 Successful Jump to Consulting
On 1/1/2001, I made a jump to consulting from being an employee. For nearly a year prior to that I planned for it. For 3 years prior to 1/1/01, I worked at a small, successful software company (which has since been bought, but that's a whole other story).
During the year 2000, I saved every penny I could. The goal was to have at least a year of rent and food money in the bank before making the jump. I didn't accomplish this goal, but I had 7 months worth. Another twist to the jump was I decided to move 300 miles away, to a market which was locally dead, but was equally distant from two major metropolitan areas. So I made sure I had a really dependable vehicle, and was willing to drive a lot.
Also during 2000, I told everyone I knew that I would be doing this. I sought and received the blessing of the president of the software company, and lobbied the sales staff, programming staff, tech support and other consultants, not for assistance after I made the jump, but just for goodwill.
The move took 10 days. My first appointment was a few days later. I sent out fax blasts and letters to all current customers of the software in the areas within 250 miles for 6 months. This did not go over well with some consultants, but I mended fences with them and refrained from contacting their clients when they provided me with the necessary data to do so.
Needless to say, during the first year, I worked over 60 hours every week. That first year, I made a small profit after paying myself subsistence. In 2002, I paid myself better, and made a larger profit. Word of mouth referrals started to come in slowly. Things looked bleak many times, but I adjusted to the uncertainty and kept a financial reserve as well as building investments using common sense. I now make twice as much as when I worked at the company, plus have a much larger retirement cushion than I would have.
My first vacation was in 2006. All other trips were for business, period. At this point, the business still has its ups and downs, but I'm completely certain that I can make a good lliving in this for as long as I wish to. I have a loyal client base, and experience a steady 15% growth in referrals and income every year without having to market or advertise. Using some of the information from this Web site, in the last year, I have started a second business, which is now bearing fruit.
The point is (in my opinion only), one must use all of the commonsense measures (get a running start, save up a fair amount of cash, keep a reserve, don't be afraid to call people and talk to them), plus one absolutely must jump in with both feet, unconditionally. Maybe easing into consulting part-time works for some people. Maybe I don't know how to do anything halfway. But I do know that this succeeded when almost everyone I knew thought it would fail.
Thanks for listening.
JK
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