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Consultant Notes

Individual Initiative and Significant Change

Consultant Notes

Individual Initiative and Significant Change

By Ray Rood

February 2021

Build a Priority Culture

Over this past very unusual year I have had the opportunity to be involved in an increasing number of coaching conversations about how best to navigate the changing world in which we live and work. Some of these conversations have been about personal life transitions and some about changing work-related roles and responsibilities. A major theme emerging out of all of these conversations has been the discovery of the significance of individual initiative, its related risks, and responsibilities in any change process, whether it be personal or organizational in nature.

​For the past twenty years or so, one of my favorite references for my organizational consultation has been the classic book, Deep Change, by Robert Quinn, which has helped me realize that every organization seems to be moving in one of two directions, “deep change” or “slow death.” This belief has, for a number of years, been the foundational assumption of our vision base strategic planning work within Genysys. It has only been in the last few years that I have realized the true significance of the subtitle of Deep Change, which is Discovering the Leader Within, and the essential role that it plays within any form of deep change, organizationally and personally. For an organization, I have concluded that it takes a critical mass (five or more) of individuals who think and act as leaders for deep transformational change to occur. For individuals, it is up to each person to be his or her own leader and take the initiative in pursuing needed and/or desired change.

I have come to believe that within most individuals is undeveloped leadership capacity. I have witnessed its emergence both in times of crisis and overtime if there is a sufficient balance between the elements of challenge and support. Furthermore, I believe that most individuals will face their own leadership challenge/opportunity when they realize that they are alone and on their own, whether or not they are inside an organization. It is at this point, that the individual determines whether or not to take leadership over his/her own circumstance(s), personally and/or organizationally. It is because of these dynamics that I see leadership and adulthood as being quite synonymous in nature since at the heart of both being a leader and an adult is individual initiative, responsibility, and aloneness.

As I was writing these reflections, I thought of the lines of a poem by the Irish poet, Donovan Leitch which I am dedicating to the emerging leader within all of us, especially at those times when we face that leadership opportunity most often disguised as a challenge or problem:

Do what you’re never done before,

See what you’ve never seen,

Feel what you’ve never felt before,

Say what you’ve never said,

Bear what you’ve never born before,

Hear what you’ve never heard,

All is not what it would seem;

Nothing ever remains the same.

Change is life’s characteristic;

Bend the flow and play the game…

So many times I was the one

Who stopped myself from doing things;

So many times I was the one

Who grounded myself and clipped my wings.

So I say do what you’ve never done before.

You must go where you have never been…

​

Two Questions for Consideration:

    1. What kind of challenge and/or support might you benefit from in order to take the next step in your own leadership development story?​
      ​
    2. What other leader(s) might you consider partnering within some joint cause or endeavor?

This is another episode from the archives!

​Listen to the full Episode on The Questions of Intuition here.

The Questions of Intuition Show Notes

  • How do we deal with the unknown?
  • What do we do and how do we think about where we are at?

3 Levels of Intuition

Levels that people with intuition as a preference or strength use almost exclusively.

  • Intuition through doing-when you make the right choice.
  • Intuition through feeling– when you have a hunch to do something; decide based on a feeling.

Most people aren’t aware of the third level:

  • Intuition through thinking: Asking yourself two questions.

When you are in an unknown situation ask two questions:

  • What do I know about where I am at? (WAIT and see what emerges)
  • What do I need to do with this information? (The majority of the time the answer is to get more information.

​BOOK MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

OTHER RESOURCES:

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Consultant Notes

Build A Priority Culture

Consultant Notes

Build a Priority Culture

By Amy Hoppock

February 2021

Build a Priority Culture

Words and the use of words are endlessly fascinating to me. I sat down to start writing and my daughter came in to discuss the definition of overwhelming. Does overwhelming mean huge or confusing, or some of both? We talked about how usage often determines the meaning. Sometimes the way we learn to define words, isn’t really what the word means.

Priority is one of those words. It’s not unusual to hear people say, “the priorities are A, B & C.” We live in a world that measures our value by our outcomes. Our contribution is measured by our busyness. A few years ago I read the popular book Essentialism by Greg McKeown. (I recommend it!) McKeown invites his readers to look at a commonly misused word in light of history. 

“The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years. Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities. Illogically, we reasoned that by changing the word we could bend reality.”
Greg McKeown
Essentialism

Essentialism is a small but powerful read. One of my favorite ideas from Essentialism, that many others have picked up on too, is our misuse of the work priority. Priority by definition is one thing. The priority is the very first thing. When we hold more than one priority, we have no priority. The idea of focusing on one thing sort of rubs against the more is more culture that we live in. Yet, in truth, we can only, ever focus on one thing at a time. When we use priority as it is defined we can do more.

