14,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
The definitive guide to getting out of the office and getting into consulting
Getting Started in Consulting, Fourth Edition is the acclaimed real-world blueprint to professional and financial freedom. For nearly two decades, this invaluable resource has helped thousands of people quit the daily grind and become their own boss. This practical and motivational guide provides the tools and knowledge to control your future and secure your fortune. From establishing goals and sorting out the legal and financial paperwork, to advanced marketing strategies and relationship building techniques, this indispensable book offers step-by-step instructions for you to establish and grow your own consultancy business. This extensively revised and updated fourth edition includes new and expanded coverage on topics including utilizing informal media, changes in legal and financial guidelines, key distinctions of wholesale and retail businesses, and much more.
Author Alan Weiss delivers expert advice on how to combine minimal overhead with optimal organization to produce maximum income. Every step in the process is clearly explained, including financing, marketing, bookkeeping, establishing your fees, and more. This guide is a comprehensive, one-stop source for everything you need to prosper in the rapidly expanding world of private consultancy.
- Adopt a pragmatic and profitable strategy to achieve incredible results from your consultancy business
- Learn to identify and address the most commons issues facing your prospects and clients
- Leverage technology to reduce labor, maximize profitability, and increase discretionary time
- Access sample budgets, case studies, references and appendices, downloadable tools and forms, and online resources
The modern business landscape presents unique opportunities for those willing to take the leap from corporate offices to home offices. Getting Started in Consulting, Fourth Edition is the must-have guide for anyone seeking to cut their own path to their own consulting business.
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 270
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
Ähnliche
Other Books by Alan Weiss
Alan Weiss on Consulting
(interviewed by Linda Henman and Aviv Shahar)
Best-Laid Plans
(originally
Making It Work
)
Getting Started in Consulting
(also in Chinese)
“Good Enough” Isn't Enough
(also in Spanish)
Great Consulting Challenges
How to Acquire Clients
How to Establish a Unique Brand in the Consulting Profession
How to Market, Establish a Brand, and Sell Professional Services
How to Sell New Business and Expand Existing Business
How to Write A Proposal That's Accepted Every Time
Life Balance
Lifestorming
(with
Marshall Goldsmith
;also in Korean, Indonesian, and Turkish)
Managing for Peak Performance
(also in German)
Million Dollar Coaching
(also in Portuguese)
Million Dollar Consulting
(also in Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Chinese, Korean, and Arabic)
Million Dollar Consulting Proposals
Million Dollar Launch
Million Dollar Maverick
Million Dollar Referrals
Million Dollar Speaking
(also in Chinese and Portuguese)
Million Dollar Web Presence
Money Talks
(also in Chinese)
Organizational Consulting
Our Emperors Have No Clothes
Process Consulting
The Business Wealth Builders
(with Phil Symchych)
The Consulting Bible
The Global Consultant
(with Omar Kahn)
The Great Big Book of Process Visuals
The Innovation Formula
(with Mike Robert; also in German and Italian)
The Language of Success
(with Kim Wilkerson)
The Million Dollar Consulting
®
Toolkit
The Resilience Advantage
(with Richard Citrin)
The SECOND Great Big Book of Process Visuals
The Talent Advantage
(with Nancy MacKay)
The Ultimate Consultant
The Unofficial Guide to Power Managing
The Power of Strategic Commitment
(with Josh Leibner and Gershon Mader)
Threescore and More
Thrive!
Value-Based Fees
Who’s Got Your Back?
(with Omar Kahn)
GETTING STARTED IN CONSULTING
ALAN WEISS
Cover image: © jondpatton/Getty Images Cover design: Wiley
Copyright © 2019 by Alan Weiss, Ph.D. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Names: Weiss, Alan, 1946- author. Title: Getting started in consulting / Alan Weiss. Description: Fourth edition. | Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley, [2019] | Includes index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2018051259 (print) | LCCN 2018053848 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119542131 (Adobe PDF) | ISBN 9781119542148 (ePub) | ISBN 9781119542155 (hardcover) Subjects: LCSH: Business consultants—Handbooks, manuals, etc. | Consultants—Marketing—Handbooks, manuals, etc. Classification: LCC HD69.C6 (ebook) | LCC HD69.C6 W459 2019 (print) | DDC 001—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018051259
Our 50th wedding anniversary occurred during the writing of this book. This book, all my others, my career, my family, and my happiness would not be remotely possible without Maria. Merely thanking her here for my wondrous life is woefully insufficient, but I am informing all of you that it is almost impossible to get started in any pursuit without unwavering support.
