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Consultants coach clients in everything from management and human resources to image, media and the best ways to implement computers/technology. Not only do consultants possess expertise in specific areas, they also must be able to impart knowledge and generate value for their clients.If you&rsquo;re interested in consulting, you first need to identify your strength or expertise and then consider whether there&rsquo;s a market for it. If you really know your stuff and can clearly express your ideas, then your services should sell themselves. However, the greater challenge is finding and keeping a steady flow of clients. You&rsquo;ll need to actively network, follow up and find new contacts, especially when you first start out. Experts agree you need to give yourself at least a year to do that to succeed. Prospective clients need to feel a sense of trust that their consultant has their best interests at heart. That doesn&rsquo;t always happen right away.Technology makes it easy for you to be available to clients in far-flung places. While good consultants make it a point to meet with clients in person, follow-up meetings and conference calls can often be done remotely.Establishing your rates can be difficult. You can charge an hourly, project or even retainer rate. Really good consultants can charge fees based on the value and results they provide. For example, if a consultant teaches a company&rsquo;s sales staff better strategies that lead to a 10 percent increase in sales, isn&rsquo;t the consultant worth a 1 percent return on the increased profit?Businesses are clearly willing to pony up the dough for results. Plunkett Research estimates 2008 industry revenues for management and scientific and technical consulting totaled more than $169 billion in the United States alone. The Bottom Line Don&rsquo;t undercapitalize. While consulting doesn&rsquo;t require significant startup costs, you still need to pay for living expenses while building your business. If you&rsquo;re serious about a career in consulting, you will eventually need to do it full time to be more accessible to clients. You&rsquo;ll need at least six months&rsquo; to a year&rsquo;s living expenses.Initial basic equipment costs will be for a laptop and updated software, a fax machine, additional phone line for said fax machine, a quality printer/scanner, postage meter and scale, a smart phone with a forgiving e-mail/minutes plan, and a digital recorder. All brand new, you could spend anywhere from $3,500 to $10,000 for all of it. However, most people already own several of these items and don&rsquo;t have to start from scratch. Is It Right for You? Personality traits required: Confidence, persuasiveness, ability to speak well in front of groups and business owners, active listening, responsiveness.Risks: This is really a sales gig in disguise. Regardless of your talents and knowledge, no one will hire you if you don&rsquo;t sell yourself and regularly seek out new clients.Potential income: Varies greatly depending on years of experience and expertise. The median annual wage for a management consultant as of May 2008 was $73,570, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The top 10 percent make well over six figures.Pros and Cons at a Glance 1. Low startup costs 1. Time-intensive to build client base 2. Improving businesses/individuals is rewarding 2. Methodical, active networking required constantly 3. Create your own hours 3. Travel often required 4. High potential income 4. BlackBerry addiction likely

Consultants coach clients in everything from management and human resources to image, media and the best ways to implement computers/technology. Not only

Consultants coach clients in everything from management and human resources to image, media and the best ways to implement computers/technology. Not only | SUCCESS

Business to Consider: Consulting

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Business to Consider: Consulting | SUCCESS

