When you are in business, your are faced with so many variables and uncertainties to deal with as compared to when you are in full time employment. When you prepare for a consulting and training business, you have to start to think about optional strategies to move ahead with your business venture.

It is important you perform the required SWOT analysis to determine your Strengths; Weaknesses; Opportunities and Threats. For External SWOT factors, it is more factual and realistic if you use the PEST Analysis to derive various Opportunities and Threats. Be sure to evaluate the PEST factors for positive and negative aspect to your business. After you have perform the SWOT Analysis, you need to understand the data from these analysis and select the most influential factors to formulate strategies. Each strategies need to be aligned to your overall approach. You can review some of the SWOT Analysis Example for Warmart

For a consulting and training business, you need to evaluate even further some strategies which may be adopted from the experience gain over your employment in the corporate world. Below are some examples of question before a strategy is adopted:-

1. What is your target market
2. Who are your target customer group
3. What are the current competitive positions
4. What are some potential growth in these two target group

What is your unique selling point?

1. Is it your reputation derived from your employment days?
2. Is it your special knowledge that your customer cannot refused?
3. Do you have any value-added service that differentiate you from your competitions?

Well, what Strategic approach you are going to take for your business? The following question would give an indication for a start:-

1. Do you want to gain entranced to certain market or customer group for a start since you do not have a customer base?
2. Are you looking for expanding the existing business?
3. Are you prospecting new client?
4. Are you moving towards total new but related area of business?

It is time for you to be honest to yourself if you are serious to take up a new business venture or an expansion. As a consultant or a trainer in business management, are you willing to work hard to help your client to resolve their problem so that they can see benefits from engaging you?

Do you make it easy for your client to get a clear understanding of how is your offering different from everyone else among your competitors? Do you make it easy for your client to propose to their management without being seen as bias?

If you can overcome these questions, the chance is you put your client in a comfortable position to support you to be their consultant or trainer. Then at your part, you have to keep up with your service and deliver only the best. But beware of common SWOT Analysis Mistakes