I work with a team that is very invested in creating a priority culture. Every six to nine weeks the team meets to identity THE priority, the one thing, that if everyone focuses on the business can make significant and meaningful progress. Each smaller group thinks about how their area can support the priority. The team sets two or three goals for each smaller working group (marketing, tech, business development, etc.) This is a surprisingly effective way to work. With each new priority, there is urgency and focus that directs the actions of the team. This team gets stuff done and consistently moves the business forward. Sometimes a priority is set for one month, other times the priority is for three months. The leader is always watching to see when one priority has been met and looking for factors inside and outside of the business that would indicate it is time for a new priority.

Everything changes when we give ourselves permission to be more selective in what we choose to do. At once, we hold the key to unlock the next level of achievement in our lives. There is tremendous freedom in learning that we can eliminate the nonessentials, that we are no longer controlled by other people’s agendas, and that we get to choose. With that invincible power, we can discover our highest point of contribution, not just to our lives or careers, but to the world.”
Greg McKeown
Essentialism

Questions:

  • What is your priority?
  • How can you order your life to better support your current priority? (Remember, you can shift your priority as often as you need!)
  • How can you create a priority culture in your workplace?

Amy Hoppock is a Genysys Consultant. She is the author is Be More Journal and writes at The Art of Powering Down.

This is another episode from The Consultant School archives. In this episode Ray and Amy talk about dealing with Resistance. Check out the episode and notes for step by step ways to deal with resistance in organizations!

Listen to the full episode of How to Deal with Resistance here.

How To Deal With Resistance

What is resistance:

Resistance= any kind of inaction. Not wanting to do something. Not wanting to change, the opposite of movement. The movement that does happen is a movement against.

  • Recognize the feelings (and actions of resistance)
  • Acknowledge that resistance is part of the process
  • Know that resistance is normal
  • Remember that resistance can be beneficial

Resistance can indicate something is really important.

If there is a proposed change initiative that does not have resistance, it might indicate that the process, etc. isn’t actually that important.

Resistance can be a CLUE to what is really important in an organization.

The change will great disequilibrium and humans are not wired to be in a disequilibrium state.

80% of resistance is personal

The operative question people are asking is: How will this change affect me?

3 Principles to Deal With Resistance:

  • Empathy

Identify who is most likely to be affected by the change. Try to understand how they are likely to be impacted. When people or group believes their needs have been taken into consideration they are more likely to engage in the change process. Empathy is the bridge that comes before communication

  • Communication

Listen to where people are, what their concerns are. Must be able to communicate why and what the benefits will be.

  • Participation

Involve the people who are going to be affected by the change, ask them questions, incorporate as many of their suggestions as you can and address those things that you can’t use. Some good questions to use are:

  • What questions do you have?
  • What questions do you have?
  • What question do you have about the process?

Make sure to incorporate some of the ideas in the change process.

Go two rounds of this process. People feel like they gain ownership in the change process.

Dealing with resistance is best done one on one.

Don’t exclude the people who ask hard questions.

  • Thank them for their questions
  • Ask them for ideas
  • Help them to find a stake in the process so they have ownership

To the extent that one believes in the change, they can afford to be patient to draw people in and give the change initiative the time it takes for people to gain buy-in.

​

Resources Mentioned:

​Managing Change Effectively

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Consultant Notes

The Work of Building Healthy Organizations

Consultant Notes

The Work Of Building Healthy Organizations

By Laurie Reinhart

January 2021

As I write this article, I am teaching a graduate-level consulting skills course at a university business school. I designed and have taught this course before, but this time I am experiencing the course content differently, as I believe are my students as well. It is a deeply unsettling time in our country and our culture. Months into a pandemic, we are deeply divided along racial and political lines, our most pressing societal needs are seemingly intractable, and perhaps most disturbingly, we cannot even agree upon what reality is, let alone reach consensus on solutions to our problems! Any sense that reality is controllable or predictable has disappeared as completely as a missing sock in the dryer, inexplicably sucked up into some alternate and otherworldly oblivion. It feels as though the only thing that is certain is that the future is a very unpredictable, uncontrollable, and even unsafe place.​

In the midst of this chaos, organizations are still trying to make organizational life work, businesses are trying to stay afloat, and consultants are still trying to help them meet these challenges. Now more than ever we need healthy organizations that provide people with a solid and supportive place to work and earn a living for their families. Unemployment, underemployment, and toxic employment are three great evils of our time, taking an unimaginable toll on human beings. Given the impacts upon very real people, the work of building healthy organizations that can succeed is more urgent than ever.