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Brenna Fisher

Tony Hsieh is not your typical CEO. The CEO of online shoe and accessory retailer Zappos.com works in an open space amidst the hustle and bustle of busy co-workers, hosts employee parties and barbecues at his home, encourages employees to hang out after work, and spends his spare time studying the science of happiness.Of course, in addition to all that, his company surpassed $1 billion in gross sales in 2008, two years ahead of projections. And at the end of 2009, he sold <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/1881--the-customer-is-king">Zappos </a>to online giant Amazon.com, a deal valued at about $1.2 billion. Hsieh says the act was more akin to getting a new board of directors than selling a business outright.&ldquo;They are leaving us alone and independent.... [Amazon] recognizes that it&rsquo;s our culture that&rsquo;s gotten us this far, and they want to make sure to protect it,&rdquo; Hsieh says.It&rsquo;s Zappos&rsquo;s culture that&rsquo;s contributed to its stellar customer service, garnering raves from consumers as well as media attention.&ldquo;During these challenging economic times, as other small businesses were looking for new ways to compete and survive, Zappos reminded us that it&rsquo;s all about customer service and delivering value every day,&rdquo; says SUCCESS Publisher Darren Hardy, &ldquo;and that&rsquo;s why Tony Hsieh was selected as our Achiever of the Year for 2009.&rdquo;Creating Fun, Delivering Wow What captured everyone&rsquo;s attention more than Hsieh&rsquo;s financial scorecard was his dedication to that quirky company culture that has brought Zappos so far. Company mandates include regular office parades, never reading from a script, shouting when tours come through and following the 10 core values, which include &ldquo;create fun and a little weirdness&rdquo; and &ldquo;deliver wow through customer service.&rdquo; All of these concepts, and many others, come together to unite employees and create a friends-and-family atmosphere.&ldquo;For us, being a part of Zappos is just a lifestyle,&rdquo; Hsieh says. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s not because people are being forced to work crazy hours. It&rsquo;s just because people want to hang out with each other and people are passionate about their company.&rdquo;&ldquo;AS other small businesses were looking for new ways to compete and survive, Zappos reminded us that it&rsquo;s all about customer service and delivering value every day.&rdquo;That passion is probably what earned Zappos the No. 23 slot in Fortune&rsquo;s 2009 best 100 companies to work for list, making it the highest-ranking newcomer. Exemplifying one of Zappos&rsquo;s core values, &ldquo;be humble,&rdquo; Hsieh gives all the credit to the entire Zappos family. In fact, he pointedly requested that SUCCESS change this award title from &ldquo;Achiever of the Year&rdquo; to &ldquo;Company of the Year.&rdquo; (Sorry, Tony.)However, as far as companies go, Zappos also warrants kudos for its ability to evolve and grow into something stronger over time. When the company began, Hsieh says its main goal was to be a great online shoe retailer. That philosophy grew into creating an unparalleled customer experience to impress firsttime customers and turn them into repeat customers, who make up 75 percent of Zappos sales. Then, about five years ago, the leadership at Zappos rolled out a list of core values (developed from employee feedback) to put a spotlight on the company culture that still maintains all its previous missions.Happiness Is Serious Business So what is Hsieh&rsquo;s current idea for the ever-changing Zappos evolution? Zappos employees will now focus on happiness. Seriously, who wouldn&rsquo;t want to work here?&ldquo;The thing we realized this year that sort of ties everything together is that customer service is about making customers happy, and the culture is about making employees happy,&rdquo; Hsieh says. &ldquo;So, really, we&rsquo;re about trying to deliver happiness, whether it&rsquo;s to customers or employees, and we apply that same philosophy to vendors as well.&rdquo;It wasn&rsquo;t always happy times for Hsieh. At one of his previous companies, LinkExchange, which he sold to Microsoft for $265 million when he was 24, Hsieh witnessed the work environment gradually worsen. What was an enjoyable enterprise with a handful of employees turned into a large company that was all business and no fun.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t know any better to pay attention to company culture. By the time we got to 100 people, I myself dreaded getting out of bed and going to the office in the morning,&rdquo; Hsieh says. &ldquo;That is actually the main reason why we ended up selling the company.&rdquo;That mistake taught Hsieh that preserving culture was more important than the bottom line. Setting a standard of values and hiring and fi ring according to them is what separates Zappos from companies that fail at introducing or keeping a mission to work by. It has taken some time for the Zappos culture to take root, but the results have forced others to take notice. Many entrepreneurs and managers are now attempting to incorporate a similar strategy into their own businesses.A Zapponian World Now, with <a href="https://www.zapposinsights.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ZapposInsights.com</a>, entrepreneurs from all over the world can learn about the company&rsquo;s keys to success. In addition to information about live seminars hosted by Zappos, the video subscription service offers direct answers to member questions. But is Zappos giving away its competitive edge by showering other businesses with insider advice? Hsieh says no.&ldquo;Ultimately, it comes down to [this].... If our position for the company is really about delivering happiness to the world, then that&rsquo;s the filter for which we make decisions. Is this going to make the world a better or happier place?&rdquo; Hsieh says. &ldquo;If we&rsquo;re able to do it from a business perspective, then we should.&rdquo;Educating outside businesses on the importance of culture could indeed make the world a happier place. Hsieh says putting too much emphasis on the bottom line is a mistake and motivating employees purely through bonuses is a lazy way to manage. Especially when research indicates that good boss-employee relationships, opportunity and friends all rank higher than money on the list of what is important to employees in the workplace.&ldquo;All the research is already out there,&rdquo; Hsieh says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just that no one bothers to pay attention to it because it&rsquo;s much easier to not think about that type of stuff.&rdquo;Hsieh hopes that by studying the science of happiness he&rsquo;ll be able to help Zappos be more purposeful in its mission to deliver it as the company expands into apparel and taps into the new resources and technology available from Amazon.Now Hsieh has also taken up reading about the science of humor. If his Twitter page is any indication, it&rsquo;s already paying off. Making people laugh in today&rsquo;s business world is definitely an achievement.Read more about the nominees for the <a href="https://successcom.wpenginepowered.com/921-success-2009-achievers-of-the-year">second annual SUCCESS Achiever of the Year</a> including Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos; Kraft Foods Inc. CEO Irene Rosenfeld; Leonard Abess Jr., CEO of Miami-based City National Bank; and Twitter founders Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams at SUCCESS.com.

Tony Hsieh is not your typical CEO. The CEO of online shoe and accessory retailer Zappos.com works in an open space amidst the hustle and bustle of busy

Tony Hsieh is not your typical CEO. The CEO of online shoe and accessory retailer Zappos.com works in an open space amidst the hustle and bustle of busy | SUCCESS

2009 SUCCESS Achiever of the Year: Tony Hsieh

2009 SUCCESS Achiever of the Year: Tony Hsieh | SUCCESS

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Brenna Fisher

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Business to Consider: Consulting

2009 SUCCESS Achiever of the Year: Tony Hsieh