A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
Albert Einstein
Kayla was livid. She really wanted to do stellar work, but how could she when she never knew what was happening? This was the third time in a month that she had to hear bad news about her department from Amy, who was in the contracts department, instead of from her own manager. Didn’t he understand that anything less than total transparency was not acceptable to her?
She started this job four years ago, right out of college with her MBA and the expectation that she would use what she learned and continue to learn and grow. But that hadn’t happened.
She had been turned down four times for the additional training she wanted. Granted, the first time it may have seemed like a selfish request because the only rationale she provided was that “she wanted it” and she hadn’t tied the content to her job. But every request after that was directly related to problems and issues that occurred on the job. The last time, she even put together a cost-benefit analysis that clearly showed that what she would learn would save the company money. Instead, her manager told her to wait because next year she would be in line for the leadership development program. He seemed to be shocked when she told him she wasn’t that interested in being a leader, and that she was more interested in being a top performer and expert in her field.
Leadership wasn’t for her. The previous month, the CEO had signed off on the new innovation policy with, “I’m interested in hearing all your ideas. Come see me.” But when she went up to the fourteenth floor, she was turned away by the chief of staff, who said that her actions were improper. Leadership was hypocrisy! She didn’t want any part of that.
Kayla wanted to keep learning. Heck, she’d settle for some coaching, but her manager didn’t seem to have time—or the inclination. After all the articles that had appeared about millennials, didn’t he get it yet? Without figuring out what she valued, he didn’t stand a chance!
Why was she here? She disliked the slowness and bureaucracy; she didn’t want to be “managed.” She wanted a job that had purpose and meaning and that connected directly to the company’s mission. She’d been thinking a lot lately—perhaps the corporate environment didn’t suit her. Then again, she’d heard from some of her friends who had struck out on their own and found out that “doing what you love” doesn’t always put food on the table.
But she’d been studying the whole freelance, gig thing for over a year and found that consulting might be different. She pulled out her “How to Rule the World” journal and perused some of the pages: write a business plan, buy liability insurance, charge what you are worth, choose a good name, clarify your niche, select an accountant, develop a marketing plan, plan your transition, get a federal EIN, check on a city license. Well, there certainly was enough there to keep her busy.
She knew she would love the freedom of being her own boss, but she had an enormous student loan to pay off. If she could only figure out how much she might be able to make and a few more details about how consultants charged. She read a Randstad report when she was researching the company’s agility article that more than half of the workers surveyed believed they could make more money as consultants than in their current jobs. Well, money wasn’t everything. She wanted to do something more enjoyable, too. And she certainly wasn’t getting any younger; she’d be 30 next year! Besides, she deserved to be happy! Maybe her friend Mason would know. He knew everything. She’d text him now. Maybe he could meet her after work.
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Do you admire consultants who zip into a company, capture everyone’s attention, accomplish in days what you’ve been struggling with for months, and waltz out with a big check?
Ever thought you might like to be a part of that glamorous profession? This book will help you determine whether you have what it takes to be a consultant, as well as whether the consulting profession offers what you desire as an individual.
Consulting is the process by which an individual or a firm assists a client to achieve a stated outcome. The assistance can come in the form of information, recommendations, or actual hands-on work. A consultant is a specialist within a professional area who completes the work necessary to achieve the client’s desired outcome.
Whether companies need help developing an agile workforce, increasing competitiveness, reducing turnover, increasing engagement, installing a new computer system, building an executive team, breaking into the Chinese market, or solving almost any other business problem, they can call a consultant to assist with the effort. The organization requesting the assistance is usually called the client. The term can refer to the entire organization or to the person who actually made the call.
Consulting is not a descriptor that identifies a profession in itself. Unlike doctors or accountants, highly skilled consultants come from a variety of backgrounds. A qualifying adjective may be required to identify the form of service or the area of expertise, for example, management consultant, engineering consultant, or performance consultant. Although consulting is not a profession by definition, it is often referred to as “the consulting profession.” For the sake of convention, I will refer to the profession in this book.
