Top 10 Consulting Start Up Learnings.

A few months ago I decided to start a new journey, shifting from a long career at a large advertising agency to creating my own start up, brianphelpsconsulting.com.

During this time it has truly been a roller coaster — fun, challenging, had its up and downs and a little scary. I’ve enjoyed the flexibility and the ability to carve out my own path. In this short amount of time, I’ve learned a lot:

Crazy hard.

I have always been impressed and admired those who have had the courage, confidence, and determination to go out on their own. Especially those whose hard work pays off and can create something successful and impactful.

Unlike large organizations, it’s all on you to create success. Given this, it’s a ton of work. The amount of foundational work at the point of creating is high. and includes LLC creation, tax info, branding, templates, and platforms like your site, etc.

Three paths.

A key is being able to multitask — juggling building a brand, working on initial client business, and prospecting for new business to continue to grow. Each one is critically important. If fortunate, you have to do in parallel.

It’s always important to have each touchpoint be strong but crucial when starting out. Each one is setting a tone for things to come.

People business.

I have always had the opinion that relationships matter. Your network. Understanding who is great already so you know who to leverage when you need help. And you’ll need help.

But I’ve never really invested the time for connections as much as I should have. Networking, conferences, etc. Something that I’ve learned matters and focused on doing in the future.

Smile more.

Studies show the power of smiling. People want to interact and spend time with people that smile. Yea. Ha. I’m a pretty even keel person and don’t show emotions. This serves as a nice reminder to pump up the energy and emotions.

Continuously learning.

Starting something brand new there are a ton of unknowns. Leverage online tools, networks, and LinkedIn to continuously learn.

Financial game plan.

Not a ton of fun, but having a financial game plan is crucial. Work with an account and financial advisor that you trust to make sure the foundation is strong. Also, make sure you have contracts with those that you pull in. I’ve learned this one the hard way.

The small things.

Don’t let being “busy” be an excuse to not do the little things. The term busy is I think a trap. It’s an out to not do things you should do. Send a note back to someone who reaches out of the blue. Go to coffee with an old acquaintance. Reply to an email, even if just a couple of words. Help someone that could use it. Carve out time to make these things happen. I was pretty bad at this.

Templates

Don’t reinvent the wheel. Leverage the templates/content sources that are out there that you can customize. And wow, are there a ton. Test them out and see what you like best. Then document which ones you like. Here are a few of my favorites:

Are you a Tiger or a Roger?

Most think the best route in life is to specialize in something. This book contradicts this opinion and outlines why being a generalist/hybrid is a better path. So the question is, which one are you? I’ve figured out that I’m a hybrid.

Determined.

So it’s early. Still learning and enjoying the journey. The key is staying determined and focused. For those out there doing the same, congrats and best of luck.

Special thanks to unsplash.com for imagery.

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