The New Business of Consulting

11 Do You Still Want to Be a Consultant?

Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

Helen Keller

November 11. Best day of his life. Yessiree! It’s the day he jumped off the treadmill and stopped bucking traffic snarls every day.

Lambert had a traditional start in life. He worked summers at his dad’s hardware store, went to college, got a job, got married. He always knew he wanted to be an independent consultant, but it became harder to envision a move when his company continued to give him promotions, increased his salary, provided great benefits, and always gave him a shot at developmental opportunities.

Of course, there was also the other side of the story. All these incentives came with long hours, increased stress, daily traffic congestion, lots of travel, and completing work that no longer excited him. He knew that making the move from the corporate world into consulting would ultimately make him happier. He wanted to control his destiny, but it was going to be difficult for him and his family to lose the stability.

Before he made the leap, he was doubt-laden! But today he was proud of the time he’d spent researching what it would take to make the transition as smooth as possible. He started meeting with consulting vendors and friends and asked them lots of questions. At first he didn’t share his plans with them, but one evening over bourbon, his golf buddy, Adam, caught on and said, “Hey man, are you planning to jump ship? Become a consultant like me?” So the jig ...