Welcome to Business Consulting 101. Business consultants use a mix of critical thinking and creative thinking to come up with objective insights. Both national and local businesses benefit from hiring consultants.

Even if you already have the experiences and expertise to become the next top business consultant, there are a few things you’ll need to learn about this unique industry. We interviewed business consultants in multiple fields to learn the secrets to their success.

These experts in fields ranging from restaurants to human resources have found ways to make millions of dollars per year in the consulting field. Together, we’ll share how to become a consultant and help you decide whether business consulting is right for you.

Keep reading or click on any of the links below to jump to the section that interests you:

Keep reading to learn more about how to become a business consultant.

What is a business consultant?

A business consultant provides advice and helps organizations implement changes to achieve their goals. Business consultants may help with broad changes like overall strategy or focus on a specific niche. Some consulting fields include:

• Management
• Finance
• Marketing
• Strategy
• IT
• Human resources
• Pricing
• Operations
• Sales
• Security
• Law
• Accounting
• Data analytics
• Sustainability
• Engineering
• Science
• Digital transformation
• Exit planning

Business consultants frequently have a bachelor’s degree or an MBA. Many business consultants also enter the field after becoming highly successful in their industry.

Next, you’ll want to understand more about the consulting industry.

Learn About Business Consulting

What’s the difference between consultants and management consulting firms?

Business consultants normally work for themselves or as an employee of a management consulting firm. Meanwhile, consulting firms are larger organizations that have a professional network of management consultants working for them.

If you just want to work for yourself, you’ll want to start a consulting business. If you prefer to have a team and manage the operations of a business consulting service, you might want to consider starting a consulting firm.

What does a business consultant do?

A good business consultant will normally:

• Meet with clients
• Collect information about the client’s business
• Perform market research
• Review current operations
• Analyze data to find areas for improvement
• Organize and manage projects based on a client’s needs
• Create recommendations and business plans
• Present the recommendations
• Help the client implement recommendations
• Solve issues that arise during the implementation
• Train employees on newly implemented processes and procedures

How much does a business consultant charge?

According to Upwork, the best business consultants normally charge between $25 and $200 per hour. The chart above displays the range of hourly rates. Half of business consultants on Upwork charge over $85 per hour (with an average of $92.04), but some charge even more.

It’s far more important to be the right consultant than to set your hourly rate at market value. After all, if you can solve a problem in an hour that takes a lower-cost consultant a day, then you should be able to make the same amount for solving the problem.

How much does a business consultant make?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a business consultant’s salary is between $50,000 and $160,000 per year. Business consultants who work for themselves can make far more than that because they also receive the profits from the business. As a bonus, they can also run their business from home.

The overall job outlook is much higher than most industries with a growth rate of 11%. IBISWorld notes that businesses in this sector earn an average revenue of $388.4K per year with a 9.41% profit margin.

Case Study: OnStrategy

We talked to Erica Olsen, a strategic planning consultant and founder of the consulting firm OnStrategy. She originally started the company as a pure consultancy, but she’s since expanded into business planning software. OnStrategy currently makes $6 million a year in annual revenue.

Erica has helped companies like Make-A-Wish and Microsoft in addition to local governments and school districts. She told us:

Strategic leadership isn’t just about creating a vision and key performance indicators. It’s also about defining how the people can use and implement them. Hear more of her advice about providing management consulting services in the interview below:

How to Become a Business Consultant

Most people will follow these steps to become a business consultant:

1. Get a bachelor’s degree.
2. Consider getting an MBA.
3. Build field experience.
4. Develop specialized knowledge.
5. Build your network.
6. Improve your communication skills.
7. Get relevant certifications.
8. Build your brand.
9. Market your services.

We’ll discuss more about the key steps to becoming a business consultant.

Step #1. Get a Bachelor’s Degree

You’ll want to get a bachelor’s degree in the area of business where you plan to offer consulting services. Common degrees people pursue include business administration, finance, marketing, or other related fields.

Bachelor’s degrees aren’t created equally. My bachelor degree was in HVACR Engineering Technology and Energy Management with a minor in Facility Management from Ferris State University. It was mostly online, which cost me in some ways.

Two factors that I have found make a major difference in your opportunities are the college you went to and whether you were enrolled on campus or online. You’ll want to check U.S. News & World Reports to find the best colleges for your field. The higher the ranking, the better the job opportunities and networking potential it will provide.

Likewise, many people may be tempted to take online courses to save time and money. You lose many of the networking opportunities that college life offers. When possible, take the time to go to the physical campus and build relationships.

