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Hello All,

I am considering starting a small business statistical consulting company. However, I am concerned about surviving without a steady income. I would like your input on pros and cons as a self-employed statistician in AL and what type of hard/software should I invest in that can handle the demands of big data. Also where should I start with building client relationships? Thank you for your inputs in advance.

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Shamarick Paradise
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Hi Shamarick,

I recently started my own private practice in January and have been keeping a blog related to my experience:

www.krloveqcc.com/blog

You may find some information of interest there.

In general I think it would be difficult to start a private practice without pre-existing relationships with clients, though I know it has been done. Word of mouth is the most effective advertising (and in my case almost all of my advertising).

Please feel free to contact my privately with any questions you have!

kim@krloveqcc.com

Kim

------------------------------
Kim Love
Owner and Lead Consultant
K. R. Love Quantitative Consulting & Collaboration

------Original Message------

Hello All,

I am considering starting a small business statistical consulting company. However, I am concerned about surviving without a steady income. I would like your input on pros and cons as a self-employed statistician in AL and what type of hard/software should I invest in that can handle the demands of big data. Also where should I start with building client relationships? Thank you for your inputs in advance.

------------------------------
Shamarick Paradise
------------------------------

------Original Message------

Hello All,

I am considering starting a small business statistical consulting company. However, I am concerned about surviving without a steady income. I would like your input on pros and cons as a self-employed statistician in AL and what type of hard/software should I invest in that can handle the demands of big data. Also where should I start with building client relationships? Thank you for your inputs in advance.

------------------------------
Shamarick Paradise
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Consider consulting in industrial Six Sigma as a freelancer or sub to a major Six Sigma consulting firm.  Daily rates exceed any other statistical discipline that I have seen.

------------------------------
Robert Stoddard

Original Message:
Sent: 03-15-2016 18:42
From: Morgan Stewart
Subject: Interested in Starting a Consultant Business

Hi Shamarick,

I can only address California, but I've been a consultant in So Cal off and on since 2005. I think the most important thing is to build up a network of contacts at both local and national companies who you can pitch your marketing to before you launch your business. You should also have at least 6 months of living expenses saved up - a year is even better; building a clientele takes time. If your local junior college or adult education provider offers a low-cost course in entrepreneurship, sign up, it will help you with budgeting, advertising, and marketing skills. Be aware that your expenses are going to be way higher than you think - just the double Medicare and SS premiums can be in the tens of thousands per year when you don't have an employer paying half. I recommend holding off on SAS until you are sure you need it (for example, when a client has an FDA submission and the work requires SAS and CDISC); the cost of a single-user license is prohibitive. I had one for two years (this was a few years back) and it was nearly $10,000 for the first year and round 28% of that to renew every year thereafter.

Morgan

Shamarick -

what they all said!

Note Dr. Love talking about taxes and such in her blog. I just launched my business last May. You need to be able to handle all the non-consulting/non-stat and maybe non-fun parts of business when you are the owner. Otherwise I think now is the time so go for it!

I haven't done anything but passive advertising so far, my first client actually found me on the ASA consultant list! I have a website and business cards and I go to meetings in my field (healthcare) or in stats or programming locally. But this is my second career--I had some money to start with. (Not much!) Easiest way to start is while someone else is giving you a check...

One day I hope to run my own SAS license but I have SPSS (client requirement) and use R and Excel of course.

Finally, read everything about consulting and clients--I have a "professional coach" as a friend. A cheerleader is helpful!

Robert-- any suggestions for green belt certification?

Jesse Sharp

jsharp@sharpstatsci.com

SharpStatisticalSciences.com

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Jesse Sharp
Owner, Sr. Statistician
Sharp Statistical Sciences

Original Message:
Sent: 03-15-2016 19:08
From: Robert Stoddard
Subject: Interested in Starting a Consultant Business

Consider consulting in industrial Six Sigma as a freelancer or sub to a major Six Sigma consulting firm.  Daily rates exceed any other statistical discipline that I have seen.

------------------------------
Robert Stoddard

Jesse,

You are definitely spot on regarding consideration for the "other" parts of the business! :-)

We started our firm off 5 years ago part time and eventually grew it to where I am only a few weeks away from shifting to consutling full time.

I highly recommend complimenting your resume with a Six Sigma certification for additional value-added offerings to your clients.  The ASQ (American Society of Quality) offers Yellow Belt, Green Belt, Black Belt, and now Master Black Belt certifications which are all internationally recognized.  Another great complimentary certification to consider would be the PMP (Project Management Professional) offered by the PMI (Project Management Institute). 

Please feel free to reach out to me directly on positioning your Six Sigma Certification for additional value-added propositions and/or the certification process for each level.

Best Regards,

------------------------------
Anthony Carra
Business Improvement Group
anthony@bigbpi.com
(954) 270-4384

Original Message:
Sent: 03-16-2016 11:28
From: Jesse Sharp
Subject: Interested in Starting a Consultant Business

Shamarick -

what they all said!

Note Dr. Love talking about taxes and such in her blog. I just launched my business last May. You need to be able to handle all the non-consulting/non-stat and maybe non-fun parts of business when you are the owner. Otherwise I think now is the time so go for it!

