Choosing Your Niche
Financial consulting is a broad field. Going narrow early is one of the most important decisions you can make. A specific niche makes marketing easier, commands higher prices, and builds a reputation faster.
Why Niching Down Works
Consider two positioning statements:
- "I help people with their finances."
- "I help self-employed creatives build a tax strategy and retirement plan that accounts for variable income."
The second one immediately signals expertise. The right clients recognize themselves. And you can charge significantly more because you understand their exact situation.
Financial Consulting Niches That Work Online
| Niche | Who You Serve | Why It Pays Well |
|---|
| Business financial strategy | Small business owners, startups | Revenue impact is measurable and direct |
| Tax strategy | Self-employed, business owners | Clear ROI: reduced tax bill |
| Retirement planning | Professionals 40-60 | High stakes, clients invest seriously |
| Real estate investing | First-time investors, landlords | Clients deal in large sums |
| Equity compensation | Tech employees with RSUs/options | Complex, high-value decisions |
| Debt payoff and credit repair | Consumers struggling with debt | Emotional urgency drives action |
| Financial planning for creatives | Freelancers, artists, content creators | Underserved, irregular income creates real pain |
| Financial coaching for women | Women navigating major transitions | Growing market, strong community |
| Small business cash flow | Service businesses under $1M revenue | Common pain point, fast results |
Pick one. You can add more later. Starting too broad is the most common mistake new financial consultants make online.
The "For Who" Test
Once you have a general area, narrow it further by defining exactly who you serve. "Business financial strategy" becomes "cash flow consulting for service-based businesses in their first three years." The specificity makes every part of your business easier: your website copy, your content, your outreach, your intake questions.
Setting Your Pricing
Pricing financial consulting services requires you to think about the value you create, not just the time you spend. A one-hour session that saves a client $8,000 in taxes is not worth $150. It is worth substantially more.
Service Tiers to Consider
Discovery or Strategy Session: $150-350 (45-60 minutes)
This is a lower-commitment entry point where a prospective client brings a specific question or challenge. You assess their situation and provide initial direction. It also serves as a soft sales conversation for ongoing work.
Deep Dive Consultation: $300-750 (90-120 minutes)
A comprehensive session where you analyze the client's situation, model out scenarios, and deliver specific recommendations. Appropriate for complex decisions: a business structure change, a significant investment decision, a tax strategy review.
Ongoing Advisory Retainer: $500-2,500/month
Monthly access to your expertise, typically including a 1-2 hour session plus email access between sessions. Retainers provide you with predictable income and clients with continuity.
Project-Based Engagements: $1,500-10,000+
A defined project with a clear deliverable: building a financial model, creating a tax plan, reviewing a business acquisition. Scope and price before you start.
Pricing by Experience Level
| Experience | Discovery Call | Standard Session | Monthly Retainer |
|---|
| New (0-12 months) | $100-150 | $150-250 | $500-800 |
| Experienced (1-3 years) | $150-250 | $250-450 | $800-1,500 |
| Established (3+ years) | $250-350 | $400-700 | $1,500-2,500 |
| Expert with track record | $350+ | $700+ | $2,500+ |
New financial consultants often underprice out of insecurity. The more useful framing: what is this decision worth to the client? A business owner making a $200,000 acquisition decision will not hesitate to pay $1,000 for two hours of expert guidance that helps them make the right call.
Raise Prices After Every 10 Clients
Price yourself at the low end initially to build momentum and get testimonials. After every 10 clients, raise your rates by 20-25%. Within 12-18 months, most established consultants double or triple their starting rate.
Setting Up Your Online Practice
Your practice needs four things to operate: a booking system, a video call platform, a payment processor, and a professional presence. How you stitch these together matters.
The DIY Stack
Many consultants start by piecing together separate tools:
- Scheduling: Calendly ($12/month)
- Video: Zoom ($13/month)
- Payments: Stripe with invoicing ($0/month + 2.9% per transaction)
- Website: Squarespace or Carrd ($12-16/month)
- Contracts: DocuSign or HelloSign ($15-25/month)
- Notes: Notion or Google Docs (free)
This stack costs $52-66/month before payment fees. It works, but clients move between multiple platforms and logins. You manage integrations that break. Nothing is in one place.
The All-in-One Approach
Platforms built specifically for professional consultants combine booking, video, and payments into one flow.
Talkspresso is designed for exactly this. You create your consulting services (with descriptions and prices), set your availability, and share your booking link. Clients book, pay, and join the video call from one page. Sessions are recorded automatically and come with AI-generated summaries. Client history, session notes, and testimonials all live in one place.
| Feature | Talkspresso | DIY Stack |
|---|
| Booking | Built-in | Calendly |
| Video calls (HD, recorded) | Built-in | Zoom |
| Payment processing | Built-in | Stripe + invoicing tool |
| Client management | Built-in | Spreadsheet or CRM |
| Session recordings + AI summaries | Built-in | Not included |
| Intake forms | Built-in | Typeform or Google Forms |
| Monthly cost | $0 (10% fee on sessions) | $52-66+ |
The 10% platform fee on Talkspresso means you pay nothing until you earn something. For a consultant charging $300 per session, that is $30 per session, comparable to or less than the combined cost of the DIY stack once payment processing fees are included.
For a financial consultant, the recording and AI summary feature is particularly useful. You can review what you covered, share the recording with clients, and use transcripts to build case studies (with permission) or improve your methodology.
