With advice from Terry Johnson of Practical Decisions, Ask ACE tackles the challenges of starting a consulting practice.
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Q: Between the Gig Economy and the Great Resignation many of my colleagues have started consulting practices. I’m seriously considering consulting myself. What would life be like?
ACE Advises: As ACE’s president this is a subject near and dear to my heart. There are any number of reasons to enter consulting: self-direction, living and working where and how you choose, working with a variety of clients, and a strong sense of service and purpose.
Consulting can fulfill all of those personal objectives. However, you must be clear on why you want to consult; know what you want your consulting life to look like; recognize that you are running a business and accept that you will have to do all the things that any entrepreneur would have to do to start, grow and manage a business.
What that means is that you will spend time in a lot of different ways. You will deliver services for your clients. But you will also need to balance your time between service, finding clients, professional education, managing your finances and your risks, and creating marketing content. You will have to expand your personal network to include relationships with people who can complement your skills when needed.
Consulting has extremely busy times and times where it is very difficult to find clients. But as your experience and reputation grows, even the lean times can be extremely rewarding. My personal goal is to be of service to anyone I choose to work with. My reward is to work on whatever my clients truly need. In turn they receive my full attention as they achieve their own goals.
Terry Johnson, ACE president, runs Practical Decisions. He also manages the Maine Center for Entrepreneurs’ Maine Mentor Network. He can be reached at terry@practicaldecisions.com.