And so: To Maria, with all my love.
CONTENTS
Cover
Other Books by Alan Weiss
Introduction to the Fourth Edition
Note
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 Your Mindset Will Determine Your Success
The Notion of Value
Support Systems
Basic Necessities
Hitting the Ground Running
Notes
Chapter 2 Barging into the Business
The Concept of Marketing Gravity
Calling Everyone You Know
Making Money by Working for Free (Pro Bono)
Networking Is a Process, Not an Event
Notes
Chapter 3 Becoming a Marketer
Creating an Accelerant Curve
Money Talks
Wholesale and Retail
Passive Income
Notes
Chapter 4 Technology for the Next Nine Seconds
The Greatest Technology Myths
The Role of a Website Might Surprise You
Social Media Platforms Are Often Tilted
Remaining Cutting Edge without Hurting Yourself
Notes
Chapter 5 Finding the Economic Buyer
Saint Paul Was the First Virtual Marketer
HR Stands for “Hardly Relevant”
Charging Past Gatekeepers
The Peerage
Note
Chapter 6 In the Buyer’s Office
Establishing Trust
Finding Issues and Dynamic Capture
Gaining Conceptual Agreement
Pouring Concrete
Chapter 7 Closing the Sale
How to Write a Proposal That’s Accepted Every Time
Why Buyers Go Dark
You’re Actually Closing Three Sales; Don’t Lose Two
The Virtual Handshake
Notes
Chapter 8 Paying the Mortgage
How to Establish Value-Based Fees
Fee Formulas
Fifty Factors to Consider
Other Fee Considerations
Notes
Chapter 9 Moving On Up
Fastening the Watertight Doors
Why You Don’t Need a Staff and How to Find Resources
Passive Income Alternatives
Working Globally
Notes
Chapter 10 Living the Dream
Building Your Brand
Moving to Advisory (Vault) Work
Intellectual Property and Thought Leadership
The Essence of a Career
Notes
Appendix A 101 Questions for Any Sales Situation You’ll Ever Face
Qualifying the Prospect
Finding the Economic Buyer
Rebutting Objections
Establishing Objectives
Establishing Metrics
Assessing Value
Determining the Budget Range
Preventing Unforeseen Obstacles
Increasing the Size of the Sale
Going for the Close
The Most Vital Question
Question
Appendix B Suggested Reading in the Field
Appendix C Sample Proposal
Situation
Objectives
Measures of Success
Value
Method and Options
Timing
Joint Accountabilities
Terms and Conditions
Acceptance
Appendix D Sample Long Biographical Sketch
Alan Weiss: Biographical Sketch
Appendix E Sample Short Biographical Sketch
Appendix F Further Resources
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 6
Table 6.1
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 Value distance.
Figure 1.2 Ideal buyers (hang tens).
Figure 1.3 Self-esteem and efficacy.
Figure 1.4 Business acquisition progression.
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 Marketing gravity components.
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 The Million Dollar Consulting® accelerant curve.
Chapter 6
Figure 6.1 The boat channel.
Figure 6.2 Dynamic capture.
Chapter 7
Figure 7.1 Referral business dynamic.
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1 Tangible and intangible value.
Figure 8.2 Buyer commitment and fees.
Figure 8.3 Diminishing labor as fees increase.
Figure 8.4 Value following fee.
Figure 8.5 Brand power and discretionary time.
Chapter 9
Figure 9.1 The S curve.
Figure 9.2 Watertight doors.
Chapter 10
Figure 10.1 The brand pyramid.
Figure 10.2 Respect versus affection.
Figure 10.3 The ambiguous zone.
Figure 10.4 Passion and ability.
Figure 10.5 The effect of mindset on success.
