Overview
How many times have you said to yourself or others, “I would love to be my own boss” and “work morning till night doing what inspires me.” In 2025, 3,566,053 business formation applications were submitted by the end of October, an increase from 2024. Although consultants typically do not study for this career, they still need to be prepared and design a plan for success.
This seminar is for individuals who desire to establish a successful consulting practice, recognizing from the beginning that consultation is people-centered. With consultation, one can apply interests, skills, and experiences to collaborate with an organization on its goals and plans. Consultants who previously took our seminar 1) established professional development programs for mental health practitioners working with autistic children and 2) developed an online curriculum addressing stress management for hospital employees. These are just two examples.
Readiness to engage in consulting means understanding fundamentals about consulting as a practice and business. In this seminar, participants will complete self-assessments, learn methodology to apply in consulting, acquire technical resources, prepare a business plan, and receive guidance from successful organizational consultants.
Program Outline:
Start Date:
May 2, 2026
All sessions have the following structure.
- Check-In, Reflections on prior sessions
- Content
- Application of Content
- Processing/Reflection/ Transition to Next Session
Objectives:
- Clarify your motivation to become a consultant
- Outline your thinking and experiences about your desired consulting focus
- Validate your values, experiences, and skills to transfer and apply to your consulting work
- Determine how the findings from your self-assessments about becoming a consultant align with your goals
- Learn about process consultation and theories that inform consulting
- Become knowledgeable about the business side of consulting
- Identify consulting pitfalls
- Develop a business plan to establish or further your consulting practice with priorities, a timeline, and measurable outcomes
Cost:
- This seminar will include six monthly sessions, 2.5 hours long on Saturdays via Zoom, and limited to eight individuals. Readings and other self-assessments are provided. The cost is $2000 with a non-refundable deposit of $500.00.
The Seminar:
- Elements in the seminar include
- 1) an onboarding session
- 2) six monthly sessions via Zoom
- 3) a post-seminar individual consultation for each participant
- 4) certification of completion.
Registration Requirments:
- Application statement including…
1) Personal statement about motivation to become a consultant,
2) Previous consultation experiences
3) Current resume.
Application may be submitted directly to Dr. Arredondo at parredondo700@gmail.com
Register Now:
- Email parredondo700@gmail.com
Meet the Coach:
Dr. Patricia Arredondo is president of the Arredondo Advisory Group (AAG) leading a team of highly experienced consultants informed by their higher education leadership roles and responsibilities and their commitment to the principles of inclusion and belonging. Dr. Arredondo holds a doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology from Boston University.
Onboarding Session:
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- Introductions among all participants and goal sharing.
- Dream consultation practice; Why this?
- How long have you dreamt about this.
- Previous experiences consulting.
- The Head, Heart and Hand Model.
- Self-assessments to be used
- Ideal outcome.
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Session One:
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- Check in and affirmation for the session.
- Visualization exercise.
- Your dream consulting practice and why.
- Learning about the scope of consulting and its many applications.
- Identifying your transferable experiences and skills
- Reflections and transition to the next session.
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Session Two:
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- Applying the Head, Heart, and Hand Model
- Visualization
- Clarifying expectations for working as a consultant
- Essential consultation skills
- Theories to inform your work as a consultant
- Relevant consulting terms.
- Reflections and transition to the next session.
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Session Three:
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- Fundamentals: Knowledge about workplace law at state and federal levels
- Scoping out consulting possibilities–settings aligning with your interests
- Technical requisites: business plan, website, marketing, and so forth
- Decisions to make: Getting established: Solo, with a co-consultant, or a small team
- Reflections and transition to the next session.
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Session Four:
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- Applying the Head, Heart, and Hand Model to your planning process
- Findings from website review of consultancies—the competition.
- Reviewing your emotional intelligence self-assessment.
- Identifying gaps in your preparation and skill set and how to fill these
- Reflections and transition to the next session.
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Session Five:
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- Preparing your business plan.
- Business resources: programs for entrepreneurs, SBA, SCORE and your bank
- Business goals in writing (draft) with measurable objectives.
- Elevator speech about your consulting practice: elements for marketing
- Reflections and transition to the next session.
- Preparing your business plan.
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Session 6:
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- Sharing refined business plan.
- Describe your business plan with priorities, timelines, and expected outcomes.
- Identify 1-2 missing steps.
- Sharing your elevator speech.
- Reflections on your journey.
- Sharing refined business plan.
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“I’m deeply thankful for this program, the coaches, and the peers who journey alongside me. I leave not only with strategies and tools, but with the gratitude and confidence o keep doing this work in ways that are impactful, sustainable, and aligned with my values.”
“The facilitators, experienced consultants, instructed us about the discipline, consistency, and values-driven excellence we require to be successful. The small peer group of other emerging consultants provided another layer of feedback and support.”