The Consultant's Quick Start Guide by Elaine Biech

Author:Elaine Biech [Biech, Elaine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 955467
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Published: 2010-05-11T07:00:00+00:00

Determine Your Transition Plan

Making a transition from being a full-time employee to consulting will require some adjustment. A transition plan will help prepare you and those around you for a different lifestyle.

How Will You Transition to Your New Professional Life?

The ideal scenario is that your employer will offer you an opportunity to continue working on a project basis. The current shortage of employees has been a factor in creating that opportunity and is a win-win for you and your employer: you receive a guaranteed income, and your employer receives your knowledge and experience while you both make the transition.

What should you expect if you do this? Many make the transition with 60 percent of their salary or more and work less than 35 percent of the time. The rest of the time can be spent in setting up an office and in marketing.

Another option is working part-time at both your job and at consulting. This is the least appealing of all the options, though, because you will constantly be pulled in different directions. You will be thinking about consulting when you should be working for your employer and concerned about your employer when you should be developing a marketing plan. And it undoubtedly will happen that the first consulting job you land will conflict with your company’s annual meeting or some other important event that you must show up for.

A second transition issue is to consider how you feel about being a one-person company. For example, how will you respond the first time a client asks you about the size of your company? How will you feel about saying, “One. Me. That’s it.” Will you be proud of having gone out on your own? Or is there some stigma about being a consultant—and a lone one at that? How will you feel about doing your own typing, copying, errands, dusting, vacuuming, and trash removal? Another transition consideration is to have a plan ready to implement should you become ill. Could someone fill in for you? Under what circumstances?

A separate but related professional issue you may need to consider is working alone. Right now it probably sounds wonderful: you’ll get to make all the decisions, do what you want when you want, and receive all the recognition. The drawback, of course, is that you would also assume all the risk, be responsible for all expenses, and have no one readily available with whom to discuss ideas and issues. A good idea is to set your support network up now. Whom will you call when you want ideas? Whom will you call when you want sound business advice? Whom will you call when you are overwhelmed? And whom will you call when you just want to go to lunch with someone who understands what you are feeling? Make a list now of your support network:•

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