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Pages
C1
iii
iv
v
vi
vii
xiii
xiv
xv
xvi
xvii
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
187
188
189
191
193
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
el
Introduction to the Fourth Edition
I wrote the original version of this book in 2000; the prior edition (the third) was written almost 10 years ago. In these ensuing years we’ve seen 3-D printing, the retirement of the 747 jumbo jet, Donald Trump elected president against all predictions, Global Entry speeding the immigration process, strategies formerly taking six months to formulate and covering five years obsolete, the iPhone X, Tesla, kale as a routine food offering, the admonition that health-care workers must wash their hands to prevent the spread of illness, a huge recession and an unprecedented economic recovery, and the New England Patriots playing in three more Super Bowls and winning two of them.
Consulting remains a very hot profession because huge organizations continue to reduce residual talent in favor of mission-critical specialists and automation, and small businesses are seeking more help than ever (and they are the largest producers of net new jobs in most of the world, since large companies tend only to reduce or replace the workforce). There is little barrier to entry in solo consulting,1 which is both a blessing and a curse.
The intent herein is to enable you to hit the ground running under contemporary conditions. I’ll assume you’re either brand new to the profession or in the early stages of your launch, though the lessons included constitute a strong review for even veteran consultants. You can look up certain aspects of the business (for example, office logistics or finding buyers), or you can read it sequentially. See Appendix F for free resources located on my site and my blog.
I’ve found the consulting profession to be exciting, challenging, highly rewarding, and amenable to all types of people, passions, and predispositions. I’ve been able to form a huge global community of such entrepreneurial people over the years. It’s my pleasure to welcome you to it here.
Full speed ahead. It’s become that kind of world, and it’s no place for the tentative. We’re not here to stick our toes in the water, we’re here to make waves.
Alan Weiss
East Greenwich, RI
November 2018
Note
1.
Throughout the book I include boutique firm ownership under solo consulting.
About the Author
Alan Weiss is one of those rare people who can say he is a consultant, speaker, and author and mean it. His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., has attracted clients such as Merck, Hewlett-Packard, GE, Mercedes-Benz, State Street Corporation, the Times Mirror Company, the Federal Reserve, the New York Times Company, and over 200 other leading organizations.
He has served on the boards of directors of the Trinity Repertory Company, a Tony Award–winning New England regional theater, the Newport International Film Festival (where he was chairman), Festival Ballet Providence, and the Harvard Center for Mental Health and the Media.
His speaking typically includes 20 keynotes a year at major conferences, and he has been a visiting faculty member at Case Western Reserve University, Boston College, Tufts, St. John’s University, the University of Illinois, the Institute of Management Studies, and the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. He has held an appointment as adjunct professor in the College of Business at the University of Rhode Island, where he taught courses on advanced management and consulting skills. He holds the record for selling out the highest-priced workshop at the time (on entrepreneurialism) in the (then) 21-year history of New York City’s Learning Annex. His PhD is in psychology.
He is a 2006 inductee into the Professional Speaking Hall of Fame and the concurrent recipient of the National Speakers Association Council of Peers Award of Excellence, representing the top one percent of professional speakers in the world. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants, one of only two people in the world as of this writing holding both honors.
His prolific publishing includes over 500 articles and 45 original books, (and another 10 editions translated into 15 languages), including his best seller, Million Dollar Consulting (McGraw-Hill; now in its fifth edition). His newest prior to this one is Threescore and More (Taylor and Francis). His books have been on the curricula at Villanova, Temple University, UC Berkeley, and the Wharton School of Business. The Wharton School used his first book, The Innovation Formula, in its graduate programs.
He is interviewed and quoted frequently in the media, and his career has taken him to 60 countries and 49 states. (He is afraid to go to North Dakota.) Success magazine has cited him in an editorial devoted to his work as “a worldwide expert in executive education.” The New York Post called him “one of the most highly regarded independent consultants in America.” He is the winner of the prestigious Axiem Award for Excellence in Audio Presentation.
In 2006 he was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Press Institute, the first ever for a nonjournalist, and one of only seven awarded in the 60-year history of the institute.
He once appeared on the popular American TV game show Jeopardy!, where he lost badly in the first round to a dancing waiter from Iowa.
