Question: Have you used business consultant?

I just spammed by some stranger who is business consultant.
It has had me thinking about this plus recently I have meet a few.
Have you used business consultant?
How do you now a SL business consultant is legit?
Would you use a business consultant that spammed you?
What other signs of things would you look for in legit business consultant ?

My first thought (or question) is.........Just what does a "business consultant" do in SL? Is he going to be there to answer all your questions, advise you on what products to sell or scripts to write or club to dance in? Does he go out and generate reports for your review on market trends in your area of business?

Or, is he going to charge you lindens for puttting your business in his "Picks" on his profile?

Guess, if I had a business in SL, I'd ignore him (and others who want to be my "business conslutant". Keep your lindens in your accout.......come here for "business consultations". It's free and much more reliable.

I'm not in business in SL, but I've worked in responsible business positions in RL. When I've been in a position to use a business consultant, I have first clearly defined the objective I want help with, looked for a consultant with verifiable experience in the particular area I'm interested in, and checked references.

All of these things would go double and triple for SL. IMO, hiring someone to help you develop a business without a pretty good idea of where you want to go is a good way to sink a lot of money into a pit, and end up with not much to show for it.

That said, no reason why, if you have an idea of what you want in business, and do your homework, there's no reason why a good, experienced business person couldn't help a lot to develop a plan for you to get there, and help you develop skills in areas you might be lacking.

Allegria

i met one once when i managed a club she worked for the owner this is what she did

placed expensive classifieds
rented mall spaces and then put landmark givers to the club/mall at them
created a simple sign that said castle this way


that was all she was ever saw doing..never noticed a jump in club/mall traffic but she got paid alot

wish i had thought of it lol

i dont use one i have very lil $L as it is so ill just do what ive been doin one day ill get discovered

FD, how are you defining "consultant" in this context? Technically, anyone you hire to do a job for you is a consultant if they are not your employee. "Consultant" is synonymous with "contractor" in that regard.

It sounds to me like what you're talking about is a business counselor, someone who advises you on how to be more successful in your business. I'll assume that's what you mean as I respond to your questions. If you actually meant something else, please clarify.



In SL? No.

I suppose you could say I am one myself, though, since when clients ask me to build this or that for them, they sometimes ask my opinion on their plans. I usually try to stay out of that side of it, though, unless directly asked. It's not really my place to make unsolicited judgments. If someone thinks they can make something work, who am I to tell them they can't?


Ask for a proven track record of success. What previous businesses has the person advised, and how exactly did he help them to grow? Ask him to be as specific as possible on this. Also, talk to the references yourself, and ask if the service was worthwhile to them.


Absolutely not. While I'm all in favor of aggressive marketing, spam crosses the line. I have zero tolerance for it, as do a great many other people. Anyone who doesn't understand that certainly doesn't have the wisdom to advise me.


In RL, I'd say size the person up. Does he or she strike you as a leader? Is he or she someone you would strive to emulate? Does he or she clearly demonstrate traits that are essential to long term success, such as honesty, integrity, ethics, enthusiasm, vision, helpfulness, savvy, intelligence, a genuine desire to see others succeeed, etc.? In SL, though, those things can be very hard to determine. There's just not enough opportunity to judge character. Most of the nonverbal cues the we normally use to assess a person's worth are not there.

I guess the first thing I'd try to pick up on is how does this person talk to me. Am I learning anything about communication just from being in his or her presence? Is the way he/she talks to me the way I'd like to be talking to my customers? Remember, if you're his/her customer, and he/she can't do a good job managing you, there's absolutely no way he/she will be able to help you manage your own customers.

Also, who does the person talk more about, him/herself or you? If you sit down for an introductory meeting, and the first words out of the person's mouth are his/her own life story, say goodbye right then and there. You want someone who's genuinely interested in learning about you, your business, and your goals. If the signs aren't there that YOU are priority one to this person, leave.

How does he/she plan to help you grow? Is he/she planning to dive in and really learning about your strengths, weaknesses, goals, and dreams, to then draw up a plan to help you achieve what's important to you? Or is he/she just trying to sell you a pre-packaged one-size-fits-all collection of self-help mumbo jumbo? If it's the latter, you can get the same thing for $9.95 at your local bookstore.

Aside from that, I'd say think about what aspects of business are you not good at yourself. You know what they are. Take a good look in the mirror, be totally honest with yourself, and draw up a list. Are you not as good at the art of selling as you'd like to be? Are you a procrastinator? Do you not have a solid mastery of the science of goal setting? Are you not as effective as a leader as you'd like to be? Do you lack any skill in the numbers side of business, such as accounting, assessing profit & loss, etc.? Is this person qualified to advise you in those areas? And is he/she also able to point out ways in which you can also improve in areas you thought you were already pretty good at?

These are hard questions. But they're crucial ones. Anyone who's worth his/her salt as a business counselor should be seeking to advise you on all of them. If they're not, then they're not worth your time or your money.

And of course, there's the most obvious question. Does this person really understand not only business, but business in SL? Has he or she run any successful businesses of his/her own in-world? If so, what kind? Would that experience put him/her in a good position to judge how your particular business could do better than it already is?

If I was going to get business consultant it would be more like manager and they wouldn't get paid unless I made money.
They be in charge of getting clients, getting products noticed, advising what product will sell best, feed back on products I am making, all the things that take me from creating......
but most I see are vague, want to charge, with few exceptions.
I have been thinking though of working with others or selling products in already established with clients for making specific type of textures.
Yet I keep running into this "consultant" types. Only few I have met though most are very likable, friendly and seem honest.
My weakness and strengths.
I am poor artist, who is perfectionist, not a whole lot of confidence or business skills.
My standards for doing art incredibly high.
I have no clue about money, never really had any but I gotten better at my real life finacial matters I don't spend everything and have learned how to stretch very little bit money for entire month.
I literally spend hours perfecting my craft and I am very dedicated but I still have long ways to go I don't know if I am at the level of like some one like yourself. Chosen or the sl top designers yet.

If that's what you're looking for, you want an employee or an investor, not a consultant.

In most cases, business counselors will charge a set fee for their expertise, the same way a doctor or a lawyer or a tutor would. They can't be held responsible only to get paid if you make money. That wouldn't make sense. After all, they could give you the best advice in the world, and you could choose not to listen, and then they'd be out a ton of time and money, even though they did everything right.

Think of it as if you were hiring a nutritionist to educate you on how to eat healthier and take better care of yourself. In an ideal world, you'd listen to what they had to say, and you'd get in better shape. But in the real world, you could choose not to ignore all their advice, and gain 300 more pounds. In that case, would you have any right not to pay them? No, it's your fault you didn't listen to them, not theirs.

A counselor is paid to counsel, period. What you do with the information after they've given it is up to you. A very responsible counselor might conceivably tell you he'll refuse to keep working with you if you don't listen to him, because he only wants to coach people who are actually coachable. But still, the actual execution is your responsibility, not his.

Further, the onus is on you to assess whether or not you think the advice is worth the money you're paying for it. If at any time you don't, then simply fire the guy and move on. If you made a bad investment, live with it.

Yep.
They have good references.
Nope.
Age.