Most people develop specific skills through education, training and experience. A lot of those people have a desire to market those skills to those who need them. Starting a consulting practice is often a gratifying and fulfilling means of taking those sought after skills to market.

Starting a consulting practice allows an individual to work for individuals and companies that are likely to value the skills and experience offered. Theoretically, the individual is in control of the work hours and the types of jobs that are accepted. As one might suspect, as consultants gain clients and grow their companies, the control of the consulting company’s time and resources must be managed carefully.

To start a consulting company in a way that has the greatest chance to succeed over the long term requires attention to building the practice one project at a time. Each project should be subjected to a process that will have the best chance of yielding a successful outcome.

The purpose of this book is to take the reader through each step of building a consulting practice by understanding how to acquire and execute a consulting project. By creating successful projects, a consultant can build a reputation, acquire more projects and create a successful consulting practice.