Alan resides in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, with his wife of 50 years, Maria. They have two children, two grandchildren, and two dogs: Bentley, the white German shepherd, and Coco.
Acknowledgments
To Buck, Trotsky, Phoebe, Koufax, Buddy Beagle, Bentley, and Coco.
If anyone requires evidence of God, one need only consider the company of dogs.
Chapter 1Your Mindset Will Determine Your Success
You might be thinking that you’re entering a sales job in going out on your own. Or you may believe that the nature of this profession is all about methodology and technology.
Let me disabuse you of such notions right out of the gate.
This is the marketing business and you’re offering value to prospective buyers.
Please assimilate that before you read on. Your mindset is going to determine your success, and I don’t mean that in the guise of some bizarre motivational speaker. I mean it as a businessperson who constantly seeks the highest profit with the least labor.
The Notion of Value
This is the marketing business. We may be consultants (or coaches, experts, facilitators, trainers, writers, speakers, and so forth) but nevertheless we’re in the marketing business. Get used to it.
Marketing is the creation of need. Most people know what they want, but few realize what they need until we propose it to them. If it’s strictly what people want that’s in question, then the lowest price will often prevail in a commodity competition (lawn mower, computer, consultant). But if you’re presenting a unique need they hadn’t considered (remote learning, Wi-Fi available in the car, a strategy in six hours), then you are creating something that isn’t subject to fee sensitivity.
This is why your mindset must be about the value you bring to the economic buyer (the person who can actually approve the check) and not about making a sale. The former is about being willing and eager to approach people because you can help them with your value; the latter is about fear of intruding or being rejected because you are trying to sell—take their money.
It’s the difference between giving and taking. I constantly have to reinforce this with even veteran consultants.
When you arise in the morning, you attitude must be, “Another great day to offer people my value,” and not, “Another long, slow crawl through enemy territory.”
Alanism
Being an expert in the consulting field means focusing on marketing your value to true buyers.
Another benefit of identifying your value is that you won’t be intimidated by those who have been around longer, or work for large firms, or who have complex methodologies. I call this pursuit and creation of your personal value the value proposition. It can be broad or narrow.
For example, when my clients were primarily Fortune 500 organizations, my value proposition was “I dramatically improve individual and organizational performance.” Now that I work with other consultants (actually, the “retail” business), my value proposition is, “I dramatically improve the businesses and lives of entrepreneurs around the world.” The value proposition doesn’t have to be unique—a lot of people might claim what I’ve said—but it must represent the initial explanation of the value you convey, the tip of the arrow, so to speak.
So here’s your first exercise: Write a one-sentence value proposition below. Try not to use “by,” “through,” “with,” or other prepositions, because they tend to define methodology, not value. Think in terms of results, or: “After I walk away, how is the buyer better off?”
My value proposition:
Digression
Note that my value propositions are very broad. Yours can be quite narrow, such as, “I reduce sales closing time and costs of acquisition.” But don’t believe the weak advice that you “specialize or die.” My 30 years in this business has amply demonstrated that you can “generalize the thrive.”
Your value statement needn’t be etched in stone, and you may well change it as you proceed through the book. But you have a start, and that’s the main thing.
The chart in Figure 1.1 indicates the true power of value as a mindset. The difference between what a buyer believes is wanted and what you determine is actually needed is what I call the value distance. The greater the distance, the higher your fee. The smaller the distance, the less your fee, because you’re in the commodity sea.
Figure 1.1 Value distance.
The final aspect of mindset (for now) is that of your ideal buyer. There are still people who contend that everyone is a potential buyer, but that might only occur if your product were oxygen and sunlight, which you’ll note are both free. Since you (and I) are lone wolves, we need to focus our precious time and energy on those buyers most likely to say “yes” because they appreciate our value. While others may come our way at times, they are not the ones to whom we should aggressively market.
Thus, the ideal buyer saves us time and energy and maximizes our profits. The ideal buyer is that organizational executive who is most likely to need and appreciate our value. I know it’s early, but try to identify that person below (for example, the owner in a small business, the executive director in a nonprofit, the sales vice president or the chief operating officer in a large enterprise):
My ideal buyer:
You can see from Figure 1.2 that the ideal buyer is a slim slice of everyone out there. That’s because you’re not selling oxygen or sunlight, but rather value not generally available. I call these people “hang tens” in reference to the most aggressive surfers who hang off the front of the board.
