How do I get a job as a "small business advisor"?

[isthismenopausalrage]

I would love to have a business "surgery" where I provide a fresh set of eyes on a business and suggest new ways of working. I am not a financial expert but a marketing person

Does this job even exist?

Yeah, but Mary Portas has got the one and only job in this field.

Sort of. I would think the closest thing would be business mentoring.

What else have you done other than marketing? You would need to understand how the finances of a business work, resource management, operations, and a whole host of other aspects.

Also, it would be helpful to have a track record of businesses you have either worked with or for, and the achievements there.

Plenty of marketing consultants about who do that from a marketing pov. If you mean holistically, then I think you'd need both business qualifications and a experience in a number of different industries. Otherwise how do you convince anyone you're any good?

This is what I do! Im self employed although there are jobs out there - try your local enterprise support organisations.

How many years of experience do you have? Why would anyone seek your advice?

Ha! Ain't that the truth?!

Thank you. I will look. I do have some track record of things...

I have worked in big and small organisations and also seen how bureaucracy can kill things and also worked very small and grown quickly.

It isn't just about having worked at places and seen stuff. You will need to be able to articulate what you did to stop it, and turn it around.

Put yourself in the position of being your customer and be brutally honest about why they would / would not hire you. Look at the competition, there are loads of business mentors around, is there a gap you can identify? Do you have some sort of USP you could leverage?

You probably have lots of relevant experience, but we are always our own best critics. You will need to become your own best advocate and leverage every single thing. Also, don't assume your target customer has any knowledge, and explain everything as if they were a stranger on a bus. That way you never miss anything.

Chamber of Commerce or Business Gateway sometimes have advisor roles.

Having previously been a self-employed consultant working with small businesses, I can tell you that 90% of their issues are directly or indirectly caused by financial mismanagement, poorly-trained staff, rotten costing and allowing overheads to get completely out of hand.

I can also tell you that most failing small businesses are in that situation precisely because they think they know best, and are no more likely to listen to your advice than the advice from other people they have already been given (and ignored).

They want you to wave a magic wand, but won't like it when you tell them what they need to do in order to turn the business round.

@isthismenopausalrage is that a Business Analyst?

This 👆

I forgot one: demoralised, poorly-rewarded junior staff.

I have done it. Most roles are SE so you have to be very confident about networking and promoting yourself to get clients. You will also be competing with lots of people who have bought a franchise and fancy themselves experts.
I did get an employed job doing it for a while but it was mainly a front to sell extra services to Businessses and I wasn't entirely comfortable with some of the advice I was expected to give.
I still do a bit and hope to get a couple of lucrative NED roles at some point in the future

Yep, they will expect their business to be turned around by a couple of social media posts and then stop using you when the phone doesn’t start ringing off the hook.

They will also expect you to fully understand that the business has slight - er - cashflow problems, and that you will be very accommodating about waiting several months for them to pay your invoices...