John Veverka & Associates

Starting a New Interpretive Services Consulting Business Course
With Mentor Coaching.

Hay - wake up!  It's time for you to get started planning for your new
Heritage Interpretation Consulting Business and career!  I know starting something new
can be a bit scarry, but I can help you get organized and mentor you along the way.
Get fresh coffee and let's get going.

Are you ready for an interpretive career change? Are you ready to start your own interpretive services consultancy? Would you like some guidance to help you plan for your new venture from someone who's been there to be your mentor as you transition to a new career?  Then this course with mentor coaching will help you plan for your next moves

Start the course any time - work through the course and mentoring at your own speed. Chat with me (your mentor) whenever you need some advice or have questions.

Course and Mentor Tuition: $400.00
Five CEU Unit Credits
Certificate of Completion
Questions? jvainterp@aol.com

How the course and mentor partnership works.

The course consists of 15 units, each designed to help you think about and plan for your new interpretive business.  Each unit has readings/reference materials and "assessment assignments" that you will send to me (Prof. Veverka).  At any time you can arrange "office hours" me to talk about each unit if you'd like to, and ask any questions you may have.   Throughout the course progression we can customize course materials for your particular business focus and goals.  We can discuss these important start-up talks at the beginning for the course/mentor program.

Unit One - Why? What are your reasons, motivations and goals for starting an interpretive consulting business?

Unit Two - Make a list and check it twice.  Meaning - let's make a check list of everything you are going to need to do to go from - this is what I want to do- to having your business developed and operational.

Unit Three  - The legal stuff to plan for/acquire - assumed name certificate, tax ID number, banking account, payment options and budgeting, etc.

Unit Four - New business operational time frames.  Are you planning to start full time or work part time (project by project) as you establish your business.  

Unit Five - Financial analysis - how much will your consultancy start-up cost?  Review your potential operational overhead vs. cash flow needs.

Unit Six - Geography and scope - are you looking to work on interpretive services projects locally, regional, national or international?

Section Two - What business will you be in?

The Product of the Product Analysis - Will you be selling drills or holes?

Unit Seven - This part of the course and mentoring begins to focus on just want products and/or interpretive services you want to offer and the opportunities that may/may not exist for a new interpretive consultancy start up.

Unit Eight - For this unit - list the interpretive products or services you feel qualified to offer and your qualifications to offer these services or products as "an EXPERT - CONSULTANT"/

Unit Nine - List your overall academic qualifications and/or work experience training for the consulting services you want to offer.  Remember, you may be competing against other firms that can offer similar services.

Unit Ten - When/when did you receive specific training IN heritage Interpretation?  Think about how you might answer the question "who specifically taught you how to provide cutting edge interpretive products/services"?  Backup to your interpretive credentials.

Unit Eleven - Based on your list of academic and/or work experiences and training in interpretive services, begin to develop a draft of your resume you might use in applying to offer consulting services.

Unit Twelve - In this section we will work on specifics of just what kind of interpretive services you want to offer so I (your mentor) can provide you with additional training/teaching materials, e-textbooks and other references to help you better focus on the question "What Business Do You Want to Be In"?  Such as offering consulting services in:

  - Interpretive Master Planning

  - Interpretive staff//seasonal interpreter/volunteer training in interpretive techniques and  principles.

  - Interpretive Exhibits Planning/Design/Fabrication.

  - Interpretive writing and scripting services.

  - Offering interpretive tours and tourism experiences (resorts, cruise ships, etc.)

  - Interpretive economics, marketing, product/services development.

  - Visitor surveys and visitor marketing research.

  - New cutting-edge media development.

  - Focus workshop management for themes, objectives and storyline development.

  - New Interpretive Center/visitor feasibility analysis.

  - Interpretive planning and assessments for climate change interpretation.

  - Request for Proposal and RFP development consulting services.

This is just a starter list. We'll work on the one(s) that best reflect the focus on the new interpretive consulting business you want to begin and operate.

Unit thirteen - Your lucky number.  Marketing, Marketing and more Marketing.  In this unit I would like to begin to develop YOUR marketing plan for launching your new business services or products.  We'll look at e-mail and on-line marketing and related organizations you can join and list-serves you can use to send out thousands of your advertising announcements for free.  Let's develop your start-up e-mail lists for people, agencies, organizations, etc. to get you ready to advertise.  Develop a draft new business announcement copy for your e-mail start-up mailing.

Unit Fourteen - Your Web Site Page.  This will be the anchor to your marketing and advertising for your business.  All advertising you do for your interpretive services or products will direct potential clients to your web site for more details as to: 1. Who you are; what you do; examples of your work; your credentials; list of services (with photos) you provide; your contact details; etc. I (your mentor) will work with you on this to help you focus for the services and/or products you will present on your web site pages.

Unit Fifteen - Countdown to launch day. With this final unit - develop your check list of everything you have been working on to be sure you are ready to go.  Review the materials you were asked to prepare for each unit in your check list.

Then take a deep breath - load up your e-mail to send you your new consultancy announcement to everyone on your e-mail list (potential clients) Note: if you sending out hundreds of e-mails at one time remember to load them in your e-mail page in the BBC (Blind Carbon Copy) on your e-mail form.

As your coach and mentor I will always be available to you throughout your start up process and also happy to serve as a reference for you too.


Prof John Veverka - working as an interpretive planning and
training consultant for 40 years.  More at www.heritageinterp.com.


If you have any questions at all or just like to chat about the course and mentoring, send me an e-mail and we can set up a skype or zoom  chat.  If you're ready to get started, just click on the Pay Now butten and we'll get you going.  My e-mail is jvainterp@aol.com.

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