how to increase your income as a consultant in 2023

10 tips for consultants to increase your earnings and strategies to implement today to work towards your financial goals. 

Do you feel like you could be earning more money as a consultant? Or have you been dreaming of one day being able to charge more for your services? Then perhaps it’s the right time to start looking at tips to increase your income as a consultant.

There are many ways to go about doing this. It’s a good idea to first look at what barriers may be holding you back from earning more - such as a lack of time or skills. 

You may want to look at how other consultants have managed to increase their earnings to see if you could replicate their approach. For example, by charging higher hourly rates, collaborating with other consultants on bigger projects, or by being more efficient with your time - you may be able to earn more each month.

I covered ten strategies for success for solopreneurs starting out in an earlier blog post. In this article I'll be looking at tips to increase your earnings and at strategies that you can start implementing today to work towards your financial goals. 

Jeff Bezos once said: “where you are going to spend your time and your energy is one of the most important decisions you get to make in life.” If you’re going to spend your time and energy working as a consultant, then you may as well find ways to make it as financially rewarding as possible.

Challenges to increasing your income

Some of the most common challenges that stand in the way of increasing your income include lack of time, lack of skills, or your own mindset.

Don't let your mindset hold you back.

Once you start thinking about your own barriers to earning more, you may begin to realize that there’s a lot you can change to affect how much you earn.

For example, if lack of time is your main challenge, then you may need to think about ways to be more efficient with your time. Or if a lack of skills are holding you back - then you could start thinking about ways to boost your skills. 

Likewise if you just feel that you’re not worthy of a higher hourly rate for your services - then start talking to others and networking. That may help you realize that many competitors with similar skills charge far more, and that actually with a little boost in confidence, you too could be earning more. 

How to increase earnings as a consultant

If you want to increase your earnings, you’ll need a strategy. If you’ve been wondering “what are the best ways to earn passive income” or “how can I get side hustles that pay well” as a way of earning some extra cash - then here are ten ideas to consider. Implement these ten strategies right now to increase your income.

10 tips and strategies to increase your income

1. Increase your rate

Have you thought about increasing your hourly rate or the amount you charge for different work packages? Increasing your rate may be one of the easiest ways of earning more. 

You’ll need to do some research into what competitive rates are for your industry and you may find out you’ve been under-selling yourself. For example, research indicates that self-employed women actually undervalue themselves, charging significantly less than male counterparts. In fact, this particular study showed that men earn 43% more than women in self-employment. Take a close look at what you’re charging and make sure that you’re not undervaluing your own skills and experience. 

In addition, seek out more international work for which you can charge higher rates than the local rates in your country. 

2. Take on more work

Another way to earn more may be to work more. If you have spare capacity to take on more clients as a consultant, then that may help boost your income. There are many ways you can work more efficiently and be more productive, which provides more time in your day to take on extra clients. Organizing your day efficiently as a solopreneur can have a big impact on your capacity.

If finding clients is challenging, consider looking at online freelance marketplaces.

If you’re able to work more efficiently or even free up some time by automating some administrative tasks, you may have more capacity to take on extra clients. Consider delegating some routine or business administration tasks so that you can spend more time providing value for your clients. 

Many consultants from around the world are opting to run their businesses this way, as Estonia’s advanced digital e-services allow you to run a company online with ease. You can bank and transact online, file taxes digitally and even start a company 100% online. This can help you save countless hours on managing your business that you could then rather use providing consulting to clients.

3. Collaborate with others or employ staff

If you have quite a lot on your plate as a consultant, you may want to consider hiring some staff to help you. While hiring staff may sound daunting, there are many ways to reduce your risks - like hiring staff on a freelance or contractual basis. That way you only need to pay staff when they work.

You may also find that there’s an opportunity to collaborate with other consultants in a similar field to share resources and work together on larger projects. Teaming up with another professional may also increase your chances of getting more work, as clients may see your combined skills as an advantage. 

If you’re looking for opportunities to spark a collaboration with fellow entrepreneurs, then it may be worth researching relevant freelancer online forums, Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups, or Discord groups related to the region you’re working in, or the sector you operate in. 

By joining the Estonian e-Residency program, you’re also joining a global community of entrepreneurs. You can network within this community and find advice, support and even the opportunity to collaborate with other consultants in your sector. 

4. Enhance your skills

As Warren Buffet once said, “The most important investment you can make is in yourself.” Boosting your skills is one way you can invest in yourself and your future. New skills help you offer a broader range of services to your clients. And some skills may also allow you to charge higher rates.

When you’re looking to boost your skills, consider the types of skills that may be complementary to what you already have. And remember that there are many ways to get skills. You may even be able to teach yourself the skills you need from doing a little online research. 

Or diversify your skills and service offering by investing in further education. Whether you take a specialized course, a degree or you learn new skills online - being able to broaden your skills is often a pathway to increased earnings. 

Tips to enhance your skills: You may already have a wide range of skills, but lack the formal training or certifications to show off those skills. Consider trying to find ways to showcase your skills to clients, either through a portfolio of work or by getting credible and trustworthy certifications or qualifications that will impress prospective clients. 

