Getting Started in Consulting, Third Edition

Introduction to the Third Edition

This has become the best-selling book in the history of the "Getting Started in . . ." series, and small wonder. The consulting profession not only offers independence, the opportunity for helping businesses and nonprofits, and the potential for great wealth, it may now also be one of the most secure professions!

In this newest iteration, I've included questions that readers of the prior two editions have consistently raised along with my responses, new insights into the electronic marketing arenas, and some surprising myth-busters (blogging comes after a brand, not before it).

References, especially on the Internet, go rapidly out of date. But what doesn't go out of date are the processes I've included herein to turbocharge your start in the consulting profession. Nothing changes about identifying your value, finding the buyer, and then inducing the buyer to find you. I've included my latest insights and intellectual capital about how best to do that in the contemporary global economy.

You will find downloads available (summitconsulting.com, select the book, and click as indicated), interviews with people like yourself who have successfully used this book to make the transition to successful consulting practices, and specific templates, lists, and recommendations for everything from computer software to financing, and from legal help to time use.

So, let's get started, for the third time.

—Alan Weiss

East Greenwich, Rhode Island

September 2008