WHY I LIKE CONSUMER CAREER COACHING PRACTICE: The most secure, prosperous and satisfying way to work in our profession.
(May/June 2006 Issue)

Most people think of a private-client practice as a difficult, risky business. "Au Contraire!" I say. With a couple of prerequisites in place, a private-client practice is the most secure, most prosperous, most easy-going job you'll ever find in career advising. Here's my comparison.

Finding Prospects: In corporate career consulting there are two possible sales: outplacement and internal career coaching. Both sales are generally made through HR. Outplacement is a very tough sale when you're up against the big firms. Most companies needing outplacement need many, even hundreds of people taken care of at once. You're only equipped to handle a few. Internal career coaching is tough, too. Finding an HR professional who believes in the value of internal career coaching is like finding a needle in a haystack. On the other hand, by comparison, in a direct-to-consumer practice, finding people in career pain is simple - almost half the people in the world are dissatisfied with their job. With a few speeches here and there, building a list of people to send a monthly newsletter to, you won't have to find prospects - they'll find you!

Security: Corporations, with their deep pockets, look more financially secure as an income stream than direct to consumer. If you look deeper, however, they're less secure. Corporate income stream security is totally dependent on having a "champion" inside who hires you. If they go, you go. And even if your champion stays and survives, an internal career coaching program is a very "soft" program, and will be one of the first casualties of a downturn. On the other hand, in serving the consumer, the worse the economy is, the better your business is; and it's good in good times, too. Once you have visibility and credibility as a successful job-search, career-change, and/or self-employment coach, your business is unshakable.

Profitability: Corporate sales have a huge investment of time in finding and closing a coaching agreement. Once it's there, the money is good, but if you spread that one sale out over the hours of marketing, it thins out the money. On the other hand, consumer can be billed at $75 - $200/hour or more. At a very modest $125/hour, a 25-billable hour week turns into $162,500 gross revenue. Since your overhead is just an office space, printing, telephone, computer, and bank charges, you can put $135,000 of that directly in the bank. After two or three years, $250,000 annual income is not out of reach.

And, bonus: if you follow my advice and don't give away a free first session, you'll make money whether or not they choose to hire you "full time" for their job and career campaign. In my case, in a typical month, I make $500 - $1000 from people who do not buy my full program. Think… how much do you make when a corporation says, "No, thanks"? Zippo.

Freedom: The good money from corporations usually is attached to specific time demands and paperwork reporting so they can justify your fees. A consumer only practice allows almost complete freedom and almost no paperwork. Yay! Career advisors I coach all use each other for backup, so frequent 1-week vacations are no problem. Your clients are taken care of.

Fun with Clients: The clients from corporations are assigned to you kicking and screaming. Clients in a direct-to-consumer practice choose you because they know, like, and trust you. They are the most highly motivated clients you'll ever meet because they're paying you hundreds and hundreds of dollars for results. You say, "Jump!" and they say, "How high?" They are a ball!

Selling Cycle: Corporations pay monthly, and sometimes 60-90 days out after you do the work. Elapsed time from first contact to first cash is weeks, for certain, and months most likely. A prospect in a direct to consumer practice typically pays you an initial retainer before you do any work and a monthly fee thereafter. If you charge hourly, they pay you at the time of the session. Either way, time from their first phone call to your first check: 1-5 days.

Competition: With corporations, you're always competing against other services for a slice of the Human Resources consulting services budget. You're also competing with other independent consultants selling the same coaching to corporations you're doing. In a direct to consumer practice, you have almost no competition. Yes, there are other private career advisors out there, but there are 10,000+ dissatisfied humans out there for every one career advisor. Your competitors are your colleagues. In all my 27 years in private practice, there have been about five instances where someone was "shopping" and chose another advisor over me - and you know what? They picked the right one for themselves. No competitors, only colleagues.

Future: Corporate outplacement is dwindling day by day; corporate internal coaching is stagnant. The public's awareness, though, of personal job and career coaching is growing by leaps and bounds. The public is more and more used to the role of "coach" and the specialty of career coach is more requested day by day. Generalist coaches try to help the public, but only we seasoned job- and career-search experts know what actually works. So, the demand is there, we've got the talent, so all that's needed for a successful business is knowing how to market and sell. The sale to an individual is actually easier than a sale to a corporation because it is made up of listening, encouraging, affirming, assessing--all things that as counselors, we already know how to do.

Barriers to Entry: Corporations want credentials, brochures, track record, insurance, degrees, and expensive promotional materials. All you need, to work with a direct prospect, is competence. If you don't have complete competence, you can always apprentice with someone who does. So, you can start at practically zero [i.e. good coaching skills, but not much career coaching savvy], and be in business part time and profitable in a matter of a few weeks. Faster if you've already had outplacement counseling experience, or work in a college placement center or even if you have done a "self study program" to learn the trade. I have a turn-key program to achieve just that - a rapid start.

I could go on and on. So why aren't hundreds of people turning to the private client side of our profession? I think it's because they don't know how to attract clients, how to make the phone ring! If they knew they could get a regular stream of prospects to call, I think they'd feel confident about gently selling competency and the benefits of career services and coaching the job search. I have mastered the art and science of getting the phone to ring for private career services! Would you like to know how? I'll tell you.

Here's the secret in ten words: give speeches, capture participants' addresses, and send a monthly newsletter. But that's like saying to a job-search client, "Here's the secret in ten words: set appointments with hiring decision-makers; discuss you making them money. It sounds simple - it is; it sounds easy - it isn't. It usually warrants expertise and coaching. If anyone wants to learn all the rest of the details of conducting a quarter million dollar a year private practice (or even an itty bitty part time $100,000 practice), you can e-mail me for my 60,992-word version of the "secret" entitled: How to Make $150,000 a Year in Private Practice Career Coaching and Still Be a Decent Human Being.

Jack Chapman is author of:
Negotiating Your Salary: How to Make $1000 a Minute
He is a career consultant in private practice and runs ongoing support and training teleconference sessions for career consultants in private practice.
He can be reached at 847-251-4727 or jkchapman@aol.com