Entrepreneur Press - Start Your Own Information Consultant Business: Your Step-By-Step Guide to Success

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Table of Contents

Preface

Want to be a professional know-it-all? Would you like to spend your days researching intriguing subjects, hunting down information, organizing presentations, and answering peoples questions? If so, then read on, because this is definitely a book for you.

Given todays information explosion, fueled by hundreds of TV channels, the Internet, cell phones, satellite radio, broadband connections, e-mail, Wi-Fi , PDAs, pagers, voice mail, and the like, the most precious commodity of all is clearly information itself. But not just any old information. The information must be accurate, timely, and relevant to the person who needs it. It must be clear, concise, and cogent. It must be simple enough to understand and explain.

Enter the information consultant. A relatively recent phenomenon, the information consultant fills the enormous need in American life for a filter to sift through the data flooding us from all directions. In a time of ever-increasing content, the information consultant cuts through the clutter and finds what really matters, breaking down huge slabs of indigestible material into bite-sized chunks.

Some fantasists might even say that information consultants are our societys newest superheroes, caped crusaders battling the twin evils of information overload and distortion that threaten to overwhelm our ability to reason and our capacity to comprehend. After all, information consultants seek and defend the truth in a world filled with lies, innuendo, and half-truths. They pursue the actual facts in an age littered with assertions, opinions, and speculation. Certainly, it is rare to find an information consultant in red-and-blue tights, zooming through the air at supersonic speeds. The role played by information consultants is increasingly significant in business, medicine, technology, health care, employment, and other key areas. With new technologies promising to place even more information at our fingertips, the need to make sense of it all, or at least some part of it, will only become more pressing.

This book will show you how to be an information-age superhero. It will spell out the steps needed to become a consultant, start your own consulting practice, and build it into a thriving business. The book will explain who is best suited for this work, what tools you will need, where to look for the finest information, when to ask for help, how to attract clients, and why certain strategies work best.

Well begin with an overview of the skills required for this kind of work and of the type of information that clients usually demand. Next well take you through a consultants daily routine and the equipment and software youll need. Then well focus on expenses, rates, and Internet search tips. Finally, well cover promotion, taxes, and specialization. Throughout the book, youll hear from veteran information consultants who have built strong practices and wish to share the lessons theyve learned.

Make sure you read every chapter because nearly all the material applies to every type of information consultant, no matter what specialty you may choose. Plus, the information is all interrelated.

Of course, reading this book cant guarantee that youll be a great success at information consulting. Only your skills and drive, the market and, yes, a bit of luck will determine that. But if you read this book carefully, follow the steps outlined, and put in the effort required you stand a much better chance of succeeding.

So sit back in a comfy chair, take off your shoes and start thumbing through the pages. You, too, can be a professional know-it-all.

Alan Breznick and Rachel Adelson

Becoming a Know-It-All

Information consultant. It kind of sounds like someone James Bond would consult to find the location of stolen secret government documents, doesnt it? Bond slips you an envelope full of money, and you hand him a computer disk labeled For Your Eyes Only, with all the information he so desperately needs but couldnt find himself. The country is saved, and youre off to the bank to make a deposit.

While the real life of an information consultant may not have all the cloak-anddagger stuff, who wouldnt trade that excitement for the ability to do all the sleuthing from the comfort of your own homewith the same trip to the bank at the end?

The Right Stuff

In the past, information consultants were generally ex-librarians or full-time librarians who moonlighted by doing extra research for clients. Things have changed a lot in the past 10 years. Now, primarily due to easier access to information online, information consultants can come from virtually any profession. Medical receptionists can become medical researchers. Magazine editors can become expert researchers in topics they used to cover in their magazines. Paralegals and legal secretaries can take their knowledge of legal matters into business, doing research for lawyers. Its even possible for you to become an information consultant without any experience in the field by subcontracting work from established consultants. The possibilities are endless.

Why, then, isnt everyone with any sense doing this type of work? The answer is simple: Many people are just not cut out for it. In the next section, well take a closer look at what it takes to be an information consultant, so you can decide whether the profession is right for you.

The Thrill of the Search

First off, if youre planning to become an information consultant because it sounds like easy money, forget it. While you may get lucky and find information for a client quickly every once in a while or find out that two clients want similar information, youll have just as many jobs where youll be pulling your hair out, trying to find information that doesnt seem to exist. The key to surviving in this field is to enjoy the work. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help determine whether youre cut out for information consulting:

Back to School

Learning the skills it takes to become an information consultant may sound like a lot of work. If you have the time and the money, however, its entirely possible to get the training you need by hiring a mentor. A mentor is someone who already works in the field of information consulting and willfor a feeteach you everything you need to know to enter the profession. Mentor programs usually take about a year to complete, but you walk away with a firm grasp of the skills necessary to become an information consultant. Another option is to attend a seminar on the specific field of research you intend to enter. Pricing for mentor programs and seminars varies widely. A good place to find a mentor or professional who gives seminars is The Association of Independent Information Professionals membership listing on its Web site, www.aiip.org.

Do you like to read? If so, thats a great start. As an information consultant, youll spend a great amount of time reading magazine articles and Web pages that give you clues about the information you are looking for. You will frequently need to make the jump from being clueless on a subject to being an expert in just a few weeks. And that means hitting the books.

Do you like research? It may well be that youve never spent large amounts of time looking for answers that others are willing to pay for. Try spending some time on the Internet and at the library to see if you really like doing research. Pick an obscure topic, maybe something youve read about in the nether regions of the newspaper, and try to find out absolutely everything you can about it. Sound like fun? Do you enjoy learning about things that you may not have ever thought to care about? If so, terrific! Youve met yet another qualification. As an information consultant, youll need to keep yourself interested in the matter at hand. Otherwise, every job will seem like working on a term paper in a class that you hate.

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