How do I become a small business consultant?

You become a small business consultant by earning educational achievements and gaining significant experience. To become a small business consultant, a person must first earn a bachelor's degree in management consulting or a similar area of studies like business management, economics, or accounting.

What qualifications do you need to be a consultant?

The qualification to be a sales consultant is a bachelor's degree in a business-related degree. Common bachelor's degrees for sales consultants to hold include: Business Administration Business Management Marketing Advertisement Communications

What is a business consultant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Rebecca Sarver

A business consultant is an individual who provides professional advice and expertise to businesses. They work with clients to identify problems, develop strategies, and implement solutions to improve the overall performance of the business. Business consultants may specialize in areas such as marketing, finance, human resources, or operations, and they use their knowledge and experience to help companies achieve their goals.Ultimately, they help businesses become more successful and achieve sustainable growth.

What general advice would you give to a business consultant?

Rebecca Sarver

Lecturer in Human Services Studies, Elmira College

Listen more than you talk. There is so much to be learned from clients, seasoned human service workers, and the community that you work within. By listening and observing versus always feeling compelled to speak, you will learn job skills, people skills, and your clients' needs.

ScoreBusiness ConsultantUS Average

Salary

6.8

Avg. Salary $87,214

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.8

Growth rate 11%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 13.35%

Black or African American 8.04%

Hispanic or Latino 8.87%

Unknown 4.49%

White 65.07%

Gender

female 37.18%

male 62.82%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

6.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

2.2

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

What are the pros and cons of being a business consultant?

Pros

High earning potential
Opportunity to make a significant impact on a business
Exposure to diverse business challenges and strategies
Continuous learning and development opportunities
Professional autonomy and independence

Cons

Inconsistent workload and income
High-pressure work environment and tight deadlines
Constant need to market and sell services
Long working hours, including evenings and weekends
Travel requirements may be extensive

Key steps to become a business consultant

Explore business consultant education requirements

Most common business consultant degrees

Bachelor's

67.1 %

Master's

18.7 %

Associate

7.9 %

Start to develop specific business consultant skills

Skills	Percentages
Data Analysis	9.87%
Project Management	8.79%
Strong Analytical	8.25%
Analytics	6.94%
Healthcare	4.71%

Complete relevant business consultant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New business consultants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a business consultant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real business consultant resumes.

Research business consultant duties and responsibilities

Partner with PMO and lead testing effort to ensure completeness of test data sets and to manage risk.
Manage requirements gathering, identify KPI s, and oversee design and architecture decisions.
Manage various SOX, HIPAA and PCI compliance projects from the planning stages to completion.
Apply the specific rules for HIPAA X12, Medicaid manage care requirements and industry best practices for transaction handling.

Prepare your business consultant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your business consultant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a business consultant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable business consultant resume templates

Build a professional business consultant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your business consultant resume.