Summaries Starting a Business 5 Steps to Launch a Successful Consulting Business

This is a summary of a YouTube video "5 Basic Steps for Starting a Profitable Consulting Business" by Ditching Hourly // The Jonathan Stark Show!

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To effectively solve expensive problems, it is important to segment the audience, conduct research calls, listen closely to understand the problem and emotions of the person being interviewed, and offer credible solutions.

• 🔍
  00:00

  Identify the audience with the most expensive version of the problem worth solving through segmentation.
• 🔍
  02:09

  Connect with renewable energy advocates and ask for referrals to validate the problem, then conduct research calls to gather information.
• 🔋
  04:16

  People with solar panels lack a way to track their power contribution to the grid, emphasizing the importance of understanding the problem before proposing solutions.
• 📈
  06:47

  Reach out to startup founders through phone calls to address specific problems.
• 🚨
  08:33

  Business people and developers have bad communication resulting in improper feature implementation, long release cycles, and high turnover, so it's crucial to identify the symptoms and offer a credible solution.
• 🎙️
  11:03

  Listen closely to understand the problem and emotions of the person being interviewed.
• 👥
  11:53

  Listen to developers' experiences and communicate with empathy to effectively manage them, and network with startup founders for insights on communication channels.
• 💼
  14:07

  Listen to potential problems of series B or higher investors, practice empathy and test your consulting business hypothesis on the side before taking the risk.

Detailed summary

• 🔍
  00:00

  Identify the audience with the most expensive version of the problem worth solving through segmentation.

  • When starting a new consulting business and identifying a problem worth solving, the first step is to determine who has the problem through vertical, demographic, or psychographic segmentation.
  • Segment the audience to identify who has the most expensive version of the problem worth solving.
• 🔍
  02:09

  Connect with renewable energy advocates and ask for referrals to validate the problem, then conduct research calls to gather information.

  • Connect with people who believe in renewable energy and ask for referrals to ensure there is an actual problem to solve before investing time and effort into a project.
  • Set up research phone calls with specific people to ask them questions related to the problem, without selling anything.
• 🔋
  04:16

  People with solar panels lack a way to track their power contribution to the grid, emphasizing the importance of understanding the problem before proposing solutions.

  • The problem is that people with solar panels don't have a good way to know how much power they're contributing back to the grid.
  • When trying to address a problem, it's important to focus on understanding the problem itself rather than jumping to solutions that may be incorrect.
  • Identify the target audience, their problem or opportunity, and their motivations through asking why questions to determine pricing for a custom project.
• 📈
  06:47

  Reach out to startup founders through phone calls to address specific problems.

  • The target market of business owners and startup founders is too broad and needs to be more specific.
  • Create a spreadsheet of startup founders and set up quick phone calls to explore a particular problem.
• 🚨
  08:33

  Business people and developers have bad communication resulting in improper feature implementation, long release cycles, and high turnover, so it's crucial to identify the symptoms and offer a credible solution.

  • Identify symptoms of bad communication with developers, such as improper feature implementation, long release cycles, and high turnover, before offering a credible solution.
  • There is a problem of communication between business people and developers, and it is important to capture emotionally charged language to understand the extent of the problem.
• 🎙️
  11:03

  When conducting an interview, it is important to explore the problem from every angle and capture all emotions to build empathy and understand how the person sees the problem.
• 👥
  11:53

  Listen to developers' experiences and communicate with empathy to effectively manage them, and network with startup founders for insights on communication channels.

  • To effectively manage developers, one must communicate with empathy and listen to their specific pains and experiences.
  • Reach out to your network and ask if they know any startup founders to have a non-threatening conversation about communication channels with developers for various reasons such as writing a book or creating a product.
• 💼
  14:07

  Listen to potential problems of series B or higher investors, practice empathy and test your consulting business hypothesis on the side before taking the risk.

  • To optimize for conversations with potential investors, focus on those who are going for a series B or higher and listen for potential problems or needs that can be addressed with your product.
  • Practice empathy and put yourself in the shoes of your potential clients before trying to sell them anything, and start doing this on the side while still at a full-time job to test your hypothesis before taking the risk of starting a consulting business.