I will always remember Johnny Smith. Johnny was my very first supervisor in my very first full-time, salary-paying job.
I had returned from two years in the Peace Corps and was fortunate to find work in a consulting firm that had landed a contract from the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity. I was part of a team that traveled from city to city in the southwestern United States to conduct training programs, facilitate team-building sessions, and consult on organizational issues to newly formed Community Action Agencies. Our group was made up of mostly young, inexperienced, but highly motivated behavioral scientists who wanted to change the world. It was a perfect kind of job for us, but without Johnny we most likely would have gone broke.
Johnny was a Texas Instruments manager who had decided to take on the temporary assignment of leading this small band of do-gooders. He, too, wanted to do good, but from his years at Texas Instruments, he also knew that to be of service we had to stay in business. Johnny brought a discipline that was absolutely essential to our survival.
I vividly remember one consulting gig in Dallas, Texas. We had a meeting with the director of an agency to talk about the goals and roles for the assignment, and the director was called out for a few minutes. Johnny said to us, “This guy is very organized.” I asked, “How do you know that?” He said, “See all those file folders lined up neatly on the credenza behind his desk? That’s how.” And, he was right about that. The guy and the agency were very organized. Johnny paid attention to detail. He was all about the little things that, when you added them up, either made something work or caused it to fail. I also remember what a stickler he was for filling out expense reports and submitting invoices. He used to say things like, “You’ll get my thanks when you fill in the blanks.” Corny, but it worked.
Johnny Smith would have adored Elaine Biech. He’d have wanted her on our team. And, had it been available back in 1969, I am confident that Johnny would have handed every one of my colleagues and me a copy of The New Business of Consulting. It’s the kind of straightforward, no-nonsense book that he would have wholeheartedly embraced.
But since Johnny isn’t around to give you that advice, permit me to offer it instead. If you are just starting out in consulting, or if you are at a place where you’re growing but not making enough money, you must study this book. The New Business of Consulting is vital to your success. You can be extraordinary at what you do, but if you do not know how to run your business, you will be out of business quickly.
Just take a look at what you’ll find in The New Business of Consulting. In Chapter One Elaine asks, and helps you answer, the question, “What are you getting yourself into?” The chapter enables you to come to grips with the myths and realities of the business and asks you to seriously consider whether or not consulting is right for you. Chapter Two is about the talents and tolerances you’ll need to succeed in the profession. Chapter Three discusses money—what you think you’ll need to earn, how much you should charge, and how to make ethical pricing decisions.
Chapters Four, Five, and Six focus on starting—and staying—in business and the cost of doing business. These are the meat and potatoes chapters about running the operational, marketing, and financial sides of your practice. Need to write a business plan? It’s here. Need a marketing plan? This book has guidelines for developing one. Need to calculate your cash flow or deal with bad debts? Elaine offers wise counsel on these and more.
Chapter Seven addresses clients. From the first meeting to maintaining the relationship after the project has been completed, Elaine coaches you on how to create value for your customer. Chapter Eight describes the pains—sometimes welcome, sometimes not—of growth. One of the most vexing issues you will have to deal with during the life of your firm is how to manage it as it matures, adds people (and costs), and becomes more than just a hobby for one person. Elaine talks to you about the advantages and disadvantages of key aspects of growth.
Elaine and I share a passion for ethics. Elaine is adamant about how we conduct ourselves in business, and Chapters Nine and Ten are calls to action. As Elaine puts it, “Your reputation as a consultant will be created by thousands of actions, but may be lost by only one.” She reminds us that it is imperative that we act as role models for how business should be conducted. We always have to practice what we preach. All this takes continuous professional learning and personal growth.
In the closing Chapter Eleven, Elaine poses the question, “Do you still want to be a consultant?” She helps you answer it by giving you a peek into her own daily life as a consultant, a dose of reality for anyone daring to answer “yes” to the question. Of course, we all know what Elaine’s answer is, because it’s the profession she chose for herself. She’s not a journalist who just writes about it; she lives it every day. She’s a role model for the advice she gives others, and she’s personally helped hundreds of people start consulting practices with the information in this book.
And you can understand why so many people benefit from her wise counsel. The New Business of Consulting is complete and easy to use. The advice can be put into practice immediately. No theory here. Just real-world examples and proven tactics to build and grow a successful consulting practice. Elaine does not hold back; you don’t need to read between the lines. She is straightforward and candid, and she shares openly all that she knows. This is a compilation of all the lessons she’s learned about running a consulting practice during her 35 years of being in the trade. There are over 50 checklists, tables, forms, and other useful tools. It’s all between these pages, but as an added bonus there are forms available in a downloadable format that can be easily personalized.
Elaine also offers tips that are meant to help you tap into all the resources beyond the book. Many of these tips are based on the technology that is currently available. They are designed to help you save time and money, tap into ever-changing information, identify resources to build the business, and find tools to keep you on the cutting edge of what you do. Given the extraordinary developments in technology in the past decade, these ideas make this book exceptionally valuable in the virtual ways in which you now work.
But there’s something else that you need to know about Elaine, something that comes alive when you read the book and is even more evident when you talk with her in person. Elaine loves consulting, loves a challenge, and loves her clients. As you will understand when you read this book, these are perhaps the only three reasons why you should get into consulting in the first place.
The spirit of this book is best captured in a comment that Elaine sent to me when we first corresponded about The New Business of Consulting. I asked her to tell me what she most wanted others to know about her book, and one of the things she said to me was, “I feel I owe so much to the industry and to people who have helped me along the way. This book is one way for me to give back to the world that has given me so much.” That is quintessential Elaine and is at the heart of who she is. It’s why those of us who are privileged to know her and work with her so highly respect her and the work she does. This book is Elaine’s gift of experience to our field, and I invite you to open it with great glee, read it with delight, and use it to help grow and sustain your business.
Jim Kouzes
Coauthor of The Leadership Challenge
April 2019