From the category archives:

Setting Up Your Practice

Build your network in a strategic way

by Peter Osborne on June 15, 2010 · 0 comments

Networks exist to help each other

When I left the bank 18 months ago, I had less than 100 LinkedIn connections.  Today, I have 414, and they’re connected to a total of 6 million professionals.  More important, I’ve gone from about 80% of my network being co-workers to a signficantly lower percentage.   The point is that if you’re not working to expand your network to something somewhat less incestuous (i.e., everyone knows everyone else because all anyone is doing is connecting to co-workers), then the rest of this posting may not help you all that much.

New consultants will spend far more time on prospecting for new clients that they expect.  As you grow your network, there are a number of ways you can leverage that group to find new clients and build a portfolio career across a variety of industries and regions.  You can ask them to:

  • Validate your value proposition (i.e., confirm that your view of your strengths are shared by those who know you well and may be a touch more objective)  They may well see the thing(s) that will differentiate you as being something much different than what they may have said in a fomal review.
  • Introduce you to other people in their networks, particularly as you begin to target specific companies as prospective clients.  This is the so-called “warm introduction,” where a more personal introduction is far more effective than clicking Add XXX to Your Network or doing a third-party request.
  • Provide references and testimonials, and perhaps even write a Recommendation that you can post on your LinkedIn profile.
  • Be part of a focus group for your business or for a specific study or survey that you plan to write to demonstrate your expertise or to provide as a “freebie” on your website to improve your traffic.
  • Provide feedback on your business plan, website, or key start-up decisions (e.g., LLC vs. S corp).
  • Be part of your consultancy’s “advisory board.”  This can be effective if you’ve cultivated people for your network who are well-known within your industry or target market.
  • Help you raise money for your venture or for an expansion.
  • Proofread documents or marketing collateral before sending it out to sales prospects.  This can avoid huge embarassment if you have an ugly typo or two.  You can also click here if you’d like some tips on proofreading if you can’t find anyone to help you.

Your LinkedIn network is not designed to prove you’re popular or provide you with a distraction during slow times.  Build your network strategically and use it to figure out answers to difficult questions or connect with someone who can help you grow your business.  And don’t forget that to get help you need to offer it too.  I’ve always been a big believer in karma as it relates to this kind of thing and the sooner you focus on helping others, someone else will focus on helping you.

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Must Read: D.School Bootcamp Bootleg

by Peter Osborne on May 30, 2010 · 0 comments

http://dschool.typepad.com/files/bootcampbootleg2009.pdfDo I need an MBA to get a consulting job?

It’s a question I hear every now and then from people trying to make the decision about consulting.  I hope not — since I don’t — but you need to be able to explain what makes you different, what skills you offer and methodologies you use (or might use, depending on the situation).

That’s why a New York Times article in January about reinventing the MBA curriculum got my attention.  As one person put it, “At business school, there was a lot of focus on ‘You’ve got a great idea; here’s how to build a business out of it.’  The d.school said, ‘Here’s how you get to that great idea.’”

The “d.school” is a reference to the growth in “design thinking,” which has been described as a process for practical, creative resolution of problems or issues, the essential ability to combine empathy, creativity, and rationality to meet user needs and drive business success.  There’s an engineering focus to all this (the Stanford d.school is part of the Engineering School), but that’s missing the point of today’s posting.

So here is the point: The Stanford d.school has posted a terrific document on its site that outlines what drives the development of great ideas.  The D.School Bootcamp Bootleg starts with seven mindsets — including “Bias Toward Action” and ”Create Clarity From Complexity” (my favorite) and ”Show, Don’t Tell.”  It goes on to introduce modes like “empathize,” “define,” and “test.”  And then it outlines a variety of strategies (or methods) that are integral to design thinking.

Lest this sound overly academic — and some of the pieces will lead to glazing of the eyes — the Bootleg will help you better understand your customers or come up with that “one big thing” before you go too far down the road. 

Business books seem to be getting shorter lately…and packed with more usable information.  This one is 36 pages and well worth your time.  Read through it.  Think about how you’ve used the concepts without actually knowing you were employing design thinking.  Pick some things to try.  Keep them if they work and try something else if they don’t.  