The alternative to education is developing years of experience and a proven track record. Many of the business owners in the UpFlip Academy didn’t pursue the college route but became highly qualified in their fields. They then started helping other business owners succeed.

Step #2. Consider Getting an MBA

You should consider getting an MBA when you want to work for the best consulting firms. It’s not necessary if you have years of professional experience, but it does provide proof that you have advanced knowledge.

Many state colleges have smaller colleges that draw their online classes all from the main campus professors. The satellite schools often have the same education at half the cost.

There are other strategies you can use to make an MBA much less costly. For instance, I went to Texas A&M (a top 50 school) and was able to complete it in a year. Between in-state tuition, applying previous courses to my MBA, and completing it in a year, I was able to save approximately $30K.

You may want to consider relevant business certifications and field experience because you can often achieve the same results through those avenues.

Step #3. Build Experience in the Field

You’ll want to build experience in the field because there’s no greater proof that you know what it takes to succeed in an industry than decades of experience. Many business consultants start by taking internships or working with industry leaders. They rise in the ranks, then enter business consulting.

There are substantial benefits to having a proven track record. For instance, consultant Libby Gill can sum up her impressive background in one sentence:

Find out how she did it in our interview below:

Take some time to learn how the industry works before jumping straight into offering business consulting services. Libby told us:

Step #4. Develop Specialized Knowledge

Focus on developing your business management skills in a specific niche or department. Sticking to a single industry or segment of business operations will help you learn the business processes, technology, and operations more fully.

Consultants can focus on industries like restaurants or consulting for home services businesses. A consulting career in finance, marketing, or change management can be especially profitable.

Step #5. Build Your Network

Next, you’ll want to build your network and develop business relationships. Having a strong personal network will help you throughout your consulting career.

Make sure to take advantage of conferences and professional development opportunities. The people you meet through industry events and professional organizations can become referral partners and potential clients.

Step #6. Improve Your Communication Skills

You’ll need excellent communication skills to explain complex information to your clients. Your target audience will often have a broad understanding of the business, but you should still have strong verbal and written presentation skills.

The key is to be able to clearly describe the challenges you identified and suggest solutions. Everyone should understand how to improve business operations with your recommended strategies.

Over the years, I’ve taken professional writing courses and gone to couples therapy to improve my communication skills. Both of these teach essential techniques to help you learn more effective communication.

You might also want to use artificial intelligence to help you simplify your communications.

Step #7. Obtain Certifications

Many consulting careers require industry certifications to prove that the person has the specific industry knowledge needed to be successful. There are two types of certifications:

• Industry certifications: Check out Indeed’s list of 20 in-demand certifications.
• Consulting certifications: These credentials prove that you understand the basics of consulting.

Some of the most popular certifications include:

• Certified management consultant (CMC): The CMC certification requires three years of consulting experience, five client testimonials, a written exam, an ethics exam, and an application fee.
• Project management professional (PMP): Consulting success is often heavily tied into project management. That’s why the PMP is a common certification for business consultants. Learn how to become a PMP.
• Certified human resources consultant (CHRC): The Human Resources Management Institute requires 10 years of experience, four years in management, and an exam to become a CHRC.
• Professional certified marketer: There aren’t requirements to take the PCM exam, but the American Marketing Association suggests a bachelor’s degree and seven years of experience for best results.
• Certified information systems security professional: This certification shows that you have at least two years of cybersecurity experience. A bachelor’s degree counts as one year.

Most certifications will require continuous learning to maintain the certification. Check out more certifications that impress recruiters and hiring consultants.

Step #8. Build Your Brand

You’ll want to build a brand that establishes you as a thought leader in your niche. The best way to do this is to create content. This content can be blog articles, videos, speeches, templates, cheat sheets, and more.

Many consulting firms limit what you can disclose about their business model and clients. However, you can still talk about consumer behavior, managing financial health, and other aspects that aren’t covered by a nondisclosure agreement.

Read our blog about how to start a consulting business if you want to start your own consulting firm.

Step #9. Market Your Services

You’ll want to market yourself to join the ranks of successful business consultants. Write up a business plan, then use the following marketing strategies:

• Website: You’ll want to highlight your services and skills, show positive reviews, and provide ways to schedule consultations and provide invoicing. Learn more about building a website.
• Business cards: You’ll need them to hand clients. Find out where to get low-cost business cards.
• Blogs: Write about important subjects in your field and optimize posts for SEO.
• Social media: Share useful information from your social media profiles and participate in business owner groups.
• Networking events: Digital marketing is a great way of reaching customers, but many people connect better in real life. Get out there and meet other business owners.
• Case studies: A successful career will yield many stories to tell prospective clients. Make sure to document them all as written and video case studies so that future clients know what to expect.

