After more than 12 years of career counseling, I've learned that most new business ideas come from an in-depth knowledge of an industry or field, a meaningful life experience or a hobby or other extracurricular activity.
Most self-employed consultants fall into the first category.
If you've been working in one industry for a decade or more, consulting may seem like a natural outlet for your expertise. In fact, it's become the siren song of the decade for many early retirees, job hunters and dissatisfied executives. But it's not a panacea for career unhappiness. Building a consulting business takes more than hanging out a shingle and waiting for business to come to you. Besides industry expertise, you also need self-confidence, a market for your services, a financial cushion, some salesmanship… and time. It's not an easy ride; you'll have to get in the boat and row to your destination.
New York City career counselor Anita Lands believes that many people have unrealistic expectations about what it means to be self-employed. "They're operating more out of fantasy than reality and may be in for a rude awakening," she says. "You have to be a very self-motivated person to make it work. If you don't generate activity, nothing will move. It's all up to you." Phyllis Edelen admits she underestimated the amount of marketing time and skill it takes to build a successful business. Although she's a dynamic trainer with outstanding organizational skills, sales and marketing aren't her idea of a good time. When Edelen formed her own human-resources consulting firm in Gary, Indiana, she didn't expect to return to a more structured environment later on. But circumstances changed and so did she.
For starters, she got married. As a newlywed, Edelen felt a need to curtail her extensive travel schedule so she could spend more time with her husband. This definitely put a crimp in her work life.
The harsh truth is this: If you want to do interesting and challenging work, you have to be willing to travel to where that work is. Otherwise, you can stagnate.
Dreaming of a no-travel schedule, Edelen jumped at an opportunity to help manage an AT&T outplacement center in Chicago. Technically, she was still a consultant on an account, but it would be hard to tell her from a regular staffer. Indeed, for any consultant who craves variety, challenge and freedom of movement, it wouldn't be an appealing solution. Translated into real-life terms, Edelen worked 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., four or five days a week for 2 years.
When that assignment ended, she took a short break before accepting another 9-to-5 position managing Kraft's downstate Illinois career-transition center.
"I may be self-employed," says Edelen, "but in my case, the only difference between self-employment and a J.O.B. is the cost of health insurance and a 401(k) plan."
She is not alone. Many of her former colleagues have made similar decisions. In an intensely competitive market, consultants who lack marketing ambition are finding it increasingly difficult to compete for more desirable assignments with their more extroverted counterparts.
That said, there's no mandate that only highly extroverted sales types are cut out for self-employment. While gregariousness certainly helps, you can overcome that lack by hiring people who complement you and offset your limitations.
Consider Wheaton, Illinois, financial planner Peggy Tracy. She lives the independent consultant's dream - thanks, in part, to the assistance of Julia Schopick, an Oak Park, Illinois, public relations professional who specializes in promoting doctors, lawyers, accountants and other professionals.
Tracy went independent after leaving her job as assistant accounting manager for a financial services company. She wanted to concentrate on doing the work rather than getting it, so she hired Schopick to help promote her business and carve out a niche where her services would be welcome. The result: Clients seek her out and she's created a very profitable business. Their collaboration is a textbook example of how two consulting businesses can profit by working together.
Certainly, the ideal may be to spend a decade developing expertise and influence within a specific industry before launching a business. However, when it comes to entrepreneurism, exceptions make the rules. If all would-be owners took the time to work their way up the corporate ladder before carefully planning and starting their own firms, the U.S. economy would boast far fewer entrepreneurial success stories.
