Four years of my journey and Four Tips for aspiring senior entrepreneurs!

I completed my entrepreneurial journey of four years on June 1st, 2023 (after 33 years in the corporate world).??Many senior professionals would like to move out of the corporate world and venture to do something by themselves. I am happy to share my experiences over the last four years, which may add some perspectives for these professionals. These are not prescriptive points but honest abstractions of my experiences. My expertise is in management consulting and training; therefore, I reckon it will be more relevant for people who want to pursue those fields.

The firm focus: We must have a fair understanding of what areas of consulting and training we will do. It should stem from our strengths, but we should be open to working in adjacent areas. I was motivated by the organization anchoring on its soul and only changing its form to adapt to external and temporal conditions. I named the firm Compassmet Consulting LLP (Compass stands for the organization's soul/purpose of existence as it points to the North always, and Met is a short form of metamorphosis which is a rapid change in the organization driven by changing customer preferences or demography, technology disruptions, competitive and cost pressures). Three areas of focus for me are strategy (purpose-centered), leadership program (Human-centered), and Domain and technology training (basics centered), thus reflecting the core theme of CompassMet.?Though this was broadly the focus when I began, I made many tweaks based on the market feedback and the improvements I made through researching and studying in core areas.

Tip 1: Have a broad theme for focus but be willing to tweak.

Customer acquisition: This is the most challenging aspect to go on our own for most except a few privileged. I have worked with over 30 clients in four years, with engagements lasting from a few days to a few months. The client acquisition for me was neither too easy nor very difficult. But it is challenging for sure.

1.?????It is not easy to get business from your closest professional friends. I cannot reason why this happens, but I guess it is because they know us too well, maybe all our strengths and weaknesses. Professional acquaintances or friends/colleagues who genuinely respected you as a professional person would invite you to engage.

2.?????A few clients will say they are very interested in engaging us in the first meeting but will not even take our calls or meet us when we follow up. This experience will be harrowing for many entrepreneurs, especially if we know the prospect personally well. There are occasions when people one generation younger than us will make us wait for a long time or give us feedback on a subject that we perceive to be at a superficial level. We cannot be egoistic when we become entrepreneurs and get hurt by these incidents, as there will be many. The executives in the organization likely had meetings that ran over, or they were pulled into some unscheduled urgent meetings. At the same time, it is important to hold our own when we are not treated well without losing our temper and confidence.

Tip 2: Customer acquisition is a serious business, and we should neither be ultrasensitive nor submissive when we engage across levels.

Engagement and delivery: When we are consulting, our experiences will help us, but I have found it is of value only in certain aspects of the engagement. There are four traits required in our profession.

1.?????Listen and understand.: Every situation is unique. The customer hates, "I did this in 2017, and hence I know it all”. It is good to listen and understand the situation and requirements well as if we are students curiously learning about the subject.

2.?????Synthesize and abstract: We use our conceptual skills to synthesize and abstract what we listen to. The mental model of the problem/situation/ opportunity is critical in consulting.

3.?????Prepare and draw from experiences:?I had to prepare a lot, even in my areas of strengths, both understanding the fundamentals and keeping up with the latest trends. We can draw from our relevant experiences at the appropriate time.

4.?????Deliver with conviction:?We need to be convinced with our “product," but the conviction should not be out of overconfidence in ourselves but out of the strong foundations that we have built for the engagement.

Tip 3:?We need to be sincere, studious, and empathetic, and draw from experiences and not think of weaving magic when we engage with clients. It is better to operate out of humility rather than hubris.

Connect with our Being: Most of us want to do consulting and training as we think it is our calling. I started the firm to connect deep within me. The experience of delivering a training program or consulting is a Zen moment for me where I lose the sense of time and space. Being in that zone is very important for me, and it is my purpose for starting this journey. It is essential to be driven but not lose our purpose and enjoyment because those are the reasons why we created the firm in the first place.

Tip 4: Happiness stems from the expression of our true being. We must not take the business lightly but stay true to our soul. We must draw a line so that we work and come across as keen but not desperate in the acquisition, and we are resonating with our being in delivery.

I wish the best for whoever becomes a consultant after your successful corporate career, and I am happy to assist in providing my perspectives.

Mohandoss Thulasidoss is the Founder & CEO of CompassMet Consulting LLP( www.compassmet.com). CompassMet Consulting LLP's offerings include strategy, leadership program, sales & domain programs.

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