If you love nutrition and the health care business in general, and believe you can help people in these areas, you might want to consider beginning your own nutrition consulting business. The consulting business would give you the opportunity to work one-on-one with your clients in a personal setting. Running your own business allows you to set your own prices and hours and to be in charge of your employment.
Acting as a consultant comes with rewards, but with problems, too. It helps to be very well informed before you begin. You should do as much research as possible before you start acting as your own boss. If you are considering beginning your own nutrition consulting business, follow these 5 great tips.
1. Create a Thorough Business Plan
This cannot be stressed enough. When you create a business plan, it will help you work through some of the kinks of your business, as well as identify areas where you might need assistance.
Your business plan should include:
- the marketing for your nutrition consulting business
- your advertising budget
- your start-up costs
- the location
- what types of things you want to do with your business
- what you want to charge
- potential sources of capital
If you go to your bank to apply for a loan, you will need your business plan. Therefore, create it with care, and pay attention to detail.
2. Create a Home Office
If you have the space, create a professional looking office for customers to visit (be sure to check and comply with local zoning ordinances and investigate your insurance company's policies regarding coverage for business clientele). A dedicated home office may be claimed as a deduction regardless if it is used for customers or not; just be sure that if complies with IRS regulations (which require that the room is not also used as a guest bedroom for example).
3. Collaborate with Like-Minded Professionals
When local tradeshows and festivals come around, get together with other beauty and health maintenance providers and consider renting a booth together. Collaboration can take many forms; consider leaving your literature with other businesses and distributing their business cards in return. This will help you save money and advertise at the same time; word of mouth advertising is free and can be extremely effective.
4. Always Stay Current with New Information
Consider taking classes at your local college or university. Join business associations to network with other people in similar fields and dissimiliar ones as well. Read the latest books and interact with other nutritionists in web-based communities. Knowledge about illnesses such as anorexia and bulimia will help keep you current and relevant to your customers.
5. Obtain Proper Certifications
Your state may require you to be licensed before you start giving nutritional advice or you may need to have certification before opening your own business venture. Always know the local laws before proceeding; you don't want to wind up with legal trouble.
Follow these 5 tips to ensure you successfully launch your nutrition consulting business!
