BIM Consulting - My Journey (part 2)

Today on the channel I discuss my experiences as a BIM Consultant in my first few years, I hope it is helpful for others out there!

0:00 Intro
1:31 Revisiting my mantras
2:44 My journey before consulting
3:51 Overview
5:40 Why become a consultant?
8:29 Starting a business pt1
15:06 Ways I saved money
17:25 Starting a business pt2
19:20 How do I get clients?
22:13 Client breakdown
24:32 What do BIM consultants do?
26:47 Traps to avoid
33:42 Side hustling
34:59 My keys to success
36:20 Scalability
38:07 Outro

I hope you enjoy the session and learn something new! Feel free to comment any feedback/questions below, or follow my channel if you enjoyed this.

Software used;

Hardware used;

#revit #dynamo #bim

[nicolascatellier-poulin]

Thanks Gavin! Fascinating to hear thoughts from a fellow independent BIM consultant. You've motivated me to write about this as well :)

A few pieces of advice I would add from my experience:

- Create a base of passive income (courses, plugins, etc). It makes you more financially secure and you can be more selective in the contracts you accept. As you've mentioned, it's very difficult to leverage and scale a consulting business, but scaling a product is much easier.
- Build an email list. Social media algorithms might suddenly change and you'll lose reach to your "followers". With email lists, you have a direct link of communication.
- The best way to build an email list is to give a great piece of learning content in exchange for an email address.
- The best time to start working on a business is when you are still an employee. Start by sharing your knowledge and helping the community solve difficult problems.
- Don't hesitate to "fire" a client that is too difficult or that stresses you out.
- Read a lot. Not just about BIM, but about businesses, technology, psychology, etc.
- Don't fall into the trap of cynicism and cool-ironic snark. Focus on being helpful and remain optimistic.

[rfvendrame]

Great one Gavin, love your transparency sharing your story within the community.
As I’ve watched this now, I notice a lot happened after this, so probably it’s time for an episode 3 where you update us on your journey with architectus and how to manage working for a company and running a consultancy on the side. Cheers

[faroukelkihal]

Sir, you're like a role model for me in the BIM industry! Thank you for your videos

[christopherhanson]

Once again a fantastic video! I truly appreciate your candid and honest views, even when they are hard to hear.

[davidbala]

Thank you so much for this content Mr. Gavin Crump

[BIMvoice]

Great video Gavin, thank you for the insight!

[hectorabella]

Thank you for this vid! been learning a lot from your channel 🙏🏿

[ArchitectureSocial]

This video was awesome, I love the format and the way you went through it. Given me a few ideas and inspiration! Keep it up

[adensenpai]

Thank you so much for this video!!
It motivates and gives me a lot of idea on what I have to deal with in the future. :D

[marwanbeaino]

Very inspiring Gavin ! thanks for sharing

[unidesigndc]

G'day Mate I worked in Brisbane from 2001- 2009. You were still in Uni. I learned Revit in Aus I worked with Aurecon and was a part of the TrackStar team in Queensland and many rail projects using 12D for Queensland Rail. I returned to the US in 2009.
I also work out of our New Zealand office for a few months in Wellington. I think I may know some people you know.

[dykodesigns]

Do you also have civil engineering clients? In the Netherlands a lot of civil firms are still using Autocad and only the really large companies use Revit. In the building/architectural industry we’ve got a lot more adoption of BIM but many civil clients are years behind. I work as a draftsman/modeller for a small structural engineering business and do both civil and building projects. I’m building engineer originally but I do mostly civil projects. I actually use Revit a lot for modelling bridges but most of my employer’s clients still use AutoCAD, and that includes municipal infrastructure departments. I wonder if the situation is the same in Australia in that regard.

[BIMvoice]

I assume you are talking about Australian dollars in all instances you talk about dollars?

[mafa]

Thank for videos! Can have link for Part-1 on this subject?

[nottheBIMMentor]

Thank you for your transparency as always. Could you discuss a bit more about your experience with the course content creation? Would you reckon that the success of your courses is related to your YouTube visibility? Do you think that someone without this kind of visibility would succeed otherwise? Appreciate the effort as always.

[narkisbubbleboy]

Hey Gavin Great Video. Do you manage without buying a construction cloud subscription? is bim 360 popualar in australia & nz? Thanks.

[rik]

interesting video. I wonder do you know, if Revit API teaching is something that could be worth of trying? after 6 years of API it would be a shame to let all this knowledge to go to waste.

[mohammedshariqueiqbal]

With your advice on 27th April 2020 via email, I joined a course here in India at the platform oneistox to dive into the industry of BIM.

Thank You so much for the response and your time.
Looking forward to your content.
Thanks again for being an inspiration.