The Best Consulting Niches to be In

Read time: 3 minutes

This email is sent to you and 4,529 others

Hi there!

I couldn’t wait to tell my (then) fiancee. I had just landed a huge consulting client.

You know these guys. They are famous for their shoes, but they make other apparel too.

I had another project starting with a mid-sized BPO in two weeks. It was going to be a big month as a result. I forecasted $80,000 in profit.

That month was March 2020.

That was the month COVID emerged. That’s when the lockdown started, and companies began layoffs and budget cutbacks.

Needless to say: I didn’t get to do either project.

Both were canceled. It’s not great optics to pay consultants big money when a company is doing layoffs. Consulting projects almost always get canceled in that situation.

Since I wasn’t working and was bored at home, I spent time reaching out to other consulting friends. They all were in a similar spot: canceled projects.

Except, a few consultants were still busy. They were “mission critical,” and their projects continued.

I get asked a lot what I think are the best consulting niches to be in.

In a sentence: I think those mission-critical niches are the best ones. Their projects always continue and are never canceled.

So, what are those mission-critical niches?

Immediate Sales Strategy/Operations

When in doubt, get closer to revenue.

When a business is in trouble, they need to sell more. They need the revenue.

If you can help them do that, then you’ll always have work. That’s true even in a recession.

Good places to be then are:

• Sales operations

• Sales commission planning

• Sales strategy

• Sales force planning

• Or, the next niche

Here’s the thing: your work needs to lead directly to immediate revenue. Working on a product launch for something that could generate revenue in 3 years won’t work.

The company think you’ll add more dollars to the top line in 60 days or less.

Salesforce Consultant

Salesforce is a CRM software that nearly every company above $50M in revenue uses. They run the entire revenue side of their business on Salesforce.

It’s also an absolute beast of a software, takes years to implement correctly, and there is always integration work to be done.

It’s why Salesforce has certifications to prove you can do the work. Countless consultants specialize in this exact niche.

Again, a Salesforce consultant is very close to revenue. If you can optimize Salesforce and enable the sales reps to make better use of their time, then you’ve directly led to revenue.

In times of hardship, a company will cut its strategy consultant before it cuts its Salesforce consultant.

SAP Implementation

SAP is not close to revenue but is critical to the operations of the right company.

SAP manages a company’s supply chain. A complex company with many parts in various stages (e.g: a manufacturer like Boeing) would fall apart without SAP.

Same situation here: the consultant involved with SAP is untouchable, even in a down economy.

Does this mean these are the niches for you to work in?

Maybe.

Like everything else in life, there are pros and cons.

The pro side should be clear:

• You will never struggle for work

• Your average project will be several years long. You won’t have to constantly pitch for new work

• You will never lose work due to tough economic conditions

In my mind, that makes these niches “the best.” A consulting business doesn’t exist without clients, and this niche guarantees clients in any economy.

However, there are cons.

• It’s technical work, and you might not be good at it (I’m personally not good at this)

• It can be boring

• You might have skills in a different area already

It’s up to you to decide if this is the best for you.

My goal here is to answer the question, “what is the best consulting niche?” in the way I’d tell my own brother.

I’d tell him:

• Get close to revenue

• Learn to love SAP or Salesforce

How can I help?

If you reply to this email, it will come directly to me & I’ll respond early next week.

To head off a very common question: I’m sorry but I don’t have any quickstart guides, courses, communities, or other paid resources!

What would be most helpful to read about next week?

The two questions I got the most were:

1. What are the best niches?

2. How does skin in the game consulting work?

We did #1 this week, so we’ll do #2 next week!

What am I up to these days?

This newsletter isn’t about me; it’s about you. However, I keep getting asked, so I’ve added this little section.

Traditional consulting

Long-time readers would know I’ve had an interesting saga going where a client refused to pay an invoice. The update: they finally paid! It should be deposited into my account tomorrow.

Skin-in-the-game consulting

This is a new consulting model where I work with a client as their advisor, but I also own a significant piece of equity in the business. I have “skin in the game” to ensure my clients succeed.

A new client and I officially started working together this week: Pleiades Consultancy.

It’s a really smart model: they pitch on UpWork projects on behalf of consultants. The consultants get projects without having to do any of the pitch work!

This is a really good fit for a skin-in-the-game client because I understand the target market pretty well! Matt, the CEO, and I both think the business can 3X over the next year.

Scholastic Capital

95% of my time right now is going to Scholastic Capital: the single-family fund that buys homes in elite high school districts and rents them for 3+ years to tenants!

We have officially finalized our docs and are now raising money! The plan is to raise $10M ahead of next summer when we buy properties, with a minimum investment of $100K.

If you, or anyone you know, is interested in talking more about the fund, the link to my calendar is HERE