Getting Started Bootcamp Cohort

Virtual Roundtable

Date: 1/16/2020 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Note: All listed times are in the Pacific time zone. Please adjust accordingly.

Event Overview

About the session:

When you’re just starting out as an independent consultant, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. There’s so much to learn, and even more to do! This three-month getting started bootcamp will help.

Limited to just six participants, your "PICA pod" will meet (roughly) every other week for three months to help you…

  • Set up your business (including naming it, if you haven’t already)
  • Refine your branding and service offerings
  • Figure out your pricing
  • Create an online presence for your business
  • Do your initial outreach and business development
  • And tackle whatever else you may need help with!

Led by PICA Chief Advocate, Liz Steblay, you’ll get the help you need, and you’ll appreciate the sense of accountability and esprit de corps with your colleagues.

Pre-requisite:

The PICA Web Workshop, Getting Started as an Independent Consultant

Format:

These are interactive roundtable discussions, not webinars, so be prepared to participate, ideally using your webcam.

Each session will focus on a particular topic, with assignments in between sessions. Assignments may include taking PICA workshop if you haven’t already, and/or creating a first draft of something so we can discuss it in the next session.

Duration: Each session is 60 minutes (300 minutes total)

Timing:

Thursdays starting January 16 at 10:00 Pacific / 12:00 Central / 1:00 Eastern. Generally, sessions are every other week, except for the end of February.

Syllabus:

When you register for the bootcamp, you will get a confirmation email with the calendar invitation for just the first session. We will manually send you the calendar invitations for the other four sessions.

January 16

Get to know each other and your objectives for next 10 weeks.

Featured Topic: Laying Your Foundation (infrastructure)

Assignments: Complete your foundational steps (e.g. business license, DBA, etc.); Take Billing Rates and Pricing Strategies on January 29. 

Prep for next session: Take Branding to Build Your Business (January 23) or use PICA articles to help you: Why Personal Branding is Vital and How to Do It* and Know Your Niche*

January 30

Check in on foundation progress.

Focus Area: Refining your branding, go-to-market messaging, and service offerings. Finish your tagline.

Assignment: Replicate your tagline on all marketing; draft two stories, examples, or case studies; begin to update your LinkedIn profile

Prep for next session: Take Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile for Consulting* (Jan. 31) or use the PICA reference guide*

February 13

Discuss/refine branding and pricing; review LinkedIn profile updates

Focus Area: Create visibility! Creating a business page and/or website.

Assignment: Replicate your tagline on all marketing; draft two stories, examples, or case studies; finish your LinkedIn profile; create outline for your website or LinkedIn business page

Prep for next session: Take How to Build Your Website on Feb.18 or use the PICA Reference Guide: How to Build Your Website*

Note: 3 weeks to the next session, not two. 

March 5

Review/discuss marketing efforts and website outlines (or actual websites)

Focus Area: Preparing for Launch

Assignment: Create launch plan (prioritizing contacts; draft outreach message)

Prep for next session: Take Business Development for Independent Consultants on March 10 or read the five articles in PICA’s Knowledge Base*

March 19:

Review outreach messages

Develop goals for next quarter

Assignment: Officially launch your business by sending outreach messages and posting to social media!

* Members-only content

FAQs:

Q: Do I have to participate in every session?
A: No, but like most things you’ll get out of it what you put into it. That said, the first session is mandatory. If you can’t make it to the first session on January 16, you’ll need to wait until the next bootcamp or use the course syllabus above as your own “independent study” course.

Q: What if I miss a session?
A: You can watch the recording but you’ll miss the coaching and peer input which may be the most valuable part.

Q: What if I have questions between sessions?
A: Post the question to the cohort via our Slack community, or send an email to the PICA Advocate.

Q: What is the time commitment?
A: 5 sessions of 60 minutes each, plus other workshops as needed, and of course doing your assignments. (If anyone told you that starting your own consulting business would be fast and easy, they were lying.)

Q: Can I participate in the bootcamp without being a PICA member?
A: Not at this time. Besides, it’s a better value to be a PICA member than to buy all the workshops and coaching individually.

Q: How many people will be in the cohort?
A: A maximum of six, plus the leader.

About the Bootcamp Leader:

Liz Steblay has worked in consulting over 20 years, most of those as a successful independent consultant. (Liz’s definition of success: working few hours, making more money, lowering her effective tax rate; having a 7-figure retirement account and a fully-funded 529 savings plan for her daughter’s college tuition; taking at least one international vacation a year and fostering relationships with friends and family.)

In 2009 she expanded her solo practice by creating ProKo Consulting, a national talent agency that represents other self-employed consultants who specialize in human capital services. In building that business, Liz interviewed, coached and mentored hundreds of self-employed consultants and developed a reputation as the person to ask if you had questions about independent consulting. That’s what inspired her to create PICA, to help others create the consulting career of their dreams.

 

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