Now that you know how to become a business consultant, let’s look at some of the key skills you need in addition to business acumen.

Important Skills for a Business Consultant

Skill #1. Analytical Thinking

You need to develop the ability to identify business challenges, gather data, and provide strategic solutions to your clients. You can develop these skills by staying up to date on industry knowledge and market trends. As you get more experience, you’ll also be able to apply lessons learned from previous contracts.

Skill #2. Problem-Solving

A successful consultant should be skilled at problem-solving. The reason schools require mathematics is because it helps with problem-solving skills.

You can develop this skill set by improving your math skills and playing strategy-based games. When you encounter complex challenges in your daily life, search for cost-effective ways to solve them.

Skill #3. Project Management

Most consulting firms will require some project management. You’ll need this skill for budgeting, meeting deadlines, and managing people. Visit the Project Management Institute to get professional insights and project management certifications.

These will help you learn the skills to manage projects successfully. Many people achieve career advancement after completing these certifications.

Skill #4. Adaptability

Stay up to date with industry trends and make sure you can adapt as needed if your clients’ needs change. Your methods and strategies should always have enough flexibility to suit a variety of different situations.

Types of Business Consultants

Each field of business consulting has different qualities and characteristics. We’ll cover some of the common types of consulting options you will come across and what they do. This will help you better understand whether you want to become a business consultant in that specialization.

Type #1. Business Consultant

Business consultant is the most generic consulting term. People usually describe themselves this way when they’re giving a quick answer of what they do.

A business consultant helps companies solve problems that the owner or team doesn’t have the knowledge, time, or experience to address on their own. They will normally fall into one of the other categories that we discuss below since one person can’t successfully solve all problems.

Type #2. Business Management Consultant

A management consultant focuses on solving a specific business problem that a company faces from day to day. The consultant will perform tasks such as:

• Analyzing business data
• Interviewing employees
• Documenting recommendations
• Explaining why proposed changes are important

Implementing the recommendations may be part of the consultant’s job or may be handled by the client. The end goal is to help other businesses streamline their routine operations.

Type #3. Industry Business Consultant

Some business consultants choose to focus on a particular industry. For instance, Ryan Gromfin started Restaurant Boss after he had a heart attack and a partnership ended.

Now, he’s a business consultant focused solely on the restaurant industry. Ryan told us about the start of his journey:

Today, he’s making $420K per year as a business consultant. Find out how in our podcast below:

Type #3. Financial Consultant

A financial consultant advises businesses and people on financial matters to help them better achieve their goals. They might provide services like:

• Analyzing financial performance compared to competitors
• Suggesting ways to save money
• Reviewing proposed executive payment packages
• Valuing a business that a company is planning to purchase

Type #4. Marketing Consultant

A marketing consultant reviews current marketing efforts and identifies ways to improve the results. These consultants often help their client’s business with:

• Creating a new digital marketing strategy
• Running marketing campaigns
• Implementing new marketing and analytics software
• Training the marketing team

Eric Berman, CEO of Brandetize, started out as a marketing consultant. His firm now makes nearly $5 million in annual revenue. He told us:

Type #5. Strategy Consultant

Strategy consulting helps business leaders create plans to make their companies more successful. Strategy consultants will often assist with tasks such as:

• Finding opportunities for growth
• Improving efficiency
• Implementing mergers
• Reducing costs

In some cases, they may simply provide strategic advice or help with the implementation process like OnStrategy CEO Erica Olsen. Erica told us:

Type #6. IT Business Consultant

Information technology (IT) consultants help businesses identify and use technology to scale more efficiently. These business consultants perform tasks such as:

• Identifying pain points
• Proposing hardware and software solutions to eliminate or mitigate the pain point
• Helping clients implement the software
• Training clients’ employees on the new software

Type #7. HR Consultant

A human resources consultant might help businesses with:

• Recruiting new employees
• Retaining talent
• Developing compensation packages
• Recommending and implementing new HR software
• Training the HR team on new software and practices
• Consulting on how to address employee relations and compliance issues
• Performing staff training on workplace policies and laws

Jessica Miller-Merrell is the CEO of Workology. She told us:

Type #8. Pricing Consultant

Pricing consultants help companies find the right price point to maximize their sales. Companies hire this type of strategy consultant when they’re struggling with pricing strategies and converting customers.

