Getting started was "easy". I was so SURE that I could bring to market the skill sets and experience I'd gained over years of developing and executing strategies for these huge companies! After ALL.... I could point to scores and scores of successful projects which I'd handled, any of which should be worth a train-load of cash to any company!
I developed a website, a newsletter, and began the process of reaching out to my network. I began to get "traction", but NOT in the areas I was so SURE would be fruitful. After months of working hard within the assumptions I'd established for my new consultancy, I came to realize that what was needed "out there" were PROBLEM SOLVERS, not "Consultants".
Problem Solvers. Many respected associates who were displaced during the downturn sought traditional solutions for finding new employment; they filled out hundreds of resumes and mailed them off. They called friends. They tried to get interviews. They talked to Headhunters. The problem with this approach is that they are were positioning themselves as "Operations Executives", or "Field Management", or "Marketing Executives", etc. etc. etc...
What the needed to do was to position themselves as PROBLEM SOLVERS. Target companies they like, and study them. Begin to determine the nature of their challenges.
- What are their problems?
- What are their impediments to growth?
- What are their human resource obstacles?
- What are their operational challenges?
- What does their competition do that creates PAIN for them?
My consultancy is growing, and I am finding ways to help people SOLVE PROBLEMS daily. What a GREAT way to live!
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