The Career Encouragement Blog

Leaving a Corporate Job to Become a Consultant

Hundreds - and possibility thousands - of columns, books, and blogs are devoted to the topic of leaving your job to start a business.  The prevailing idea for corporate employees seems to be to start a consulting business of some type.  And while self-employment is not for everyone, it is certainly is a worthwhile and wise choice for many people.  I am concerned, however, at the tone of irreverence and downright disrespect that many of these publications take towards corporate America.  There are two general themes to the negativity:

First, many of the "leave corporate America and become a consultant" advisers neglect to mention that when you are a consultant you need clients.  And for most of us, our clients are corporations.  It is nearly impossible to secure a client if you have an attitude of disrespect towards them (individually or organizationally).   For the sake of making this point, I'll exaggerate a bit, but why would a business hire a consultant whose attitude is "I hate this place so much I ran screaming out of here, but I'd like to hang around a few hours a week and charge a high rate for it?"

Second, many "freedom" advocates will subtly imply that in corporate America you will die a slow death in a cube while the world races by around you.  To the contrary, the most successful consultants I know are grateful for their corporate experience.  They recognize that they received training in both functional skills and corporate processes, as well as a good understanding of the language and culture of the business world that makes them effective as consultants.

I would never begrudge anyone their dream to start their own business - how can I when it is the route I have chosen for myself, and it has been so good to me and my family?  However, in light of some of the scary writings that are out there on this topic, I do feel compelled to offer two pieces of encouragement if you are planning to go the route of consulting:

1. Make sure that you have identified your target client base, and that you have a good sense of respect for who they are, what their goals are, and what they do every day.  Learn to admire what they achieve, and develop a desire to learn from them and to be a part of their success.
2. Figure out what learnings from your current and past work experiences you are grateful for.  Did someone pay for you to take a class?  Did a boss teach you a particular process or skill that you can now teach others?  Ask yourself if you have learned everything you can from your current and past corporate opportunities. 

The two pillars of a great career are developing your skills and making a contribution.  If you can find the ways that you have done this in your corporate job, and figure out how to do them both as a consultant, you will be much better prepared to navigate the transition from a corporate job to life as a self-employed consultant.

Random Thoughts on Frugality

I have curly hair.  When it's cut well, it takes relatively little time to style and complete strangers comment on my good fortune to have naturally curly hair.  When it's cut poorly, it hangs frizzy clumps and adds years and pounds to my appearance (neither of which are appreciated!).  As a result I have gotten used to paying for expensive haircuts. 

Then, last year I did the unthinkable and did a walk-in at a "chop shop."   I had been paying $65+ for haircuts at a hoity toity salon, and had experienced 2 bad haircuts in a row.  I figured it couldn't look worse so why not be frugal and save a few bucks?  Lo and behold I lucked into meeting Erica whose chair happened to be empty at the time. She proceeded to give me one of the best hair cuts I have ever had for a mere $24.  I tipped generously, congratulated myself on saving so much money, and went home happy. 

For the past year I have continued to see Erica and I have been pleased that my frugality has purchased such great haircuts.  So last Friday when I went in for a trim I was surprised when the cashier said, "Just a haircut today? That will be $32."  Turns out Erica had her 1 year anniversary with the salon and raised her rates.  So now - for the same time and effort - Erica was going to make an extra $8 per haircut off me.  As I was driving home I was bemoaning to myself that I was going to need to try my luck with someone else again.

Thankfully it struck me how very foolish I was being to even think about switching stylists in the name of frugality!  Erica had been giving me great haircuts for a year, and now I was going to begrudge her an additional $8 per cut? I've spent some time thinking about frugality over the past few days, and have decided that this particular character trait can be a vice or a virtue depending on how it is used. 

Frugality is a vice when our penny-pinching begrudges others the opportunity to earn a decent living.  Erica raised her rates after a year of demonstrating her competence.  She earned the right to increase her level of pay. 

Frugality is a vice when the net effect is one of treating others in a way that we would not like to be treated.  Most employees expect to get a raise every year in their job.  How would you feel if your boss said, "Oh, we'll be hiring someone else because we don't want to pay you more?"  In my case as a consultant, how would I feel if my clients bailed on me every time I had to raise my rates in order to keep up with inflation and taxes? 

Frugality is a vice when it is a close-fisted, self-serving approach to life that would not be a sustainable approach were everyone to do the same.  It's not surprising that most advocates of frugality are generally folks who prefer not to engage in earning activities.   If everyone in society was focused on "dropping out of the rat race," the workforce would be a sad and discouraging place to be.  Thankfully there are many people who enjoy producing goods that benefit others, and who enjoy doing work that creates good jobs for others who need to earn their living.

On the other hand, exercising financial prudence in order to live below our means creates space in our lives that allows us to make wise decisions about how to best use our time and talents to benefit others.  When we minimize waste in our lives we won't find ourselves sticking with a job we hate because we have gotten ourselves into a bind with expenses. Instead of desperate decisions, we'll be able to think more generatively.  I think we can all agree that our world would be better off economically, socially, and even spiritually if all people were able to live below their means and avoid using credit. Think what problems we could attack if  we had the resources currently going to debt management focused instead on creating new products to improve human lives, educating our children better, and serving the weaker among us. 

