Weekly Update & Your Market Signal

How is it already Friday!?

Another busy week in the labor/employment world with continued demand for experienced talent in the market.

Back in my Big 5 Public Accounting Consulting days we used to call this feeling “building the plane while flying,” but over the past 10 years hunting work for independent consultants I now call it…

Normal!

No complaints over here though…

I sit in the middle between client demand and worker supply which is never in equilibrium so we are always on our toes. Having more client demand than labor supply is about as good a feeling as we get!

In this week’s newsletter we share an update on what we are seeing followed by a more detailed discussion on a concept that will help you attract opportunities you actually want to pursue.

While the process we discuss works for permanent work, as a reminder, this newsletter is focused on helping independent professionals find more joyful work…

Faster.

We analyze trends, read loads of gig/freelance/contingent related news and digest it through the lens of an experienced independent professional (15+ years experience, >$85k/year, indy by choice).

Whether you work in nursing, IT, finance, marketing, operations, logistics or engineering, we distill information down to a common denominator where the fundamentals are the same.

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What We Are Seeing & Our Take

Over the course of this week we spoke with small business owners, large PE backed companies, large public companies, consultants, and other service providers which gave us a good flavor of how the market is operating and one thing is for certain…

Everyone is busy!

A common topic of late is the return to the office.?

From an independent worker perspective, we continue to see/hear remote working as the preferred current state whereas permanent employees are being asked to come back to the office.

At this point in time the hybrid is becoming a clear winner with 2-3 days in the office and the balance remote.?When pressed on the “why” behind being in office, we consistently hear:

• Collaboration is key to our business
• Maintaining/redefining company culture
• Mentorship

When you take a step back all of these make perfect sense and we are very hopefully this return to the office is going to result in a more fulfilled work life for the workers of the world.

On another topic, I was at a networking event last night and had a chance to meet someone in “live human form” I previously met on a video call and we were talking about how to leverage tools such as LinkedIn to attract more relevant opportunities.

There are A TON of “LinkedIn influencers” who will show you all the tricks, tweaks, hacks to attract more attention, but what is often not discussed is the work you need to do before adjusting LinkedIn to make sure your new inflow of attention is relevant.

It starts with figuring out what your radio show is all about.

Radio show??

What the heck are you talking about Roger…

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How to Attract More Relevant Work Opportunities

By this point in your career you’ve likely seen the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of company environments, ownership structures and job responsibilities. You have a great sense of the work you want to do and which environments typically yield the most fulfilling opportunities.

Based on my personal research covering hundreds of experienced consultants and a ton of other market research from places like MBO Partners, McKinsey & Company and Freelancers Union, it is abundantly clear workers choose the independent route for three main reasons:

1. Flexibility
2. Variety of work
3. Less politics

One of the best aspects of being an independent consultant is you now get to CHOOSE the environments you deploy and the skillsets you want to flex in your daily work.

Sounds amazing right?

Bring your best self to work every day to work in interesting companies on impactful projects?

There is a proven path to get to this state of being as an independent, but it takes some self reflection and discipline when it comes to your go to market strategy.

In short, you need to view yourself as a radio show…

Play with me here… ??

Dialing in Your Signal

When you flip on your radio do you search for the station that plays everything??Hard Rock, then Jazz, then Kidz Bop, then Country, then maybe a talk show?

No, you don’t…

You dial into your favorite channel.

This same concept can be used when thinking about your business development as an independent consultant.

You are the broadcast signal, the market it tuning in...

You may think that being anything to everyone will get you more listeners and opportunities, but in reality this approach will yield mundane work at a below-your-market rate in the short term and lack of deal flow over time.

If you are an accountant and your elevator pitch, LinkedIn messaging, email tone and other outbound activity tells the market:

"I am a CPA looking for accounting projects"

You are going to get a bunch of inbound noise which will cause you to play defense telling your client's/intermediaries "No, that's not me" far too frequently which ultimately leads to a decline in inbound calls or you caving in and doing a boring job at a low rate.

On the flip side...

If you are the same accountant as above who took time to think about what core skillsets you want to bring to a specific segment of the market, your broadcast signal may be:

"I am an experienced Controller level CPA with a passion for helping fast growing SaaS companies with technical accounting matters such as revenue recognition"

You may not get as many inbound calls, but when they do come in you are going to be like a pig in slop because the opportunities are going to be right on point AND you are going to be in a position to ask for better rates and more flexibility.

Double bonus!

This cycle will repeat itself as more and more listeners who love "SaaS Accounting Radio" start tuning in and telling their friends about your station.

This is where the most fulfilled independent workers are playing...

So, if you are new to the independent consulting world or currently struggling to find fulfilling engagements, take some time to listen to what you are broadcasting the market and make the adjustments across your entire branding effort (Profile / LinkedIn / Elevator Pitch / Marketing).

The more focused the signal, the closer you are to calling the shots!

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Thanks for reading and if you have any comments, questions, or witty commentary (!) please let us know in the comments below.

All the best!

~?Roger

Roger Lumpp?spends his working hours hunting opportunities for independent workers in the Chicago market. He is the creator and host of?The Next Pro Gig Podcast?which empowers independent/freelance workers of all disciplines with the tools, frameworks, knowledge and ideas to help them thrive in their careers as independent prof.?He firmly believes WORKERS will gain more and more control over the independent employment conversation as we move into the “future of work” and is fully committed to helping aspiring, new and tenured independents maximize their go-to-market strategies to find their next gig, FASTER.?