Organizations need skillful, empathetic help in navigating both the crises and the opportunities presented by our current reality. But good consulting work – work that enables leaders and their organizations to move forward, into their best future – is not easy or fast in the best of times. How can we join our clients to help build healthy and successful organizations now?​

Author Max De Pree states, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality” (Leadership is an Art), and if this is so, then the first responsibility of a consultant has always been to help the leader to define reality. This truth has not changed. We have done so by asking really good questions. And the need for good questions has not changed either. Especially now, clients need to engage questions of meaning and purpose rather than practical questions that invite prescribed, “expert” answers. Asking “How?” too quickly, notes Peter Block in his book The Answer to How Is Yes, shuts down possibilities and blunts our awareness of what matters most.

I tell my students that if we get the questions right, the answers will become clear. In light of our current reality, I believe that there are three critically important questions for organizations to consider:

  • What is the most important thing that our organization exists to do? In other words, what is our “organizational calling”? This question reconnects us with the meaning and purpose of our organization and our unique place in the world.
  • Do we believe that our people want to contribute to the success of the organization? If the answer to whether our people want to contribute to our success is yes, then we have something to build upon. We have hope.
  • In light of our organizational calling, what can we create together with our people? In our time of great disconnection and chaos, we recognize our capacity to recreate both connection and meaning together to begin to navigate our future. We can begin to envision a desired future where the organization may look quite different but can find deeper connection with its purpose and a more meaningful contribution to make.

From here, anything is possible.

This month we are focusing on the podcast archives.

Ray did a series on Organizational Health. Ray shared the most important elements of Organizational Health from Ray’s unique and thought provoking perspective. If you haven’t listened to these older episodes, you might want to add them to your list. Find the first episode in the Organizational Health series here.

Episode Notes:

Clients often don’t want to change as much as they thought they did when they engage an organizational consultant. One tool that consultants can use to help clients overcome their resistance to change is an organizational health framework.

How To Address Resistance to Change.

What is the source of the resistance?

  • There is a natural resistance to change that happens. Change creates disequilibrium and we naturally don’t like to be out of balance.

Another explanation in organizational context

  • Organizational dysfunction: The organization isn’t able to change because of the problems that are at the heart of how the organization function.

​

Organizations operate by the same principles that humans do in their development.

Ray uses the book The Living Company by Ari De Geus as a guide for organizational health.

De Geus studied companies that lasted over 100 years. He found that organizations that lasted over 100 years viewed themselves as a living organism, which embraced change.

​

Where organizations are effective, they are healthy.

When organizations are not effective, there is dysfunction somewhere.

​Reframing Organizations by Lee Bolman & Terrence Deal provided an outline for thinking about the elements of organizational health.

Frames outlined in Reframing Organizations

  • Structure (how an organization is organized)
  • People (human resource)
  • Organizational Politics (decision making)
  • Symbolic (meaning symbols, stories, rituals, activities, logos, etc.)
  • Process (how things are done)
  • Soul (mission, purpose, values, vision=essences of organization)

Each frame can be functional or dysfunctional. It’s the role of a consultant to help the organization identify where health and dysfunction is in these frames.

Organizational Health must look at each one of these frames. Status of health will have a direct impact on the success (or lack there off) of any consulting work.

What do we need to pay attention to?

Intuitive Questions that a consultant would ask about an organization:

  • Are they clear about their identity?
  • Are there issues about how they are doing things?

Organizational Decision Making (Clue to Organizational Health)

  • To what extent is the way the organization makes a decision congruent with organizational values?
  • Most organization decision making is personality centered rather than organizational centered which results in no accountability.
  • Most organizations practice the golden rule: who has the most gold, rules.

Organizational Framework is an important tool for consultants to help create better results.

The guiding question for consultants:

  • What is the status of their health? (However, you define that)
  • If I engaged with them, to what extent can I help them to increase their health, rather than enabling their disfunction.

Intuition Questions:

  • What do I know?
  • What am I going to do about it?

The most dangerous thing for a consultant is to be in denial about the health of the organization.

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The Consultant School Podcast

Ep 30: How to Find Your Ideal Consulting Niche

the consultant school podcast

Episode 30: How to Find Your Ideal Consulting Niche

How to Find Your Ideal Consulting Niche

In this episode, Genysys consultant Rachel Munaradzi, who works with people experiencing corporate burnout and with organizations on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, talks with Andrea about finding her niche.