The actual work of a consultant can vary quite a bit, depending on the area of expertise offered. Every consultant must be a subject-matter expert in some area. The expertise might be in the form of general content such as management development, organization development, leadership, or family business. Expertise might be in a specific profession, such as engineering, cybersecurity, writing, marketing, or a thousand others. Expertise might also be in the form of how the consultant delivers services, such as facilitation, training, strategic planning, or team building.
Even after you determine an area of expertise, you may need to select the actual work method you wish to conduct. For example, if you decide to focus on the talent development field, you could develop and deliver your own material or subcontract material development to another person while you deliver it. You could design material for others, or you could deliver others’ materials. You could even be certified to deliver others’ courses, especially for the large training supplier firms.
If you are a generalist, such as a management consultant, you will need to determine whether you will focus on a specific industry, such as manufacturing, banking, aerospace, military, or hundreds of other industries.
Like all businesses, consulting has its peaks and valleys. Consulting grew most rapidly, at double-digit rates, from the mid-1970s until 2000. When the economy weakens, consulting generally declines as well—especially in large firms. An independent consultant can take advantage of declines in a way that large firms cannot. As a small entity, a consultant has the opportunity to design the future. As an independent consultant, you can make changes faster than a large 10,000-employee firm. If organizations no longer need your expertise to nurture innovation, but need someone to help them plan for their high retirement rate, you can make that switch. Wayne Gretzky, the hockey player, is famous for claiming that his success is due to skating to where the puck “is going to be.” Consultants too can skate to where the work is going to be. During a downturn, many consultants stick with doing only what they know, as opposed to what clients need.
Over the past 15 years, growth has been healthy, though few believe the rate will mirror the growth rate in the last century. As a consultant, you can economy-proof your business by providing services to at least a couple of industries that are rarely affected by the economy, such as healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and pet products. As compared to other industries, consulting continues to be one of the fastest-growing professional areas.
Turbulent times have increased how often consultants are used to help organizations make their way through the processes of implementing technology, going global, improving processes, applying lean principles, and negotiating mergers. The consulting projects have increased in dollar amount and duration. Since the early 1990s, large-scale projects that cost more than $50 million and last over a five-year period are common. As Charles Stein (1994) of the Boston Globe states, “Once upon a time, consultants were like dinner guests: They came for a brief visit, gave advice, and went home. Now they are like guests who come for dinner, move into the spare bedroom, and stay for a year or two.”
Two trends in the business world continue to bring tremendous implications for consulting. First is the trend toward a need for organizations to be more agile. Corporations will continue to hire more temporary professionals to assist when needed, as opposed to adding highly paid, permanent staff. Consultants temporarily provide the “people power” to complete the work at the time it needs to be completed.
Even though many baby boomers will work past age 65, many retire every day. According to the AARP, 10,000 baby boomers are turning 65 every day, and this will continue into the 2030s. Gig workers fill the need for positions as diverse as sales representatives, engineers, healthcare specialists, information technologists, and accountants. But due to their expertise, consultant roles are in high demand.
Dan Pink, author of Free Agent Nation, was one of the first to alert us to the growing number of employees who would have alternative work arrangements. According to the Workplace 2025 study released in 2017 by Randstad US, one of the largest human resources (HR) services and staffing companies in North America, by 2025, a majority of the workforce will be employed in an agile capacity, as consultant, contractor, temporary, or freelance employee (Heisler, Southhall, and Cardec 2016).
The Workplace 2025 report surveyed more than 3,100 workers and 1,500 HR and C-suite executives across the United States and found that as early as 2019, as much as 50 percent of the workforce will be comprised of agile workers. The misconceptions about agile employment are disappearing, with about half (46 percent) of workers saying that they personally chose to become an agile worker. When asked why, employees responded as follows.
Although some of these comments may surprise you, it is a definite confirmation that employees’ beliefs about the flexible needs of organizations will benefit them, too.
The second trend is that rapid changes occurring in the world make it almost impossible for the executive team to remain knowledgeable about their industry, remain focused on their customers, stay ahead of their competition, and know instantly what to do when these factors collide in a negative way. Consultants offer the knowledge, information, data, other experiences, processes, and systems to solve the puzzle. They fill in the blanks. When the task is complete, they are on their way.
