You finally did it!
For years, you’ve been building up a high level of expertise in your field. People have recognized and honored you for that expertise, and you can’t even recall how many times in the past few years they’ve said to you, “You should go out on your own and become a consultant. People need to hear what you have to share!”
For a while, you just blushed and said, “Aw, shucks. It’s nothing.” But then that little seed your colleagues had planted in your mind began to grow.
You’d think, “You know, maybe I could help people. Maybe I should look into consulting.”
And before you knew it, wondering somehow became active planning and you were sharing with your loved ones your transition plan for leaving the classroom and starting your own consulting business.
And now, look at you. Kicking back in your fresh, shiny home office (well, OK, it’s the spare bedroom, but it’s also your office!), ready to take on the education world.
Smile. Pat yourself on the back. Take a moment to enjoy it because you’ve earned it.
But don’t take too long.
Because, while it’s important to take time to acknowledge your accomplishments to date, the truth is, things are about to get all kinds of busy.
A Million Things to Do, and Only You to Do Them
The first major challenge all new and early-career consultants face is that there’s just so much to do. A (very) partial list would include:
- Fleshing out your initial business plan
- Establishing your company’s legal identity
- Setting up a separate bank account for your business
- Hiring an accountant and possibly an attorney
- Setting up your office
- Creating templates for all the forms you’re going to need (invoices, contracts, etc.)
- Creating your workshop materials
- Marketing yourself to prospective clients
- Creating your business’s logo
- Setting up a website
- Building an e-mail list
- And so on, and so on, and so on…
It’s overwhelming. Many consultants burn out in their first few years in the business because of the stress they’re under.
There are really only two answers to this problem:
- Take It Slow and Build Your Business Gradually: Realize from the outset that you won’t be able to get everything up and running at once. Decide what the minimum requirements are for your business to start with and go for that minimum version of your business first. Reach that goal, then decide what the next piece is that you’d like to add on. It’s good to have a long-term vision of what your fully fleshed-out business will look like, but it’s not good to expect to achieve that vision in your first year or two. Or maybe even five.
- Outsource Some Aspects of Your Business: I mentioned an accountant and an attorney in my list above, but you’ll need help from other professionals, as well. Unless you’re trained as a copywriter, for example, it would be smart to hire a professional copywriter to write your website copy, then to hire a website designer to take that content and make it look good. Your website is the “hub” of your business and serves as your 24/7 salesperson, so it needs to be good. Too many consultants go cheap here, and it costs them a lot of business over time. Think through all the items on your business to-do list and ask yourself if there’s someone who could do it better than you. If the answer is yes, see how much it will cost you. Yes, you’ll have to pay something for the services, but it will make you look good and it will speed up the growth of your business.
And the smartest path? Use BOTH of the above approaches in tandem.
Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss
The second major problem new and early-career consultants run into as far as time management goes has to do with the nature of being “the boss.” That is, educators making the transition from a school structure to being solo entrepreneurs have to get used to being the boss of their own companies. Even consultants who were superintendents prior to starting their consulting businesses had to answer to their local school boards.
So, while one of the main reasons consultants list for becoming consultants in the first place is the chance to “be their own boss,” most of them quickly find out that they miss not having to make every decision, or not having to take full responsibility for every action.
The truth is, most early-career consultants are really bad at being the boss. They’re not used to having to motivate themselves, as there were always external factors pushing them to get things done. Now, unless they make themselves do it, nothing gets done. It takes a while for the boss side of you and the employee side of you to meld into one efficient, goal-focused person.
Squirrel!
The third problem new consultants face is the challenge of focusing one’s attention on the tasks that need to be done.
Those consultants who have young kids at home have to shift focus constantly from making sure the kids get taken care of to getting back to work. Those who have pets have similar issues.
But even if you don’t have kids or pets at home while you’re trying to work, there’s the siren call of the TV, the smart phone, the Internet.
Learning how to eliminate distractions and bring laser-like focus to bear on the most important task that needs to be done right now is one of the most important lessons a consultant can learn. And for most people, it takes practice and dogged determination and like most skills, it takes time to develop.
Both More and Less Than You Dreamed
I hope I haven’t painted too bleak a picture in the sections above. Because the consulting life can be a wonderful life.
You know all those dreams you had when you made the break and started your new consulting business? Being your own boss. Getting to choose how to spend your time. Working on only the projects you want to work on.
That can all come true.
But there’s a flip side to all of that.
Yes, you’re your own boss. But you have to BE the boss, make all the decisions, and take all the responsibility.
Yes, you get to choose how to spend your time. But you’d better choose wisely because there’s more to be done that there’s time to do it in.
And yes, you get to choose what projects to take on. But you’re responsible for making sure those projects go well, from inception all the way through completion.
But never fear. You can learn how to do all of this and do it well. All you need to do is learn some of the “tricks of the trade” that other consultants have figured out before you.
There are ways to make sure your decisions are good. There are ways to learn how to focus. There are ways to use your time well.
In upcoming blog posts, I’m going to be sharing some of these tried-and-true tactics with you. I hope you come along for the ride.
And please, let me know your thoughts, questions, and concerns by leaving a comment below. I look forward to hearing from you.
