Consulting Blog

Enhance Your Personal Brand With A Business Portrait

When looking for a picture to post in an online profile, most people only spend a small fraction of the time that they would devote to getting ready for an interview or client meeting. When someone sees you for the first time - whether it's online on in person - your appearance "brands" you. How are you branding yourself?

Whether you're camera shy or a big ham, and whether you're incredibly photogenic or loathe pictures of yourself, it's important to tackle a critical element of your personal branding project: your headshot. When you're networking on LinkedIn, building your website, writing your blog, submitting an article to a trade publication, or just want to attach a photo of yourself when you're emailing a prospective client, you want to make sure that the face that they put with your name is one that represents who you really are. Most of us remember faces more easily than names, and you want to make sure the face that your peers and clients remember is friendly, professional and trustworthy.

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Using LinkedIn to Promote Yourself and Build Your Personal Brand

This month, we're focusing  the MBO Partners Consulting Blog on simple steps you can take to build the brand of "you" by developing your online reputation.

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 50 million members, and has become an essential networking and business development tool for consultants, freelancers and entrepreneurs. LinkedIn represents the "serious side" of social networking: it connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and project opportunities with a broad network of professionals.

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Happy New Year! Go Google Yourself.

Whether you're attending networking events or pitching prospective new clients, your name is bound to be Googled when an individual or a company wants to know more about you. It could happen after you've left a meeting or event, or it could happen mere moments after you've made someone's acquaintance for the first time through the use of a smartphone - but rest assured: you, my friend, will be Googled.

Gone are the days when your resume was the only source of information about your professional background. Self-Googling (or "ego-surfing" as it's sometimes called) is critical for managing your own brand. If someone Googled you right now, what would they see?

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Downtime Into Uptime: Hit the Reset Button

Not everyone is going to have a break this holiday season; many of you will be working at least half time all the way through. Others, however, are taking a little time out. This doesn’t mean you cannot be resting AND optimizing your business. The next few posts on this blog will cover ways to turn downtime into uptime, and use it constructively to optimize your brain and your business before the New Year begins in earnest. Ready? Let's start by hitting the reset button . . .

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Are You Ready To Take Your Consulting Business To The Next Level?

What would you do if you made the ultimate connection that landed you a dream independent consulting project? It could happen at any time: a cocktail party, a networking event, or a casual chance encounter with a former colleague. Are you prepared to manage a six-figure, multi-faceted long-term consulting contract? Can you handle it on your own, or do you need to assemble a team with other independent contractors? Knowing that you've thought through next steps will help you exude the confidence you'll need to assure potential clients that you're the best fit for the project.

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Lessons Learned From Crafty Entrepreneurs

The entrepreneurial spirit is embraced by different groups in different ways. Independent contractors and freelancers have professional services to promote and sell, while an emerging group of innovative people around the globe have opted to design their own products and sell their handiwork to customers throughout the world. According to Fast Company, the online craft market website Etsy had $133.1 million in sales last month -- remember, that's pre-holiday rush. This is a substantial jump from last year's November peak holiday rush sales of $10.8 million.

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Real Reviews From Independent Consultants

Ever seen a Wordle? The site Wordle.net offers an awesome free tool to generate tag clouds based on your content. You can quickly customize the fonts, colors, and shape of the Wordle, and there is even support for different languages.

The interesting thing about tag clouds is that they give a quick barometer reading on what’s being talked about. Every day at MBO Partners we get email from our Associates, the independent consultants and freelancers who use our Portable Employer of Record service as their small business platform.

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Consulting: Got What It Takes?

Independent consulting shouldn’t be entered into lightly, even if your skills are in demand. It’s an intense but highly rewarding career for those that possess the right attitude, and a nightmare for those who don't. If you want to be a consultant or freelancer, take a realistic look at your skill set AND your mindset. Do you have the mettle and mindset to be self-employed? Do you have experience, specialized knowledge, or skills that can help businesses achieve a goal or improve measurable results? Can you articulate your value proposition to . . .

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Secrets of Consulting Success

One of my favorite projects at MBO Partners is planning our consulting seminars. Each month I am challenged to present content that is practical, accessible, and relevant for independent consultants, independent contractors, and freelancers in a recession. While our recent events have been topical (check our Vimeo page for videos on Calculating Your Bill Rate or Consulting Contracts 101), this month we wanted to offer up some real world insight. Our next seminar will be Secrets of Consulting Success. It has been said that a mentor is someone whose hindsight can become your foresight . . .

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Team of Independent Consultants? Not an Oxymoron

Every so often, a contract that comes across your desk may seem like the perfect opportunity… if only. If only you knew how to [insert specific skill here].  If only you had a few more hours in the day. If only you had someone else to collaborate with. But you’re an independent consultant! You don’t have “colleagues,” right? Why not? Have you ever considered...

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