Highlights from their conversation include:

  • Two different approaches to finding your niche:
  1. Get yourself and out there and allow the questions people ask you to guide you. OR
  2. Ask yourself some defining questions before you begin, such as:
    • What are you interested in? 
    • What are you good at? 
    • What areas do you already have experience in?
    • What areas are most of your network in?
  • Why it’s important to be flexible and open to changing or expanding your niche.
  • How to use feedback from clients and prospects, as well as trends in the marketplace, to help you further define your niche.
  • Why you must look at finding your niche as building your brand.

As Rachel points out, determining your niche is one of the most critical first steps in starting your consulting business. It ensures you’re talking to the right people in your marketing and allows potential clients to determine if you can help them. 

You can find Rachel at: www.rachelrudo.com. Or on LinkedIn @rachelrudomunyaradzi and Instagram @rachelrudo.

Looking for more information on how to start, build, and grow your consulting business?

Join our FREE TRAINING for new and aspiring consultants on The Successful Consultant Profile from The Consultant School Bootcamp: How to Become a Consultant. 

In this training, you will learn:

  1. What a consultant is and what are the characteristics, attributes, preferences, skills, and conditions essential for a successful consulting career
  2. The definition of each of these and, importantly, why they are so critical to your success as a consultant
  3. How to determine to what extent these attributes match who you are

Plus! Identify your strengths and challenge areas with the Successful Consultant Profile Self-Assessment included in your downloadable guidebook.   

Click here to get your free training and begin your journey towards success! 

Share this episode:

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Consultant Notes

Questions for Leaders and Consultants to Ask

Consultant Notes

Questions for Leaders and Consultants to Ask

By The Genysys Group

December 2020

We asked our Genysys Consultants to share one question they felt was most important for leaders to ask as we leave 2020 behind and move into a new year.

Our hope is these questions can be a tool to help you and your team start 2021 with clarity and vision. Choose one question to focus on or set aside a few minutes to reflect on each of the questions. Reach out to any of the consultants for clarification or brainstorming on the questions. They are happy to help.

​

  • How can I create a culture where people want to work given that some are here and some are there?

​Dr. Jann E. Freed​

Author of Leading With Wisdom: Sage Advice from 100 Experts

​www.JannFreed.com​

 

  • What change needs to be made in my sphere of influence
  • What can I do to initiate and sustain the needed change?

​Ray Rood​

​www.thegenysysgroup.com​

​

  • How can I best support my team as we adapt to uncertainty and change becoming standard operating procedure?

​Andrea Nunez ​

​

  • What has your leadership team learned from the pandemic and the protests as a portal of change?
  • How is your organization faring with all these changes?
  • Have you been able to adapt and change and continue to thrive?

​Rachel Rudo Munyaradzi​

​www.rachelrudo.com​

 

  • How can I help the leadership of our organization to ask the right questions about moving into our future, so that we will not waste the opportunities created by the disruptions of 2020?

​Laurie Reinhart​

 

  • How do I recognize and fulfill my God-given purpose?

​Ralph Plumb​

​drralphplumb.com​

​

  • How do we help people and organizations set goals and vision in highly uncertain times?

​ Dr. Art Gray

The Consultant School podcast has a NEW online home. If you missed an episode, want to listen to an older episode, or would like to download show notes you can find all of that here. If you missed an episode this month we have the round up below. If you listen, make sure and leave a review, it really helps the podcast reach the right audience.

​Episode 30: How to Find Your Ideal Consulting Niche

In this episode, Genysys consultant Rachel Munaradzi, who works with people experiencing corporate burnout and with organizations on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, talks with Andrea about finding her niche.

Highlights from their conversation include:

Two different approaches to finding your niche:

  1. Get yourself and out there and allow the questions people ask you to guide you. OR
  2. Ask yourself some defining questions before you begin, such as:
    • What are you interested in?
    • What are you good at?
    • What areas do you already have experience in?
    • What areas are most of your network in?
"Finding and creating your niche is branding. You’re branding yourself for success"
​​Rachel Munyaradzi
The Genysys Group

As Rachel points out, determining your niche is one of the most critical first steps in starting your consulting business. It ensures you’re talking to the right people in your marketing and allows potential clients to determine if you can help them.

You can find Rachel at: www.rachelrudo.com. Or on LinkedIn @rachelrudomunyaradzi and Instagram @rachelrudo.​

​Read the full show notes here.