Several other trends continue, so they are perhaps less “trend” and more a way of life. For example, consulting engagements continue to be larger and last longer. It is not uncommon for a contract to cost over $20 million in consulting fees and last for multiple years. Other continuing trends that affect consulting include: a continuing increase in the rate of change; a heightened concern for the security of intellectual property, and the safety of a corporate workforce; limited preparation to adequately address an increasingly diverse workforce; a higher ethical bar; the global economy; technology efficiencies creating heavier workloads that are expected to be completed immediately; and employees’ belief that they are on call 24/7.
Talent management is a continuing trend that offers lots of opportunity for consulting. It focuses on the recruiting, retention, and rewarding of members of the workforce. Although it is focused mostly on the work that the HR department is supposed to do, it often encompasses training, diversity, and other aspects of people needs, focusing on the total employee experience. The field hasn’t been around long enough to completely define itself, so don’t be surprised if you actually start by helping your clients with a definition (Biech 2018a).
Healthcare is one of the faster-growing industries. This is a trend you should watch, as I expect the need for consulting to grow. Healthcare payment and delivery systems have been changing, which has generated a high demand for consultants to help healthcare organizations change through alliances, innovation, access strategies, and quality improvement. IT requirements continue to increase the demand for consultants. Other fast-growing industries for consulting include telecommunications, the Internet, environmental areas, and finance. Service industries and government agencies continue to implement lean principles. So if you practiced your skills in manufacturing, there is still more to be done in other areas. Not-for-profit and government organizations also continue to use more consultants.
Trends also exist in the kind of work that consultants are doing. Coaching continues to be on the rise. Although at one time having a coach was a sign that something was wrong with an executive, now the opposite is true. Employees think it is a sign that something is wrong if an executive does not have a coach!
Some consultants have become contingency workers. These consultants work full-time for months for a single employer, collecting hourly wages, but minimal benefits from an outside staffing agency. They are paid well while they are working, but the work is mostly short-term. Companies benefit with lower costs and the flexibility of easy termination.
That’s the demand side. What about the supply side? The same organizations that are cutting permanent staff to keep payroll down are providing a steady supply of people who need jobs and find that they can do consulting. In fact, many people cut from their jobs today may be placed in the same company as temporary employees.
Why this shuffling of the same bodies? Consultants are often more cost-effective for the organization, which can hire the skill it needs on an as-needed basis rather than train and educate staff for skills that may not be used again. Consultants can usually complete projects faster as well.
Clients need consultants for a variety of reasons. Several are listed here:
I frequently speak at conferences on the topic of becoming a consultant. The title I use is “So You Want to Be a Consultant.” I always ask, “Why do you want to be a consultant?” The responses I receive are many and varied. Perhaps you’ll relate to several of the following:
What do people look for in a job so that they rate the job as being highly satisfactory? The four attributes cited most often include intellectual stimulation, high job security, a high level of control and freedom, and extensive direct contact with customers or clients. As you can see, consulting rates high on all four of these aspects.
Why did I join the ranks of the independent consultants over 35 years ago? The four aspects that others identify are all important to me in my career. In addition, I have always said that it was because I am not a compliant employee. I do not like to be told what to do; I like to march to the toot of my own saxophone; I like a challenge and I like to take risks; I like to work directly with clients; I am a self-starter and hard worker, but I want to work during the hours I choose, not on someone else’s time clock; I want to express my creativity; and I prefer to control my own destiny.
Check www.careerjournal.com for other information about the consulting profession and business in general. It’s sponsored by the Wall Street Journal.
What about you? Have you explored why you are considering a move into the consulting profession?
Taking risks. Embracing ambiguity. Practicing flexibility. Balancing both process and people issues. Managing multiple responsibilities. Tolerating extensive travel. Communicating effectively. Learning continually. Proving your worth again and again. Does this describe you? If you responded with a resounding “Yes!” consulting may be an ideal career move for you.
