What is a Resume?

Now for those who don’t know what a resume is, a Resume or Curriculum Vitae (CV) is a piece of document that highlights in a comprehensible manner a person’s qualification, background and possessed skills. This document is usually requested by companies that are in the process of hiring, so as to give them an insight into the qualifications of the job applicants.

Why You Should Start a Resume Writing Business

A business opportunity with almost 100 million potential clients, the resume writing business can be said to be the ideal online business. If you were to go to some job sites online and take a survey, you would find out that 8 in 10 people on the website all want advice on resume writing. Why?

The reason is because your chances of employment as a job seeker, or your chances of getting a job interview is highly dependent on your resume. With so many unemployed people looking for jobs, and even people who are employed looking for how to spruce up their existing resumes; as a professional resume writer, you can help all these people to achieve their various goals in return for a fee.

In a global economy that has seen so much downsizing and recession, a lot of people need resumes that stand out from among the others. The start-up cost for a resume writing business is low and you do not need to rent any special equipment or any special qualifications, business license or insurance.

Starting a Resume Writing Service from Home – Sample Business Plan Template

In starting a resume writing business, you really should learn how to write resumes for different professions. Creativity and uniqueness should be the watchword when starting this business.

1. You Need Experience

Experience is the key. Without experience, the less you can charge for your services. The only way to build experience is to keep working on resumes. The more jobs you do, the more experience you get. You should also learn how to build your credibility. People need to trust you before they can part with their money for your services.

There are several professional associations online you can join that can lend credibility to your new business. Some of them are free, while you pay yearly subscriptions for the rest. Do your research very well online.

2. Determine Your Rates

Determining your rates for résumé writing can be one of the most challenging aspects of operating a résumé writing business. You want to make sure you charge enough to be profitable and to place value on your time. However, you may feel like you don’t want to charge so much that potential clients cannot afford you.

The first step is to take a look at your estimated expenses. Start by estimating all the costs that will be involved in your résumé writing business. These can be broken down into both fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs are those expenses that you have on a regular basis, whether weekly, monthly, or yearly. This might include your auto-responder, memberships to résumé writing associations, and your domain and hosting services.

Consider how many billable hours you can work each week. Also consider how much non-billable time you need to spend on your business. When you are starting your résumé writing business, you may have to guess the non‐billable hours. The more time you spend on your business, the easier it will be to correctly estimate your time. You can make adjustments to your plan as you learn and grow.

While most résumé writers bill by the project (flat rate), often that quote is based on your hourly rate times the estimated number of hours the project will require. Your hourly rate can help you price your résumé packages. Calculating your hourly rate is easy — you already have all the information you need. Simply divide your total annual revenue (the sum of your desired income and your expenses) by the number of billable hours you have available each year.

3. Putting It All Together

You can now use your hourly rate to create:

An hourly rate for phone consultations or coaching
Your package rates and other services you can create to your resume writing business.

How to Find Clients for your Resume Writing Business

One fact about the resume writing business is that it is all about getting clients. So how do you get clients for your resume writing business? Here are some ways you can start up with:

a. Word-of-mouth referrals

Tell family and friends about your new business. Offer to rewrite their resumes free for them. All you should demand from them is testimonials, and samples of their resumes for your website. Using visuals of before and after examples can be very powerful. Always remember to remove personal information from the samples you use on the website.

b. Join LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a very powerful social media tool for resume writing service providers. When you host your website, link it to your LinkedIn page. Same with your Facebook, Twitter and Pin Interest profiles. Join writing websites and post your services with them at a special price. Tell everybody you know about your business.

Remember, without the right keywords, the resume is truly useless and worthless. Make sure you have skills to approach resumes from different areas and works of life. Make sure your skills are market worthy and exceptional. There are plenty of clients who would value your skills and pay the price of hiring a professional.

Marketing ideas for your Resume Writing Business

1. The first step in marketing your business is to get referrals from family and friends. They would create the initial buzz for your business and provide the bulk of the testimonials on your website.

2. Make sure you collect testimonials from people who have gotten jobs with your services. That way people who visit your site can see that your services work and are motivated to patronize you.

3. Once you become an expert, you can expect business to increase while charging decent prices.

How to Succeed as a Resume Writer

To succeed as a resume writer and turn it into a full time business requires a lot of hard work and determination. You need to have a laptop, a printer, a fax machine, internet access and a business telephone line.

You must also be ready to develop your skills and talent. Today’s job seeker can write a decent resume with the help of so many free resources available online. So you must be able to provide a resume and cover letter service that gives them the extra professionalism that they cannot come up with on their own.

You must define your business; either you are a general resume writer or you are a niche resume writer, focusing on a particular aspect of resume writing. Do all this, and you are on your way to earning a decent five figure income monthly.