Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional

Our guest today is Ron Hubsher, the Managing Director of the Sales Optimization Group and the author of Closing Time: the 7 Immutable Laws of Sales negotiation.” Ron’s book is in print but not available on Amazon – he explains what happens when you buy his book from his website., and why he doesn’t sell his book anywhere else. Ron has a multifaceted business – he does consulting projects to sales organizations, he provides training programs, he gives keynote speeches. In some cases he delivers his training programs himself; he’ll also license the training program to a client and make money while he sleeps. In our wide-ranging conversation, Ron discusses several case examples of how he works with clients, and along the way I learn how a playing card in an Atlantic City casino is different than one used in Las Vegas. You can find Ron’s firm on the web at www.salesOG.com          

Our guest today is Michael Bendit, an independent professional based in NYC who started his consulting career as a principal at Booz & Co. Michael has two sides to his practice He runs a consulting practice, with a particular focus on strategy and pricing He also represents multiple software development shops, primarily focused on digital marketing agencies Michael has created a referral network in NYC that has been meeting every two weeks for several years. His group includes a range of independent professionals that all serve digital marketing agencies, with different specialties, and every two weeks they get together to share leads and look for ways to collaborate. Getting up a group like this up and running takes a lot of effort, but has been successful at generating a flow of work over time and is something that independent professionals might want to consider replicating. You can read more about Michael’s software firm at http://softdevresources.com/

Martin Pergler is Founder and Principal at Balanced Risk Strategies, Ltd., in Ottawa, Canada. Previously, he was Senior Expert in Risk at McKinsey, where he was a leader in their Corporate Risk and ERM service lines, based at various times in their Chicago, Prague, Singapore, and Montréal office. 

Soyini Coke is a McKinsey alum and independent consultant based in Atlanta, Georgia. She is also the host of CEO Exclusive, a radio show in which she interviews a mid-market CEO every week. In this episode we discuss how she has invested time to build her visibility and thought leadership, such that she now has CEOs reaching out to her to get on her show. You can learn more about Soyini's firm on her website: http://annonaenterprises.com/ And you can listen to her show at http://ceoexclusive.businessradiox.com/about/

David Burnie is a McKinsey alum and the founder of The Burnie Group, a boutique consulting firm based in Toronto. We discuss how we started as an independent professional and then proceeded to build a firm and how he has partnered with software firms to offer robotic automation. You can sign up for his firm's newsletter and read more about The Burnie Group at www.burniegroup.com  

Our guest today is my friend Julie Gupta, who has a Masters in Material Engineering from MIT and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Julie started her consulting career at Bain & Company, and after a series of roles in the tech industry she started her own practice, Gupta Consulting, in 2006 – so she has been a successful independent professional for 11 years. In our discussion, we focus on Julie’s pro bono work, which I find incredibly inspiring. She has done pro bono consulting work at fantastic organizations that include Guide Dogs for the Blind, NPR, the Girl Scouts of America, Boston Public Schools, City Year, the Humane Society, among others. Julie shares one question that has shaped her thinking and her life: “Are you optimizing your resume or your eulogy?” We talk about how as an independent professional to find those pro bono opportunities, and some best practices to make sure that you have impact and that your time is well spent.  We also talk about the unanticipated benefits – such as relationships that have led to work with for-profit clients, and skills she has learned. Read more about Julie's practice at www.ConsultGupta.com.

In this in-between-isode, Will Bachman offers suggestions on 27 action items to consider as you set up your firm.

In this in-between-isode, Will Bachman offers a perspective on the questions you should answer to create a strategy for your practice, namely: What is your definition of success? Or in other words, What is winning? Where do you play? How do you win on the battlefields where you have chosen to play?  

Our guest today is Mike Feiner, who has been an influential figure in my own life since I took his class High Performance Leadership at Columbia Business School. Mike is now on his fourth career. He was the Worldwide Chief People Officer at Pepsi – so the head of HR and the top advisor on all people matters to the CEO. Here is a factoid: in the last three years, according to The New CEO Report by Feigen Advisors, 81 individuals have ascended to the CEO role. in the Fortune 250.  Of those 81, eight of the CEOs had worked previously at Pepsi, several of them while Mike was the head of HR.  Something special was clearly going on. After Pepsi, Mike developed and taught one of the most popular courses ever at Columbia Business School. While he loved teaching, after ten years he wanted a new challenge and took the role of Senior Managing Director at Irving Place Capital where he Lead firm's efforts in guiding portfolio company management teams build, grow & develop their leaders & managers. And now Mike is an independent professional, serving as a consultant to CEOs and senior leaders. Mike is also the author of the bestselling The Feiner Points of Leadership: The 50 Basic Laws that will make people want to perform better for you. I’ve given out copies of this book dozens of times – it is the most practical book on what leadership is that I’ve ever read. In our wide ranging conversation, we talk about how to apply these basic laws of leadership as an independent professional We talk about the Law of Intimacy, the Law of Feedback, the Law of Professional Commitment, the Law of the Emperor’s Wardrobe, and more. Mike’s been a lifelong runner, running nearly every day for over 40 years, and we also talk about his suggestion that business professionals need to think of themselves as Professional Athletes. We’re in a marathon, not a sprint, and we need to think about personal fitness, broadly conceived – exercise, diet, sleep, mindfulness all factor into our long term success as much, if not more than our knowledge of valuation methodologies or the latest digital marketing techniques. You can read more about Mike’s work on his website, feinerconsulting.com 

Our guest today is Matt Weill, who is my attorney as well as a good friend. Matt began his legal career as an Associate at Skadden Arps and then he became a partner at the firm of Golenbock, Eiseman, Assor Bell & Peskoe. His legal practice is primarily focused on business and transactional matters for a wide range of clients, including private equity and venture/growth capital funds and their related portfolio companies and investments. Matt  routinely counsels entrepreneurs, startup and growth-stage companies and investors in connection with the structuring and formation of new business ventures, private placements, capital raising transactions, and agreements among founders. Matt has extensive experience working with independent professionals, and for Umbrex he has prepared three contract templates – a contract between an independent professional and a client; a contract that an independent professional can use to engage a subcontractor, and a non-disclosure agreement. If you email me at unleashed@umbrex.com, I will send those files to you. Please note: these are just a starting point and don’t constitute legal advice – you should get an attorney yourself to customize for your particular situation. That said, these templates can jump start that process and save you time and money. In the show today, Matt walks us through the contracts, explaining the key things we should watch out for. He also answers questions submitted by listeners, including steps you can take to get paid on time, how to negotiate non-circumvention clauses, and why you should read the fine print of the indemnity clause.