Solo Consulting Bootcamp Cohort "Oscar Class"

About the bootcamp:

When you’re self-employed, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. When you're just starting out there's so much to learn, where do you start? And once you've been at it a while, there's so much to do it's hard to find the time to work on your business, not just in it.

This eight-week solo consulting bootcamp is the solution.

Limited to just eight participants, your cohort will meet via Zoom conference every other Friday for 90 minutes, starting January 5. In between the cohort sessions you'll have homework and other workshops.

Together we will…

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

• Hone your niche by refining your branding and service offerings

• Figure out your pricing

• Create an online presence that sets you up as an expert

• Develop a plan for your outreach and business development

• 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:

Fridays starting January 5th at 10:00 Pacific. Sessions are every other Friday.

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.

Syllabus

(Click here to download a PDF of the syllabus.)

January 5th: Module 1, Laying Your Foundation

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

Assignments and prep for next session:

• Watch the replay of How to Reach Your Biggest Goals with Minda Zetlin; pause the video to do the exercises.
• Write down your "why" (Why you want to be a solopreneur, how it will affect your life.)
• Make progress on your foundational steps (e.g. business license, DBA, etc.)
• Take Know Your Niche: Branding to Build Your Business (January 9th) or use PICA articles to help you: Why Personal Branding is Vital and How to Do It* and Know Your Niche* (These articles contain links to worksheets.)
• Draft your tagline and we'll fine-tune it in our next session.
• Develop a summary of your service offerings. (What services do you provide and to whom?)

Related Materials:

• Creating a Foundation for Consulting Success
• Getting Started as Your Own Business (with checklist) *
• Registering Your Business and Getting a License *
• Registering Your DBA (Doing Business As) *
• Business Structure: Sole-proprietor, LLC, Corporation, or Other? *
• One Easy Step to a Professional Image (Use an email domain.)

January 19th: Module 2, Your Go-to-Market Positioning

Check in on your progress on laying your foundation. Work on refining your branding, go-to-market messaging, and service offerings. Group input on your tagline and service offerings. 

Assignments and prep for next session:

• Replicate your tagline on all marketing
• Begin to update your LinkedIn profile (your tagline as your headline)
• Create an email signature with your tagline
  • Is Your Email Signature Helping You Stand Out from the Crowd?
• Take Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile for Consulting* (January 24th) or use the PICA reference guide *
• Start updating your personal LinkedIn Profile

Related Materials:

• PICA Reference Guide: Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile (download)
• Quote Your Consulting Billing Rate with Confidence

February 2nd: Module 3, Creating Visibility 

Discuss/refine branding; review LinkedIn profile updates. Creating your LinkedIn business page and/or website. 

Assignments and prep for next session:

• Take Creating Your Solopreneur Website online or use PICA's reference guide (download)
• Take Billing Rates and Pricing Strategies (February 8th)
• Finish your personal LinkedIn profile
• Create your LinkedIn business page and connect it to your personal profile
• Create an outline for your website
• Bonus points if you get a first draft of your website done, too!

Related Materials:

• Eliminate the Gray Square on Your LinkedIn Profile!
• How to Figure Out Your Consulting Bill Rate
• PICA Reference Guide: How to Build Your Website * (download)

February 16th: Module 4, Getting Clients

Review/discuss marketing efforts and website outlines (or actual websites). Discuss your pricing strategy.

Assignments and prep for next session: 

• Take Business Development for Solopreneurs (February 20th) or read the five articles in PICA's Resources Library *
• Watch the replay of Referrals Without Asking? Yes Please! with Stacey Brown Randall
• Export and prioritize contacts
• Draft outreach message(s)
• Draft two stories or case studies
• Prepare samples so you have them ready for prospective clients
• Take Legal Aspects of Solo Consulting (February 28th)

Related Materials:

• Five articles in PICA's Business Development Library *
• Use Work Samples to Seal the Deal
• Negotiation Tips for Independent Consultants 

March 1st: Module 5, Preparing for Launch

Review outreach messages. Develop goals for next quarter

Assignment: Officially launch your business!

* Members-only content

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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'll get the slides and notes from the discussion but you’ll miss the coaching and peer input which is the most valuable part.

Q: What if I have questions between sessions?
A: Come to weekly office hours or send an email to the bootcamp leader.

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 Mentor:

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.