In my work I occasionally run into people who are on strict frugality plans in order to buy themselves out of jobs they hate.  While I admire their tenacity, I wonder if their frugality will actually result in a life that is happier?  As the Career Encourager, I certainly desire for all people to have work that is fulfilling and productive for the good of society and I hate to see people stuck in jobs that they are not suited for.  But after years of doing this work, I also know that when people stop focusing on "not spending" and instead focus instead on creating a little financial margin in their lives, they are eventually able to shift to work they enjoy more in the process.  It's a more sustainable, repeatable approach that benefits more people along the way.

So next time you are tempted to switch maids, gas stations, barbers, or restaurants because of a moderate price hike, ask yourself if you are begrudging someone else the very thing that you want to have for yourself - a productive and profitable life.

Carnival of Human Resources

The 1-Year Anniversary Edition of the Carnival of Human Resources is posted over at The HR Thoughts Blog.  In addition to great information on business planning and leadership development, you'll note that Lisa's banner has a sassy new look to get us ready for spring!

Presenting, Speaking, and Negotiating

I was doing some research for a client today and ran across this great blog: Anne Warfield's Presentation Skills Blog.  Whether you are the Receptionist, the CEO, or somewhere in between, every employee needs to have good communications skills to navigate today's shifting career world. 

Anne's tag line is "How to say the right thing at the right time everytime!"  Couldn't we all use better skills at that?  Her blog has great advice, examples, and anecdotes to help you think about how you communicate and motivate you to keep improving.

What if you are late for an interview? - Part 2

A few days ago I linked to a post by Lisa at HR Thoughts on what to do if you are late for an interview.  Turns out that across the Atlantic Ocean, Jackie Cameron was sharing her thoughts on the same posting.  Check out what Jackie said here.   

She makes a great point.  We who interview candidates would be wise to leave them an open door to redeem themselves when something "goes wrong" in the course of their interview process.  By observing how the candidate handles the obstacle, and the open door for redemption, we may just discover that we have a talented person sitting in front of us that we would be lucky to hire!

Calling All Encouragers...

Elizabeth over at Almost Got It blogged about her job search experiences last year and the times she "almost" got the job.  She took a little hiatus for the past few months after landing a great new gig.  Unfortunately, things did not turn out quite as she had hoped so she is back to blogging.

Since one of THE RULES for having a great career (more on those later) is "I have a better career by helping others have better careers," please take a moment to head over to Elizabeth's blog and post a comment to encourage her!  Then, send this link to a few other kind folks you know and ask them to comment.  Let's see what we can get started!

Finding Your Calling

I love this quote!

"There are all different kinds of voices calling to you, all different kinds of work and the problem is finding out which is the voice of God, rather than that of society, say, or the super-ego or self-interest. By and large, a good rule for finding out is this: The kind of work God usually calls you to, is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do, and (b) that the world most needs to be done...Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do...The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” ~ Frederick Buechner

What if you are late for an interview?

Lisa at HR Thoughts answers a question from a candidate who is worried because she was late for an interview .  She gives great advice:

• Stay calm
• Focus on what you can do for the company
• Send a thank you

In other words, don't over focus on what you did wrong, or that will get the potential employer focused that direction too.  We all make mistakes.  How you handle your mistakes says a lot about what kind of employee you will be - and most HR folks and Hiring Managers are smart enough to get that!

Random Fact

Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them would burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired".

Job Search Rule #29 - Don't Praise Your Own Virtues

A job interview is a sales call.  You want to convince the interviewer that you have what it takes to get the job done, and get it done well.  Toward this end, it's important that you get comfortable being succinct and confident in articulating your skills, experiences, and strengths.  However, it's important that you don't go too far and start touting your own virtues. 

What's the difference?  Skills are about what you can do. It's possible for you or others to objectively assess and quantify your skills and accomplishments.  Virtues, on the other hand, are about what you are - specifically your moral goodness and righteousness.  It's very difficult to assess a person's goodness, and it's almost impossible (if not completely impossible) to assess our own goodness. 

It's been my unfortunate experience, that the people who talk the loudest about their own virtues are often the ones who ultimately prove to be the least trustworthy.  I once worked with an executive (let's call him "Hank") who repeatedly said, "I cannot stand liars.  I never lie, and I cannot stand to have liars on my team."  I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that in HR I had occasion after occasion to deal with Hank in situations where his employees said he had lied to them. I often felt Hank was lying to me.  Many people left that company because they couldn't stand working with him.  Last I heard his career was in shambles.

On another occasion I worked with a job seeker I'll call Greg.  Greg's resume listed position after position where he had left a company because "my boss was unethical, and you know me - I'm an ethical person and I can only work with ethical people."  As we dug into his work history and Greg explained each of his job changes, it became very apparent that his version of being "ethical" was suspect.  It seems that every time Greg had a boss who held him accountable for the results he had promised, he decided the boss was unethical.  Greg did land a new position eventually but I recently learned from a mutual friend that once again he is struggling with an "unethical boss."

After years of hiring and firing people, I've come to the conclusion that when a candidate or employee repeatedly espouses his own virtues, he is likely protesting too much.  I hate to say it, but when a candidate tells me how honest he is, or how ethical he is, warning bells go off for me.  On the other hand, if I am doing reconnaissance work on a candidate and objective third parties tell me how trustworthy or fair a candidate is, I sit up and take notice.

Therefore, a good rule of thumb in the workplace is to speak freely about your skills and accomplishments, but let others praise your virtues.  Being honest, or being ethical are wonderful things to aspire to, but they are not things to say about ourselves.  It is far more effective to focus our conversation on the work we are doing and how we are doing it and to let others praise our virtues.