For example, if you’re a copywriter then you may want to look for skills that are in-demand such as SEO content writing or social media strategy skills. That way you can add on extra services that are related to what you already do and may set you apart from your competitors.

It’s often a good idea to look at what courses or qualifications other copywriters have, to get an idea of what’s commonly accepted as a good and reliable type of qualification. In some cases you won’t even need a qualification - you’ll just need to be able to demonstrate your abilities in practice. 

5. Create packages 

By offering a range of different packages of services, you may be able to provide more value to your clients and at the same time, charge more for your expertise. 

Tips to create packages: For example, if you offer copywriting services, you could consider offering a bundle of four SEO-optimized blogs a month for a set rate. That way you may be able to make sure you consistently have work, and you may be able to earn more than if you just worked at an hourly rate. 

6. Do competitor research 

Take a look at what your competitors charge, what services they offer and what skills they have. This can be a useful way of getting ideas and inspiration for what rates you can charge, what skills and services you could add and learn, and how to market your consultancy. 

Tips on how to do competitor research: Say you're working as a graphic designer. Look at other designers that have a similar style, experience and skills to see what they charge and how they present themselves. Do they have a website, a portfolio, social media pages? What types of services do they offer? And what packages and rates do they charge? 

By taking a closer look at competitors, you may be able to find inspiration about how you can improve your skills, marketing and services - and you might also be able to see how to package and price yourself more effectively.

7. Boost your profile

Whether you have a LinkedIn profile, a consultancy website, or you’re marketing yourself on freelance platforms - it’s good to review your profile. 

Your profile says a lot about you. If it’s professional, comprehensive and stands out from the crowds - chances are you’ll be able to convert more clients. . 

Tips on how to boost your profile: Take a look to see that your skills are all listed, that your profile is optimized for SEO, and that you follow best practices to make your profile enticing. That may include adding reviews from clients and certifications of your qualifications to build consumer trust. 

If you have a website, you may want to consider checking that it’s optimized. You may even want to try and run some targeted ads to increase awareness about your services.

8. Find your niche

Assess whether there’s an untapped market for niche services within your sector. Creating niche services where there aren’t many other competitors, but where there is demand - may help drive more enquiries and land you more jobs. 

Tips on finding your niche: Start by looking at what skills and experience you have, what you’re passionate about and what you can offer as a service. 

For example, you may be a landscape designer with experience working in a particular country with a specific range of plants that are endemic or native to that area. Try to conduct research into competitors within your area that also offer landscape design services. 

Next consider whether there’s a unique gap in the market that none of them are filling, which you could. Perhaps most of them work on residential projects and there are a range of commercial or industrial projects that you could focus on.

By doing research into your niche and gaps in the market - you may uncover other sources of potential income. 

By way of another example, if you provide social media marketing services and you have a passion for sustainability - you may find that there’s a lack of green social media consultants in your area. That could lead to a niche service offering in an untapped and non-competitive market that’s full of demand. 

9. Use customer reviews to boost client trust

A great way to boost customer trust is to use reviews by your previous clients to help market your consultancy. This provides a sense of social trust that helps to enhance your brand image. 

Tips on using customer reviews: Whether you do this by posting client reviews on your website, or whether you link to your Google reviews, making reviews public is a good starting point.

If you mostly do work on a freelance platform, there are typically opportunities to request that clients post reviews on your profile. Consider requesting your clients to leave you reviews to help boost client trust. 

You can also post positive reviews from clients across your social media channels or quote them in your bio, to help showcase what others have experienced when working with you. 

10. Create a financial goal

Having goals to work towards can help to achieve your desired income. If you set a target of the amount you’d like to be earning, you can then start creating a strategy to achieve that. 

You may decide it’s best to start increasing your rate, or that you need to do a short course - or you may decide to take on different types of clients.

Try to make sure your goals are achievable, realistic and time-bound.

Tip to create a financial goal: Start by thinking about how much you’d like to earn by the end of this year. Make sure it at least covers your costs. Don’t be afraid to create an ambitious goal, but do make sure it’s realistic. 

Then, once you have that figure in mind, start to work backwards. Figure out how much you need to charge per hour to achieve that goal. Once you’ve created a financial goal, you can start taking steps towards achieving it. Remember to continuously revise your goals each year. 

For example, if you’re a tax consultant and you currently have expenses of $40,000 a year and you earn $57,000 a year before tax - you may want to set your goal to be earning $30,000 by the end of the year. 

Once you’ve decided on this goal, then you can figure out how to charge clients to achieve it. Perhaps you’ll need to work 40 hours a week at $30/hour rate. Or you could charge 10 clients for a package of $480 a month and earn around the same. 

Achieving financial freedom

Almost everyone wants to earn more money. But, not everyone is focused on actively taking steps to increase their income. 

If you’re interested in earning more as a consultant, a good place to start is setting a financial goal. Then, create a strategy to follow so that you’re able to achieve it. Hopefully the tips above will help you achieve your own sense of financial freedom as a solopreneur and inspire you to realize that you could be earning more. 

This article was written by guest contributor and seasoned digital nomad Andy Stofferis (www.andysto.com).