CollegePlannerPro Blog

Email marketing can help independent educational consultants foster better customer relationships and build a stronger brand, both of which will contribute to a growing business. 

In this blog post, we outline the four critical steps to building a successful email strategy. 

Becoming an educational consultant can be a financially rewarding and emotionally fulfilling profession.

CollegePlannerPro was fortunate enough to join and sponsor the IECA Professional Members retreat last month in Phoenix, AZ. Participants spent the retreat with their business hats on, learning from small business marketing and branding professionals as well as from one another during group conversations. All members left refreshed and equipped with a wealth of new business strategies to take back and implement in their practices, including the CollegePlannerPro team!

Pricing your services is hard and getting it wrong can greatly impact your ability to build a thriving college consulting business. That's why we did some research to bring you the most recommended books, relevant for IECs, on pricing strategy and practice. Whether you are just getting started, or a veteran IEC who feels like they never got the pricing thing right, these resources will give you the tools necessary to evaluate your pricing model and deliver your services with confidence.

Small business owners often struggle with getting and staying organized. The brainpower and time associated with the day’s ever-evolving task list leaves us with just enough energy to stay afloat. And typically, the things that get sacrificed in this commotion are the very processes and projects that are meant to keep us organized and confidently on track.

But, we now have a new year and a fresh start to get organized so that we can be our most productive selves in 2020. Here are some tips for making it happen.

Chances are, especially if your IEC business is in its early stages, most clients will find you through a recommendation from a friend or family member. This is a great way to get your first few clients, but eventually, you’ll want and need more prospective clients coming your way. So, what are some proactive things that you can do to increase the number of word-of-mouth referrals that you receive?

The CollegePlannerPro team was recently joined by ArborBridge's Senior Director of Instruction, Dr. Megan Stubbendeck, for a webinar focused on advising students on the optimal testing timeline. A 10-year test prep veteran, it is Megan's job to know everything there is to know about the college admission tests, including which tests students should take and when. She was gracious enough to share her insights with our members and we've provided a quick recap and link to the full webinar recording below. 

Many individuals who choose to pursue a career in independent college consulting will likely be faced with the reality of working from home for either most or all of their time. While it may seem enticing at first, working from home can also present many unforeseen challenges. In an attempt to provide the novice remote worker with a toolkit for success, we asked Jodie Westerman, ArborBridge’s Instruction Manager, to reflect on her experience working from home. Jodie talks about the good, the bad, and the ugly of remote work and shares tips for how to manage the right work-life balance.

You may already know Susie Wood, MA, MSSW, a senior consultant and trainer at Human eSources. For the past 20 years, Susie has been helping individuals find their best career and education path and has presented to IECA and HECA members on the subject. We recently spoke to Susie about Human eSources’ AchieveWORKS™ assessments and here’s what she had to say:

The CollegePlannerPro team was recently joined by Raleigh-based IEC, Brooke Daly, for a webinar that focused on the IEC initial consultation with prospective clients. Owner of Advantage College Planning and The IEC Coach, Brooke has over 10 years of experience in the field of independent consulting. She credits much of the successful growth of her businesses to an engaging and tailored initial consultation with families. However, Brooke admits that she was not always the queen of consultations, and like most things, repetition and preparedness were the key to succeeding. During the hour-long webinar, Brooke shed light on what she's learned and what tactics continue to work well for her. Here are 7 of the top tips that we took away from Brooke's presentation.