Do you have a question you would like to hear discussed on the podcast? Use this form to send your question!

​The Consultant School Membership is a community where professionals learn how to start, grow, and scale thriving consulting businesses.

Looking for more information on how to start, build, and grow your consulting business?

Join our FREE TRAINING for new and aspiring consultants on The Successful Consultant Profile from The Consultant School Bootcamp: How to Become a Consultant.

In this training, you will learn:

  • What a consultant is and what are the characteristics, attributes, preferences, skills, and conditions essential for a successful consulting career
  • The definition of each of these and, importantly, why they are so critical to your success as a consultant
  • How to determine to what extent these attributes match who you are

Plus! Identify your strengths and challenge areas with the Successful Consultant Profile Self-Assessment included in your downloadable guidebook.

​Click here to get your free training and begin your journey towards success!

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Consultant Notes

A Path Through Polarization

Consultant Notes

A Path Through Polarization

By Ray Rood

December 2020

Recently I was approached by an HR professional who was curious about how the vision work that we do in Genysys might address the polarization of relationships in the workplace. The environment of polarization continues to escalate in today’s world. His question reminded me of a comment of a participant in an envisioning workshop that I facilitated almost ten years ago. This workshop was for members of a historical society that was deeply divided over what to do with a very unique asset. They had been given a castle in the middle of the local community. A majority of the society members didn’t want to have anything to do with the castle.

​

After the workshop one of the participants, who represented the majority of those who wanted nothing to do with the castle, came up to me and after thanking me for being willing to facilitate this workshop in such a contentious environment, made the following comment: “The common vision that we were able to develop today about the future of the castle has brought needed healing to our society.”​
​

Upon reflection, I believe that the key to developing some healing and common ground was first to identify the common questions that all of the participants had about the future of the castle beyond the present reality. As they thought beyond five years, which is where we in Genysys begin, it was amazing the common ground in interests, hopes, and concerns that began to emerge. When the results of the visioning exercise around the questions of the long-term future of the castle began to be shared the participants began to see that they often had much more in common about the future than they ever thought possible. As one participant indicated, “Eighty percent of what we shared today is common and/or complementary, our problem was that we had, up to now, no forum or way to discover our common ground.”

​

Here are two questions that might help in discovering common ground in an environment of polarized differences:

​

  1. What common questions do we, in any group of which we are a part (work, family, community, church, etc.), have about our future beyond five years?
  2. How does each participant answer these questions as they look to that year of focus beyond five years?

​

The common and complementary responses to those answers can provide a bridge of hope for a common and positive future for those involved as it was for the historical society and its castle.

​The Consultant School Membership is a community where professionals learn how to start, grow, and scale thriving consulting businesses.

Looking for more information on how to start, build, and grow your consulting business?

Join our FREE TRAINING for new and aspiring consultants on The Successful Consultant Profile from The Consultant School Bootcamp: How to Become a Consultant.

In this training, you will learn:

  • What a consultant is and what are the characteristics, attributes, preferences, skills, and conditions essential for a successful consulting career
  • The definition of each of these and, importantly, why they are so critical to your success as a consultant
  • How to determine to what extent these attributes match who you are

Plus! Identify your strengths and challenge areas with the Successful Consultant Profile Self-Assessment included in your downloadable guidebook.

​Click here to get your free training and begin your journey towards success!

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The Consultant School Podcast

Ep 29: How to Diagnose What’s Causing Struggle in Your Consulting Business

the consultant school podcast

Episode 29: How to Diagnose What's Causing Struggle in Your Consulting Business

How to Diagnose What's Causing Struggle in Your Consulting Business

The Genysys Group’s Founder and The Consultant School’s Chief Learner, Ray Rood, is back in the episode to share his thoughts on how to identify and diagnose what’s causing struggle in your consulting business.

The two most common struggles for consultants: Getting and maintaining clients and self-confidence – believing that you can meet client needs and expectations.

It’s essential to find someone – a trusted colleague, a mentor, or a friend – who can help you process your own questions and feelings as you look at how you’re approaching your consulting business.

Most consultants are on their own and feel very alone so it’s important to have someone who can help you understand what you’re experiencing and what may be underneath any issues or struggles you are having so you can begin to address the causes rather than just the symptoms.

When you have someone else to talk to about your business, you’re more likely or more compelled to actually do something about it.