Your Booking Page
Your booking page is your storefront. It needs: a professional headshot, a clear headline that names who you help and how, your service options with prices, 2-3 client testimonials, and a simple booking flow. The easier it is to book, the higher your conversion rate.
A common mistake is writing a bio about your credentials and career history instead of describing the client's problem. Clients care about their situation, not your resume. Lead with the problem you solve, then establish your credibility.
Getting Your First Clients
Clients do not show up because you built a booking page. You need to go find them, especially at the start.
Start With Your Warm Network
Make a list of 25-30 people who fit your ideal client profile or know someone who does. These might be former colleagues, professional contacts, family friends, or members of communities you participate in. Send each one a short, personal message (not a template) explaining what you are doing and asking if they know anyone who might benefit.
This typically yields 3-6 clients. It feels uncomfortable. Do it anyway.
LinkedIn for Financial Consultants
LinkedIn is the highest-leverage platform for financial consultants. Your ideal clients (business owners, executives, professionals) are active there.
What works on LinkedIn:
- Post 3-4 times per week. Mix: tactical tips ("Three ways business owners overpay in taxes"), client wins (anonymized), and perspective (your take on a financial topic in the news).
- Comment thoughtfully on posts from people in your target audience. Add genuine value in comments before pitching anything.
- Connect with 10-15 ideal clients per week. Follow up with a short message focused on their situation, not your services.
- Share your booking link once you have 3-5 posts up and can point people to real content.
Content That Builds Authority
Content marketing is the best long-game investment for financial consultants. Educational content builds trust before a client ever books with you.
Pick one format you can sustain: LinkedIn posts, a newsletter, a YouTube channel, or a blog. Consistency matters more than platform. Posting three times a week for six months builds more momentum than posting 20 times in one week and disappearing.
Content ideas that perform well for financial consultants:
- Tax mistakes your target clients commonly make
- Step-by-step walkthroughs of financial decisions ("How I helped a client decide whether to take the lump sum or pension")
- Myth-busting ("You do not actually need $1M to retire comfortably if you plan correctly")
- Case studies showing a before/after for a client situation
- Reactions to financial news relevant to your niche
Referral Relationships
The fastest path to a full calendar is referrals. Attorneys, accountants, bookkeepers, and financial advisors all serve clients who need complementary expertise. A business attorney referring clients to you (and you referring back) creates a steady stream of warm leads.
Identify five professionals serving your target clients and make genuine connections. Offer to refer your clients to them. Ask nothing in return upfront. Referral relationships take time to build but are extremely durable once established.
Testimonials From Day One
After every successful engagement, ask for a testimonial. Make it easy: send a link and suggest 2-3 questions they could address (What was your situation before? What did we work on? What was the result?). Post testimonials on your booking page, LinkedIn, and anywhere you are active.
One specific, outcome-focused testimonial outperforms any amount of self-promotion. "Working with [consultant] helped me reduce my business tax bill by $14,000 last year" is more compelling than a paragraph describing your services.
Beyond your core booking and video platform, a few other tools make a financial consulting practice run more smoothly.
Client communication: A professional email address (yourname@yourdomain.com) and a simple way to share documents. Google Workspace ($6/month) handles both.
Document preparation: If you prepare financial plans or written deliverables, a clean template in Google Docs or a dedicated planning tool (eMoney, RightCapital) depending on your services.
Contracts: Even for smaller engagements, a simple service agreement protects both parties. HelloSign or DocuSign handle electronic signatures. Many financial consultants use a standard template for the first year, then have an attorney review it.
Intake forms: Collect client information before sessions so you spend the actual session on analysis and recommendations rather than gathering background. If you use Talkspresso, intake questions are built directly into your booking services. Clients answer them when they book, so you walk into every session prepared.
Calendar management: Sync your booking platform with your Google Calendar or Outlook calendar to prevent double-bookings. Most all-in-one platforms handle this automatically.
Building Your Practice Over Time
Most financial consultants go through three phases:
Months 1-3 (Build): First clients, first testimonials, refining your process. Focus entirely on client acquisition and delivery quality. Do not worry about automation, productized offerings, or scale yet.
Months 4-9 (Systemize): You have 5-15 ongoing clients or a steady stream of project work. Start creating repeatable processes: intake templates, session frameworks, proposal templates. Begin building content consistently.
Months 10-18+ (Expand): With a proven methodology and strong testimonials, raise your prices and consider adding group offerings. A workshop on a common financial topic your clients ask about, a digital product (guide, template, mini-course), or a small group program can add revenue without adding proportional time.
Group sessions are worth exploring early. If you regularly help self-employed clients with quarterly tax planning, a 90-minute group workshop with 10 participants at $100 each generates $1,000 for a session you run once. Platforms like Talkspresso support group sessions natively, so the booking and payment flow is the same as your 1:1 services.
Launch Checklist for Financial Consultants
Use this to track your setup and launch.
Foundation
Setup
Launch
Build Momentum
Start Today
The consultants who build successful online practices are not the ones who wait until everything is perfect. They pick a niche, set up a booking page, and reach out to their first potential clients before they feel ready.
Your financial expertise has real value. Someone is making a worse decision right now because they do not have access to what you know.
Explore the full feature set on Talkspresso for Consultants, or read our platform comparison for paid video calls.
Create your free consulting profile on Talkspresso and start booking clients today.
