Location Independent Consulting

A lot of consultants operate conventionally. This means the consultants only work with clients in the city or country the consultant lives. And a good portion of their consulting work involves they personally going to the offices, homes or domains of these clients to conduct their work. For this reason, they are unable to get or work with clients who are very long distances away such that travel may not be feasible. And even with their current clients, they are unable to consult if they or the clients leave the vicinity for some reason. In other words, these consultants are location dependent.

There’s a different type of consultant though, known as the location independent consultant. This consultant has built systems and structured his operations so that he is able to land and effectively work with clients globally regardless of where he or the clients live.

Thanks to the internet, a consultant in pretty much any field can achieve location independence with his work just by implementing a few changes.

Of course this doesn't mean you can't visit distant clients. If for some reason you choose to travel the world visiting clients regardless of the fact that you don't have to, that's fine. And that's the point! You don't necessarily have to. As a result of the systems you've put in place, you could easily have worked with said clients without actually having to personally meet.

What are the requirements for a consultant to achieve location independence? Frankly, they vary depending on the actual type of work the consultant does. Generally though, the consultant needs to:

1 Have consistent and reliable internet access: The consultant has to convert a lot of his interactions with clients from a personal nature to a digital one. This in most cases relies on consistent and reliable internet.

2 Create suitable online communication platforms: This is the actual medium through which a client conducts his work with clients. If you're a medical consultant dispensing advice to patients, how are you doing so? Whatsapp? Skype? Phone? Facetime? Email? You need to set up channels of communication that are convenient for both you and the clients.

3: Credibility Tools: Since you'll be marketing to potential clients globally, most of whom don't personally know you and possibly never will, you need to setup platforms that display your credibility and convey you as an expert in your field. This could be a blog where you regularly post content and valuable information about your expertise. As a medical consultant, obviously your qualificafions, awards and accomplishments would be prominently displayed on the blog. It could be a youtube channel where you create videos showing your clinics, state of the art lab and facilities, patients being tended to etc. You would also contribute knowledge to popular medical journals, forums etc.

Testimonials from clients/patients are valuable as a marketing tool. You would of course display this as frequently as you can across all platforms you employ for your marketing.

4 Shipping systems: Depending on the nature of your work, you may have to ship or received shipped stuff from clients. This applies if there are things you need to work on handily.

As a medical consultant, perhaps there are certain physical products you'd want to ship to your patients. Then its imperative that you have systems in place that facilitate fast and effective conveyance of these products to the clients.

You should also make it easy for the patients to order these products themselves. An "online store" showing where patients can take inventory of what they need and place orders may be necessary.

At the end if the day, location independent consulting is all about remotely delivering an experience that is equal or even superior to one clients and pateints would have had had you consulted conventionally. That's the essence of these systems.

Initially, it may feel unusual working this way especially if you've been used to the "normal" ways of consulting. Once you get the hang of it though, you'd quickly discover its actually quite easy and enjoyable.

Location independence can be achieved by a consultant in any field. It only takes a few steps and some imagination!