To ensure that the client is pricing their items right, these consultants review:

• Economic trends
• Consumer trends
• Marketing strategies
• Competitor pricing and strategies

Then they propose a path forward based on their conclusions.

Type #9. Operations Consulting

An operations consultant finds the most efficient way to run the administrative portion of a business. This type of consultant may also be called a logistics consultant. Operational consultants specialize in:

• Analyzing current operations
• Recommending changes to technology, people, and processes
• Implementing proposed changes
• Training the client’s team on changes
• Providing referrals to other organizations that can help

Type #10. Sales Consultant

Sales consultants help businesses improve their performance by increasing the effectiveness of sales teams. These consultants perform the following tasks:

• Analyzing current sales techniques and processes
• Providing recommendations to help the sales team increase revenue
• Training the sales team
• Improving sales processes
• Adopting better technology for the sales team

Learn more about how to increase sales.

Type #11. Security Consultant

Security consultants help clients with:

• Performing threat analyses
• Documenting risk management
• Performing vulnerability detection
• Providing security recommendations
• Designing a security protocol
• Updating business systems and processes

Type #12. Legal Consultant

Legal consultants are lawyers that help companies with:

• Regulatory compliance
• Risk mitigation
• Contracts
• Negotiations

A legal consultant is especially beneficial for small businesses that don’t have the budget for a full-time lawyer. They’re also used by larger organizations that need expertise beyond the capabilities of their on-staff legal counsel.

Type #13. Accounting Consultant

Accounting consultants are similar to financial consultants. They advise companies on how to improve their financial position by:

• Analyzing the client’s books and processes
• Suggesting improved protocols, processes, and accounting tools
• Preparing companies to go public or pursue funding
• Providing tax advice
• Auditing books and financial statements
• Reviewing and reporting projected financial results

Type #14. Data Analytics Consultant

A data analytics consultant helps companies improve their use of data by:

• Analyzing data collection and compliance with applicable laws
• Recommending new structures and processes to collect data
• Optimizing information collection and access

Type #15. Sustainability Consultant

Sustainability consultants are rising in demand because consumers and governments expect businesses to reduce their environmental impact. Businesses hire sustainability consultants to help them with:

• Reducing transportation costs
• Finding more sustainable suppliers
• Improving energy efficiency
• Tracking progress for sustainability initiatives

If you start a sustainability consulting business, you might want to consider applying to become a benefit corporation. These corporations report on how they are positively impacting society.

Type #16. Engineering Consultant

An engineering consultant helps businesses achieve their design and construction goals. You’ll need an engineering degree, work experience, and any corresponding certifications.

Many smaller construction companies lack in-house staff who are accredited professionals in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. You can help businesses qualify for projects if you become one and work with them as an engineering consultant.

Type #17. Science Consultant

A scientific consultant helps business by:

• Advising on specialized topics
• Performing research
• Suggesting solutions to scientific problems
• Implementing solutions beyond the client’s expertise

Type #18. Digital Transformation Consultant

Digital transformation consultants help companies integrate new technologies by:

• Understanding the client’s business
• Proposing specific technological solutions
• Improving design and the customer experience
• Automating internal processes
• Training clients on unfamiliar technology

For instance, a friend of mine just became chief metaverse officer. He’ll be helping companies embrace virtual reality. Much of his work will involve helping clients transition to the new technology and improve the customer experience.

Type #19. Exit Planning Consultant

An exit planner helps business owners create and implement a strategy to leave their business. Depending on the business owner’s goals, this may include:

• Advising on what needs to happen to reduce short-term and long-term tax consequences
• Creating an alternate business structure
• Connecting the business owner with a business broker
• Hiring a business manager

Every business is different, so you’ll need to help your clients figure out which exit strategy works best based on their needs.

Other Types of Consultants

Companies often benefit from lesser-known consultants. For instance, a business idea consultant helps organizations validate an idea and turn it into a reality. Service business consulting is another niche that helps service entities like plumbers and cleaning companies optimize their business administration.

Improve the World Through Business Consulting

You now know how to become a business consultant and succeed in different sectors. We also discussed the average base salary and how consultants typically get started in their careers. Depending on your preferences, there are job prospects where you can work with local clients or international clients.

The future is yours! Go help people create more efficient businesses. Your knowledge could change people’s lives.

What kind of consultants have you worked with before? What tips can you share from your experiences?