Onward and upward!

OK. So we've appointed a Sales Consultant who is now in the process of building and training a team to start spreading the word.

The website is now virtually completed and is fully functional.

I've started work on two Professional Development courses for consultants. One will focus on how to run a successful consulting business and will lead to an award that has been tentatively titled the Certified Practicing Consultant (CPC).

Naturally, in order to be a consultant you must be an expert in a given field. In recognition of this pre-requisite, entry to this program will be restricted to people who can demonstrate their expertise (either through their IFEC Membership, through several years of experience and/or through their formal qualifications).

The second Professional Development program will be a structured mentoring program, aimed at teaching the skills required to be an effective mentor. This reflects the importance the IFEC places on developing and supporting new entrants to the consulting arena.

Both courses will be delivered on-line and will be structured to allow self-paced learning. Both courses will be freely available to IFEC Members, with no decision yet as to price or availability for non-members. It is anticipated that these Training programs will be ready by early 2010.

In other news, the IFEC is currently developing a 'scholarship' program whereby we plan to award 10 free memberships to the top graduates from the best Business Schools in the country (as chosen by the institution). The lucky recipients of these membership will still be required to undergo the regular background checks and will receive full Membership benefits (with the exception of the leather compendium). We have begun discussions with leading Universities in all States/Territories regarding details of this program.

Still in the spirit of generosity, the IFEC has budgeted to give away 10 free memberships to established consultants. These places will not be limited only to Australian practitioners as we seek to build a diversified network for our membership.

We haven't yet figured out how to go about giving away Memberships- but we are open to suggestions. If you have any ideas for how to distribute these free Memberships, don't hesitate to let us know! Maybe a simple old-fashioned radio-style competition- "free to the first ten callers..." Who knows? We'll post more details as they become available.

Regards,

If you build it, they will come...

If you build it, they will come. At least, that was the theory in 'Field of Dreams'. The reality, of course, is that you have to not only build it, but also market it- get the word out that its there, and inform people of the benefits. Then they will come. How could they not???

Truth is, I believe strongly in the concept of the Institute for Ethical Consulting. I believe it will provide genuine advantages to all of our Members- both immediate and local, but also by opening the doors to work/collaboration in diverse and growing markets in the Dragon economies, the rapidly restructuring Sth. Africa, the US/Canada, the Middle East and the re-emerging European Union.

We need to reach 'critical mass' in order to explode into diverse markets and diverse operations (Professional Development programs; targeted marketing etc), and until critical mass is achieved we have to do the 'grunt' work- shoulders to the wheel, and other assorted time-tested truisms.

The fact is, Critical Mass is not so far away- 50 members would likely be sufficient (in my estimation) to trigger the reaction that we need. This could be as simple as one new membership each week for a year, although it would be preferable to build numbers more rapidly in order to provide the greatest benefits as quickly as possible to our 'early adapter' Membership.

To this end we are seeking enthusiastic Sales Consultants (we've advertised on 'Seek' etc.) to get out there and spread the word.

Sales Consultants will be self-employed (ie: will have their own ABN and Business Name and will be responsible for their own expenses, unless prior agreement is reached with IFEC), under contract to the Institute for Ethical Consulting. They will be paid an extremely generous commission (amounting to almost 50% of the net) of $1,000 for each completed Membership sale they are responsible for. Whilst the market is, as yet, untested we expect that a motivated person should easily earn a minimum of $1,000 per week (with just one sale), and the sky is the limit!

In the start up phase of the Institute we aren't able, unfortunately, to pay a retainer or benefits- so we're offering the most generous commission we possibly can. Also, as a self-employed Sales Consultant you can claim tax-deductions on cars, clothes, shoes, rent/mortgage, phone/utilities, entertaining costs and so forth. But this offer may not remain available to Sales Consultants joining us after Critical Mass is reached. At that point the need will be for capital to underwrite expansion and developement programs, so the commissions paid to new sales staff then may not be so generous.