If you decide consulting is right for you, what opportunities exist? Think about your ultimate goal. Do you want to be a partner in one of the “Big Four”? Will you eventually own your own firm? Do you think you will always want to consult as a sole practitioner? Do you want to teach part-time at a small university and consult on the side? There are at least four ways you could enter the field: as an employee, as a subcontractor, as a part-time consultant, or as a self-employed independent consultant.
Numerous employment opportunities exist for you. You could join a large national consulting firm. You could also join a small firm or even partner with someone in an even smaller firm.
If you just graduated from college, this is your best bet to experience the consulting profession. You will need experience. As an employee in a large firm, you will be an extra pair of hands on large projects—a great way to get experience. Consulting is typically listed as one of the top-paying jobs. With a bachelor’s degree, you can land a gig in one of the major firms and expect to earn between $60,000 and $90,000. For a select number of firms, the salary can approach $100,000. These figures include base salary, a signing bonus, and relocation expenses. If that sounds like a high salary, keep in mind that first-year consultants work as much as to 14-hour days and travel most weeks.
Glass Door lists the average consultant salary at $88,395, which is excellent as an average. The site also lists average salaries by company. You can get up-to-the-minute data at www.glassdoor.com for details.
And if you stay in school longer, the rewards are greater. MBAs from top schools can expect to be offered a base salary hovering around $145,000 to $150,000 as new consultants with firms such as Deloitte, Accenture, McKinsey, and others (Consulting.com 2018). About 75 percent of all consultants are eligible for bonuses and signing bonuses in addition to their salaries. The demand for consultants and a high starting salary have led to a strong competition for talent.
As a consultant for a large national firm, you would be able to focus solely on consulting and generating business. Someone else would complete tax forms, hire secretarial support, and pay the rent. You would have instant name recognition and a clear career path. Although this may sound advantageous at first blush, the greatest drawback is that you might become so comfortable with your job that you would never experience the world of the independent consultant.
These jobs generally come with a great deal of pressure. Usually you are expected to generate (sell) a certain amount of consulting services. Travel is another drawback. If you choose this route, learn more about these large firms, who they are, and what they do. I’ve identified several arbitrary segments. The same firm may be represented in more than one of these segments.
Are you thinking about applying to one of the larger companies for a job? If yes, examine these sample questions they are likely to ask you. I’ve added a couple of notes about what they’ll be looking for.
As a consultant in a small, local firm, you would experience similar advantages to those of a large, national firm. One added benefit might be that you would probably experience a wider variety of tasks and be given more responsibility sooner. If you want to travel, a drawback may be that you are often limited to working with businesses in your locality. Although your salary would be only half what it could be with one of the Big Four, you would have less pressure, more opportunity for a variety of projects, and more involvement in the entire consulting process. Find these companies by location. Check your local industry-specific association chapters in the city where you live. Many small firms do not find value in advertising, so your local librarian or Chamber of Commerce can help you. Ask for a listing of local businesses broken down by industry.
As a partner with one or more other consultants who are already in the business, you would be able to share the burden of expenses, marketing, and the workload. The biggest drawback is the potential for conflict over numerous business and personal preferences. These conflicts can vary from an unbalanced workload to communication to decision making. How do you find a partnership? Well, more often than not, they find you. You may be able to join an already formed partnership (expect to buy in with cash or reduced pay for a specified time period) or identify others who, like you, want to get into the consulting profession. When I was just starting, I joined a small firm with the promise of a partnership. After two years, when the “partnership” never materialized, I left and chalked it up to a learning experience. Read more about partnerships in Chapters Four and Eight.
Rather than becoming an employee, you could subcontract with a firm. Many businesses and consulting firms are looking for subcontractors who will fill in the gaps left as a result of downsizing or launching new initiatives. As a subcontractor, you may have a less secure position, but you will have flexibility while gaining rich experience and developing a sense of the market. The work will most likely not be full-time, but this allows you time to develop your own business. Who might hire you? You could consider the larger companies listed previously. They will most likely want you to dedicate time to one specific project. The scope will be larger and more full-time. If you like the idea of being a training consultant, consider some of the leading training suppliers such as AchieveGlobal, AMA, DDI, Franklin Covey, Herrmann International, and The Ken Blanchard Companies.
