Question:
ion 1: I am a novice as a consultant and therefore need some advice. In the past, when I have worked as a consultant, it was by chance that I got   to work as a consultant.  Now I would like to find clients myself.  How should I start ?

I have a fairly good background in the area, but my experience is   mostly academic.  I have several well known papers, one edited book   that was printed several months back, and will be organizing an international conference (most of the participants are academics).  We plan to give short courses after a few months.  Can someone suggest how I could start as a  consultant ?

Answer:
 Reply 1: If you are starting as a consultant, you are starting a small business   and should treat the startup as such.

A business needs to consider having both a business plan and a Strategic Business Plan.  A business should have both (if seeking   capital from outside sources), but a Strategic Business Plan is an absolute necessity (if you plan to be successful).  

A business plan, by itself, is generally a marketing tool used to convince potential investors that you are a worthy vehicle for their investment.  It requires SOME of the same front-end planning  that is required for a Strategic Business Plan, but is a different document with a decidedly different purpose and audience.  

I use the following construct with my clients: A Strategic Business Plan details what business you "really" are in   ("Purpose" or "Mission"); your assessment of the relevant business environmental elements; your assumptions about the future   ("Assumptions"); your business goals ("Goals"); your business   strategies ("Strategies") you will use to achieve your Goals; and detailed action plans ("Action Plans") to convert your intentions to realities.  The Strategic Business Plan guides your daily/weekly/ monthly/annual allocations of resources (money/time/effort) to your various business activities and ensures that your expenditures of those resources have some coherency that facilitates your achieving your desired business ends (Goals).  Periodic (I use annually as an a-priori frequency) reassessment of these elements is required to ensure that your strategic planning stays attuned to changing business environmental conditions and opportunities.  

 I haven't seen any software that I believe adequately leads a small business or association through the essentials of Strategic Business Planning.  Taking the complex processes used by larger companies, and appropriately tailoring them to small businesses, which operate with limited excesses of time, funds, and effort, is a niche capability.  

Your statement of Mission or Purpose is the critical starting point and should require a great deal of HARD thinking on your part, because it is the keystone for all that follows in building your Strategic Business Plan. It should specify what your (consulting) business will provide and to whom, irrespective of changes in profits, numbers of employees, changes in political environments, physical location, tax and operating laws and regulations, etc.  The WHAT YOU SELL part can be very tricky to figure out (e.g., the president of Revlon reportedly revealed that, although Revlon manufactures and distributes cosmetics, what they really sell is HOPE). Your Purpose or Mission statement significantly constrains or enhances the way you view your consulting business and the challenges and opportunities that arise.  

The remaining parts of Strategic Business Planning are equally easy -- but, in response to your question, this is where you have to start.

 Question 2: Since you draw a distinction between a strategic plan and a business plan (the latter for sourcing funding) are you then suggesting the strategic plan is so intimate-confidential-proprietary, that it is not suitable for disclosure to a potential investor?  This is largely an academic point, but you've got my intellectual curiosity up.  Our experience is that for any major funding, the investor will undertake a due diligence study such that all the nitty gritty gets disclosed.

I do in fact agree that a plan oriented toward sourcing funding would have some different characteristics from that of a management document.  However, I would distinguish between the two predicated on what is suitable for disclosure to internal management and employees, and also on style.   As I interpret your post, it suggests that a business plan is marketing oriented and therefore lacks or masks disclosure that most savvy investors would insist on knowing (the strategic plan elements in your scenario)before making an investment.

Reply 2: I make the distinction between a business plan and a Strategic Business Plan, not because there HAS to be such a distinction, but because I find such a DE FACTO distinction in practice.  

Ideally, I would expect to find a completely worked Strategic Business Plan in advance of any preparation of a quest for external funding from investors. I would expect such investors to want to see that the prospective investment vehicle had already worked out the details that would convince one that the business person understood what business they are in; the business environmental forces in play, or likely to be able to be brought into play; the weaknesses existing and the factors being used to buttress against those weaknesses; the goals that the business person will be trying to achieve; and strategies and action plans detailed enough to have some substantial chance of achieving the desired ends (thereby making the business successful and making the investment vehicle profitable for the investors).  Then the business person bases the quest for funding upon the Strategic Business Plan, presenting the facts and tailoring the language and format to the audience of potential investor(s), be they banks, individuals, other institutions, etc.  

But because this plan may exist at some point in time (i.e., when seeking funding) does not ensure that the plan is used as a living, breathing, enduring document that actually influences the allocations of resources (funding, of course; but also time and effort) on a CONTINUAL basis.  Neither does it ensure a periodic reassessment of the plan from the top down -- not just the action plans, but also the environmental factors, assumptions, goals, etc.  I see those as essential elements of what I call a Strategic Business Plan.

I would submit that the best businesses are those that have used a carefully constructed Strategic Business Plan to prepare a business plan, and then continue to use their Strategic Business Plan on a practical basis.  

I see no need for the details of a Strategic Business Plan to be hidden from those who are expected to carry it out.  I would submit that letting such individuals know the details makes it a whole lot easier for them to conduct their activities in coherence with the intentions of the Strategic Business Plan.  I really believe in the "band of brothers" approach to conducting the business according to a Strategic Business Plan.  If you expect people (line managers and workers) to carry out the elements of the Strategic Business Plan, then it's easier to do if those people have participated in the formulation of the Plan, can find some of their own ideas in the Plan, and thereby have some vested ownership of the Plan.  This is the approach used in "open" corporations that reveal the operating books to their employees and empower them in addressing necessary changes and preserving advantages and opportunities. 

The degree to which business owners/partners/officers can increase their powers by releasing ownership and control of operating/strategic/ planning details is an individual decision for each business -- but it has a powerful effect upon how the business can progress toward its goals within its corporate culture and its environmental culture.  

Often, I find that if a business is not seeking funding, then they don't go through the hard work of preparing a Strategic Business Plan, let alone keep it updated and workable.  I see this as an often fatal flaw of a small business or association It matters not whether the concern is for- or not-for-profit.