Starting Up On Your Own: How To Succeed As An Independent Consultant Or Freelance

If you needed a key to what awaits you in Mike Johnson's 12th no-nonsense book, it's summed up in the final paragraphs when he says of success as an independent consultant: "[T]he great thing is that I am not looking at a date on a calendar when I will have to retire. I can do this as long as I want." I know Mike and that's exactly how he feels.Ditto for me although my consulting is far less independent. I do it in concert with colleagues at StevensPincusGould Management Consultants in New York City, along with teaching for George Washington University and other organizations on writing and media relations. I know lots of consultants in NYC and DC who are 70-80 years old and still chugging along at full steam.Mike's been an independent consultant for the past decade after having founded a corporate communications firm with offices in London and Brussels and run it for almost 20 years. He's a big Scotsman, literally, with big ideas. This book sums up pretty much all that he has learned as a consultant. His writing style is refreshingly open and he guides you with step-by-step precision. He seldom meanders and he doesn't mince words.Starting with a self-reflective checklist entitled "Have You Got What It Takes?" he provides down-to-earth advice and counsel for those who do. For him you don't become a consultant because it sounds like fun, although it can be, or because the grass looks greener in the next-door consultant's yard, which it probably is if he or she is gainfully employed. You become a consultant because you can do what has to be done - because you have the right stuff - and that for Mike starts with a simple question: "Why do you want to do it?"Boiled down to its essence, he wants you to be as clear as possible about your skills, abilities and goals, and what you must do before jumping into the fray. As he puts it, "Consultant, know thyself!" To assist you he covers everything from helping you to understand your motivations to how to handle planning, marketing, sales, promotion, billing, collections, outsourcing, budgeting, and evaluation. And every chapter ends with a summary of its "key learning points."Critically, Mike also addresses the basics of finance and law as they impact the independent consultancy business. He even provides a sample contract to use when you land the first big client. The contract covers the touch points of a strong but legally tenable relationship. Consulting is a creative enterprise, he acknowledges, but it's a business, too. If you're not a business person now, you'll have to become one, although it's not as tough as it seems at first blush.But money isn't everything. In fact, for him it's secondary. As he explains, "All the successful consultants I know enjoy their work, profit comes second." Many years ago, a Wall Street Journal writer published a study of how a cross section of people became millionaires and one of the salient characteristics was that they enjoyed their work in addition to working long hours. Money was the payoff but the personal pleasure they got from doing what they did was the source.Mike is at his best when he gives insights about the subtleties of getting and keeping clients, without which everything else is a pipe dream. If you don't have customers you don't make money. Obvious, yes, but it's amazing how many people put out shingles and then sit back, waiting for the proverbial phone to ring. They don't follow the three rules for starting a successful independent consulting practice: sell, sell, and sell. Get clients, then you can build the fancy office, take the extra vacation days, lease the expensive car, buy the gold watch, eat in the chi-chi restaurants, befriend the wealthy, and put a lot of cash away for the rainy days that will surely come, if only with age.By and large, Mike hasn't missed much. I wish I had read a book like this when I first decided to become a public relations consultant. I would have saved a lot of wasted time and effort and been a lot more profitable sooner than later.About the only place where I discern a weakness is his coverage of - or lack thereof - of social media and their uses for independent consultants. I'll guess that when he envisioned the book and wrote early drafts that social media was pretty much an afterthought for most consultants, but today these media are an essential tool for expressing expertise, gaining press coverage, and attracting clients. For most consultants, they're still largely adjuncts to traditional media, but they're fast becoming a dominant communication tool and failure to use them to create top-of-mind awareness in your markets is a big mistake. Of course, you only have search the Internet to find a hundred guides on social media and how to use them effectively.Mike Johnson's "Starting Up on Your Own (How to Succeed as an Independent Consultant or Freelance)" is an eminently accessible book that can be read sequentially, chapter by chapter, or skimmed here and there depending on your level of knowledge and experience. But trust me, you're guaranteed to learn something important that you didn't know or have never thought of. If you don't go into consulting after reading this book, you'll be a lot smarter because of all the lessons you learned that can be applied to almost any business. If you do go into consulting, you'll be several steps ahead of the pack.###Don Bates is a public relations and public affairs educator, and senior public relations and public affairs consultant. He is also an instructor in writing and media relations in the George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management Master's Degree Program in Strategic Communications, which he helped to establish. He is a senior advisor with SGP Consultants. Don can be reached at [...]

