This Human Resources Consulting Firm is located in
Objectives
The objective is to meet key milestones within the first three years.
·
Ensure that the
business is registered and marketed as a SDVOSB and a MWBE.
·
The first 6
months keep costs down by building the business from a home office.
·
Within the first
6-12 months we will be hiring on 2 staff members to keep up with the demands
and be able to service more clients.
Mission Statement
. We strive to provide a high level of Human Resources Business Partner
functions that will provide quality and help our clients meet their business
goals.
Keys
to Success
Registering the business as SDVOSB and a MWBE will be one of the keys to
success since Federal and Government contractors must reserve 3-5 percent of
their outsourcing to these companies. Many government organizations find it
sometimes challenging to find SDVOSB so this will be an advantage.
The United States Government sets aside contract benefits for companies
considered 'Service- Human Resources -Owned Small Business (SDVOSB.) The
most notable of these contracts is the "VETS-GWAC" is the result of
Executive Order 13360 that is designed to strengthen federal contracting
opportunities for SDVO firms.
MWBE means Minority and Women Owned Enterprise is a business that
has a specific ownership composition of minimally 51%. The minority and women
owned business definitions can be found here.
Certification is a review process designed
to ensure that a small business is actually owned, controlled, and operated by
the applicants. Most certifications are granted for Minority or Women owned
businesses, Small Disadvantaged Businesses, and Underutilized businesses.
Certification agencies implement the processes for government and private
sector entities and ensure that only firms that meet the eligibility criteria
of the individual programs are properly certified.
Working with mentors to assist me with building the businesses properly
will be another key to success. Having people who understand how to market and
grow a small business can help me to eliminate some of the learning curves.
This Human Resources Consulting Firm will focus on
Human Resources operations for Federal/Government Contractors. Working for the
federal government is very complexed and usually the Human Resources Department
and its responsibilities are foreign to many leaders. The Federal Government as
well as Government Contractors find it challenging to manage personnel,
understand compliance issues, and train and develop their staff.
Many Government Contractors and Federal agencies must work with Service
Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) as well as Women and Minority
Owned Businesses (MWBE) in order to be compliant. Between 3%- 5% of the
governments purchasing contracts must go to a SDVOSB business and MWBE
business.
Company
Ownership/Legal Entity
This HR Consulting Firm will be a newly established business 100% owned
by Tracie Davis who is an Army Disabled Veteran and a woman. This organization
will be registered as an LLC. For Federal Government Consulting a DUNS number
will be required. Registration as a SDVOSB and MWBE must also be completed.
Location
Within the first 6 months of the launch of the business operations will
be conducted in the Home Office located in Staten Island , NY New York , NY
Interior
This HR Consulting Firm will not be client facing. Since the HR
Consulting team members will be visiting client sites or working in-house on
deliverables in-house very minimal will be needed for our interior. Our
interior will be a small office that can seat a maximum of 10 employees. The
environment will be open-concept which will allow the team members to
collaborate. If a client meeting happens to be in our office, we will have a
board room available to conduct all meetings.
Hours
of Operation
Hours of operation will be from 8:00am to 6:00pm EST. Off hours may be offered
to clients who are unable to meet during traditional work hours.
Services
Service
My services will be offered to Federal and Government contractors. My
services will be unique because there is a small amount of Human Resources
Consulting that are in the government space. Many government contractors who
are building their business and just received a government contract are
struggling to be compliant. Many companies have an HR person who doesn’t have
the background in the government space or don’t have the time in the day to
handle all aspects of HR. The Human Resources function encompasses a wide
variety of duties. The HR Representative struggles with trying to handle them
all.
The services that I will provide will be unique because some of the
paperwork and training that will be provided will be geared toward the
government space. After doing research there are very little HR agencies in the
government space that offers assistance with filing contracting documents
related to HR. There are even less companies that offer training and
development that are required for government contractors to have.
My background working for the Federal agencies as well as government
contractors will allow me to engage clients since there are few HR firms that
understand government contracting. Also, since my company will be registered as
a SDVOSB and MWBE many of the companies will be more inclined to work with my
company because it would be a requirement.
Market
Analysis Summary
Federal and Government Contractors will the target market for several
reasons:
1.
They are in need
of HR services as they are growing rapidly.
2.
They often do
not have a large enough in-house solution as they are increasing in size.
3.
Capital is
scarce for these companies and it will be more affordable to outsource their HR
functions instead of having an in-house HR Department.
4.
Many of the
companies are growing rapidly and are struggling to align their HR department
strategically to the business goals.
5.
Federal and
Government contractors have a requirement to save 3-5% of their business
outsourcing to SDVOSB and MWBE owned organizations.
Market
Segmentation
Not sure what to place here
Competition
There are a few HR Firms in the Federal and Government Consulting Space.
·
Cassody Human
Resources Consulting Firm- They provide Recruiting, Training, and C-level
services. They are located in Virginia
·
FosterThomas- Is
a federal government and contractor organization. They focus on HR compliance
and understand contracting legal requirements. They are not a SDVOSB or a MWBE.
They also take care of non-government clients.
·
LMI.org- Offers
HR Consulting services and they offer a General Services Administration
Schedule (GSA). They are located in VA. They offer IT Services, Engineering
Services, and Environmental Services.
Many of my competitors are located in MD, DC, VA, and CA area. A few of
the agencies focuses on all 49 states. The CA based companies only focus on CA
since they laws are unique to the state. Many of the companies offer HR
Consulting that can be interchangeable from public to private sectors but very
little offer government specific services.