I guess the bottom line of this post is that I'm looking for motivated Sales Consultants, and I'm prepared to pay a generous commission to those who enter at the ground floor: this is a real opportunity to earn $50K-$150K (or more) per annum.

If you (or someone you know) fits the bill, get in touch at i.green@ifec.biz or i.hruszecky@ifec.biz. Include your number and I'll give you a call to discuss it further, if you like.

Regards,

Introduction

I just wanted to share the reasoning behind the establishment of the Institute for Ethical Consulting.

I've been running my own HR Consulting Business for nearly 15 years, and for the most part its an enjoyable lifestyle. For the most part.

There are some aspects of being a consultant that aren't so enjoyable: the sense of isolation and the 'feast or famine' nature of the job- you're either working hard, or you're hardly working (as you spend all your time finding your next job). Then there's the need to establish/lubricate business networks. To say nothing of battling the poor reputation consultants have (you only have to Google 'Consultant Jokes' to see what I mean).

So, eventually, in the course of a series of discussions with a colleague (who runs a Marketing Business) we developed the idea for the Institute for Ethical Consulting. The aim is to address the difficulties most consultants face by:

• Providing a means by which a consultant can demonstrate his/her integrity;


• Providing a peer-maintained 'Code of Ethics';


• 'Quality Assuring' members;


• Improving the image of the consulting profession as a whole;


• Providing networking opportunities for our membership;


• Providing employment opportunities for our membership;


• Making it easy for prospective employers to find quality consultants;


• Providing assurance to prospective employers of consultants that they not only have an ethical consultant, but they have a means of redress, should anything go wrong;


• Providing a free mediation service should disputes arise; and


• Providing free resources (eg: 'How To Write a Consulting Brief' and a free 'Consulting Contract' template, valued at AUD$600.00) to make it cheaper and easier to hire a consultant, and to increase confidence when hiring a consultant.

Joining the Institute for Ethical Consulting will entail a comprehensive background check, a qualifications check, under-going a two-stage interview process, making a statutory declaration and contractually agreeing to abide by the IFEC Code of Ethics.

The Code of Ethics has initially been developed by myself and Ms Hruszecky after looking at several different models ('Ethics' was one of my Majors at University). Whilst we think the Code we have developed effectively represents the values of the industry, this is merely a starting-point: the Code is to be administered by an Ethics Committee comprised of IFEC Members and elected by IFEC Members. The Ethics Committee will be empowered to receive comments and to suggest changes and amendments to the Code (for consideration by the broader Membership) to ensure that ownership and control of the Code of Ethics rests with the Members themselves.

Over the medium-to-long term we also plan to provide a number of Professional Development opportunities (I have done this in a previous 'life'- developing and offering accredited Post Graduate Diplomas/MBA's by distance-education in partnership with a major university).

Our Business Plan is simple- build up an initial membership in Australia, and then expand outwards. We hope to establish a presence in China, the US, Europe and Sth Africa. This will provide unique networking and employment opportunities to our members, enabling them to access markets that are currently difficult to access without resources.

Having already invested a good deal of our own money in establishing the business (including the web-site at http://www.ifec.biz/) many of our plans will be delayed until Membership levels increase sufficiently to fund their development.

Our goal, at this stage, is to begin building a membership as quickly as possible, and to that end we have already begun recruiting Sales staff.

As an introductory offer we are giving 15 months membership for the cost of 12, in recognition of the fact that some of the benefits of Membership (eg: networking) will not be there until the Membership begins to grow.

Clearly, the start up phase is crucial to the future success of the enterprise. Equally clearly, once the IFEC has a toe-hold it will expand rapidly and will provide very tangible benefits for our Membership.

Anybody with any thoughts on marketing the IFEC, or who knows someone with thoughts on marketing the IFEC- please comment here or email me at i.green@ifec.biz; I'd be glad to hear from you.

Regards,