Looking for advice from consultants

[MrKowz]

Hey all,

I'm toying with the thought of starting my own freelance Excel consulting business and am looking for any advice anyone can give. I've never done much freelancing for anything aside from doing home computer repair several years ago. I really need to understand what the best way to market myself is, any certain certifications I might want to be sure to get, or really anything else that might be helpful.

Thanks in advance!

~Keith

 

[Thorin]

The following certification might be of use to you :-

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/Exam.aspx?ID=77-882&Locale=en-us

Microsoft certifications for consultants are very useful.

 

[MrKowz]

Wow - never thought it would be this hard to find a testing center in St. Louis, MO that still offers the Excel 2003 exams. Everything is 2007+ (I'd love to do the 2007 and 2010 exams at a later date, but 2003 is needed at this point in my career). Even the links Microsoft gives on their website aren't updated to consider that those testing centers don't offer 2003 anymore.

 

[sous2817]

In terms of functionality, I don't think there's a huge difference between 2007 and 2003. A few new functions that are improvements over some of the older ones (countifs, sumifs, etc). VBA is essentially the same as well. It may be worth looking in to the 2007 exam.

 

[MrKowz]

Aye - my employer uses Office 2003 right now, and they would actually prefer that I get that level of certification. I'll definately look into taking the 2007 and 2010 exams after I get 2003 under my belt.

 

[MrKowz]

Alright - now I am looking to pick the brain of a few willing consultants, hoping to gain some insight on starting my own consulting business. If anyone who has experience in owning/running your own Excel Consulting, and wouldn't mind chatting back and forth with me over PMs/email, please let me know.

Thanks in advance!

 

[MrKowz]

Does anyone have any contacts in the St. Louis area that hires Excel Consultants? After discussing things with a few people, I think that starting out with an existing consulting firm would be a good option for me.