When we’re dealing with ourselves, we can fool ourselves. We can deny reality. We don’t want to face change, so we don’t ask ourselves the hard questions. It is easier to avoid the deeper questions such as: Should I really be doing this? Am I cut out for this? Is it fair to me? Is it fair to the other people in my life?

If we don’t take time to consider those types of questions, we keep struggling and it shows up in our work and in our relationships.

If you do not have someone to talk to, there are things you can do on your own. Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way offers a few techniques that can be helpful here:

  1. Writing out questions you have before you go to sleep at night. Your subconscious will incubate on them and get you closer to an answer as you sleep.
  2. Writing a free flow of Morning Pages as soon as you wake up every day. Answers to your questions could very well show up here.
  3. Taking yourself on Artist Dates, where you simply spend time with yourself, not working but doing something you enjoy, and reflecting.

Consultancy is an art. Using techniques like these helps you to get perspective and to get at what some of your struggles might be.

As always, it’s important to be clear on what your work is, what it means to be a consultant, what you have to offer, and how you’re going to offer it. If you’re clear on these things and believe in them, that’s what is going to solve the self-confidence struggle.

Then, to solve the getting and maintaining clients struggle, you have to make a concerted effort to develop your contacts and those relationships. (See The Consultant School Episode 27 for more on this topic.)

It’s important to stay open, stay curious, stay positive and to view your consulting and, yes, even your struggles as an opportunity for your own learning and growth.

Looking for more information on how to start, build, and grow your consulting business?

Join our FREE TRAINING for new and aspiring consultants on The Successful Consultant Profile from The Consultant School Bootcamp: How to Become a Consultant. 

In this training, you will learn:

  1. What a consultant is and what are the characteristics, attributes, preferences, skills, and conditions essential for a successful consulting career
  2. The definition of each of these and, importantly, why they are so critical to your success as a consultant
  3. How to determine to what extent these attributes match who you are

Plus! Identify your strengths and challenge areas with the Successful Consultant Profile Self-Assessment included in your downloadable guidebook.   

Click here to get your free training and begin your journey towards success! 

Share this episode:

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The Consultant School Podcast

Ep 28: How Long Does It Take to Replace Your In-House paycheck with Consulting Contracts?

the consultant school podcast

Episode 28: How long does it take to replace your in-house paycheck with consulting contracts?

How long does it take to replace your in-house paycheck with consulting contracts?

This is one of the top questions aspiring consultants ask – or least worry about. They want to dive in and start doing work that’s more meaningful and fulfilling to them but are concerned – and rightly so! – about how to replace their current salary if they strike out on their own.

Of course, the answer to this question is specific to each person’s circumstances but there are things you can do to give yourself as much runway as possible to ramp up your consulting business.

  1. Grow your savings.

The standard recommendation for an emergency savings cushion is 3-6 months of expenses, so you want to add to that, if at all possible, so you have 12 months or more. 

  1. Build your consulting business on the side.

This is not an option for everyone but if it is possible for you, you can work on your business during your off hours. This allows you to gain some momentum while still having the safety of your paycheck. Then you can determine when you’re ready to leave your job and jump into your business full-time.

  1. Get a part-time job.

If you’ve already left your job or feel like you can’t stay any longer, getting a part-time job to keep some money regularly flowing is another option. This can give you the stability of a paycheck while you focus your energy on building your consulting practice.

How do you get from where you are to where you want to be?

There’s a formula for that! 

Yes, it requires some math along with clarity on what you have to offer and who you want to offer it to, and the ability to talk about it in language that’s meaningful to those ideal clients consistently so you build authority.

It will also require a strong commitment to putting yourself out there – asking for a conversation, making offers, and asking for the sale. These are things many people interested in consulting don’t love to do, but this is what it takes to make your consulting a business and to earn the money you need.

 

First, let’s define the elements of the formula:

Salary + Overhead Expenses + Profit Margin = Annual Revenue Goal

Salary (what you are currently making or could make in the marketplace)

+ 

Overhead expenses (office supplies, internet expenses, self-employment taxes, business license, etc. – usually 10-20% of your salary) 

+

Profit margin (this is a business and your expected to make a profit – usually 10-20% of your salary)

=

Annual Revenue Goal (the total amount of money you need to bring in annually)

Revenue Goal ÷ Average Project Fee = Number of Projects Needed Per Year

Average Project Fee will likely be difficult for a new consultant to be sure of, but just take your best guess for now. The point here is to start collecting this data as soon as you can so you can update the formula with accurate numbers as you go.

