From the category archives:

Trend toward 1099

Thinking about consulting?

by Peter Osborne on June 22, 2010 · 0 comments

So you’ve been out of work for far longer than you — or anyone else in the family — ever expected.  You had — or more correctly, have — something special but nobody seems to be seeing it.  Nobody’s calling back, and that ”perfect job” you applied for attracted 200+ resumes within three hours.   And now your severance is gone.  Or will be soon.
 
So what’s next?  Assuming the issue is not your failure to develop a compelling personal brand or effectively help recruiters and hiring managers find you, for many people the answer to the What’s Next? question is exploring consulting or project (1099) work. 
 

 You won’t be alone in making this decision: The number of people who have been out of work for more than six months hit 6.7 million in April 2010, nearly 46% of the unemployed.  The New York Times says we’ve lost 8.4 million jobs in this recession and many of those jobs aren’t coming back.  As many as 23% of U.S. workers are operating as consultants, freelancers, free agents, contractors, or micropreneurs, according to the Wall Street Journal.  The percentage of unemployed workers starting companies rose to 8.6% in 2009, a four-year high, with the biggest increases among people 55 and over, according to the Challenger, Gray & Christmas outplacement firm.  The underemployment rate — which counts people who have given up looking for work and those who are working part time for lack of full-time positions — rose to 17.1% in April, from 16.9% in March.

The trend toward “portfolio careers” — where individuals cobble a career together from multiple consulting (or 1099) engagements is growing and demand for high-end temporary business talent is not focused on cost-cutting projects but on driving innovation.

But not so fast.  Even with a great value proposition or skill, it’s not that easy.  First you need to think through whether you have the temperment for the ups and downs of this strategy.  Then you need to think about company structures, the sales process, and a myriad of other things.

Recapturing what you used to make may not happen for years, if ever.   The percentage of new projects you win will be much lower than you might expect.  Many people warn that you can’t do a full-time job search and consult at the same time…at least not effectively. For many people, the process of selling yourself is more daunting than a root canal and may require skills that are somewhat alien to those you had when your company was giving you direction.

On the other hand…

The best way to find a full-time job may be through an “audition strategy,” where you demonstrate your value to a full-time employer prospect through a short-term project.  Many people think that’s the best way to separate themselves from the masses these days.  And this may be a way to pay the bills and prevent you from taking a job that will make you miserable.

This site is designed to help you make the decision and then, if you move forward, be successful.  In addition to unique content, we will also provide links to other sites with great advice and content.

So, what scares you about making the leap to consulting or project work?  What will help you make the decision or be more successful?  Simply put, what kind of content can we offer that will make this a site you’d bookmark?  Please send us your thoughts at  peter at consultantlaunchpad dot com. We look forward to hearing from you.

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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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Five ways to get more business from LinkedIn

by Peter Osborne on May 11, 2010 · 0 comments

LinkedIn is probably best known for helping business people network to find jobs.  But many successful consultants are finding that their LinkedIn network can also be a great source of new business.  Here are a few ways you can find new clients:

Request targeted recommendations.  Take your list of core competencies and ask people you’ve worked with — clients, former co-workers, and business partners — to write recommendations that highlight your key selling points (particularly if they counter the normal objections you face).  That’s right.  Provide some specific direction.  It’s one thing for you to claim that you’re good at something, but recommendations that say you’re great at that thing build credibility and trust.  This is particularly important if your practice is more greated toward a portfolio of 1099 projects, rather than focusing on one or two long-term clients.

Build your industry network.  You may already have searched LinkedIn’s Group network to find industry associations and networks that you can join.  Doing this will expand your potential network (it’s much easier to invite someone to join your personal network if you’re in the same group or groups), increasing the likelihood that you may know someone who knows someone who can support your business proposal.

Let people know when you post.  Many consultants take advantage of the ease of WordPress and other blogging platforms to post on subjects of interest within their areas of expertise.  One great way to drive traffic — and again, build credibility — is to match the subject of your blog post to appropriate LinkedIn groups and start discussions.  Think like the reader and write a great head that captures the thrust of your posting (perhaps with a question) and then quickly summarize your main points and then provide a link to your blog.  Consider asking the reader who decides to comment on your posting to copy his or her comment on both the Group Discussion and your actual blog.  I will often block and copy the stronger Linkedin comments into the blog Comments myself to advance the discussion. 

Set aside time to answer some questions.  Use LinkedIn forums to answer questions that demonstrate your knowledge and experience.  You build credibility with strong answers and may well expose yourself to a potential client who use LinkedIn’s advanced Answers search to find your answers.  I’m a big believer in karma so helping someone else could come back in positive ways if you…

Ask questions in areas where you need help.  There are hundreds of different categories on Answers, so I suspect you can find answers to many of your questions related to your new consulting business.  And if you can’t find an answer, there are many experienced people out there who will likely respond if you clearly explain the challenges you face.

Please consider sharing how you’ve found new clients through LinkedIn.  In future posts, I’ll share other ideas.

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