Know-How Exchange : Other

No free lunches, I'm afraid. You probably have to do it the old fashioned way and prospect on your own.

Suggestion: Identify the one or two prospects who need your services most. Research their needs and values. Then approach them with a presentation that demonstrates how well you understand them and how uniquely well prepared you are to solve their most important problem.

It's easier to close 100% of a small number of leads than 5% of a large number. If/when you're successful with the first two, you can go after the next two.

This philosophy is at the heart of Rasputin For Hire. The book's subtitle is An inside look at management consulting between jobs or as a second career.

And there's a special offer if you use the link above -- a report in which experienced consultants talk about their consulting experiences and offer advice to new consultants. The consultants interviewed for that report are all top experts here on the Know-How-Exchange.

And while the book is targeted primarily at management consultants, the advice in it really applies to just about every marketing service business. (Dozens of different consultants were interviewed in researching and writing the book.)

Dear John,

I see something of a contradiction here.

In one paragraph you tell me you're resourceful; in another you tell me you need resources.

But could it be that what's truly lacking here isn't resources, or an ability to be resourceful. Could it be that what's truly wanting is the quality of resourcefulness?

Now, debate this as you may, semantics here are not the issue because, "resourcefulness" it isn't the same thing as being resourceful. The "ness" quality of any given "thing" refers to its degree; to its condition.

And although you might have all the resources in the world, the key to your success here may lie in the degree to which you are prepared to push things to move away from any current state of mind (or place of psychological safety), in order to embrace something new, something other than the place or feeling that's keeping you where you are now; that's keeping you—to all intents and purposes—stuck.

To escape this flytrap, you need to view think literally and laterally. Up, down, left, and right.

What areas or specific niches do current clients connect to or have contacts with that you might investigate, perhaps over lunch?

What testimonial leverage do you have from a current client that might pry open the door to another, related area to which you currently have no access, but to which an introduction—no matter how brief—might get you beyond a gatekeeper?

Who do you know, who in turn may know someone who has needs outside your current realm, needs you can meet and exceed?

The best examples of this I can think of are Twitter and Facebook. And although these applications are social media areas, where the emphasis may predominantly be on social relationships and connections, a few subtle words or a casual mention here or there might be all it takes to result in a "Let's chat about this more. Call my office in the morning to make an appointment."

So resourcefulness becomes the degree to which you are willing to move things, not necessarily the quality of merely being resourceful.

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

To answer your specific question - as to whether or not there are places you can bid on work:

www.rfpdb.com

you could also try elance.com - but there are a lot of india/russia listings...

K