Figure 1.2 Ideal buyers (hang tens).
Let’s move now past your mindset to the mindset of those whom you want around you.
Support Systems
In addition to your own, proper mindset, you’ll need the mindsets of others. I’m discussing this prior to office space, bank accounts, insurance, or websites because all of that is relatively easy, no more than purchase decisions, which can be changed at any time.
However, there are two issues that will probably spell doom for any solo consultant: one is poor personal relationships, and the other is insufficient funds, and they are obviously inextricably connected. We’ll get to the easier of the two—how to make and keep money—a bit later. But let’s tackle the critical one first: relationships.
If you have a partner or spouse supportive of your venture you will have a far better chance of success. If you do not have a spouse or partner, then you face some potential obstacles, which we’ll deal with below. But if you have a nonsupportive or even indifferent spouse or partner, you need to attempt to change that now.
Why would life partners be unsupportive? Here are the reasons:
You are the sole breadwinner, and they are scared financially since you have less “security” working for yourself.
They don’t understand consulting or solo practice and feel it’s impossible to compete against the larger firms.
You haven’t demonstrated any great affinity for sales or marketing.
Your first few months in the profession have been dismal.
You’ve never traveled much alone, and now you’ll be away from home more often.
Actually, those are pretty good reasons, right?!
Case in Point
My wife told me early on, “Forget about the mortgage, we’ll sell the house if we have to, but you’re not going to make any money sitting in your den looking at the phone. Get out of the house!”
Here are my suggestions for enlisting your life partner in the support of your new career:
Make introductions to successful solo consultants and their partners.
Explain
how
you expect to compete, generate business, and thrive.
Have a daily debriefing on progress—good, bad, and ugly. (We’ve always done this over dinner.)
Show the total cash reserves you have available: bank accounts, credit lines, retirement funds, investments, securities, refinancing potential, and so forth. You may never need them, but they’re there, and no one is going to debtor’s prison.
Have your partner read this book. Show that there is a rational approach to being successful and that thousands have done so.
All of these steps should dramatically improve the relationship aspects of your new career. But if you are experiencing relationship problems for other reasons, going out on your own will almost always exacerbate them. Reconcile them first, one way or another, before embarking on a path that requires loving support.
Alanism
In this business you need someone to commiserate with the lows and celebrate the highs, but most of all, to keep you honest with yourself.
What if you don’t have a partner? Well, then you need to create a support system. These are not business or professional advisors per se. In other words, not necessarily your attorney or accountant (although they might fit the bill if they’re also personal friends).
Here are typical people to recruit into your support system:1
Other solo consultants who don’t directly compete
Colleagues in trade and professional associations as well as in social clubs
Community leaders, perhaps from the chamber of commerce, Rotary, and so forth
Family members who you know are supportive and not envious or overly critical
Independent business owners in other enterprises who can empathize
Long-term, understanding friends
How big should your support system be? Who knows? Just remember that the purpose is to enable you to have a sounding board for your ideas and to interpret your successes and failures, and to keep you centered. In other words, one rejection from a prospect doesn’t make you a lousy marketer, and one signed contract doesn’t make you a superstar.
The support team needn’t be gathered, or meet, or even know each other. This isn’t a group to which you report. It is a group composed of individuals who can listen well and provide you with objective feedback. Otherwise, you’ll spend immense amounts of time worrying about insignificant matters, trying to interpret the vague utterances of prospects, and generally indulging in too much introspection!
What we do isn’t rocket science. But what we do is extremely personal and can too often be perceived as commentary on our self-worth. In Figure 1.3 you can see the importance of perspective.
Figure 1.3 Self-esteem and efficacy.
When we’re good at what we do (efficacious) and also feel good about ourselves, we are emotionally healthy. But when we don’t feel worthy, even though we’re successful by other metrics, we believe that we’re imposters and about to be found out.2
Many people who are good at what they do don’t believe they deserve it, creating the “imposter” syndrome in the upper right of the chart. This has been found among business executives, performers, athletes, and politicians. When you feel like an imposter (“Why would they believe what I’m telling them?”), you’re subject to rapid decompression when someone does challenge you (“I’ve been found out!”). In this context, you may be effective, but you feel unworthy, so a critique quickly reinforces those inferiority feelings.