If you’re not ready to take the plunge, you could consult part-time while keeping your present job. Some people use their vacation time and weekends to conduct small projects—with their employers’ approval, of course. For example, if your specialty is team building or facilitating decision-making meetings, you might be able to do weekend retreats for boards of nonprofit organizations. Consulting is natural part-time work for college and university professors. If you are in the teaching profession, you have summers and vacation days that you can dedicate to part-time experiences. Part-time work will not give you the full flavor of what it will be like to be solely dependent upon consulting as a career, but it will give you an idea of whether you like the work.
You could also start your own consulting practice. When you develop expertise in an area, you might choose to build and run your own business around that expertise. The expertise being sold can be virtually anything. Specialties might include management, IT, marketing, financial, healthcare, environmental, social media, software, or hundreds of other specialties. The emerging gig economy is encouraging many people to start their own businesses.
Independent consultants might be called different things in different industries: freelancers, contractors, management consultants, or 1099s. In the United States, a 1099 worker is the IRS designation for someone hired on a contingent basis, not an employee whom the IRS classifies as a W-2. A consultant is generally thought of as the highest-skill end of the gig economy spectrum.
As an independent consultant, you have an opportunity to make all the decisions, do what you want when you want, and receive all the recognition. The drawback, of course, is that you would assume all the risk, be responsible for all expenses, and have no one at your level readily available with whom to discuss business plans and concerns. At least 20 percent of full-time independent consultants earn six-figure incomes. According to Consulting.com, the average annual revenue of an independent consultant is $97,000. MBO Partners found that 20 percent of professional consultants make more than $100,000 per year. Your revenue potential is wide open and completely uncapped. With a good plan, you can break through to a seven-figure income.
In her book The Million-Dollar One-Person Business, Elaine Pofeldt (2018) shares multiple examples of small-business owners who have been successful building a seven-figure, lean firm. Although not all of her examples are consultants, Pofeldt deftly presents the possibilities and the advantages. Pofeldt also sells the likelihood that the number of firms with no paid employees other than the owner that generate $1 to $2.49 million in revenue continues to rise each year; the number was 36,161 in 2016. Can you become a millionaire with a consulting practice? Sure. You don’t have to make a million dollars every year to become a millionaire. You do have to be consistent and thoughtful. Build these concepts into your plans.
Finally, realize that if you are just doing it for the money, you will likely fail. As John D. Rockefeller, America’s first billionaire, said, “If your only goal is to become rich, you’ll never achieve it.”
The focus of this book is on the final way of breaking into the field—independent consultants who open their own businesses. If you have decided this is the route you will take, you can still begin slowly.
One way would be to obtain experience as an employee in one of the national or local consulting firms mentioned earlier, or to work part-time as described in the third option, or to take work with you when you leave your present employer. Chapter Four provides more detail about how you can do this effectively while starting your own business.
Looking for a consulting job? Check the web for job listings. Try a consulting match up. Check out PwC’s Talent Exchange, where they connect independent consultants with PwC opportunities. Go to TalentExchange.Pwc.com and MBOpartners.com. Other sites for consultants include www.Top-Consultant.com, EXPERT360.com,TalMix.com, and www.consultingmag.com. At least two sites, www.TheLadders.com and www.ExecuNet.com, post only jobs with annual base salaries of $100,000 or more. You may have to pay a monthly membership fee to access some of the data. Although the last two do not focus exclusively on consulting, a fair number of consulting jobs are posted there because of the salary.
Some of the common myths you may believe about the field and the realities connected with them are listed next.
Let’s take a realistic look at this myth. It may seem like a huge sum of money for a day’s work, but let’s examine what that $1,000 covers. Let’s imagine that you are the consultant. If you work an eight-hour day, you would make $125 per hour. However, as a consultant you are now an entrepreneur, and it is more than likely that you are putting in a 12-hour day. That brings your hourly rate down to $83.
Of course it’s not possible to bill for 365 days per year. Take out weekends. Remove holidays and a two-week vacation (remember, there’s no paid vacation). We can conservatively reduce your hourly rate by 8 percent. That brings it down to $76 per hour. Still not bad.
