A Tale of 2 Amandas
Russell Pearson CSP
Hall of Fame Inductee | Follow for Consulting Business Tips | Host of the Your Consulting Business Podcast – Supporting Topic Experts to Forge Successful Consulting Businesses.
In the world of the Multiverse (still a Marvel fan...even after Secret Invasion) we can explore what happens through the lens of decision making.
How simple decisions put you on different paths.
Think Sliding Doors.
Let’s take the story of Amanda.
A corporate consultant with 15 years of experience.
It took time to get great at her role…she listened, learned, and practiced.
She’s amazing at what she does…a true expert.
But now she dreams for more.
She wants to escape the corporate management leash and define her own destiny.
So she leaps at the opportunity during a corporate restructure to take a redundancy payout.
She now has her runway.
Cash to give her time to start her own consultancy.
She’s high on her confidence.
She’s an expert, after all, people look up to her, and she knows what she’s doing.
How hard can this SMALL business thing be?
It’s not the corporate world after all!
And she’s right.?
It’s NOTHING like the corporate world.
The day she leaves to start her new venture everything looks a little brighter.
An early project gives her even MORE confidence…this thing is EASY!
Sure there are a few more hats to wear, more roles to play and she's very busy.
But she has a little more control and enjoys the work.
It will be good to take a small break when the project ends.
And the project does end.
Thank goodness for her cash runway.
She takes a week off.?
How good is running your own business?!
Time to look for a new project.
She looks around.
She asks around.
But her network has moved on.
Opportunities have dried up.
"We love what you do Amanda, but it’s just not the right time".
She needs work NOW.
There are expenses.
Her runway of cash is shrinking.
I’m smarter than this…why did it get so hard?
She can see the end of her cashflow.
It’s racing toward her like a speeding truck.
Her confidence cracks.
Things start to look a little darker.
She looks at job ads between coffee conversations that seem to go nowhere.
Maybe something temporary.
I’m sure I’ll be able to work this out with time.
Happy to take a lesser role…but just for the time being…until I’m back on my feet.
She takes a role she once had an assistant for.
She’s now too busy for her business.
The dream starts to fade into a reality of expenses and to-do lists.
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How did she get here?
NOW…let’s travel through the multiverse to our second Amanda.
Let’s call her Amanda Two!
She has the same experience.
Confidence, initial success.
But before her single opportunity dries up…
…Amanda Two makes a different decision.
It’s time to get help.
She reaches out to a friend who has made the transition.
She gets and introduction...she gets mentoring.
She now sees that there is much she’s unaware of.
She replaces her confidence with curiosity.
She sees she’s going to have to study…to improve in areas she never knew she needed.
The mentoring helps.
The mentor shows her where to spend her time.
It’s going to take time to get great at her new role…
...she listens, learns, and practices.
Amanda Two gets capable.
Capability returns new confidence.
Her confidence is now tempered through the practical learning experience.
She now has process.
She is now longer the overly confident employee.
She is now the emerging business owner.
Confidence is growing.
The story of the two Amanda’s is a common one.
No matter what you did before, unless it’s successfully running a busines, the role of business owner is a new one to you.
Different skills, different activities…a different journey.
Consider the time it took for you to get capable at your current expertise.
Without a roadmap and support it will take AS long OR longer to get good in this business venture.
Every day you leave it…put it off…wait for things to improve, moves you further down the wrong path.
I hate seeing wasted potential…I want people to do well.
I hate seeing experts going back to get jobs…I want them to stay unemployed, happily running a business of their own.
I love helping experts like Amanda.
Because when experts like Amanda make the decision to get the support they need early, they go on to help other people with that expertise and make the world a better place.
Making the decision is the first step you take.
?? Stay Passionate.
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Russell Pearson?is the founder of the FORGE. A Business Program for Solo Consultants, Advisors, and Specialist Service Providers who want Better Clients & Higher Fees.
You can contact him directly here:?https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/russell-pearson/?
I help leaders utilize the power of writing for impact | Author, coach, trainer, keynote speaker
1 年Love this comparison, Russell! It's interesting to see the two different paths one can go down—and the major difference-maker is curiosity.
Conference Speaker | Workshop Facilitator | Influential Person of the Year | Owner, Brainpower Training P/L | Podcast Host: "Manage Self, Lead Others" Top 5% globally | C-suite Network Thought Council Member
1 年Great post and interesting story. So true! Whether start-up or mature business, we all need a mentor and continuous learning.