Hi,
It's not clear from your post want you actually want to do - are you looking to set up as a part time consultant, or work on a part time basis with an existing firm, or work on a pro bono basis with charities, or ...??

If you want part time work with an existing consultancy then I'd suggest doing a Google search as a first step to identify possible firms in your area (and, of course, you can also search the OHSCR register). You might find somebody who needs part time help on a project by project basis.

If you're looking to set up on your own then you need to consider all the normal marketing/ business stuff such as:

- Will you need a website?
- What other marketing/ networking routes can you use?
- What are you going to offer that's different from the competition?
- How are you going to service clients once you've found them (bearing in mind you already work full time)?
- The need for professional indemnity insurance (which you'll also need even if you're offering services on a pro bono basis)
- The need to set up a business bank account
- Taxation
- Etc .....

Offering just telephone support appears at first sight to be a viable option but I think there are problems with it.

1) If you're working full time can you make yourself available to offer a quick response to their calls (of course, you can use a message handling service to pick up the initial call and then ring them back - but that increases time delay and costs)

2) How effective can your advice be without actually visiting the site/ factory/ depot?

3) You run the risk of offering inadequate advice because you can't do a site visit and the client hasn't given you all the relevant facts. If things subsequently go wrong you could have liability questions to answer.

4) A telephone-only service will have to be offered at a low price basic it is just a basic service. This means that (taking into account marketing and other overheads) you would need a reasonable number of subscribers on board before you even reach break-even point.

Sorry if I sound a tad gloomy :0(

Good advice, thank you. Yes I am very aware of giving inadequate advice, it is something I'm very concerned with, and do not want to do!

Perhaps I should do as wturner says - think smaller, more specific.

I feel like it's such a big step offering my services. But I do think about it all the time, and would like to go for it. Just need to think about what I could offer, and muster the courage to make the leap!

Have any of you tried it?

Paul.

Hi Paul,
I run my own consultancy practice and it's very satisfying. However, it's also very hard work, takes time to develop business clients, and there are no guarantees.

A major shock people encounter when setting off on their own is the realisation that the salary fairy no longer arrives every month!

A second shock to comprehend is that when you incur a business expense, be that buying a train ticket or booking a hotel room, you're spending your own money, not the firm's money. Often makes you think twice about taking a speculative trip!

Would there be any way of offering a general online H & S advice service without physically visiting companies? I wonder if anyone would need such a service?

With the development of the internet - I think the scope for this is now just about a non-starter.

There is already enough free/easy to access h&s advice that is easy to find on the internet.

Back in the mid-90's I worked for a general h&s consultancy, they provided a 'free' telephone h&s service via various trade bodies/Federation of Small Business organisation - in reality it was just a way of generating a sales lead, for the sale of additional (chargeable) h&s services. It worked then because relatively, there was little free advice available/limited internet etc.

But as I say, I think this business model is just about dead now - for the reason given.

Its great to hear that people want to progress so start small and build up and best of luck but please do not give advice etc. unless you are 200% confident about the situation as time and time again upon visiting site you find that things are different in reality