The evolution of consultants has changed significantly. Years ago, a candidate didn’t run without a consultant. Today, it depends on what level of government the candidate is running for and how much resources they have.

First-time candidates feel they may need to put their resources into a consultant. But if the candidate has a big enough network, can learn a few things and do them well they may not need a political consultant. There are many free campaign schools, whether it be through one of the state-wide parties, the Democrat Party, or the Republican Party. There’s also non-profit organizations that put on campaign schools. The candidate should exhaust those resources before investing into a general consultant that may or may not help.

The candidate should do their homework. This will help in gauging. Understand your strategy, understand the environment you’re running in, what office it is, the timing of it and relying on free resources first to help you understand what you should be thinking about. Do your due diligence. Like anything, do it before you invest your money in a consultant. Ask for referrals. Do as much homework on your particular area and your race and work it out yourself as much as possible.

If the candidate decides they want to hire a political consultant after taking advantage of free resources, they should take a honest look at themselves. See where your strengths and weaknesses are and try to pair yourself with somebody that complements you, brings up your weaknesses, and gives a good balance to the campaign.

Finding someone that complements your personality is extremely important. The candidate wants someone that’s not going to tell them everything they want to hear. A political consultant should be willing to challenge you on a daily basis, on an hour-by-hour basis and someone who will not back down. If the consultant is not strong enough to tell you what you don’t want to hear, but what you need to know, they’re not going to be worth the money that you’re paying them for.

Diversity needs to be taken into account. A candidate does not want to present a platform that doesn’t resonate with that particular community. If so, that’s going to be a problem.

When you think about diversity, you shouldn’t look at is as an impediment or a reason for not getting into a race. If your particular race or ethnicity does not match with the greatest component of that district or area, this doesn’t mean it will create a bar to you running.

You should consider the issues that are important to people in that particular area. Is it something you can add to? How can you go about doing that and why are you best qualified to address those issues? If you’re ignorant to those things then you might see that reflected in the vote.

Because you may not come from a certain background like somebody else or similar understanding of the world, it’s important to listen and to be open. You’re going to have all different types of interest, all different types of background, and all different types of demographics. The last thing that somebody from a different background wants is somebody to come in and tell them that they know how it is or, “I know what your perspective is.” The candidate wants to make sure they don’t do this. Instead,  go listen. People respond very well to that.

If you’re running in a big city, have someone or at least a few people who can engage themselves into different communities. When running for a big city, you may not have the time to go to the several communities that are in that city.  It’s very important to be mindful and to work that into your platform and into your organizational chart in some manner. That way, your name is exposed to all different communities.

Having name ID is something I run across when I talk with potential clients. They’ll say, “Well nobody knows who I am.”

I can tell countless stories of people who had zero name ID when they came into a decision to make themselves run for office and ended up getting themselves elected. Having perseverance, determination, and dedication will get you there.

You can be a very small fish in a very large city and make a huge difference as long as you’re committed, dedicated and can build your grassroots around. Don’t ever give up. Don’t ever think you’re not worthy. If you’re a voter, you do make a difference every time you go and cast your ballot. Make sure you are a voter if you’re going to run for office. That has been an issue before.