming one, this guide has everything you need. This book shows you how to: - Create a business plan - Set your rate - Select the legal form of your business - Set up retirement funding - Choose appropriate insurance - Market on the Internet - Understand basic record keeping Also included is a recommended resource list and sample worksheets to help you start and maintain your consulting business. If you are an experienced professional at a crossroads in your career, this book can point you in the right direction.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

For readers who are dying to go into the consulting biz (you have just been fired or are overworked or disillusioned), Florzak provides a wealth of information on getting started in this new field. He begins with an overview of the business, then explains how to draw on one's personal skills, traits, and experience. He tells how to create a business plan to gain financing and to guide the direction of your business, how to set up a rate structure, and how to work with five basic legal forms. He explains the importance of several types of insurance, of retirement funding, of marketing on the Web and to agencies, and of creating a marketing plan. He gives tips on setting up an office at home, on basic record keeping, and on submitting proposals and contracts. George Cohen

Review

"I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I picked up Doug Florzak's Successful Independent Consulting. When I put it down, I was pleasantly surprised. If you want to be a consultant but don't know anything about setting up or running your own business, or are thinking about becoming a consultant, this book can help and let you turn your career experience into a consulting business." -- Ed Martin, About.com Book Review, November 22, 1999

This is not a book bogged down with legal terms or financial script, but communicates necessary information in a refreshingly quick and to-the-point manner. -- Michele McDonald, ForeWord Magazine, January 2000

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: New Year Publishing (November 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967156548
• ISBN-13: 978-0967156545
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #949,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Must" reading for anyone wanting to become a consultant., May 4, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Successful Independent Consulting (Paperback)

In Successful Independent Consulting: Turn Your Career Experience Into A Consulting Business, Douglas Florzak draws upon his considerable experience and professional skills to create a practical, informative, "reader friendly" guide providing professionals in any field with a detailed "how to" plan for setting up and maintain a consulting business. Florzak explores the types of consulting work available, how to create a business plan, set up an office, and surveys the issues of contracts, law and taxes, fees, basic record keeping, retirement fund and insurance selection, and even offers marketing tips for utilizing the Internet. Successful Independent Consulting is further enhanced with a recommended list of resources for independent consultants and worksheets to help launch and maintain a consulting business. If you are contemplating becoming a career of professional consultation in your chosen field, begin with a thorough reading of Douglas Florzak's Successful Independent Consulting.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A tremendous help!, June 1, 2000

By 

"pecdoc" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Successful Independent Consulting (Paperback)

This is an excellent guide for anyone new to starting independent consulting and a good refresher to established consultants. After going through several similar books, this one, by far, is the best written, most helpful of the lot. He guides you through basic and more advanced steps in making your idea a reality in a clear, concise, and "user friendly" way. His approach is realistic and not stuck in the mundane as so many other "start your own business" books seem to be. While another book insults your intelligence by emphasizing the importance of street lighting for your new office (no kidding!) or devotes boring paragraphs on the evolution of their own business card logos, this author guides the novice entrepreneur effectively and intelligently from concept to practice. This book is highly recommended for professionals who do not have a background in business and who find "business speak" confusing and want a cogent initial guide. So if you are thinking of expanding your career path through independent consulting, and if you think "starship" when someone says "Enterprise," then you need this book to start thinking clearly about your new endeavor.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A practical content-rich guide!, April 17, 2000

By 

Kathy P. Jamison - See all my reviews

This review is from: Successful Independent Consulting (Paperback)

"Successful Independent Consulting" is the best straight-forward, practical and content-rich source for the novice or the experienced consultant. For the experienced, it is an affirmation and a review of the necessary basics to being an independent; for the novice, it is the very mentorship Florzak himself recommends beginners seek. His book is the beginners' mentoring guide to becoming a successful independent consultant.