I am looking towards a career in Freelance training, I have 12 years retail management experience and feel that It is time to change direction and would very much like to draw on the experiences I have had and train most aspects of retail, for example, Customer service, dealing with Employees, through to building the business, my main questions are, 1. Do you need formal qualifications to get any work? 2. what is the best way forward to make a start once I have written all the materials for the training? any help would be very appriciated
karl davies
8 Responses
freelance
Hi Karl
Short answers – do you need qualifications to get work – if selling to the private sector – no
If selling to the public sector – maybe (but each one is different) so don’t bother with this route at first
Best way forward – well that is a big one
1) You do not need the material first you need clients!
2) Build your network
3) Call anyone and everyone you have ever met
4) Put your offer together and build you USP (unique selling point)
and too many things to list here.
Web sites to visit:
http://www.trainerbase.co.uk – great place to share ideas and get work (also look for the free downloads on going solo or freelance)
http://www.ukhrd.com – networking
Training zone of course 🙂
Have a look at the training being offered by http://www.pairoftrainers.co.uk for freelance trainers or people thinking of going freelance.
have you searched TZ for “freelance” as there have been many posting about this including:
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=159284&d=680&h=608&f=626&dateformat=%25e-%25h-%25y
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=157537&d=680&h=608&f=626&dateformat=%25e-%25h-%25y
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=157752&d=680&h=608&f=626&dateformat=%25e-%25h-%25y
Think carefully about your market, your offer and above all else:
Remember that when working for yourself things take three times longer than you thought
And
Just because a client calls today does not mean they will want you to do any work for many months – no matter how urgent they say it is at the time!
All the best
Mike
do some self coaching
Notwithstanding Mike’s excellent advice…
try this:
#go to http://www.coach-and-courses.com
#go to the “downloadable Resources”page
#download “Going it alone”
#answer those questions
Rus
Freelance Trainers
Good advice from colleagues and some resources I had not heard about. Have you tried BOOK A TRAINER? or TRAINING PAGES. Book a Trainer were recently featuring a posting for a project in December 2007,some time away I know, based on visiting supermarkets and are specifically looking for retail experience.But it might be worth recording an interest.
Which part of the UK are you working in? I have a freelance colleague who is busy building up a network of other specialists for his business on an associate.If you want to mail me direct my e mail is below from the link.
Quite a few colleagues gather in regional forums. I know there is a thriving one in the north west.They might have links to others.
Best Wishes
Jennifer
jennifertopping@amserve.com
Hiya
Hi Karl
Good website can’t hurt, check out http://www.mrsite.co.uk, I got two websites with them, have a look for an example http://www.supremacytraining.com. The rest of the guys are right though, you really have to just get out there and do because you can spend your life planning and thinking about it. Get along to as many breakfast meetings as you can and see how you go from there and remember, it’s not training, it’s performance improvement!!
Good luck mate
Rich
Freelancing
Hi Karl
If you decide to make the jump …. welcome to the freelance world. It’s tough but rewarding, not just financially.
Excellent advice from the other posters.
Before you put pen to paper and write the training material, get out and meet as many potential clients as you can. Understand their business, challenges and needs and then write proposals to meet those needs. Needs first, solutions second.
Join as many local organisations as you can and build your network, press the flesh well and often!
Good luck
Ray
thanx
Thankyou to all who have commented and given advice, think this is going to be a challenge to get off the ground, having said that, if you want something in this life you need to work for it, so here goes ………….
Finding Clients
Hi Karl,
As you already have the technical skills in place, I would strongly suggest you spend no more time developing your training materials. Every client I’ve ever worked with has wanted something different, and the more you can customise your offering, the more likely Prospects are to want to own it. This has the benefit of enabling you to charge higher prices. The critical thing is to involve the Prospect in creating a solution that will directly address their needs.
You will need to develop your abilities to (i) identify potential clients, (ii) communicate your message to them effectively, (iii) get in to see them and (iv) work with them to create a bespoke solution. (If you just offer what everyone else is offering, you’ll force the Prospect to choose on price – in which case, all too frequently, the lowest price wins!) However, they will only agree to see you if you can present yourself as having a novel approach or having a solution to a topical/pertinent problem that’s presently discomforting them. You’ll only be able to find out these problems by questioning, face-to-face!
With your knowledge of the retail sector you should have a strong awareness of current and forthcoming problems. It doesn’t matter how good a trainer you are if you can’t get through the door. Your number one priority, therefore, must be to develop those “mundane” skills of self-marketing and personal selling.
Contact me if you want further advice on how to go about this.
Re. your contact
Hi Karl,
Got your message, but your sytem won’t accept my reply! Can you e-mail me again with an alternate address or phone number?
Thanks
Brian Griffin