As a consultant you will not be able to consult five days every week. You will need to use one day for preparation, one day for marketing, and one day to take care of administrative jobs such as taxes, billing, research, and professional development. So now one day’s billing covers four days of your time. That’s 25 percent of $76 an hour, or $19 per hour.
Murphy’s Law states that all your clients will select the same two days in September for their off-site meetings and the rest of the month you will catch up on reading your Harvard Business Review. This won’t happen just once each year. It may happen several times. In addition, you can bet on December as a notorious down time because of the holidays. No one wants you then. I’ve often wondered what really happens that month. Does no one work? Do employees turn into elves? When you add December to another bad month, you can expect to turn down 25 percent of all work because your clients’ desired dates do not match your available dates. So deduct another 25 percent from the hourly fee. You are now down to $14 per hour.
You must cover all your own taxes. There is no employer to share the burden. As a consultant, quarters will take on a whole new meaning. You will not think in terms of the football score, but of the check you must write to pay your quarterly taxes. In rough numbers, let’s say that you will pay 33 percent in various taxes. That leaves you with just a bit over $9 per hour.
You are on your own, so you must pay for your own benefits, such as health and life insurance and retirement. A very conservative estimate for this is $1.50 per hour. In addition, you will have business expenses—copying costs, telephone calls, stationery, postage. These expenses will accumulate fast! It may be $2 for every billable hour. Now what does that leave you?
Looks like you’re down to $5.50 per hour. Oh, and you wanted to purchase a laptop computer? On $5.50 per hour?!? That job at McDonald’s is looking mighty good right now!
Actually it’s not that bad. Although the realities of consulting are exaggerated and a number of calculation flaws exist in the example, you need to be fully aware of everything that goes into a consulting fee. A daily fee of $1,000 or more sounds good. Yet when you consider expenses, taxes, benefits, and nonbillable hours, a large chunk of that $1,000 disappears quickly.
Independent consultants may make a six-figure income. Then again, some consultants have trouble making any income. Some consultants make less than $50,000 a year doing the same thing as others who gross over $500,000. Statistics that identify the average consultant salaries vary considerably from source to source. It appears that, more than any other profession, consulting embodies the spirit of entrepreneurship. Free enterprise is alive and well! The potential is there. It depends on what you want out of it. It depends on how hard you want to work.
The politics at your present job can keep you from being productive and effective. Perhaps politics is a game you have seen your boss play. As an external consultant, you may be able to escape the politics of your present organization, but get ready to be involved in the politics of not one but 8 or 12 or 23 organizations, depending on the number of clients you have. As a consultant, you will have many bosses rather than just one. You will need to be acutely aware of their needs and shortfalls, and you may need to make some difficult decisions to ensure that you remain on the job.
The big difference is that instead of dealing with the same politics all week long, you will be able to go home at night knowing that you will have a fresh set to work around or through (depending on your project) later in the week.
No paperwork? You will most likely have more paperwork. Not only will you have more, but unless you are starting out with an administrative assistant, you will not have anyone to whom you can delegate some of the work. Some of your paperwork will have a higher degree of importance. As an employee, you may have been able to turn your expense report in late and then beg the bookkeeping department to slip it into the stack anyway. But if you file your quarterly taxes late, the IRS is not likely to slip it into the on-time stack.
You must track hours and work so that you know what to charge clients. You must bill your clients in a timely manner to avoid cash-flow problems. You must determine how you will track invoices to ensure that your clients are paying you. You must track all expenses to avoid paying a larger share of income taxes than you should. You must track and file all paperwork so that you can locate it for your attorney and accountant and banker when they request information.
Not only will you not be able to avoid politics and paperwork, but they will be multiplied as you open your consulting business. If you don’t take care of your paperwork, you will be out of business faster than you got in it.
You are probably seen as an expert in the job you now hold. People turn to you for answers; you are respected by your colleagues and praised by your bosses (some of them, anyway!). Enjoy that while you can. You will be required to build that reputation with every new client relationship. You are about to face a never-ending task of proving yourself.
Starting your business goes far beyond opening an office and introducing yourself to your local Chamber of Commerce. You will build your business one client at a time. You will build your expertise one project at a time.
