THE CONSULTANT MINDSET

For the past 17 odd years I’ve run my own company, like every small business owner will know, it’s been a challenge and rewarding at the same time.

Lately something has changed in me as much as the world. The evolution of how I see myself has morphed and honestly it needed to.

When Covid hit so I took the opportunity to upskill and redefine myself and my path, more to step away from doing the doing of marketing.

So I hit the books and got some better qualifications. Now I’m smat…

These days I do less of the marketing practice work and more mentoring, training and consulting work. It’s better, but with it I had to go through the process of breaking up with myself and who I thought I was.

When you do something for a long while it becomes part of you, without that thing you feel less. You like the endorphins it gives you until they stop being effective. The drug wears off. The enthusiasm wanes.

In my last little article I spoke about enthusiasm being a double edged sword. I’ve mused on that thought and now have a perspective to share that might help others out there.

As a now mentor or trainer it is my job to inspire, enthuse, reinvigorate and educate the client I’m working with. It’s a time led thing, mostly a couple of hours on a regular basis and it feels good for both parties.

On the flip side, consulting is a longer term thing for both the client and me, it’s a drawn out process and can be long term. But the enthusiasm bubble bursts after a while. Clients get tired, overworked, too busy for this constant requirement to perform, deliver, discuss and evolve. It requires a different approach.

As a consultant I believe it may be best to work more like a mentor than an extension of the business as we often do as long term consultants. To protect the consultants own level of interest, their reputation and capacity to inflict change perhaps we should change our lens.

If we re wrote the narrative that consulting is not to be a constant outsourced worker bee and instead we are there to bring about change of thinking, view points, mindsets and we do this quickly and swiftly and then as we succeed we literally move on - I do think that a few things would happen:-

Consultants would not be viewed as the drain on budget that they are often viewed as.

Consultants would by definition consult fleetingly and instead be sought after and desired as change makers

Consultants would enjoy the variety knowing that the next interesting challenge is just around the corner and they stagnation is not a word in their career vocabulary.

It’s a mindset change. Yes some of you already do this. This is my story.

Honestly, I love working with lots of companies, I have an ability to weave the golden thread of continuity where I can and connect companies together because of the variety in my life.

So if you are a consultant and fear the end of a contract, consider that this is exactly what you signed up for.

You didn’t get offered a job, you stepped into a role to do a specific thing. Do it, move on.

Your mental health relies on your ability to be detached enough to remove yourself but interested enough to make the difference required.

Being useful, utilised, chewed up and spat out is exactly how it should be.