Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional

[Note: this episode was recorded before the pandemic.] Our guest today is Josh Dick, who accomplished the dream of many entrepreneurs. In the year 2000, after stints as an investment banker at Salomon Brothers and as a Marketing Manager at Unilever, Josh joined Urnex, a small manufacturing business that was founded by his great-grandfather. Josh would go on to lead the company through fifteen straight years of 15% annual growth, and then he sold the business to a private equity firm for a sum that allows him the flexibility to choose what to do with his time. And what he’s done is move his family to Florence, Italy, learn Italian, begin advising other entrepreneurs, and write a book titled Grow Like a Lobster: Plan and Prepare for Extraordinary Business Results. You can find Josh’s blog and contact him via his website, https://www.joshua-dick.com/

In this episode I discuss how to write a consulting proposal. You can download the consulting proposal template that I discuss on the show.

Our guest today is David A. Fields, author of The Irresistible Consultant’s Guide to Winning Clients. In this episode, David shares his advice on the actions consultants should take during the coronavirus epidemic. He reminds us of his number one rule: to practice right-side-up thinking, that is, consulting is about the client, it’s not about us. David covers: How to reach out to clients during the pandemic How to establish new partnerships during the pandemic How to manage pricing during the pandemic David has been a popular guest on the show and I encourage you to check out our past discussions, including Episode 1: Winning clients Episode 170: Outbound calls Episode 172: Implementing a CRM system Episode 190: What makes for a successful consulting partnership Episode 221: How to convert leads into confirmed projects I also recommend you sign up to receive his weekly blog post straight to your inbox.  

[Note: Today's episode was recorded in January 2020.] Our guest today is Gary Pritts, the President of Eagle Consulting Partners, a firm that was a specialty in helping clients adhere to the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, usually referred to as HIPAA. In this episode we discuss how Gary built a thriving practice focused on this specialty, and how they have expanded to supporting compliance with other types of regulation. You can learn more about Eagle Consulting Partners on their website, https://eagleconsultingpartners.com/

[Note: this episode was recorded prior to the coronavirus pandemic.] Our guest today is Sophia Ononye, who earned a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Connecticut and did a postdoctoral fellowship in oncology at the Yale School of Medicine. Sophia is the founder of The Sophia Consulting Firm, and her focus is in creating value via scientific storytelling, primarily serving pharmaceutical and biotech firms. In this episode we discuss several of the service lines she offers, including strategic marketing, medical affairs, public relations, and scientific communications. You can learn more about Sophia’s firm at https://sophiaconsultingfirm.com/

Oscar Wimshurst discusses the content that Bench Accounting has been publishing to answer the questions their customers have been asking on how to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. I learned about Bench when I searched for a good summary of the Paycheck Protection Program on March 28, 2020, the morning after it was passed, and their summary ranked at the top of the first page of Google results.  They’ve had their whole content team focused on generating useful material for their customers – and potential customers – which tend to be businesses with 0-5 employees. Oscar also explains the bookkeeping services that Bench offers. Check out the latest educational material from Bench on their blog.

Today’s episode is a recording of a webinar that I facilitated on April 8, 2020, attended by 80 independent management consultants. Ryan Vaughan is a Tax Director at Mazars, a leading global accounting firm, and he answered our questions about the Paycheck Protection Program. Ryan first provides a general overview that pertains to all businesses, and then he gets into our detailed questions about how independent consultants can access the Paycheck Protection Program. Some of our key questions included: If we aren’t W2 employees of our own firms, how do we demonstrate “payroll” to ourselves How much of a loan should we be eligible for How does the loan forgiveness work The practical steps of applying for the loan Starting around the 45 minute point, we touch more briefly on the Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loan. In the first part of the discussion, Ryan reviews several pages of a slide deck. We’ve posted that document on the Umbrex website, and here is the link. In this episode, Ryan zips through the highlights of the slide deck in about 10 minutes. He’s also done a full hour webinar on that deck: watch it here.  

You've submitted a proposal to a client and then..... silence. Here are some tips on how to follow up.  

Tips on updating your resume. I’ve looked at 5,000 resumes over the past four years – seen some good ones, and lot of resumes with room for improvement. This episode is particularly geared at independent consultants, but 90% of it is relevant to any professional. Sections covered: Formatting Contact info Summary section Experience Education Publications Public speaking Patents Volunteer activities Technical skills Certifications Media Functional skills Geographic flexibility Personal info Languages Citizenship

Nayla Bahri conducted the research for her EdD on how professionals responded to layoffs during the Great Recession. She discovered that certain behaviors helped lead professionals become resilient and emerge from the crucible even stronger. In today’s episode, Nayla shares how the lessons from her research apply to those affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and we discuss practical tips to do what she calls “inner work” and “outer work.” Learn more about Nayla’s work on her website: https://www.naylabahri.com/ And if you like this episode, check out my earlier discussion with Nayla on Episode 97 of Unleashed.