The converse is the “empty suit,” who has feelings of great self-worth but not much talent. This is the person who can talk a good game (in Texas: “Big hat, no cattle”) yet doesn’t deliver on the talk.
And if you’re weak in both self-worth and effectiveness, you are alienated and disaffected, odd person out. There’s a type of suicide called “anomic suicide,” which is caused when someone feels completely alienated from those around him or her, is unable to perform well, and feels worthless.
Your support systems are intended to keep you focused with honest, tough-love feedback and support, so that the lows are never catastrophic, and the highs are never too euphoric.
When you’re getting started in consulting, this is especially critical.
Basic Necessities
Let’s move now from your fundamental, positive mindset to what will support that mindset in your daily life. This section is about the physical assets you need at the outset to bolster your positive intent.
Office
You don’t need an office. What you need is a quiet place where you can work undisturbed, meaning you need a door and room for a desk and chair with Wi-Fi access.
When I began consulting on my own, after I was fired in 1985, my wife talked me out of an office, explaining that if it turned out I needed one I could get one later. I never did need one, using instead a spare bedroom converted for my purposes. I figured out that I saved, over 16 years, $450,000 in rent, insurance, utilities, maintenance, repairs, and furnishings. And $450,000 is almost exactly what it cost me to put my two kids through 16 years of private school with no indebtedness on their shoulders when they were graduated from college!
Alanism
The more comfortable you are and the more professional you feel, the more productive you will be. That’s very tough with an ironing board or litter box in the room.
You home office is deductible under the tax laws in effect as I write this.3 And you can pay yourself rent, deducting also the expenses for your house represented by the percentage of space occupied by your office (for example, insurance, mortgage costs, and the like).
Stock your office with:
Normal supplies (copy paper, stapler, tape, markers, and so forth)
Postage meter (leased from Pitney Bowes, usually)
4
Copier that can also serve as a scanner and fax machine (yes, some people still fax)
Computer of your choice
Alexa, or an equivalent music and information source
Ergonomic chair
Paintings or photos on the walls that please you
Phone system that can be used for conferencing, has a backup voice mail function, and has a speaker (ideally two lines, house and office; cells are fine but awkward for long calls)
If you don’t have such room, then consider a shared-suite provider. These operations charge a monthly fee for a receptionist, offices of varying sizes, office equipment, shared copiers, and so forth. Many will also serve as a mail drop and answering service.
What should guide your choice is privacy. You shouldn’t be in a place in your home with a heavy traffic pattern, ambient noise, or distractions. (You need to tell your family that when the door is closed, you’re out of town.) A home office can be a blessing or a curse, depending on your level of discipline. I’ve coached too many people who never got around to calling for referrals because they kept staring at a guitar in the corner wondering if they could master a diminished fifth chord.
Basically, your office should make you happy to be there (natural light helps tremendously). The degree to which it’s complete as a resource for you will be determined by how often you have to leave it to perform tasks. The fewer occasions, the better.
Professional Help
You’ll need the following from the outset:
Attorney.
This shouldn’t be your cousin Louie or the person who closed on your mortgage. You need someone who can create your company bylaws, help trademark intellectual property (the marks ™ and
®
), and create and/or review client contracts. Your attorney will also provide for incorporating your business, and with your accountant will advise (under current laws) whether you’re best off financially being a C corporation, Subchapter S, or LLC.
Insurance agent or broker.
You
must
carry what’s called
E&O
(
errors and omissions
)
insurance
, colloquially known as “malpractice insurance”). This is a litigious society,
and some clients will demand proof of such coverage before hiring you
. You’ll also need liability insurance, which covers you if someone trips over the power cord connected to your laptop at a meeting (even if someone else connected it). E&O can be about $2,500 annually (at the moment, for about a million dollars in coverage), but liability is inexpensive. You should also carry your own life insurance, health insurance, disability insurance, and umbrella liability insurance. This is why you need a good broker.
5
Bookkeeper.
