If you're intent upon being an entrepreneur of any stripe, there is simply no more propitious time to become one. (I don't care about current market conditions – this remains a $14 trillion economy in the world's only superpower.)
My mentoring program has been consistently filled with people seeking to improve their lot. Some are new to entrepreneurialism. Some are trying to escape their particular "success trap." What I've found is that there is a consistent core of mythology which, when embraced as reality, hobbles one's chances for success. Here are some of the most pernicious myths:
1. Seek advice from those who are most constantly in the spotlight now, because they are the success stories.
Actually, most of the people truly successful in consulting are those you've never heard of. They are simply racing along, day in and day out, paying attention to securing clients, delivering superb work, and cashing their checks. They are not consumed with self-aggrandizement and adulation.
In fact, many people who are on conference agendas, authors of books, and leaders of various efforts, are often having a hard time making ends meet, making more money from giving advice to consultants than from giving advice to real clients. ("Don't believe everything you hear, even if I tell you," observed Oscar Wilde.)
2. Make a quick killing by being clever - time spent on intellectual breadth and solid content is time wasted.
I'm sorry, but we're simply not going to "multi-level market" ourselves to fame and fortune. Consulting is about providing real value that improves client conditions, not about selling each other memberships and sporting diamond pinkie rings.
Willy Loman talked about "a smile and a shoeshine." Consulting is not about selling, it's about establishing trusting relationships. That presupposes a genuine intent to provide value to your client in exchange for a reasonable fee. If we're not making a contribution to the business and social environment, then we are doing nothing. As a consultant, simply taking money from someone else in exchange for no prolonged improvement in their well-being is unethical.
3. "Credentialing" is important to buyers.
No corporate buyer in the last 20 years that I've had my practice has ever asked me about a CMC, CSP, CPAE, XYZ, or 123. There's nothing wrong with obtaining a designation that denotes degrees of professional development, or gains you status within a trade group. But don't mistake that pursuit for buyer credibility.
Most (fairly) new consultants shoot themselves in the foot by being obsessed with their lack of clients, lack of degrees, and lack of experience. The buyer doesn't initially care about any of that. The buyer cares about how quickly he or she perceives value in the proposed relationship. If you provide the buyer with value, you don't have to provide your résumé.
4. Major organizations will not buy from people they've never heard of.
Major organizations, from Coke to Hewlett-Packard, from Pfizer to The Girl Scouts of America, purchase consulting help every day from all kinds of sources.
You don't sell to organizations – you sell to people within those organizations. The key is to find the buyer who is appropriate for your services, and to organize your value so as to be maximally beneficial to that buyer.
Whether you are new to the profession or seeking to escape from your current "rut," (and I've dealt with many people who are in a half-million dollar or more "rut"), think about the "conventional wisdom" that may have inadvertently mired you in that position.
Question the basic premises which you've come to embrace, because they may not be standing you in good stead. Don't accept an approach or a technique simply because someone spouts it from a platform with a microphone.
The Real Story
There are really only three questions that the successful entrepreneur has to answer:
- What is my specific, clear, added value that I am providing for a client?
- Who, specifically, is able to write a check for that value?
- How, specifically, do I reach that person?
The most successful among us have stepped outside the platitudes, the bromides, and the fads, and have developed ourselves and our techniques so that we bring unique and immediate value to the client relationship. That's a very simple key to success, yet one often obscured among the rhetoric, phony awards, and "make a million in a minute" scams.
The whole truth. You heard it here.
Alan Weiss, Ph.D., is a contributing editor to RainToday.com and has been cited by the New York Post as "one of the most highly respected independent consultants in the country." His clients have included The Federal Reserve Bank, Hewlett-Packard, Mercedes, JP Morgan Chase and over 200 similar world-class organizations. He has written 25 books which appear in 7 languages. He conducts a global mentoring program. You can reach him via his web site: www.summitconsulting.com or his blog: www.contrarianconsulting.com.