You will build your business one client at a time.
If you are looking forward to getting up at noon and being out on the golf course several times each week, you are in for a big disappointment. Being a consultant means that you will become a business owner—an entrepreneur. Like most entrepreneurs, you will spend 60 to 80 hours each week that first year getting your business up and running. You will be marketing your services and networking with everyone you know.
You will be working for others, most likely businesspeople who go to work early, have tight deadlines, and experience huge pressures. You will be there to work as a partner with them to meet the deadlines and to relieve some of their pressures. You may need to work nights and weekends to meet a client’s critical deadline. All the while, you may be wondering when you are going to find the time to complete the marketing you must do to ensure that, after this project is completed, you will have another one waiting for you.
I thought I had chosen a respected profession. I was shocked the first time I was called a “beltway bandit”—the term assigned to consulting firms in and around the Washington, D.C., beltway. Since then, I’ve been called a pest because I followed up too often with a client. I’ve also been called a con man, which really bothered me, even though the client couldn’t tell he had the wrong gender! Jokes about consultants abound.
Some of the negativity is deserved. There are many charlatans in our business. Unfortunately, the profession lacks legal standards or legitimate certification. It is very easy to go into the consulting business. Go to your local printer and have business cards printed. You are magically transformed into a consultant before the ink is dry.
Often people who are temporarily out of work drift into consulting to pick up a few bucks. They are in the field long enough to make a mess and devalue the role of the consultant. One out of every 20 projects I accept requires me to build the reputation of the consulting profession in one of two ways: I may need to clean up a mess created by a wannabe consultant who lacked organization development knowledge, or I may find myself fighting a battle of trust due to poor ethics or overcharging by a consultant who worked with the client organization previously.
This is actually true. It is easy to break in. Staying in the business is what’s hard. You did want to make a living, too, didn’t you?
Initially you will probably need to spend at least 50 percent of your time marketing your services. You will need to establish business systems; set up your computers and printers to do all the things you want them to do; and create tracking systems for money, clients, paper flow, projects, and dozens of other things identified throughout this book. You may feel exhausted, and we haven’t even mentioned providing services to your clients.
You would think that the business of consulting would become easier over time. Unfortunately it does not. If you are good, you will have more work than you can handle. At some point, you will question whether to grow your business and how to do it. Should you produce products? Take on a partner? Create a firm? Or stay solo?
This is not an easy decision. It requires risk and capital. The pressure will be on you to grow. You must remember that there are many ways to grow without adding people to your payroll.
The responses to these myths were not meant to disillusion you. They were meant to ensure that you had both sides of the story. Explore a few truths you might think are myths about consulting in the sidebar.
Sometimes you hear things and think, “That can’t be true!” Here’s a list of those very true truths.
… and much, much more.
I’ve listed some of the realities and rewards of consulting. Take them to heart as you make your decision about starting your own consulting business.
The rewards of consulting are wonderful, but, like everything in this world, there is a flip side—the reality. Consulting can be frustrating, too. Imagine it’s your favorite aunt’s birthday and you are sitting in an airport 1,300 miles away because your flight’s been delayed. Imagine showing up at a client’s office ready to work and discovering that they forgot to tell you that they had moved the start date out by two weeks. Imagine that you rack up a million frequent flyer miles, all for work domestically, many of them on red-eye flights. Imagine working with someone who despises consultants in general and is sure that they are all out to take advantage of the system. Imagine working all hours of the day and night, recognizing that you have just worked over 120 hours in a week. Imagine working on many weekends. Imagine investing 10 hours to write a proposal that you later learn never had a chance because the candidate was preselected. Imagine catching one of your favorite employees stealing from you. Imagine that one of your clients is six months late paying you. Imagine that the airline loses your luggage in which you packed your best suit that you intended to wear when you met the CEO of a Fortune 50 company.
But wait. Read on. The rewards far outweigh a few irritations.
