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Building a Consulting Practice

Position it, prove it, pipe it, price it — the practice that sells the craft the sequence taught.

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About this course

The fifth and final course in the Consulting Mastery sequence. The four before it taught the craft — turning complaints into questions, questions into arithmetic, arithmetic into decisions, decisions into delivered engagements. This one builds the practice that sells it, starting with an honest map of who actually buys advice in Nigeria: the corporates who buy through firms, the development sector that hires independents through formal procurement, the vast unserved SME and family-business economy that buys on trust, government with its long payment cycles, and the diaspora owner who wants checkable numbers from the ground. It weighs the two routes in — employment at a firm versus independence now, with the side practice as the bridge most people actually take — then does the work that separates thriving practices from struggling ones: positioning sharp enough that referrals can repeat it, credibility built as inspectable artefacts before clients exist (your sequence capstones are already a portfolio), and a pipeline engineered from trust networks — associations, alumni, community — with referrals asked for specifically at the moment the measured result is on the table. The commercial craft follows: the first conversation as mutual diagnosis with four qualifying lights, the paid diagnostic as the practice's entry product, proposals that record agreement rather than seek it (with the development-sector tender treated as its own sport), and the lean, correct setup — registration, corporate account, tax posture, three agreements — that buyers who have been burned actually check. The last third runs the practice on its own advice: the year's finances with the buffer that converts panic pricing into patient pricing, rates raised at the moment of proof, the partnering web of firm subcontracts, peer benches and associates with every split in writing, four honest growth paths chosen rather than drifted into, and the year-five truth that in trust-network markets, integrity is the only asset that compounds. The capstone is the practice's founding pack: your positioning sentence with its evidence, your service architecture and fee floor, a ninety-day pipeline plan, and a complete costed proposal to one real, named target client.

The four courses before this one taught you the craft: turning complaints into questions, questions into arithmetic, arithmetic into decisions, and decisions into delivered engagements. This course is about the practice that sells the craft — and it starts where every practice must start, with an honest map of who actually pays for consulting in Nigeria, because the buyers are more varied than the word client suggests, they buy in completely different ways, and choosing which of them you serve is the first real strategic decision of your professional life.

What you'll learn

Course syllabus — 12 lessons

  1. Who actually buys advice in Nigeria16 min
  2. The route in: employed first, or independent now15 min
  3. Positioning: the specialist eats15 min
  4. Credibility before clients: the work that proves you15 min
  5. The pipeline: engineered referrals and the trust network16 min
  6. The first conversation: qualify, listen, and the paid diagnostic16 min
  7. Proposals that win: agreement first, document second16 min
  8. Setting up the practice: legal, bank, tax, and a straight face14 min
  9. The practice's own money: run it like you advise15 min
  10. Partnering: subcontracting, associates, and the peer bench15 min
  11. Growing beyond yourself — without losing the plot15 min
  12. The practice at year five: what compounds15 min

Your project

The practice founding pack: positioned, evidenced, and proposed to a real client

A written pack of roughly 1,500 to 2,300 words containing: the positioning sentence with its three-circle defence and territory; the credibility shelf with one portfolio treatment and one numbered case study labelled real or capstone; the fee floor computation with billable-day deductions shown, the buffer position, and the anchored fee territories for the core engagement and diagnostic; the ninety-day plan with named rooms, a fifteen-relationship ledger, the specific referral ask, and the Friday rhythm; the qualified target with the four lights assessed and three behaviour-over-intention questions; the complete proposal with two scoped tiers, anchoring, evidence and the practical spine; and the three-risk register with indicators and pre-decided responses, plus the walk-away line with its referral.

Certificates on Skillnaija are earned, not issued for attendance: you submit this project, it is graded against a rubric, and passing issues a certificate anyone can verify. See the full project brief, rubric and free workbook →

Frequently asked questions

Is Building a Consulting Practice free?

Yes. Building a Consulting Practice is completely free on Skillnaija. You need a free account to open the lessons, and there is no charge for the course, the project, or the certificate.

How long does Building a Consulting Practice take to complete?

6 weeks · ~4 hrs/week. There are 12 lessons, about 3 hours of material in total. You learn at your own pace and your progress is saved.

Do I need any experience to start Building a Consulting Practice?

Intermediate. Some prior grounding in the subject will help you move faster.

What will I learn in Building a Consulting Practice?

You will build practical skills in Map the five territories of the Nigerian advice market and choose which your practice serves, Weigh employment, independence and the side-practice bridge honestly — and leave every employer well, Write a four-slot positioning sentence, run it as a dated hypothesis, and guard it against drift and flattery, Build credibility as inspectable artefacts: the capstone portfolio, numbered case studies, useful writing, properly-scoped pro-bono, Engineer referrals — asked specifically, at the moment the measured result is on the table — and keep a relationship ledger, Contribute for a year in two or three rooms where your buyers gather, instead of card-dropping in twelve, Run first conversations as mutual diagnosis with four qualifying lights, and walk away warmly from non-buyers, Use the paid diagnostic as an entry product that de-risks both sides and feeds the full proposal, Write four-page proposals that record agreement, price in scoped tiers against the problem's cost, and follow up as a craft, Respond to development-sector tenders as their own sport: every criterion, in their order, in their language, Set up lean and correct: registration, corporate account, tax posture, three reusable agreements, indemnity when the territory asks, Run the practice's own money: the buffer, the salary, rates raised at the moment of proof, five numbers read monthly, Build the partnering web — firm subcontracts, a peer bench, associates — with every fee split written before the work, Choose among four growth paths deliberately, decline bad revenue at full capacity, and keep the flywheel turning. Every lesson is written for a Nigerian context, with examples drawn from how the work is actually done and paid for here.

Do I get a certificate for Building a Consulting Practice?

Yes, but it has to be earned. You complete the course project — The practice founding pack: positioned, evidenced, and proposed to a real client and submit it for grading. Passing the project issues a verifiable certificate; finishing the lessons alone does not.

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