The practical answer
Decide what you are actually selling
Consulting is not "my experience." It is a result a client can name and would pay for. Look back at the last few years and list the problems you were repeatedly pulled in to solve: the ones people thanked you for, the ones that kept landing on your desk, the ones you could explain to a stranger in a minute. One of those is your first offer.
Then narrow the client. "Leaders" is too wide. "Operations leaders at growing nonprofits who are drowning in manual reporting" gives you somewhere to look and something to say.
Package one offer, not a menu
New consultants often list everything they could do. Clients buy one thing they need. Build a single offer with four parts:
- The outcome: what will be different when the work is done.
- The shape: a diagnostic, a project, a monthly retainer, or a workshop.
- The timeline: how long, with a clear start and end.
- The price: a number you can say out loud without flinching.
A one-page description of that offer, written in plain language, is your first sales asset. It matters more than a website.
Price for the outcome, and say the number plainly
Charging by the hour caps your income and invites clients to count minutes. Where you can, price the project or the month. Anchor your price to the value of the outcome and to what the client would spend solving it another way, such as hiring for the role. Start with a number that feels slightly uncomfortable. You can always add a smaller entry offer later; it is much harder to raise a price you set too low.
Land the first clients through trust you already have
- Write a short, specific note to twenty people who know your work: who you now help, the problem you solve, and a request for an introduction.
- Offer a free thirty-minute working session, not a sales call. Give real value and let the offer come up naturally.
- Close two or three early engagements at a fair price, deliver exceptionally, and ask for referrals and a testimonial.
- Only then invest in a website, content, and outreach beyond your network.
Set up the basics without overbuilding
- A simple agreement that covers scope, timeline, payment terms, and what happens if scope changes.
- A way to invoice and get paid promptly, with a deposit up front for projects.
- A short intake questionnaire so the first meeting starts with substance.
- A registered business and separate finances, following the rules where you operate.
Where people get stuck
- Trying to be a generalist. Broad offers feel safer but make you forgettable and hard to refer.
- Hiding behind a website and a brand instead of having conversations.
- Giving away the work in the sales call, then having nothing left to sell.
- Taking any client who says yes. One wrong-fit client can consume a whole quarter.
- Not defining scope, so every project quietly grows until it stops being profitable.
I would write down the three problems people paid me to solve most often, pick the one I most enjoyed, and describe the client who has it right now. Then I would write a one-page offer and send it to five people who have seen me do that work, asking for one introduction each.
I would not touch a logo until someone had paid me.
A recommendation from Maasha Kah, not a guarantee. Your situation decides the order.