Formalizing a Solo Consulting Business

Before doing anything else, run this diagnostic on your current state:

1. Legal existence: Do you have a registered business entity (LLC/corp)? Y/N
2. Money infrastructure: Separate business bank account? Ability to invoice and accept payment? Y/N
3. Offer clarity: Can you state in one sentence what you sell, to whom, and for how much? Y/N
4. Proof of expertise: Published content, case studies, or a portfolio that demonstrates competence? Y/N
5. Pipeline: Do you have even one warm lead or past contact who could become a paying client? Y/N

If you answered "N" to #1 or #2, start there — you cannot legally invoice or open a business bank account without an entity. If you answered "Y" to #1 and #2 but "N" to #5, your bottleneck is sales/outreach, not more content or branding work. Most solo founders over-invest in website polish and under-invest in direct outreach — diagnose honestly before picking a track below.

This is a multi-competence build-out. Treat it as parallel tracks, but sequence the legal/financial track first since it blocks everything else (invoicing, contracts, liability protection).

Progress:
- [ ] Track 1: Legal & Financial Foundation
- [ ] Track 2: Offer & Positioning
- [ ] Track 3: Proof & Content (website, articles)
- [ ] Track 4: Sales & Client Acquisition
- [ ] Track 5: Operations & Delivery
- [ ] Track 6: Growth / Hiring Readiness

Track 1: Legal & Financial Foundation

• Choose entity type (sole proprietorship vs. LLC vs. nonprofit — note: .org domain doesn't legally make you a nonprofit; decide deliberately whether you're a for-profit consultancy or an actual nonprofit, since this changes everything downstream).
• Register the entity in your state/country.
• Get an EIN (or local tax ID equivalent).
• Open a dedicated business bank account.
• Set up basic bookkeeping (even a spreadsheet or Wave/QuickBooks).
• Understand your tax obligations (quarterly estimated taxes if solo in the US).
• Get a simple service contract / terms template you can reuse with every client.
• Consider liability insurance if you'll advise organizations (errors & omissions).

Track 2: Offer & Positioning

• Write a one-sentence positioning statement: "I help [who] do [what outcome] through [method]."
• Define 1-3 concrete service packages with real prices (not "contact for quote" only — have an anchor price).
• Identify your niche based on what you've already demonstrated (your published articles are evidence — align your offer to what they prove).

Track 3: Proof & Content

• Website should answer in 5 seconds: who you help, what problem you solve, how to contact you.
• Each article should map to a service you sell — content is a sales tool, not just thought leadership.
• Add calls-to-action on every page and article (book a call, email, inquiry form).
• Add a simple case study or "how I work" page even if your first "case" is a hypothetical or a past informal project.

Track 4: Sales & Client Acquisition

• This is usually the weakest link for solo technical/strategy founders. Budget real time here, not just content creation.
• Build a list of 20-50 realistic prospects (people/orgs who've shown signal they need this).
• Direct outreach (email, LinkedIn, warm intros) — don't wait for inbound from the website alone.
• Set up a simple CRM (even a spreadsheet: name, status, last contact, next action).
• Define your sales process: inquiry → discovery call → proposal → contract → kickoff.

Track 5: Operations & Delivery

• Project management approach for client work (even solo, use a simple system — Trello/Notion).
• Deliverable templates so each engagement doesn't start from scratch.
• Client communication cadence (weekly updates, etc.) to look professional as a team of one.

Track 6: Growth / Hiring Readiness

• Only prioritize this once Tracks 1-4 produce actual revenue.
• Document your processes now (SOPs) so future hires can follow them — write these as you go, not retroactively.
• Define what role you'd hire first (usually: someone to take work off your plate that isn't your highest-value activity — e.g., admin, design, or a junior associate for delivery).