Use this document — but think of it as a toolkit — and when the time comes perhaps you can overcome the lack of an MBA with a skill set that enables you to develop great, marketable ideas.  Or even better, maybe there’s something in here that will enable you to articulate a methodology you’re already using or may find useful in your consulting practice.

How about you?  How have you used some of these methodologies — interviewing for empathy, powers of 10, and so on?  What worked and what didn’t?

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Welcome to the Neighborhood!

by Peter Osborne on May 23, 2010 · 0 comments

Welcome to Consultant Launch Pad, where we want to help people decide if they’re cut out to consult or do contract work and then help them set up their businesses and find customers.  Our success depends on inviting visitors who have been doing this for awhile and are willing to offer their advice and counsel. 

Many people are predicting that portfolio careers are the future — working for many different clients, being with one employer for a much shorter period of time.  They believe many of the jobs that have been lost are not coming back.  Some people are here because their choices are limited — they can’t find the right jobs (executive level or otherwise) and they need project work just to pay their mortgages and feed their families and prove what they can do to a prospective employer.  And this neighborhood is getting bigger by the day.

We’re still in the early stages of construction; after all we want the people who live here to have a voice in what their home and community looks like.  We do want to point your attention to a few features that we think you’ll like:

  • You can ask questions (or provide answers to other people’s questions) in the Forum but it’s also a place to network, share suggestions, and collaborate.   We’ve started a few discussions, but want you to ask the questions.  Please register on the Forum page (we’d like everyone to provide user names when they participate).
  • Everybody likes Free Stuff, and we’ll be adding new things all the time to that section (you can find it on the Navigation Bar).  Free Stuff includes Downloads of checklists, charts, and other resources that will help you regardless of your experience and a page with Links to blogs and sites we’ve found useful during our travels.  Let us know about other terrific ones you’ve come across.  Please add your suggestions to the Comments or send them to us separately.
  • 30 Second Launch Pad enables experienced consultants to share what they’ve learned over the years.  If you’re interested in contributing, please let us know.  These will start as blog posts, but you can find them all together by clicking on the category listing or under — yes, you guessed it – Free Stuff…along with an Elevator Speech page.

In addition, the one thing we know is that we don’t know everything, so we’ve posted some Guest Blogger guidelines under the Contact Us tab.

There’s a lot more cool stuff coming very soon, all geared toward one of our three primary Missions.  Please come back often and see how construction is going.  And let us know what you think.

Welcome to the neighborhood!

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30 Second Launch Pad: Focus, focus, focus

by Peter Osborne on May 13, 2010 · 0 comments

Ed Callahan

Ed Callahan is a Philadelphia-area EOS implementer who helps organizations clarify, simplify, and implement their visions.  For more information on Ed or to contact him, click on his LinkedIn profile, read his Stay Focused blog, or go to his website.  

 What do you know today that you wish you knew when you were starting out?  Match your consulting practice to a passion; don’t just create an extension of what you have been doing in your career up to this point. If you are passionate about doing something, it will give you the fortitude to stick to it through the inevitable difficult days while you are building your practice. I am now on the third iteration of my practice in 10 years, and I have finally accomplished this particular piece of advice as an EOS Implementer where I combine my business experience and my passion for being a small business teacher.

What was your most important early decision (e.g., financial, organizational, marketing)?  I stopped billing myself out on an hourly basis. It rid me of the hassle of keeping track of my hours and having to justify them to the client. I transitioned to a monthly retainer, paid in advance, with contract-based expectations as to deliverables from both me and the client. Much simpler and a great qualifier of real prospects, as distinguished from tire kickers who want you to work on commission or equity only.

Can you offer one piece of advice to help a new consultant get through the first six months?  Focus, Focus, Focus. Focus your value proposition. Focus your target market. Focus your messaging.  Build a very narrow brand in which you can become the dominant player.  Ideally align yourself with an existing set of intellectual property/business proposition so that you can focus all your energies on getting clients. Generating cash early should be your only objective.
 
You can find Ed’s elevator speech on the My Elevator Speech page.

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