Could you make a successful career in environmental management consulting?
What skills, knowledge & experience are needed? How do I go about it? What ISO 14001 Training is necessary?
Dr John FitzGerald writes:
Having worked for 28 years as a management system consultant, I’ve learned a lesson or two (including some bitter ones) on setting up and running a successful consultancy business.
So I’d like to share my experience with you in this article. Of course, you must use the information and suggestions here at your own peril; ultimately it is you who must decide whether this life is for you. And if you don’t find the prospect of working as a consultant exciting, don’t do it. If you do, read on.
First, we'll consider 'What it Takes' and then we'll outline for you a 'Business start-up plan for EMS Consulting - an 11-step plan'.
ISO 14001 sets out the requirements for an Environmental Management System (EMS). To be a successful ISO 14001 or EMS Consultant, you will need capabilities and competencies under five headings: fortitude, finance, experience, knowledge & expertise and personal attributes. You will need to be able to tick every box, almost
Here are eleven steps to setting up your EMS Consultancy:
Begin by identifying the economic or market niche that matches your skillset.
While usually not a barrier working as a consultant, certification and memberships will help build credibility with prospective clients.
Set goals for your business, and for your private life, looking three months, one year, and 10 years ahead. Discuss and agree on these goals with your spouse or partner - the stress and financial pressure of being self-employed can be very destructive of relationships, especially where the other person is naturally risk-averse.
Identify organisations and organisation types in your market sector that can benefit from the use of your services for a short period of time.
Focus on sectors experiencing, or about to experience, significant statutory or regulatory change or that have had a recent environmental disaster.
Here the disruptive event creates an opportunity for you – people are more likely than usual to listen and to be willing to accept the changes you suggest.
What needs, problems and opportunities can your target organisations successfully address using your services.
You need to be able to tell your clients why they need you:
The old adage is very true: organizations that fail to plan, plan to fail! No start-up business plan has ever matched the outcome, not even closely.
But if you can’t make it work on paper, you won’t be able to make it work. Preparing a business plan yourself is a huge learning exercise in itself and critically important.
Except perhaps for financial projections, you cannot/must not outsource this aspect of starting your consultancy. Like marketing and sales for a new business, you must do it yourself.
When you fail to fully reach your short-term turnover targets, and you will (just ask any self-employed consultant you know), you do not want any regular monthly outgoings that can be avoided.
Work from home, don’t take on any mortgage or borrowings, rent a car month-to-month, buy second-hand equipment. You want to be able to survive while you build the business.
But you will need an appropriate car and you will need to be well dressed. If you don’t look as if you’re already successful, you won’t sign up for much business. Prospects will judge you on appearances – do you look and sound professional – they have little else to judge you on. You must look the business to so the business.
If no one knows you and you know no one in your field, you may find yourself in the midst of a disaster soon. It is important to start building your network as soon as you have decided to be a consultant.
A strong contact base ensures that you have the sources to find work. A professional network, coupled with a social network, can help you market and advertise your business.
References are also important ways to find work in the niche. Rely on your initial contact base to build your network.
As a beginner, you may not receive high fees as a consultant. Your charges increase as you become known as a consultant. Keep in mind your credentials and experience as well as market conditions, your target group and your competitors when you fix your fees.
Also, decide how you will bill clients. Most management system consultants charge by the day or half-day and invoice at the end of the month (or on completion, if before month-end). Payment within 7 days is usually requested.
Forget about advertising whether traditional or online. It is expensive and unlikely to produce results quickly. Instead, take the time to build a social media presence including.
A prospective customer can use these media to judge your capabilities. Without them, a prospect will ask themselves why do you not have an online presence.
You may find it easier to handle all tasks of your business on your own when you start. But after your consulting business is up and running, you may need the help of others and you may decide to employ people.
Check both legal and tax details before you do this. You may also outsource some tasks that do not require your immediate attention. Make sure that the tasks are not connected to your consulting business.
For example, you can outsource website maintenance for a consulting business, but not when it is your niche.
Don’t give up the ‘day job’ and start consulting. Wait until all the previous 10 steps are essentially completed, seek out a ‘banker’ contract. For example, get one or more contracts working, say, 4/5 days a year maintaining an organization’s EMS – use your network of contacts to seek out such opportunities.
Many consultants also have ongoing relationships with Certification Bodies where they act as lead auditors and team auditors – an intermittent arrangement that suits both parties.
Only when you are confident that you can make a living from consulting should you give up the day job. And then ‘go for it’ working harder and longer than you have ever done before.
Do you have what it takes? If so, you should give serious consideration to becoming an EMS Consultant. Talk to people before you commit - family, friends and those who are already Management System Consultants.
Something you'll find common to all successful EMS consultants is the joy they get out of their work - the pleasure of helping others and the freedom of being your own boss!
Best of luck!
We have chosen ISO 21001 certification because, unlike IRCA and Exemplar badges (which in our opinion are commercially compromised), it is based on independent third-party assessment. It is a ‘university grade’ standard in use globally by schools, colleges, and universities to demonstrate their competence.