Pricing
Pricing will be handled in 3 different ways.
1.
Hourly rate will
be provided to some services.
2.
Fees based on
projects will be provided to the clients.
3.
Daily rates will
be provided depending on the service obtained.
Retainers will be requested from clients.
Advertising and
Promotion
Since this is a business to business services as well as government and
federal contracting advertising and promotions will be handled differently.
·
The Website will
need to be strong and represent that this is a disabled veteran owned small
business as well as a women and minority owned business.
·
Registration on
the Central Contractors will be needed in order for companies to be able to
search for my firm.
·
Pay per clicks
will also be done with utilizing popular search words that people are actively
looking for. Research will be done weekly to see what is the most used search
term and gear my SEO towards that.
·
Weekly blogs
will be posted and focus on the topics that have been searched the most to keep
people coming to my web-page.
·
Advertising in
HR Magazines, HR Forums, Small Business magazines, and podcasts is a great way
to my business out there.
·
Public speaking
at events in order to generate word of mouth promotion.
·
Working with a
Business Development partner to research target clients and identify their needs.
Assistance with introducing target clients will be done by a hired Business
Development representative.
·
HRmarketer will
be used to keep track of competitors and what people are actively talking about
in the message boards. This will allow me to participate in discussions to get
my business name out there.
·
Services will be
advertised in local mailings and newsletters.
·
I will be
participating in local network groups to develop relationships with business
owners.
Strategy and
Implementation
As outlined business as a MWBE or a SDVOSB will be
a strategy to help me begin conversation with my target market. I will also be
working closely with a Business Development Specialist who will assist me in
targeting decision makers.
Once a client is ready to move forward with services the implantation
process will look similar to the below.
·
Either a Skype
or in person visit to meet with the client to get a clear understanding of
their business and it’s needs.
·
Detailed
checklist will be used to analyze where their gaps are and how to recommend the
best services to the clients.
·
A proposal will
be submitted to the client once services are decided upon.
·
Services
selected will be tailored to the client’s needs and presented electronically or
in person.
·
Follow-up
meetings will be held to answer client questions about deliverables and advise
on execution strategies.
·
If services are
for training and development of employees an onsite visit will be done. After
training has been conducted certificates of completion will be provided. There
will be a 3-month follow-up to analyze how well the employees are doing after
training.
·
Once the client
base grows then an office located in NYC for $400 monthly will be obtained. Two
Human Resources Consultants will be hired to take over
accounts.
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What It Takes to Become an HR Consultant
"As a consultant, you’ve got to be the IT department,
the accounting department, and the sales and marketing department.
The Pros and Cons
The advantages of running a small consultancy, include
independence, the freedom to pick and choose projects and clients, a home-based
office, and control of your own schedule.
The solitary nature of the business can be equally intense.
"Consulting is a lonely business that generally grants few opportunities
to maintain the relationships and friendships that so often enrich the
employment world," Anderson
says.
She identifies a few other things that can make the life of
a consultant tough: "There are no sick days when you can’t deliver for a
client. It can be tricky to stay on top of technology advances afforded to
larger employers. And it can be discouraging to implement a solution and then
walk away, wondering how it ended up."
HR professionals who aren’t financially equipped to handle
the peaks and valleys of running a small business may have a difficult time.
"How comfortable are you when you have to put on your collections hat and
go after unpaid invoicesSkills
A May 2013 report by market research firm IbisWorld on HR
consulting in the U.S.
concluded that the profession has low barriers to entry, low startup costs and
little regulation. The industry is also highly fragmented.
The largest HR consulting companies—including global giants
such as Aon Hewitt, Mercer and Towers Watson—are responsible for less than 20
percent of the industry’s revenue, which IbisWorld projected would be roughly
$26 billion in 2013.
The remaining 80 percent of U.S. HR consulting revenue is
divided among tens of thousands of small regional and local firms
Services
The variety of HR consulting services matches the range of
work HR professionals do within organizations. Some consultancies offer
generalist services to small companies that don’t possess the expertise to
manage recruiting and hiring, benefits, performance management, training, and
other HR basics, many of which have regulatory compliance requirements.
When defining the services they offer, HR consultants should
be mindful that some clients will ask them to do work beyond their primary
areas of expertise.
"It’s very easy
to take on a new project because you like the client, the industry or even the
money attached to the work,". But if that project is outside an HR
consultant’s area of expertise, it can create headaches and siphon time away
from work that is more fulfilling and more lucrative and that can be done more
efficiently.
Marketing
Those who have successfully built HR consultancies emphasize
the high value of client referrals as a marketing tool.
According to the IbisWorld research, the average wage for an
HR consultant, regardless of company size, was projected to be $81,913 in 2013,
up from $79,016 in 2004. HR consultants interviewed for this article say their
hourly fee—when they use one, and many argue against doing so—typically ranges
from $90 to $225.
Consultants who operate as sole practitioners usually
"have a terrible time pegging the value of their services to an hourly
rate,", noting that they tend to "vastly undervalue" their
offerings.
That’s why many HR consultants advise against using hourly
rates exclusively—or at all in some cases. An hourly billing structure gives
clients too much leeway to determine the scope of work.
That can be a problem when the HR consultant is better
informed than the client about the amount of work that will be required to
address the client’s problem. Biersteker uses a combination of monthly
retainers for specified deliverables, project rates and hourly billing.
West says her company does very little hourly work, by
design. Although her project rates and monthly retainers may include a rough
estimate of work hours, the reports she generates for clients each month focus
entirely on what work has been accomplished.
