Rating: 
Summary: Helps 60%-70% in starting your consultancy
Review: A must read for anyone starting their career in consulting!I am starting my consulting firm and found Alan's book "Getting Started in Consulting" to be an excellent guide. Complete, concise, and chock full of sound advice. For anyone considering a career as a consultant this book is a must read. Many of the suggestions and ideas presented are essential to staring off on the right foot. I especially found his recommendations on value-based fees valuable. I plan to follow his advice and make sure that I differentiate myself form the pack of other consultants who charge by the day. Your clients deserve more from you and Alan really laid out a strong case for developing a real win-win arrangement with clients through value-based fees and consulting. Finally, the Q&A with practicing consultants about what they would do differently today if starting their firm and what was their biggest surprise has been very useful. I really like books that include real world examples.
Rating:
Summary: GET STARTED STRATEGICALLY
Review: Don't go in the water without this consulting life preserver if you're just starting out, OR you're not making enough money. This book pulled the entire strategy of developing a top flight practice completely together for me with the why's, what's, and how's. Once you've read this book, move onto the other books by Mr. Weiss. He gives invaluable advice and walks his talk. Each and every time I have contacted him via email, I have been floored that he not only responds to my messages in a thoughtful way, but he does so before I expect it -- and I'm not a client, mentoree, etc. So stop schlepping your services, GET THIS BOOK, follow his advice, and read all the others you can find. NOt only does Getting Started... tell you what to do, it tells you WHY you need to do it and then how to use it. The reason I found this so enlightening is because I came from an industry in which MANAGEMENT SKILLS are avoided like the plague and effective, strategic marketing skills are theories, at best. In fact, if you're working for someone, you'd be wise to get this book and start thinking like you're on your own. After all, it's a guarantee that you will be one day in this marketplace.
Rating:
Summary: The best startup guide there is
Review: I have been preparing to walk away from a six-figure job and launch a consulting practice for almost a year, and during that time I read every book I could find on that profession. Not that I believe that reading a book is all one needs to do to qualify; rather, it would be foolish not to perform as much research as possible before taking the plunge. Alan Weiss' books offer the most practical, best-written and truly valuable advice I've found. And this one is the most wide ranging for kicking off a new full-time practice. And I suspect that like most works that run counter to conventional wisdom, the majority of readers will not perform the necessary "background" marketing activities, will not make their proposals the logical culmination of a collaborative sales process, and will not base their fees on demonstrated value rather than billable time. All the better for those of us who do. I followed Alan Weiss' guidelines and donated a nine-hour training program to a major non-profit group -- which will not only help some people who desperately need it, but also put me in front of a formidable board of directors for some potentially significant engagements. Win-win, anybody?
Rating:
Summary: The best startup guide there is
Review: I have been preparing to walk away from a six-figure job and launch a consulting practice for almost a year, and during that time I read every book I could find on that profession. Not that I believe that reading a book is all one needs to do to qualify; rather, it would be foolish not to perform as much research as possible before taking the plunge. Alan Weiss' books offer the most practical, best-written and truly valuable advice I've found. And this one is the most wide ranging for kicking off a new full-time practice. And I suspect that like most works that run counter to conventional wisdom, the majority of readers will not perform the necessary "background" marketing activities, will not make their proposals the logical culmination of a collaborative sales process, and will not base their fees on demonstrated value rather than billable time. All the better for those of us who do. I followed Alan Weiss' guidelines and donated a nine-hour training program to a major non-profit group -- which will not only help some people who desperately need it, but also put me in front of a formidable board of directors for some potentially significant engagements. Win-win, anybody?
Rating:
Summary: That is another brilliant work by Alan
Review: I just finished "Getting Started in Consulting". This is the first book in my life , that I've ordered and paid for, before printed and I can easily say that , it's worth it. After finishing, I've started to read it again. That is more practical than Alan's "Million-dollar Consulting" ( I also liked that book much, which enabled me to know about him) for a new starter in the consulting practice. It is written sincerely and warns people about very critical and problematic points in the way to success. I came across with those points in my practice many times. I learned a lot from that book. There is only one problem with Alan's books: The more you read, the more you'd addicted.
Rating:
Summary: Sky Diving for Beginners
Review: I set up my own consulting business in 2002, largely based around the ideas in Alan's book. Leaving a well paid corporate job to go solo feels a bit like jumping out of an Aeroplane with no parachute, but 'Getting Started' has been very helpful guidance along the way. Actually I would also recommend Alan's 'The Ultimate Consultant', which although aimed at experienced practitioners, contains lots of useful case studies. European readers do need to bear in mind the slightly different business culture over here than in the States, but I think Alan's advice still translates very well across the pond.
Rating:
Summary: The first step for anyone entering consulting
Review: I was amazed at how I was not able to put this book down. The advise, examples and invaluable information gave me the edge needed to start out in the consulting profession. Purchasing this book was the best investment I have made in my new career. I look forward to reading ALL works by Mr. Weiss.
