Tuesday, November 8, 2016

statistically speaking, turns out I really am "better than your average consultant"!

As someone who’s self-employed with no line management, one of my challenges is trying to figure out just how good I really am – client testimonials are great feedback (and always appreciated), but I recognise they’re also very subjective. For example, not everyone likes marmite – and I’m aware that not everyone appreciates my approach at times (as evidenced by the rare occasions when my bendy people[1] have been thrown back at me during training courses I’ve delivered…)

And this desire to reflect truly on my ability isn’t just for vanity’s sake – as a freelancer I need to know how I can best pitch myself to clients, and I also need to know where I should focus the investments I’m able to make in myself, to further enhance the service I can offer to said clients.

That’s why I’m always keen to find ways to benchmark myself against my peers and others. Earlier this year, this saw me publicly share the results of my having my approach to reporting my impact compared against the internationally agreed principles of social accounting[2] – pleased report that compared with other consultants, and enterprises of a similar size to me, I seem to be well ahead of most others out there doing work around impact reporting.

It’s also why I try and offer my services through third parties and funded programmes – having an impartial project manager or broker between myself and a client can offer a more objective view of my services and performance. This is because they’ll have similar pieces of work to that I’ve undertaken to compare me against. One such programme is Big Potential[3] – offering awards to social enterprises to allow them to ‘buy in’ specialist support from the likes of me, in their ambitions for growth and in exploring the relevance of social investment as part of those aspirations.
Unusually for such funded programmes, Big Potential annually publish a ‘performance table’[4] of all us consultants who it engages with, in supporting social enterprises. While this is a relatively simplistic table of measures (the number of our clients we’ve support to apply for awards from the programme vs. the number of those clients they’ve agreed should be supported by their chosen provider), it’s nonetheless a useful reference in offering another of the types of benchmarks that I’m looking for.
And the latest table reveals a few interesting themes when I looked at the figures – I seem to be the only active freelance consultant on the approved provider list (the others being larger firms), and there’s no correlation between how many clients a provider supports the applications of, and the likelihood of them being awarded support for them:



Oh – and running the numbers to create some simple averages, it seems that I’ve supported more than the typical average number of clients to apply to this programme, and they’ve had a greater than average success rate when I have!

So – as well as (most of) my clients saying nice things about how much they enjoy my working with them, there’s also a growing body of statistical data that shows I’ve better than the average consultant.

My mum will be pleased.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Todmorden time capsules

I've always been a strong advocate of story telling as a great means to help share ideas and learning, and also of local networking - local businesses supporting each other. So the recent meeting of the Todmorden Business Network was doubly exciting for me, as a range of businesses based in and around Todmorden came together to share their stories of what they've learned in running their businesses that they wish they could go back and tell their younger selves about.

The Futuro House in Todmorden, 1971
I thought it would be useful to capture these as a snapshot of the wisdom of the local business community I'm part of. Sharing it here hopefully means that others will be encouraged and supported, but it's also something that the Network can revisit in future years to see if the lessons we're learning are changing, or if despite the new management theories that always seem to be coming out form some university or other, the way we do business together, and the issues we face remains consistent.

So - our advice to our younger selves:

  • listen to your gut more - be bold!
  • you don't need a business plan (I've always argued this one too) - it's OK to make it up as you go along
  • it's a roller coaster (and will make you feel sick at times...) - dare to be brave!
  • don't be afraid to ask for advice - don't let your pride get in the way of letting other people help you
  • you'll have more bosses that you did before in the form of all your customers
  • don't be too cheap - don't undervalue yourself, and recognise the full extent of the time you're spending on making your products and running your business
  • don't waste your money on consultants - pick and choose who to spend your money on, and what's important to you (rather than them)
  • understanding basic bookkeeping and accounting is far more important that you realise
  • just because you have a passion for it doesn't automatically mean other people will pay for it
  • your friends won't tell you the truth - they're there to encourage you, not to be your customers
  • always be kind - compromising isn't a sign of weakness
  • success doesn't come overnight
  • don't believe what letting agents and landlords tell you - if you're taking on retail premises, check the local footfall for yourself
And what we'd tell our younger selves to avoid doing at all costs:

 - Don't pay for (online) advertising; use networking, social media, and PR instead
 - Don't try and work from home: there are far too many distractions
 - Don't waste time trying to get government funded support: the best advice you'll get is from other businesses
 - Don't be afraid to stand your ground with larger customers who want to start to change agreed terms
 - Don't try and do it all yourself
 - Don't go anywhere without a spare pair of trousers/skirt (that one's mine...)
 - Don't work with family or friends
 - Don't put off having tough conversations with people


The Network currently meets the first Tuesday of every month from 6pm at the Fielden Centre in Todmorden, and thanks to sponsorship from others has no charge for membership or attending its events -