8 Courses to Upskill Yourself as a Freelance Consultant
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Published:
December 1, 2022
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7 minutes
Are you looking for an online consulting course to learn consulting skills and frameworks? Well, then keep reading, because we’ve got something very exciting for you.
Before we discuss the 8 courses that you can take to upskill yourself as a consultant, let’s first understand something about learning itself. Peter Drucker once said, “We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.”
Do you see? The most difficult task is to teach people how to learn. However, assuming that you’re smart enough to know the value of continuous learning, we’ll skip the motivation speech and dive straight into the courses.
In this article, we’ll discuss Consultport Academy’s paid courses that have been designed for both aspiring consultants and experienced consultants. Well, just because they are ‘paid’ courses doesn’t mean that they’re expensive. You can access each of these courses for the price of a weekday lunch.
Before we discuss the 8 courses that you can take to upskill yourself as a consultant, let’s first understand something about learning itself. Peter Drucker once said, “We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.”
Do you see? The most difficult task is to teach people how to learn. However, assuming that you’re smart enough to know the value of continuous learning, we’ll skip the motivation speech and dive straight into the courses.
In this article, we’ll discuss Consultport Academy’s paid courses that have been designed for both aspiring consultants and experienced consultants. Well, just because they are ‘paid’ courses doesn’t mean that they’re expensive. You can access each of these courses for the price of a weekday lunch.
This online consulting course focuses on studying the external factors that may affect a client’s business. You see, no matter how good your internal strategy is, you cannot succeed if the external forces are not on your side. Let’s consider a quick example. Suppose a restaurant chain decides to aggressively expand in a new city.
They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on marketing and promotion. So far, it seems to be going well from an internal perspective. But then, suddenly, the government declares a lockdown. Uh-oh!
Now that you know how important external factors are, let’s get back to the External Analysis course. Here are some topics that are covered in this Consultport Academy course:
They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on marketing and promotion. So far, it seems to be going well from an internal perspective. But then, suddenly, the government declares a lockdown. Uh-oh!
Now that you know how important external factors are, let’s get back to the External Analysis course. Here are some topics that are covered in this Consultport Academy course:
PESTEL Analysis
PESTEL stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental factors. Well, you may have already studied this in college. However, in the actual Consultport Academy module, you’ll learn this concept from a consulting perspective and with practical examples.Porter’s Five Forces
Michael Porter, an American academic, has defined five external forces that can affect businesses in his Five Forces Model. These forces are as follows:- Competitors in the industry
- The threat of new entrants
- Bargaining power of suppliers
- Bargaining power of buyers
- The threat of substitutes
Industry Life Cycle Model
Every industry goes through a lifecycle. According to the Industry Life Cycle Model, these phases are Introduction, Growth, Maturity, and Decline. When you work as a consultant, you must know the phase at which your client’s company is. This will help you give them accurate recommendations. Again, you’ll have to check out the module to see how clearly this model has been explained. And that was just a sneak peek. There are some other topics that have also been covered in the External Analysis Bootcamp.KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Just knowing consulting frameworks may not be enough in real life. You also have to be able to apply them in practical situations.
- The External Analysis course focuses on studying the external factors that may affect a client’s business. This includes PESTEL Analysis, Porter’s Five Forces, Industry Life Cycle Model, to name a few.
- The Internal Analysis course focuses on examining a company’s internal status. This includes VRIO Analysis, Value Chain Analysis, SWOT Analysis, Competitive Advantage, the Balanced Scorecard, and the RBV framework.
- The Business & Corporate Strategy course focuses on strategy-related topics like Vision, Mission & Values, Competitive Strategy Model, and the RACI Matrix.
- The details about the other five courses can be viewed on Consultport Academy’swebsite.
It’s true that in order to develop a strategy, a consultant will have to look into the external environment of an industry first. But then, examining a company’s internal status is also essential. This is when the Internal Analysis online consulting course comes into play. Let’s quickly go through some topics that are covered in detail in this course.
Primary activities
Apart from these modules, you’ll also learn other useful topics like Competitive Advantage, the Balanced Scorecard, and the RBV framework.
