Getting Started Bootcamp Cohort "Grenade Class"

Web Workshop

Date: 3/18/2021 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Note: All listed times are in the Pacific time zone. Please adjust accordingly.

Event Overview

About the bootcamp:

When you’re just starting out as an independent consultant, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. There’s so much to learn, and even more to do! This eight-week getting started bootcamp will help.

Limited to just eight participants, your "PICA pod" will meet every other week for eight weeks to help you…

  • Set up your business (including naming it, if you haven’t already)

  • Refine your branding and service offerings

  • Figure out your pricing

  • Create an online presence for your business

  • Do your initial outreach and business development

  • And tackle whatever else you may need help with!

Led by PICA Chief Advocate, Liz Steblay, you’ll get the help you need, and you’ll appreciate the sense of accountability and esprit de corps with your colleagues.

Format:

These are interactive roundtable discussions, not webinars, so be prepared to participate, ideally using your webcam.

Each session will focus on a particular topic, with assignments in between sessions. Assignments may include taking PICA workshop if you haven’t already, and/or creating a first draft of something so we can discuss it in the next session.

Duration: Each session is 90 minutes (450 minutes total)

Timing:

Thursdays starting March 18th at 10:00 Pacific. Sessions are every other week.

Syllabus:

When you register for the bootcamp, you will get a confirmation email with the calendar invitation for just the first session. We will manually send you the calendar invitations for the other four sessions.

 

March 18th

Get to know each other and your objectives for next 8 weeks.  

Featured Topic: Laying Your Foundation (infrastructure).

Assignments and prep for next session:

Related Materials:

 

April 1st

Check in on your progress on laying your foundation. 

Focus Area: Refining your branding, go-to-market messaging, and service offerings. Group input on your tagline. Share your service offerings. Sanity check your pricing.

Assignments and prep for next session:

Related Materials:

 

April 15th 

Discuss/refine branding and pricing; review LinkedIn profile updates.

Focus Area: Create visibility! Creating a LinkedIn business page and/or website.

Assignments and prep for next session:

  • Take How to Build Your Website (TBD) or use PICA's reference guide (download)
  • Finish your LinkedIn profile
  • Create an outline for your website
  • Create a LinkedIn business page
  • Bonus points if you get a first draft of your website done, too!

Related Materials:

 

April 29th 

Review/discuss marketing efforts and website outlines (or actual websites)

Focus Area: Preparing for Launch 

Assignments and prep for next session: 

Related Materials:

 

May 13th 

Review outreach messages

Develop goals for next quarter

Assignment: Officially launch your business!

  

* Members-only content

FAQs:

Q: Do I have to participate in every session?
A: No, but like most things you’ll get out of it what you put into it. That said, the first session is mandatory. If you can’t make it to the first session, you’ll need to wait until the next bootcamp or use the course syllabus above as your own “independent study” course.

Q: What if I miss a session?
A: You can watch the recording but you’ll miss the coaching and peer input which may be the most valuable part.

Q: What if I have questions between sessions?
A: Post the question to the cohort using PICA's community app, or send an email to the PICA Advocate.

Q: What is the time commitment?
A: 5 sessions of 90 minutes each, plus other workshops as needed, and of course doing your assignments. (If anyone told you that starting your own consulting business would be fast and easy, they were lying.)

Q: How many people will be in the cohort?
A: A maximum of eight, plus the leader.

About the Bootcamp Leader:

Liz Steblay has worked in consulting over 20 years, most of those as a successful independent consultant. (Liz’s definition of success: working few hours, making more money, lowering her effective tax rate; having a 7-figure retirement account and a fully-funded 529 savings plan for her daughter’s college tuition; taking at least one international vacation a year and fostering relationships with friends and family.)

In 2009 she expanded her solo practice by creating ProKo Consulting, a national talent agency that represents other self-employed consultants who specialize in human capital services. In building that business, Liz interviewed, coached and mentored hundreds of self-employed consultants and developed a reputation as the person to ask if you had questions about independent consulting. That’s what inspired her to create PICA, to help others create the consulting career of their dreams.

 

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