How to start a solo advisory practice in Switzerland after a corporate career

The short answer. Decide who it is for first. Then put one offer with a price on it, get in front of people who already know your work, have the first conversation, and get paid. The company and the website can come early or late. Who it is for cannot come late, because every other step depends on it.

Who this is for

You have spent years inside a large organisation, in Switzerland or working closely with it. You want to sell what you know as an adviser or consultant rather than take another role. You may still be employed, or you may have just left.

I spent sixteen years in banking. I was Head of Technology HR at Credit Suisse, then technology reward at UBS, during the integration. I left with no clients. This is the order I would follow again.

Step 1: Decide who it is for

Pick a situation, not a sector. Financial services is a sector. A head of function who has just been told their team is moving under a new division is a situation. A buyer recognises a situation as theirs. Nobody recognises themselves in a sector.

The test is one sentence: I help [who] with [what problem]. Say it out loud to somebody outside your industry. If they can repeat it back to you, it works. If they ask what that involves, it is not specific enough yet.

Your job titles are not what anybody buys. The situations you watched from the inside, many times, are.

Step 2: One offer, with a price

Start with one thing you sell, with one price, written down. A menu of five products before the first client spreads a small amount of attention across too many things, and nobody can refer you to a menu.

Set the price on the problem it removes, not on your old salary divided by hours. I wrote about that in Price the consequence, not the hours.

Step 3: Let people find you, without cold outreach

You do not need to message strangers. Write short posts about the situations you know, and build a small email list you own. Then run one free session where people can see how you think.

I never message a stranger. I message the people my post already warmed. The full method is in How to find your first advisory clients without cold outreach.

Step 4: The first conversation

A call is your scarcest resource, so ask what somebody actually wants before you offer one. When a person replies to a post or an email, a question works better than a booking link: Are you looking to talk this through with anyone or still sitting with it?

On the call, say back what you heard before you make one clear ask.

Step 5: Getting paid, and the Swiss part

Before you start any work, agree your terms and how and when you will be paid.

In Switzerland you can trade as a sole proprietor (Einzelunternehmen) or set up a company such as a GmbH, and the choice has consequences for your tax and your liability. My own practice trades through Mayer Advisory GmbH in Zürich. Whether that is right for you is a question for a Treuhand or a tax adviser who knows your numbers. I am a chartered management accountant, not a tax adviser, so this is the one step I will always send you to somebody else for.

If you are still employed, read your employment contract before you sell anything on the side. If a clause is unclear, ask an employment lawyer.

Where AI helps, and where it does not

AI cannot decide who your practice is for. Ask it, and the answer comes back as a sector. That decision is yours.

Once it is made, AI carries a large part of what a corporate team used to do for you: drafting posts from your own notes, preparing calls, filing notes, tracking what you have invoiced. A solo practice used to cap out because every lost corporate function came out of the founder's hours. That has changed. I wrote about what I run my own practice on in My AI Workforce.

How long it takes

There is no honest single number. What you control is the order. The 12-Week Studio, which starts on 12 January 2027, is built around this sequence, with an AI workforce set up alongside it. Read about The 12-Week Studio.

Questions people ask

Do I need a GmbH to start an advisory practice in Switzerland?

That is a decision for a Treuhand or a tax adviser, because it depends on your numbers and your situation. Decide who the practice is for and test the offer in conversations first. The structure is easier to choose once you know what you are structuring.

Can I start building a practice while I am still employed?

Yes. The positioning and the first conversations can happen in evenings and weekends. Read your employment contract before you sell anything, and ask an employment lawyer if a clause is unclear.

What should I do first?

Finish one sentence: I help [who] with [what problem]. If you cannot finish it yet, that is the first piece of work, before the company or the logo.

Where does AI fit in a solo advisory practice?

After the first decision. AI cannot tell you who your practice is for, but once that is decided it can draft your posts from your own notes, prepare your calls, file your notes and track your invoices.