ABSTRACT
Rule 1: Clearly define your market niche (industry or industries, geographical coverage, client size, and list of services) to create a unique and powerful offering to potential clients.
Creation or management of a professional service firm is the culmination of years of education, training, and work experience. It may involve just you … or multiple owners or partners. Often the firm grows out of a personal conviction that you can serve the world better as an adviser to organizations rather than by working in one. Or, you just got laid off from your company, government agency, nonprofit, or professional service firm and are in a panic over what to do next to feed your family, instantly making you a one-person firm without a name, identity, service, or income stream. Or, your firm creates itself because a potential client asks, “Can you help us?” or because you suggest, “Maybe I can help you.”