VRIO Analysis
In order to achieve a competitive advantage that is sustainable, a company needs to determine which strategic resources it should use. This is when VRIO comes in handy, which stands for valuable, rarity, imitability, and organization. All these are attributes of a company’s competitive advantages or resources. In the VRIO module of Consultport Academy, you’ll learn each of these factors in detail. As a practical example, the VRIO framework is applied to Walmart to ensure that students can use this module in a professional setting.Value Chain Analysis
This is another important framework that was developed by Michael Porter. This framework examines those activities that bring value to the customer. These activities are divided into two parts: Primary and Secondary. Let’s take a quick look at both.Primary activities
- Inbound logistics
- Operations
- Outbound logistics
- Marketing & Sales
- Service
- Firm infrastructure
- Human resource management
- Technology development
- Procurement
SWOT Analysis
Oh, the famous SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This is one of those consulting frameworks that you’ll use a lot in your consulting career as well as in real life. In the Consultport Academy module of SWOT, we will use Apple as an example and apply this framework to the tech giant.Apart from these modules, you’ll also learn other useful topics like Competitive Advantage, the Balanced Scorecard, and the RBV framework.
First comes the external analysis of the environment. Then, the internal analysis of the company. And after both these stages are completed successfully, the time comes to create a foolproof business strategy.
Consultport Academy’s Business & Corporate Strategy is just the right course to learn business strategy from a consulting perspective. This online consulting course focuses on various frameworks and models that consultants use while creating business strategies for their clients. One last time, it’s time for a little sneak peek. So, let’s shed some light on some modules in this online consulting course.
Consultport Academy’s Business & Corporate Strategy is just the right course to learn business strategy from a consulting perspective. This online consulting course focuses on various frameworks and models that consultants use while creating business strategies for their clients. One last time, it’s time for a little sneak peek. So, let’s shed some light on some modules in this online consulting course.
Vision, Mission & Values
A company that doesn’t know its long-term vision, its unique mission, and its core values is directionless. Defining these key aspects and always striving to achieve them is an important part of business strategy.Let’s consider Amazon as an example to understand this better. Amazon’s vision statement is as follows: “Our vision is to be earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”
Do you see the difference? In business, knowing what exactly you’re working towards is key. In this module, you’ll learn how you, as a consultant, can help companies create their vision, mission, and values. This will ensure that your clients head in the right direction and continue to make profits.
Competitive Strategy Model
In this module, we will discuss how companies use competitive positioning to stay ahead of their rivals. You’ll learn how to determine a firm's competitive position within an industry. There are two basic types of competitive advantages a firm can possess: Low-cost or Differentiation. In this module, you’ll learn how to combine these advantages to create three generic strategies, which are Cost Leadership, Differentiation, and Focus.
We have used Nike and Apple as examples to explain the Competitive Strategy Model in detail. It’s very likely that you will use this model at some point in your consulting career. So, why not take a quick crash course to refresh your memory?
The RACI Matrix
The RACI Matrix, also known as the Responsibility Assignment Matrix, is an effective tool that can help a team work synergistically. RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed. When it comes to strategy execution, synergy among team members is key. You can create the best strategy on paper, but it's humans who will execute that strategy. In this module, we have clearly explained all four elements of RACI so that you can apply them to every kind of activity or project and ensure smooth execution. The Other Five Courses and Some Final Thoughts
Do the three online consulting courses that we’ve discussed so far sound exciting? Well, there are five more on the list. However, we cannot discuss all of them in detail in this article. But, we’ll quickly mention them here with links.
They will help you recall what you may have forgotten, and maybe you can even learn what you don’t know yet. So, why not take the plunge and join Consultport Academy today?
- Bootcamp 4: Long-Term Growth Strategy
- Bootcamp 5: Internationalization Strategy
- Bootcamp 6: Innovation Strategy
- Bootcamp 7: Implementation & Change Management Strategy
- Strategy Bootcamp 8: Agile
They will help you recall what you may have forgotten, and maybe you can even learn what you don’t know yet. So, why not take the plunge and join Consultport Academy today?
