The New Business of Consulting

4 Starting . . .

If you put everything off till you’re sure of it, you’ll get nothing done.

Norman Vincent Peale

Vivian looked gingerly around the little coffee shop. Andrea had been shouting for more than 20 minutes—and her voice carried so far! Vivian was hoping no one else from the office was in the café, but it was unlikely anyone was. After all, it was 6:30 p.m. on a Friday night and everyone else was probably home preparing dinner. She looked at Andrea, who was yelling, “Why tonight, too? He knew I was going to the concert. I told him about it last week! Besides, it’s Friday night! Doesn’t he have a life? All these long work days! I’ll tell you, I can’t take it anymore! I can’t work for him. The entire department depends on me to solve every crisis! My skills are not appreciated and I want to do something for me!”

Trying to think of a way to calm her friend, Vivian said, “Well, maybe it’s time you did.”

“What do you mean?” Andrea shook her head slightly as if trying to refocus.

“Well, you’ve been talking about consulting for years. Maybe it’s time to do something besides talk about it. Maybe you should spend time thinking about what that would look like. You know—create a plan.”

“But I wouldn’t know where to start! What do I do first? How do I know I’ll make any money? What kind of consulting would I do? How do I find clients? What do I charge them?” asked Andrea in a more moderate voice.

Thankful that she’d been able to redirect her friend’s attention, Vivian chided ...