1. Find Your ‘Why’
  2. Create A Startup HR Consultancy Business Plan​
  3. Plan Your Cashflow​
  4. Start Building A Network Now​
  5. Develop A Lean Startup Sales & Marketing Plan For Your HR Consulting Business
  6. Start Expanding Your Online Presence Now
  7. Client Case Study

“All organizations start with WHY, but only the great ones keep their WHY clear year after year. Those who forget WHY they were founded show up to the race every day to outdo someone else instead of to outdo themselves. The pursuit, for those who lose sight of WHY they are running the race, is for the medal or to beat someone else.”

Simon Sinek, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

It is imperative to understand that starting your own business will be one of the most challenging experiences which will surely push you to your limits in every way, one would need to focus, persevere and be very patient.

With that being said, your personal development and growth will be exponential, and the rewards of all the extra hours and hard work is extremely fulfilling and satisfying, especially when your clients are happy.

You need to be sure of your service offering from the start and ensure that it is streamlined as far as possible and lastly, choose your partner in business (if you have one) very carefully.

Nooraan Shaik - Virtue HR Solutions

Sometimes people go into HR for all the wrong reasons. The best HR professionals truly care about others, are committed to resolving issues in a way that preserves relationships, and quite simply, exemplify the characteristics of good human beings.

Many people want to start an HR consulting firm, but to have long-term success, it is essential that you focus on and care about the following:

1. Always put people over policies.
2. Focus on reality, not theory.
3. Understand the businesses you support and focus on adding real value to the business.

4. Be a problem solver and be sure to have answers for clients and their employees.
5. Simplify everything.
6. Focus on what really matters to drive the business forward and don’t get hung up on trivial details.

To have true success as an HR leader, focus your energy and abilities on informing, guiding, and caring for the wellness of others. Be supporting, understanding, and be ready to take up the reins and simplify and keep the human in HR.

Carrie Luxem, CEO at Restaurant HR Group & CarrieLuxem.com

Most startups fail, not because they fail to build what they set out to build, but because they waste time, money, and effort building the wrong product.
I attribute a significant contributor to this failure to a lack of proper “problem understanding” from the start. Once you understand the problem, you are then in the best position to define a possible solution.

Ash Maurya, Author of "Running Lean", and creator of Lean Canvas

Before starting your HR business, pick a target audience first!
Most come up with an idea, a solution first, then hunt for an audience to sell it to afterward. And they make it tough on themselves.

I believe an HR business should always start with the audience (e.g. small businesses, HR leaders, non-profit associations, etc.) for your HR business or consulting in mind first…and then come up with a solution to a problem they’re looking to solve.

It’s 1000% easier to sell a solution to a specific audience, than to come up with a solution then try to search the right audience.

Alan Collins, Founder, Success in HR

I think it is important to start in a recruiting firm and be a sponge. I was with two firms for 5 yrs. I started my business at 27 years old. I learned professional, clerical and temp. ALL are very different.
The key is to be a good listener, read body language and a detective.
Save some $ – it is expensive to start up.

Kathleen Bennett, CEO/Owner, Kathleen Ater Personnel

Before starting a consulting business (or any business), I recommend talking to at least ten people who have started a business in a similar space. Ask them what their biggest surprises have been and what advice they’d give to themselves before starting out. Plus, building relationships with peers in a similar space is a fantastic idea. Running a business can be very lonely, so start building genuine connections early.

Amanda Gulino, Founder, A Better Monday

You don’t build any business or consulting firm from your couch.

You have to be out there engaging with people, listening to their concerns, understanding their business and most importantly being of service. Unless I have a strong relationship with a business and they trust me, no one is going to give me work.

I see so many coaches and consultants put a lot of effort into having an online presence and a great website and they have no clients. The quicker you can start to demonstrate value for a person or a company, in that moment, that’s how you grow.

Tarita Preston, Chief Coach - The Curated Coach

Partnering with an HR software company is a great way to stay on top of all the change and provide your clients with focused, effective, and useful consultation. Being able to recommend software that will free your clients from the more repetitive and tedious HR tasks will separate your consulting firm from the pack.

Dan Taylor - HR Tech Industry

You need to make sure that you have revenue coming in. And it's a little different when you're running your own company and you're making those decisions on what you wanna do and what you don't wanna do. And then realizing that, hey, you know what? This isn't that bad. You know, it's different than working in corporate America. And it's also affording me the opportunity to increase my revenue that I will be surpassing what I made in corporate America. Well, I have been focused also in talent acquisition to celebrate my 1 year anniversary As I go into year 2, I am continuing with my HR services with my clients, but I'm also spending more into talent acquisition.

Episode 205 - A Better HR Business - ‘How I Started My HR Consultancy’ – with Louise Bijesse of UpTalent Consulting​