This is a really sensible book. So sensible, you might think you don't need to read it. But you would be wrong.If you are new to working as an "independent" or "free lance", then, take everything Johnson says to heart. And I mean every little thing. Even if your business card "half size" and is a picture of your avatar, the print has to be of high quality, and yes, card stock still matters.If you are already an independent, you would do well to treat the topics Johnson covers as a checklist.I say this because I have worked as an independent. Successfully, I might add. I do recognize many of the scenarios he recounts. For instance, I made the mistake of taking on a partner. And then I made the mistake in the reverse. Becoming a partner of someone who probably should have stayed an independent. Others, I got right. I did have signed contracts when I started out. This and many other scenarios ring true to my experience.And remember Virginia Woolf? A Room of One's Own? As Johnson argues, you do need a space to work in that is not only not encumbered by such things as your family using the spare table to wrap holiday gifts (an example provided by the author). You also need to create a space, a place, where you go to work. Even taking on the practices of the work identity if that is what it takes. The author recounts an example of a guy who walked to the bus stop each day in his suit. And then returned to settle down in his home office.If you work for a large corporation in today's world, you will find that your work environment resembles that of the independent, free lance, more and more. I now work for a very large, global company. Yes, I consulted there as an independent. Yes I "went back in" as we say in that business. And, frankly, it is very nearly the same inside.

The book has been infinitely useful to me. It served me as an introductory text, as a reference, as a confidence booster, and it's engaging, really fun to read. It has all the info necessary for starting a business, both the basic concepts, and the little details and tips you would never have thought of. It's especially good at convincing you that you can succeed, because it identifies all the steps involved, and provides you with the tools to follow them. What's important, is that everything you find in the book really inspires trust, because the form and the content of it make it very clear that Mike Johnson has gone through the process himself, has succeeded, and continues to succeed. It's a MUST for all who plan to venture on their own.

This book was straight to the point, and the chapters were broken down in an easily digestible manner. I wish they had a version that was more tailored to the U.S., but all of the information was still quite applicable. As my first consulting book, I'd say this serves as a good foundation book to get started with.

This IS the book to have when starting your consulting practice. I only wish I had found this book earlier, I would have avoided timely missteps.

It's written at the time when "working from home" was really unusual (so it's a bit prehistoric) and the time when people got contract job out of their auntie chatting someone at her golf club ( pre-linkedin and pre-internet ). Frankly 50% of the book is relevant now and the rest will make you laugh and feel lucky that it is not 2009 anymore! Also if you have the patience or ability to fill in the time gap and translate a large list of "10 years ago advice" to now and here, you'll learn a couple of life-saving lessons in being a consultant

Great book and very honest. The author tells you about thousands of downsides of being your own boss and if some people find it too negative for me it was eye opening. I’ve learned about so many challenges an independent can face, some of them I had never considered before. I’m still keen on going solo though but at least now I’m more prepared to do so. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is serious about starting up on your own.

Very well written and, after skimming through some chapters, clearly provides all the advice you need to starting up on your own. I purchased this book as I had been contemplating with going independent in my profession.However, when I started to read the book to understand what needs to be considered, I only got as far as ~20 pages as it drives home all important messages on how easy it is to fail and the consequences. Ultimately put me off taking the plunge for the time being; but will go back to it one day!

I only received this book this morning and I'm halfway through it already! The content covers areas you would hope and lots more besides. The most welcome thing however is the style of writing, which is real and humorous.The book guides you through the initial thought-processes regarding starting your own consultancy and pulls no punches. The reader is forced to admit whether starting out on your own is right for you. We are also taken through thoughts on how to arrange service providers, the difficulty of managing time, marketing and the need for a support network around you.Full of hints and tips, this is definitely worth the money.

I really enjoyed reading this, which perhaps is not surprising given that the author is a communications consultant! I rattled through it very quickly, although I"m sure I'll be referring back to it in the future. What really sticks in my memory is that the advice is very nuts-and-bolts, and very applicable. I'm just starting down this road, but I can see how I'm going to very grateful for this book in the coming years.