Rating:
Summary: The first step for anyone entering consulting
Review: I was amazed at how I was not able to put this book down. The advise, examples and invaluable information gave me the edge needed to start out in the consulting profession. Purchasing this book was the best investment I have made in my new career. I look forward to reading ALL works by Mr. Weiss.
Rating:
Summary: For experienced Consultants, too
Review: If you've already read Getting Started in Consulting, chances are you've re-read it several times and checked out some of Alan Weiss' other books. If you haven't read any of Weiss' books - and are a Consultant or are thinking about becoming a Consultant - this is a good place to start. Although this book covers some common ground with Weiss' popular "Million Dollar Consulting", there's enough unique information in each to warrant reading both. The book starts out auspiciously in "Chapter 1 Establishing Goals and Expectations: You Will Be What You Decide to Be, Nothing Less, Nothing More". To support this thesis, Weiss points out that despite experts' warnings about much hard work and travel a consultant must endure for a maximum of a $300K income, he runs a 7-figure practice from his house with no staff or office. "The problem is that if you educate yourself incorrectly at the onset, you're vulnerable to successfully meeting the exact wrong set of expectations." - Written like a true consultant. The first order of business is to manage your financial situation - be prepared for a slow first year. He presents the Ten Traits - "ideal consultant behaviors and attributes as they apply to a solo practitioner, based on my observations of success and failure over 27 years.... If you have a reasonable chance of performing well in these 10 areas, you've got an excellent shot at making it as a consultant. Eight out of 10 might do it. Less than that and you may be setting yourself up..." Other important areas covered in the book are:
Why collaboration is often a bad idea.
Your office space, office equipment, and software
Legal, Financial and Administrative
The essential components of marketing and selling In finding the right buyer, don't get stuck with the gatekeeper. A number of very useful techniques are presented to identify and get past the gatekeeper, among them the simple test "If you and I reach agreement today, can we shake hands and begin tomorrow?" Closing the Sale actually begins much earlier than you would think. By the time the proposal is presented, the sale should have already been made. The relationship building process provides the foundation for the "conceptual agreement on outcomes"; the proposal is just a formality to acknowledge that agreement. Weiss explains why your proposal should be simple with no "legalese" and short (2-3 pages). The key to a high-dollar practice is using a win-win pricing model where the client participates in establishing the value to the organization of what the consultant will provide. Although the section "Forty Ways to Increase Your Fees" is very enticing, it's generally 40 tips to support the results-based approach, although a number of the suggestions could be used to increase the contract amount by expanding the scope/results.. In the latter part of the book keys top maintaining a successful practice are presented along with ways to achieve passive income which can in some cases lead to more active income business. If you've read through this review to this point - why aren't you reading the book?
Rating:
Summary: For experienced Consultants, too
Review: If you've already read Getting Started in Consulting, chances are you've re-read it several times and checked out some of Alan Weiss' other books. If you haven't read any of Weiss' books - and are a Consultant or are thinking about becoming a Consultant - this is a good place to start. Although this book covers some common ground with Weiss' popular "Million Dollar Consulting", there's enough unique information in each to warrant reading both. The book starts out auspiciously in "Chapter 1 Establishing Goals and Expectations: You Will Be What You Decide to Be, Nothing Less, Nothing More". To support this thesis, Weiss points out that despite experts' warnings about much hard work and travel a consultant must endure for a maximum of a $300K income, he runs a 7-figure practice from his house with no staff or office. "The problem is that if you educate yourself incorrectly at the onset, you're vulnerable to successfully meeting the exact wrong set of expectations." - Written like a true consultant. The first order of business is to manage your financial situation - be prepared for a slow first year. He presents the Ten Traits - "ideal consultant behaviors and attributes as they apply to a solo practitioner, based on my observations of success and failure over 27 years.... If you have a reasonable chance of performing well in these 10 areas, you've got an excellent shot at making it as a consultant. Eight out of 10 might do it. Less than that and you may be setting yourself up..." Other important areas covered in the book are:
Why collaboration is often a bad idea.
Your office space, office equipment, and software
Legal, Financial and Administrative
The essential components of marketing and selling In finding the right buyer, don't get stuck with the gatekeeper. A number of very useful techniques are presented to identify and get past the gatekeeper, among them the simple test "If you and I reach agreement today, can we shake hands and begin tomorrow?" Closing the Sale actually begins much earlier than you would think. By the time the proposal is presented, the sale should have already been made. The relationship building process provides the foundation for the "conceptual agreement on outcomes"; the proposal is just a formality to acknowledge that agreement. Weiss explains why your proposal should be simple with no "legalese" and short (2-3 pages). The key to a high-dollar practice is using a win-win pricing model where the client participates in establishing the value to the organization of what the consultant will provide. Although the section "Forty Ways to Increase Your Fees" is very enticing, it's generally 40 tips to support the results-based approach, although a number of the suggestions could be used to increase the contract amount by expanding the scope/results.. In the latter part of the book keys top maintaining a successful practice are presented along with ways to achieve passive income which can in some cases lead to more active income business. If you've read through this review to this point - why aren't you reading the book?
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