Keeping your skills up to date

Do you need a marketing specialist or a GP?
If your business isn't quite performing as you want - it can be hard to know whether you just need some tactical marketing help or a broader rethink. This article gives some pointers to help you decide.
read more

Tendering and Procurement Jargon
RFPs, RFQs, ITTS - if you've never encountered a formal procurement process before the number of acronyms can be overwhelming! Here are some useful definitions to get you started.
read more

Keeping your skills up to date

Working as a self-employed consultant means you have to develop a wide range of new skills, marketing, sales, keeping the books, networking and many others. Balancing all those new tasks as well as delivering consultancy for clients can mean that your own core consulting or technical skills are neglected. These are the skills that clients pay for, so it's critical that you stay up to date.

Fortunately there are many different ways to brush up on your skills;

attend events put on by your professional body or trade association, these are usually out of work time and are a quick and cost-effective way to get an update on specific areas
attend workshops and seminars aimed at your skill area
find blogs or websites written by experts in your field and keep an eye on these
make sure you find time to read trade magazines relevant to you and your customers

If you need to do more than just refresh your skills though, maybe branching out into a new area or gaining a certification, then you probably will need to attend a full blown training course and it's well worth shopping around for a course with the right content and price.

For a comprehensive directory of public courses in the UK try having a look at the UnderOak Training Index and remember that if you make a last minute booking you may well be able to negotiate a discount!

We frequently have interesting events and courses advertised through the Skillfair Offer and Event Alert and these generally include a discount for Skillfair Members - so it's always worth keeping an eye out for something that will help you.