Consulting can be one of the most rewarding yet challenging careers out there. Imagine sitting at a desk looking out at the scene you have chosen. Imagine waking up every day knowing that you are going to do what you have chosen to do that day. Imagine not fighting rush-hour traffic. Imagine being able to select the projects you want. Imagine working with the people you want to work with. Imagine doing what you are best at and what you enjoy most. Imagine challenging yourself and living up to your potential. Imagine being paid well to do what you love. Imagine working your own hours. Imagine feeling the satisfaction of being a part of a project that you believe in. Imagine completing projects successfully and being genuinely appreciated. Imagine being able to make a difference. Imagine working in locations that you have selected. Imagine taking the day off without asking permission. Imagine getting up in the morning and not going to work … but going to play! These are the rewards of consulting.
What rewards and lessons in reality are in store for you as you enter the world of the consultant?
Yes, every one of these things describes events and feelings I can remember. Consulting is certainly a profession that produces the good, the bad, and the ugly. But then, it’s all about your perspective and how you view it. You will definitely learn and grow from all kinds of situations.
As you can see, there are many pros and cons in the consulting field. The number-one reason that consultants love their jobs is the intellectual stimulation. Two key reasons consultants dislike their jobs are the long hours and the travel. Trying to decide whether to go it on your own can be confusing. Just as you would with any major decision, you will want to conduct your own research. You will want to discover whether consulting is a profession you want to pursue.
One of the best ways to do that is to talk to other consultants. Explore your concerns and confirm your hopes by interviewing people in the profession. Most of us enjoy talking shop, especially if we work alone. As professionals, we owe it to those entering the field to share our knowledge and insight. But what should you ask someone who has been in the business? Exhibit 1.1 provides a list of questions you can use to interview consultants. Also spend time thinking about the various aspects explored in this chapter and develop your own questions. How will a change affect your career path? How will it affect your personal life? Take your time in making a decision. Do your homework.
Exhibit 1.1 Questions to Ask a Consultant
You likely won’t have time to ask all of these, so although they are in a logical sequence, you will probably have to prioritize what you ask.
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Exhibit 1.2 challenges you with several aspects of becoming an external consultant. Read the statements, checking all with which you agree.
Exhibit 1.2 Are You a Match for the Profession?
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Although the number of checks on the page is not significant, your willingness to face the reality of what it takes is very significant. Each time you are unable or unwilling to check a box, you show a disparate match to the profession.
I am one of those people who can get lost in the details. And yet the ability to attend to both the details and the big picture at the same time is one of the most important attributes I need when designing a project. I practice the skill of readily jumping back and forth by completing cryptograms that require the same dexterity.
Be compulsive about billing your clients if you want to be paid.
How are you doing? Ready to learn more about the skills of a consultant? You can read short first-year stories on Wiley’s The New Business of Consulting website, www.wiley.com/go/newconsultingbiech, at Exhibit 1.3.
Is the thought of a consulting business exhilarating? Are you pumped? You have an opportunity to reimagine your life the way you have always wanted it. Consider these seven signs that you are ready to start your own consulting business. Mark each one red, yellow, and green: Red for “no way!” Yellow for “yeah, pretty close!” Green for “Yahoo! Let’s go!” This should give you a push in one direction or another. And if you don’t get seven green lights, stick with the book. It covers the rest.
Exploring what you are getting yourself into is just the beginning. Do your research. Talk to people—lots of them. Ask them about their perspectives on consulting and listen to what they say. What resonates with you? Is consulting your dream job?
A Family Affair. Transitioning to be a consultant is truly a family event. Choosing to have your office in your home, for example, requires new ground rules. Have a chat with your family. Involve everyone. What are the upsides and the downsides of becoming a consultant?
Innovative Interviews. I mentioned interviewing other consultants. I think that is just common sense. But who else can you interview who will have insight for you? How about people who work inside organizations that hire consultants? What do they think works when they use consultants? What doesn’t work? What surprised you?
Flawless Consulting. Have you read Peter Block’s book Flawless Consulting? If not, you must get it. The New Business of Consulting informs you of how to run your consulting business so that you don’t go bankrupt; Peter’s book will inform you of how to be a consultant. Although you may know your subject matter well, Flawless Consulting shares a mindset, a perspective, and tools for being the best darn consultant anywhere.