Publish or Perish

The expression "publish or perish" is common in the academic and scientific arenas, another line of work in which reputation has a very direct impact on one's livelihood. Fortunately, you don't have to be working on a doctoral thesis or be doing research that will stand up to the rigors of scientific peer review. All you need to do is show that you have something meaningful to say and get it out to your target customer base.

Opportunities for publishing are everywhere, providing you're not expecting to get paid for it. Start with your local newspapers, particularly neighborhood papers or topical weeklies. They're always looking for fresh content from local sources. Also check out topical or industry-specific newsletters and magazines.

Keep in mind that you're trying to make a living as a consultant, not an author, so be sure to pick magazines and write articles that are targeted at your prospective customers, not your peers. Be sure that your articles are informative, not just thinly veiled sales pitches, and you should have no problem finding several outlets for your work. Acquaint yourself with their submission policies, deadlines and copyright policies before submitting. Some papers will want an exclusive on whatever you submit, while others let you maintain full copyright for use in other media. There's no right or wrong here—just know what you're getting yourself into.

And with the Web, of course, anyone can become a prolific self-publisher overnight. If the idea of "articles" is a bit daunting for you, start off with a weblog and just start collecting your thoughts in writing as they come to you. When you write particularly eloquent responses via e-mail, edit them and put them in your weblog. Once you're ready for full-fledged articles, there are also electronic equivalents of all the periodicals mentioned above for print media. When you've got a nice little collection of your works together, it takes next to nothing to create your own web page. And if you're an expert on one of the available topics and feel up to producing at least one or two weekly articles, you might consider being an About.com guide!

Public Speaking

The other major outlet for your work is public speaking. Now I know speaking in public can be pretty intimidating. In fact, "The Book of Lists" reported it as most people's number one fear (death came in at number two!). Again, though, if you keep in mind that you're not necessarily trying to make a career as a public speaker, but as a consultant, you can set more reasonable expectations and goals for yourself, and hopefully it won't be so intimidating.

The first thing to do is to get comfortable speaking in front of a group and develop your presentations. To help you do that, there's nothing better than Toastmasters International. They'll help you overcome whatever nervousness you may have about public speaking. You'll also get a chance to develop your material in a small, safe environment. You'll receive constructive feedback to help you improve the material. And, of course, it's another networking opportunity. Plus, they're a captive audience!

Once you've got some speeches and presentations ready, there are ample speaking opportunities available (again, if you're not concerned about getting paid). Be sure to have a brief summary of your speaking topics ready to send out before you start calling around. Start with your local Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions Club, Optimist Club, etc. Most meet weekly, so they're always looking for speakers. Also look for industry or topical special interest groups in your area. Once you start looking, you'll be amazed how many are out there. Again, be sure your presentations are primarily educational, not a sales pitch, and pretty soon you'll be getting referrals.

Develop Your Skills

Perhaps most importantly, be sure to develop both your written and verbal communication skills. No matter what level they're at now, they can be better. Remember that these skills are as critical to your success as a consultant as your core subject matter knowledge is. They saying says that practice makes perfect, but the truth is that practicing the correct thing correctly makes perfect. So be prolific, but also be proficient.

One other very important thing to do is to develop the "30 second elevator pitch" in both written and verbal form and memorize it almost verbatim. When people ask what you do for a living, saying "I'm a consultant" is about the lamest response you can give (see the jokes in part one). You need to be able to clearly and accurately describe what you do to anyone, not just an educated consumer or peer. Figure out a way to describe it in layman's terms that doesn't water it down so much as to be meaningless. Your ability to do that effectively is going to be key to getting the most out of the rest of the techniques.