To become an independent consultant, making a business plan is crucial. Indeed, the business plan is a document that allows you to evaluate all the possible options to ensure the relevance and profitability of the project.
To develop it correctly, a market study is necessary. This step helps better identify the market's needs to adjust its offers and make reasonable choices regarding its legal mode of operation.
To become an independent consultant, it is necessary to know the essentials of the correct way to write a business plan.
Why make a business plan?
At first sight, the activity of a consultant is rather classic; with a simple and known economic model, it is possible to wonder about the relevance of making a business plan in this context.
However, although this activity is known, each consultant is different according to their skills, experiences, geographical sector, and target client. Depending on all these specificities, the consultant's activity may vary, hence the importance of writing your business plan.
THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE BUSINESS PLAN TO BECOME A CONSULTANT
The executive summary can be defined as the back cover of your business plan. Therefore, it must be concise, short, and explicit to make the reader understand, whether partner or funder, your project, the model of your activity, and the functioning of your economic model.
The executive summary must make the future reader want to go further and understand your project. Therefore, the executive summary is broken down into several stages, which are as follows:
- Presentation of the company and its stakeholders: this part is essential because the team leading the project is as important as its content. Be sure to introduce each team member and their skills.
- Proof that you have studied your market well: a summary of your market study, future customers, competition, the need you will meet...
- Some financial forecasts: if the executive summary should not be cluttered with too many figures, giving some information on this subject is essential to prove to readers that your project is viable and profitable.
- Detail of your need: If you present your business plan intending to obtain financing, be sure to detail your need and expectations vis-à-vis investors.
DO A MARKET STUDY
The initial step in creating a business plan to become a freelance consultant begins with market research.
This study aims to ensure that the offer to be proposed meets market expectations. Becoming an independent consultant means setting up in a very competitive sector. As a result, it is critical to understand how to position yourself to offer the best services.
The market
To become a consultant, several elements must be revealed as part of your market research. At first, it is a question of presenting the market on which you will work. Next, what is the field in which you will exercise your activity as a consultant? Finally, is it a field in expansion or instead in decline?
Requirement
You must then present the request to which you will respond: no secret, and the offer must meet a need; if there is no need, there is no point in having an offer. It is, therefore, necessary to try to assess the request as best as possible: by a quantitative evaluation, how many requests are likely to be addressed. The study can be qualitative; what are the types of requests and the real needs of the target market.
The offer
The offer corresponds to the competition, the proposal already existing on the market you intend to place yourself. This part is essential because it allows you to assess future competitors: that is to say, the conditions under which they exercise their profession, but also the prices charged.
It is also possible to examine their positioning on the market, their offer's quality, targets, and the limits of their recommendations.
It is also possible to think about potential partnerships to be established later. The study of the pre-existing offer will allow you to adjust and refine your proposal according to your results and plan how to adapt your request to the market and reach your targets.
Answering these questions allows you to learn more about the relevance of your offers and adjust them to become an independent consultant in a highly competitive market.
SET UP A BUSINESS STRATEGY
Thanks to the conclusions resulting from the market study, it is easy to define a strategy to become an independent consultant. This step allows you to establish a commercial action plan to find your customers and meet their expectations.
To set up a commercial strategy to become an independent consultant, some avenues consist of:
- Determine its positioning vis-à-vis the target population;
- Establish a price grid consistent with this positioning;
- Follow training courses to fill its gaps;
- Design a communication plan including the various visual aids and tools to be used;
- Establish a list of potential partners likely to help publicize its activity;
- Define a calendar to determine the periods during which it is essential to communicate.
CHOOSE YOUR LEGAL STATUS
Choosing your legal status is an essential step to becoming an independent consultant. Various possibilities are possible for this purpose.
The exercise is one's name.
To become an independent consultant and practice in your name, the most common legal statuses are:
- The Sole Proprietorship (EI);
- The One-Person Limited Liability Company (EURL).
Becoming an independent consultant following the legal status of IE is easy because it does not require many formalities. Moreover, it is also possible to choose the quality of auto-entrepreneur with the income tax regime.
However, if this option is made to become an independent consultant, the turnover is capped, which can be a significant disadvantage. In addition, the consultant's liability for debts extends to his assets.
Becoming an independent consultant according to the legal status of the EURL limits the consultant's responsibility to his contributions. The method of taxation is also more flexible, as it is possible to choose between income tax and corporation tax.
The exercise in society
The Simplified Unipersonal Joint Stock Company (SASU) is the most common option to become an independent consultant and practice in society.
This legal form offers more credibility and makes it possible to become an independent consultant while considering a subsequent opening to partners. Corporation tax is the applicable tax regime, but it is possible to opt for income tax until the fifth year.
ESTABLISH A FINANCIAL FORECAST IN YOUR CONSULTING BUSINESS PLAN
To make a business plan to become an independent consultant, establishing a financial forecast is also essential. This tool makes it possible to carry out turnover simulations throughout the activity and implement corrective measures.
The procedure for making a financial forecast is as follows:
- Define an exercise period;
- Estimate a turnover from the available data and spread it over several months;
- List and quantify the various general expenses related to the exercise of the activity;
- Calculate the taxable result, then determine the net result;
- Establish a cash flow statement that considers the seasonal nature of the activity.
To become an independent consultant, it is essential to establish financial tables. These include the forecast income statement, the forecast balance sheet, and a cash flow statement.
The conclusions drawn from these forecasts make it possible to adjust the business model envisaged to have optimal results.
Becoming an independent consultant requires writing a business plan. The importance of this document makes it necessary to adopt a meticulous methodology for its drafting.
You can hire an accountant to do this. The role of this professional would then be to help write an effective business plan to become an independent consultant.
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