Why Become an Independent Consultant Now?

The time is right to become a consultant now because timing is everything.

Despite the negative events that have happened to these experienced, unemployed and underemployed Boomers, this group now has big, new opportunities in consulting.

Right after starting Solutions 21, I wrote a book called Hire Education. It was designed to help college students market themselves to prospective employers. For a few years prior to writing the book, I had lectured at colleges and universities around the country on the subject, and enjoyed working with the students. The audience seemed to appreciate the information, and it was a needed subject. In 1999, the book was published.

I really believed the book would do well. The audiences prior to 1999 had connected with the material, and it had proved useful to them in their job searches. We received several notes from audience members telling us how they used the lectures to land their first jobs. I still have several of these notes today. I thought the book would be a “no brainer.” 
Boy, was I wrong! While the book did OK, selling out of its first printing, it was not a big success. At the time, we chalked it up to my writing skills -- or lack of them! Or maybe the topic was better for lectures than the written word. Those things may have been true, but we learned a decade later that the book was researched on one generation (Gen X) and written for another generation (Gen Y). In 1999, the first class of Gen Y graduated from college. I did not notice or understand this shift for nearly a decade.

As previously mentioned, in 2009, Gen Y Now was published. Gen Y Now was written for managers and leaders from the Baby Boomer and Gen X generations and was designed to help them attract and retain Gen Y employees. It was in doing the research for this book that I realized why my first book missed the mark. It was also during this time that I came to understand the major demographic shift that was occurring, which has lead to the book you are now reading.

Unlike our failure to read the signs and understand the demographic shift in 1999, we do not want experienced professionals like yourself to read the current evidence a decade too late. Peter Drucker (author of dozens of business books, and the man who invented the term management consultant) said that demographic shifts are a major factor that you can predict with complete accuracy. The current change is what I want you to understand at a core level because it will impact your consulting for decades. There are four key shifts you should consider as you think about starting your own consulting practice:

1.     Demographics

2.     The new math

3.     The new normal

4.     Profiting from past mistakes

Each of these shifts is evidence as to why being an independent consultant is a very logical career choice at this time. Also, each of these shifts presents enormous opportunities for you to help organizations with the new reality if you choose this career path.

This article is an excerpt from Buddy’s latest book "Experience Matters: How to Succeed as a Consultant in Today’s World." To download your free copy of the full version CLICK HERE.