Workers Compensation Consultant

Potential Earnings: $40,000 - $60,000 (USD)
Start-Up Cost: $4,000 - $7,000 (USD)

Workers compensation claims can become very costly for companies with large work forces. As a result companies without an in house workers compensation specialist often rely on an outside consultant to handle their claims process and carry out investigations. With the right amount of prior experience in the industry, you too could go it alone and start a workers compensation consulting business from your home.

Before The Start-Up, Let’s Not Get Ahead Of Ourselves

Before getting started you’ll need significant experience in the workers compensation industry. The technical natures of the claims process and accident investigation make it very difficult to learn the ropes as you go. If you are interested in getting started but have no prior experience we recommend first getting a job with either an existing consulting company or for a company with a claims department.

The Start-Up

As a workers compensation consultant you will be asked to perform any number of tasks relating to accidents and the claims process. Some of the tasks you might be hired to perform include investigating current claims, reducing the instances of claims, creating a safer work environment, researching better rates and reviewing workers compensation benefits packages. This is an exciting job that can provide a steady and healthy stream of income.

Get started by preparing your home office. You’ll need a workspace, desk, computer, fax, printer, phone, Internet connection, business cards, letterhead and envelopes. Consider saving money by using Open Office as your primary software suite instead of Microsoft Office. Be prepared to do some of your work on location at your client’s offices. To do this effectively you’ll need a laptop and cell phone.

Make sure your business is well branded from the beginning by getting a professional logo designed. Either employ a graphic designer in your area or an online service such as Elance.com. Besides offering the ability to put your job up for bid Elance also have excellent value for money logo packages from under $200.

Research the local competition to determine the best price structure for your business; most consultants work on a monthly retainer fee and charge between $1,500 and $3,000 (USD).

Making It Work

Make your business remarkable by writing fair reports, doing in depth investigations and saving your clients money. You will undoubtedly be faced with tough situations; build a reputation based on fairness, equality and balancing the needs of employees and employers.

Marketing

To market your business successfully you’ll need to build an extensive business network.
Your clients will most likely use a large number of other consultants and businesses in their every day dealings. These are the people you should target when building your network.

Advertise your services in business publications and on the Internet. Use the Internet to your best advantage by getting a simple three to four page site built. Drive traffic using a pay per click service such as Google Adwords or Yahoo Overture. Knowing how to run a pay per click campaign is valuable skill that you can use in any business venture you are involved in. We recommend building your skills from scratch with Perry Marshall’s The Definitive Guide to Google Adwords.