Projects Per Year ÷ Close Rate = Offers Needed Per Year

Your Close Rate – out of all the potential deals in your pipeline, the percentage you actually close – will also be a bit of mystery until you have more experience, but it is usually 20-30%. Best to err on the conservative side if you’re new to sales.

Offers Needed is the number of offers you need to make, knowing that a) you won’t make offers to every lead you have; and b) not all offers you make will be accepted.

Offers Needed x 5 = Leads Needed Per Year

The number of leads you will need is yet another number that will be personal to you, but we’ve found a safe number to use as a multiplier to meet the number of offers you need. 

Be sure to keep track of your own data so you can adjust these formulas with numbers that are accurate for you.

What should you do with this information?

First and foremost, you get to work on sales. 

You can divide the number of leads you need by 12 to get your monthly number or divide by the number of weeks you want to work to get a weekly number of leads, i.e. contacts you should be making to meet your revenue goals. 

Once you have that number, you can plan your business development/sales activity for the week and have a clear view of where you stand on meeting your numbers at any given time.

Is this the only way??

This is a very left-brained, traditional sales oriented approach that may not work for everyone. Our founder at Genysys, Ray Rood has been consulting for 40 years and has never approached it like this. To learn more about Ray’s Relationship Marketing approach, click here to listen to The Consultant School Podcast, Episode 03: How to Find Clients.

We wanted to offer this for those of you who may be looking at the numbers and wondering how you can make this work. Looking at it from this perspective can provide some comfort and a sense of control over what can often seem intangible.

The important thing to remember about this question: “How soon can I replace my income?” is that you have options. It does not have to be an immediate all or nothing situation. There are many things you can do to make consulting work for you if it’s something you really want to do. 

And if it is, we believe it’s worth it!

Looking for more information on how to start, build, and grow your consulting business?

Join our FREE TRAINING for new and aspiring consultants on The Successful Consultant Profile from The Consultant School Bootcamp: How to Become a Consultant. 

In this training, you will learn:

  1. What a consultant is and what are the characteristics, attributes, preferences, skills, and conditions essential for a successful consulting career
  2. The definition of each of these and, importantly, why they are so critical to your success as a consultant
  3. How to determine to what extent these attributes match who you are

Plus! Identify your strengths and challenge areas with the Successful Consultant Profile Self-Assessment included in your downloadable guidebook.   

Click here to get your free training and begin your journey towards success! 

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Ep 27: How to Find Consulting Clients If You Have a Small Network

the consultant school podcast

Episode 27: How to Find Consulting Clients If You Have a Small Network

How to Find Consulting Clients If You Have a Small Network

In this episode, Ray Rood, founder and Senior Consultant at The Genysys Group and Chief Learner at The Consultant School, shares his thoughts on how to find consulting clients if you have a small network.

Be intentional about developing your network.

Ray started consulting through a connection in a graduate program he created. He suggests in addition to developing relationships in the areas you want to work, consider teaching classes, or doing webinars or workshops. 

Look at the body of knowledge you have that you’ve developed your consulting around and package it so you’re sharing something of value with people. This can serve the dual purpose of highlighting your expertise and providing you with a marketing base from which to develop business.

You can also consider networking groups, school or neighborhood groups, churches – be on the lookout for one or two key people, who know and can influence people. 

It’s about quality not quantity because that network grows one relationship really at a time, through those connectors.

This is an organic and authentic way to grow your network. Focus on building those relationships – meet with them, tell them what’s happening with you, find out about their world and how you can help, and find out who they know that you should talk to.

The key is that whichever route you choose to try to build your network, be intentional about it, have a strategy for building relationships, and be clear about what you’re doing. 

If this is a new venture for you, be open and willing to share with people what you’re working on and ask if they know anyone who could use this. This gives people clear and specific ways they can help you so that they know exactly what to do for you, as opposed to just building the network for the sake of building the network.

Consider these conversations as research as well.

Before you get into “Who do you know?” questions, find out what the needs are, what their hearing from their network about the biggest challenges they’re facing. This opens up conversation and helps you understand what’s happening in the marketplace you want to serve.

A good consultant is researching all the time, looking at trends and trying to understand what’s really happening in the lives of their clients and prospects. 

A good consultant is an educator as well. They help their clients understand what things mean and how they’re not alone but are part of a larger story.

Approaching these relationships this way makes your network deeper, richer, and more active.

A small network is not a hindrance to growing your consulting business if you are intentional and strategic about how you develop the relationships you have.

Looking for more information on how to start, build, and grow your consulting business?

Join our FREE TRAINING for new and aspiring consultants on The Successful Consultant Profile from The Consultant School Bootcamp: How to Become a Consultant. 

