Do you dream of having the freedom of setting your own hours and being your own boss while doing work you are passionate about? Do you wonder what it would be like to successfully set yourself up as an independent security consultant?
What is the secret to this success? The reality is it takes self-discipline, drive and focus to build a successful independent security consultant business. Like most things in life, there are pros and cons working for an established corporation or choosing the path to become an independent security consultant.
Becoming an independent security consultant requires more than just being good in cybersecurity. As a consultant, you need to be able to market your services, sell them and do your own accounting. You are responsible for going and finding work and building customer relationships. You need to go into this profession understanding the risks and challenges that you will face.
In the initial phase of building your business, determine where your strengths lie and specialize. Once you determine your specialty, this will become your niche and the focal point of building your business.
Spread the Word
Finding that first client takes perseverance, persistence and patience. To set everything in motion, the first step is to spread the word.
- Inform former colleagues, friends, and family.
- Network–attend local events and conferences. Hand out business cards and shake some hands.
Establish yourself as a thought leader. This can be done by:
- Speaking at InfoSec conferences
- Posting on LinkedIn. This is a great way to show and demonstrate your knowledge.
- Taking advantage of Twitter
- Responding to questions in relevant social networks like Quora or Reddit
- Creating a blog and engaging with followers
- Writing articles discussing topics in your area of expertise
- Giving interviews
Create and Build Your Brand
Organizations create their brand and focus their selling and marketing around this brand. It is no different for an independent security consultant. You are the brand. Your brand is a reflection of who you are. People want to do business with people they know and trust.
To build a brand, you need to get out and engage with potential clients. Work on building those relationships. Know who is your target audience. It may seem obvious but write it down with as much detail as possible.
Use social media is an opportunity to establish your digital brand. It gives you visibility and makes you easier to find.
Create Your Plan of Action
A plan should detail everything needed to get your business off the ground. It should detail:
Financial plan–How much do you need each month to live? What should you be charging your customers? You don’t want to undervalue your service yet come in too high and not get the business.
Marketing plan–Your plan should include your goals and objectives with measurable results so you can see what is working and what is not. Take corrective action on any activities that are not working in your plan. Think about what sets you apart from other independent security consultants and other businesses that provide a similar service. Use this to help market and sell your services.
Legal plan–Ensure that you are protected in case a test goes awry and brings down a server. Your customer will most likely have a standard license agreement in place with their customers to ensure service levels. Server downtime could result in lost revenue. You want to have an agreement in place with your customer to protect yourself from being sued.
Personal development–Stay on top of the latest technology trends. Build a lab to explore and assess technology. Have a test environment setup where you can do your testing before actually performing the test in a customer’s production environment. Get the necessary security certificates you feel would support your area of expertise.
Take the Bull by The Horns
Venturing down the path to become an independent security consultant requires resiliency to forge forward when you have those days when things may not go as planned. There will be moments of self-doubt. It will be at those times when you will need to look forward and push through your obstacles.
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