I haven't done anything but passive advertising so far, my first client actually found me on the ASA consultant list! I have a website and business cards and I go to meetings in my field (healthcare) or in stats or programming locally. But this is my second career--I had some money to start with. (Not much!) Easiest way to start is while someone else is giving you a check...

One day I hope to run my own SAS license but I have SPSS (client requirement) and use R and Excel of course.

Finally, read everything about consulting and clients--I have a "professional coach" as a friend. A cheerleader is helpful!

Robert-- any suggestions for green belt certification?

Jesse Sharp

jsharp@sharpstatsci.com

SharpStatisticalSciences.com

------------------------------
Jesse Sharp
Owner, Sr. Statistician
Sharp Statistical Sciences

I'm tagging this onto Morgan Stuart's reply to save me the trouble of repeating his excellent advice.

I'm going to add one thing: determine what expertise you want to sell.  If you were a packaged foods company, you might have a short elevator-speech description of the product.

Dr. Love's website provides a good example of this:

For Academic Clients

Krloveqcc		remove preview
For Academic Clients What We Offer We offer assistance on many aspects of quantitative research, including the following: Identification and quantification of research questions appropriate for study goals Survey and experimental design Determination of proper methods of statistical analysis Review of research proposals Sample size and power analyses Advice on data collection Data management Statistical analyses Interpretation and review of results and discussion We can provide assistance ranging from advising on the above to performing statistical analyses and writing a personalized report to help you understand your results. View this on Krloveqcc >

 (the formatting may get garbled by ASA, so you likely want to look at the original page)

The first two things (identify the research question, design a survey or experiment) indicates the general areas of greatest expertise and experience. Sure, data management is also there, but it's farther down, so this likely means she can handle data management of the project, not that you'd really hire her if the project was primarily data management.

Sure, those first two things are fairly broad (you don't want to be too limiting), but I note that my own consulting covers neither of these areas.

In many ways this is similar to those who suggested Six Sigma certification -- that identifies a certain specific type of consulting expertise.

Even though you don't have a bar code on your forehead, your clients will be buying a product - you - and they want to quickly scan the ingredient list to see if they want to go farther.

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Michael Kruger
M W Kruger Consulting

Original Message:
Sent: 03-15-2016 18:42
From: Morgan Stewart
Subject: Interested in Starting a Consultant Business

Hi Shamarick,

I can only address California, but I've been a consultant in So Cal off and on since 2005. I think the most important thing is to build up a network of contacts at both local and national companies who you can pitch your marketing to before you launch your business. You should also have at least 6 months of living expenses saved up - a year is even better; building a clientele takes time. If your local junior college or adult education provider offers a low-cost course in entrepreneurship, sign up, it will help you with budgeting, advertising, and marketing skills. Be aware that your expenses are going to be way higher than you think - just the double Medicare and SS premiums can be in the tens of thousands per year when you don't have an employer paying half. I recommend holding off on SAS until you are sure you need it (for example, when a client has an FDA submission and the work requires SAS and CDISC); the cost of a single-user license is prohibitive. I had one for two years (this was a few years back) and it was nearly $10,000 for the first year and round 28% of that to renew every year thereafter.

Morgan

Dear All,

Shamarick's question has prompted several constructive replies from statisticians with consulting experience as sole proprietors.

Another way to launch a career as a consulting statistician is to join an established firm in which you might initially contribute to existing projects generated by other consultants and then develop your own external client base over time.  Niche consulting firms exist to serve different industry sectors of application--e.g., health care, manufacturing, and financial services.

In making my transition from academia to consulting 12 years ago, I joined Exponent, a well-established engineering and scientific consulting firm.  By offering an environment in which I work collaboratively not only with fellow statisticians but also with talented consulting engineers and scientists in other disciplines, the firm has enabled me to address a rich and diverse set of problems and has provided an effective platform for me to build my own clientele through the organic process of repeat business and referrals, supplemented by targeted marketing efforts.

I admire those with the drive and ability to develop successful independent businesses from scratch, but there are other paths, perhaps involving less initial personal risk, that can nonetheless lead to a rewarding career in statistical consulting.

Best regards,

Duane

Duane Steffey, PhD

Principal Scientist & Director, Statistical & Data Sciences

E^xponent^® | 149 Commonwealth Drive | Menlo Park, CA  94025

Office: 650-688-7262 | Mobile: 650-862-9869 | Fax: 650-326-8072

Email: dsteffey@exponent.com | Website: www.exponent.com/duane_steffey/

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Duane Steffey
Director, Statistical and Data Sciences
Exponent, Inc.

It looks like you already work at a University. Perhaps they have a statistical consulting group on campus. If so, you could work with them on a volunteer basis and see what they have to go through with their clients. If not, perhaps start a consulting group on campus. Once you have some idea about the abilities and needs of customers, then maybe think about going out on your own. 

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Andrew Ekstrom

Statistician, Chemist, HPC Abuser;-)

All, I got a few comments and questions by email about my blog after posting the link to it--and I realized some folks might want a way to receive notification when I post a new entry. I've posted a link to a form on the blog's main page (www.krloveqcc.com/blog) where you can sign up, or you can just go directly to the form here:

K. R. Love QCC Blog Entry Notification

I hope the CNSL community's members continue to find it useful to some degree!

Kim

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Kim Love
Owner and Lead Consultant
K. R. Love Quantitative Consulting & Collaboration