In this training, you will learn:

  1. What a consultant is and what are the characteristics, attributes, preferences, skills, and conditions essential for a successful consulting career
  2. The definition of each of these and, importantly, why they are so critical to your success as a consultant
  3. How to determine to what extent these attributes match who you are

Plus! Identify your strengths and challenge areas with the Successful Consultant Profile Self-Assessment included in your downloadable guidebook.   

Click here to get your free training and begin your journey towards success! 

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Ep 26: How to Boost Your Credibility as an Independent Consultant

the consultant school podcast

Episode 26: How to Boost Your Credibility as an Independent Consultant

How to Boost Your Credibility as an Independent Consultant

In this episode of The Consultant School, Genysys CEO and podcast host, Andrea Nunez, shares her top three best practices for new – and not so new – consultants can boost their credibility.

Credibility = Authority

The first thing to understand about boosting your credibility is what credibility actually means in the context of consulting. Your credibility is your reputation, of course, but it’s more than that when it comes to capturing the interest of prospective clients. 

It is also about establishing yourself as an authority with your particular target market. They must get to know you and what you stand for. They must believe you understand them and what their challenges are. And they must trust you. This is what it takes for people to feel comfortable hiring you.

You must believe in yourself.

The most essential credibility booster is being confident that you have the skills, experience, and tools to support your clients with the challenges they are facing.

But how do you actually get there? One tried and true way is through self-reflection. Spend some time reflecting on what you have to offer that you enjoy and know you’re good at, and where you know you can help produce positive outcomes.

Then, take the bold step of talking to others who know you in a work context – colleagues, clients, even bosses or managers – and ask them what they believe your strengths are and what their experience of working with you has been.

Gathering this information and getting grounded in it will help you to see the value you can bring – and the results you can help clients achieve – as you begin talking to prospects.

This is the essential best practice because when you’re sitting across from a prospect, they have to believe that YOU believe you can deliver before they will ever agree to hire you. 

Use Content Marketing to boost your authority.

Content marketing is any type of content you publish for public consumption: blog posts, social media posts, videos, podcasts, articles, white papers, case studies, etc.

The key to doing content marketing correctly is establishing your particular point of view and sharing it using language that speaks directly to the pain points, wants, and needs of your target market. And doing it consistently.

The more content you have, the more consistent you are, the more credible and authoritative you will be – not only because of publishing but because you will be learning and growing your expertise in areas that matter to your target market. 

Relevant testimonials can help a prospect get past hesitations.

Gathering and sharing testimonials is a great way to boost your credibility – in your own eyes as well as in your prospective clients.

One of the best ways to provide some peace of mind in this area is for your prospects to hear from a previous client with the same or similar challenge who you have helped.

Ask current or former clients if they would be willing to talk about your work together. Then ask them open ended questions such as: 

  • What was happening before we started working together? 
  • What changed for you after working with me? 
  • What results did you get?  

The answers to these questions will often speak directly to some of the hesitations a potential client has about working with you and whether or not they will get results. 

Knowing that you were able to get results for others boosts your credibility in their eyes – and in your own! You can use this feedback to remind yourself of the value you bring whenever necessary.

If you are just starting out and don’t have any clients you can ask for a testimonial, a solid tactic to get some is to offer your services in exchange for feedback or a testimonial. You can tell people that you’re starting on a new career path and ask if they would be willing to work with you as a value exchange. 

We all know of an organization that could use help but probably can’t afford to pay too much for it. Approach them and make an offer. Not only will you get valuable feedback to help you learn and grow as a consultant, but assuming you deliver, you’ll get a solid testimonial  – and maybe even referrals out of the deal.  

No matter where you are in your consulting career, establishing, boosting, and maintaining your credibility and authority is a key factor in being able to attract prospects and convert them into clients. Use these best practices to help you get there!

Looking for more information on how to start, build, and grow your consulting business?

Join our FREE TRAINING for new and aspiring consultants on The Successful Consultant Profile from The Consultant School Bootcamp: How to Become a Consultant. 

In this training, you will learn:

  1. What a consultant is and what are the characteristics, attributes, preferences, skills, and conditions essential for a successful consulting career
  2. The definition of each of these and, importantly, why they are so critical to your success as a consultant
  3. How to determine to what extent these attributes match who you are

Plus! Identify your strengths and challenge areas with the Successful Consultant Profile Self-Assessment included in your downloadable guidebook.   

Click here to get your free training and begin your journey towards success! 

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