Is personal experience enough to start being an advisor

[southOfthegarden]

Or do you need a relevant formal qualification in the same area?

I am trying to think of ways I could became self employed and wasn’t sure of this was a possibility? Or if you always have to have formal qualifications

@BornIn78

So you want to be an advisor… an advisor of what, you don’t know, but what you do know is that you don’t want to be an advisor of anything that needs a relevant qualification or requires membership of a regulatory body.

Have you considered just joining some MLM scheme? I feel like that’d be your type of thing.

Or becoming a political advisor to an MP, from what I have seen they don’t need any training, expertise or even life experience, so if you have life experience you will be well ahead of the game!

Not to be harsh, but if you don’t have a really good idea of what you want to do then I don’t think you’ve got enough experience.

“ It’s quite personal and outing so while I’m at the brainstorming stage I don’t want to go into details I was just wondering what the rules were around it”
No one can say what the rules are without knowing what kind of advising you’ll be doing!

I’ve worked (in an educational context) with a number of people who having had difficult backgrounds, wanted to go into counselling type jobs in order to help people going through similar things. Am I on the right lines?

Some have been successful.

Those who were successful gained relevant qualifications and accreditation from a reputable organisation. Reputable organisations will interview and will want to be confident that the student isn’t coming in carrying too much baggage, if you understand my meaning.

Who would be your target audience?

That's a key question and your best starting point. You need people/companies to pay for your advice and there may or may not be a market for that.

You mention that the issue is 'personal and outing'. Do you have enough knowledge of the issue to advise a wide audience or is it just your specific situation? Potential customers are going to want evidence that you get results. Could you offer 'advice' for free in exchange for experience and a future recommendation? You may see whether your idea can work.

My role is to offer advice and it isn't always easy. People sometimes don't like what you advise or will blame you when they don't get that outcome or they want, whether or not they followed your advice.

@HeddaGarbled

I’ve worked (in an educational context) with a number of people who having had difficult backgrounds, wanted to go into counselling type jobs in order to help people going through similar things. Am I on the right lines?

Some have been successful.

Those who were successful gained relevant qualifications and accreditation from a reputable organisation. Reputable organisations will interview and will want to be confident that the student isn’t coming in carrying too much baggage, if you understand my meaning.

Thank you that is really helpful

It’s quite personal and outing so while I’m at the brainstorming stage I don’t want to go into details I was just wondering what the rules were around it.

If it is outing to mention what you want to advise about, then will there be enough people for you to advise?

If it is counselling, please do not go into this without professional training. Poor counsellors can be really damaging to already struggling people.

Having said that, there are loads of 'coaches' of various things with no qualifications what so ever. I know someone who earns £5k a month as a parenting 'expert'. Absolutely no work experience with children and no relevant qualifications or any relevant, recognised training at all. What she does have is chutzpah and confidence.

Pick an unregulated area and you can set yourself up as whatever you want. There are issues about how ethical that is though.

If you've been through a crappy experience and come through it - well done.

But unless you are very very very well trained, with experience other than just your own, please don't consider this. The last thing vulnerable people need is someone who doesn't understand why training and qualifications are so vital and thinks their own experience of their own situation is enough. It really isn't and you'll damage people.

The more qualifications/regulations etc for a particular role, the higher the rate. The more "barriers" to entry, the higher the fee as you're cutting down the supply of people doing the work, i.e. basic supply and demand, and those who have spent years getting qualifications and paying large amounts for regulatory requirements, insurance, etc are going to want to charge a high enough rate to make it worth it.

If, literally anyone can do it, I.e. no regulations, no qualifications, no insurance, etc., then the hourly rate is almost always going to be very low, so hardly worth bothering with when you consider your overheads etc.

There are some paid jobs as peer support workers in areas like mental health services and addictions services. They look for people with lived experience and seem to provide a supportive environment to do this kind of work.

Not really advising in the sense of telling people what to do, but more like getting alongside someone who's experiencing something similar. Could that kind of thing be something you could do?

With counselling type things there is a big shift from being able to relate to someone’s situation in a personal and subjective way to being able to empathise with them on their level to help them find their own way through - it takes a lot of training and practice and there are ethical frameworks to work within.

However, if you are an expert declutterer then I think you can just jump in.

It really does hinge on what and who you want to advise.

Well it’s very difficult to help if you won’t even hint at what you have experience of but here are a few ideas:

1. You were a drug addict and are now looking to advise people on how to stop using. Probably not a lot of money from the clients themselves and if you want to be employed by the NHS or similar, they are likely to want you to have had some actual training rather than just “here’s how I did it!”

2. You breastfed your baby successfully and you think you could be a breastfeeding counsellor. Maybe you could find clients who would be interested in what you did, but based on your own experience alone, you are unlikely to have a good understanding of all the factors that might lead to difficulty breastfeeding.

3. You are an expert at applying make up and you think you could advise others. Go ahead and set yourself up, see if there is interest. If people who know you and like your style are willing to pay for your advice you might be able to establish a good word-of-mouth reputation and build a business. I imagine the odds are against you, but you could try.

You see that with so little info, it is very difficult to give realistic suggestions about how doable this is!