Avoid the pitfalls of going solo

Your boss is as trustworthy as a sewer rat and your clients have the IQs of carrots. If you think you're going to kill yourself, you might as well be making money working for yourself

. You're 50, and you've been downsized. Jobs for someone at your age and level have gone the way of the dodo. Consulting seems to be the best option.

You love the professional part of what you do but you're fed up with managing people and all their personality issues, and dealing with all the corporate nonsense. Why not focus on what you love doing and get rid of the rest by selling your services as a specialist?

Sound familiar? If so, you're not alone. In fact, based on conversations with clients and friends, if everyone carries through with their work fantasies in the next five years, there will be no one over the age of 40 who hasn't hung out a shingle as an independent service provider.

Given the current state of corporate life, selling professional services as an independent contractor or with a few like-minded people seems to have a lot to recommend it. But it is very, very tough out there. And it's going to get even tougher as boomers take early retirement but want to stay engaged in work. The competition among people selling services is huge and potential clients have the attention spans of gnats. While setting up your own consulting practice was always challenging, it was much easier 10 years ago than it is today.

The people who experience the greatest challenges are often the ones who enjoyed the greatest success in corporate life. They are accustomed to doing the rejecting, not being rejected, being a decision maker, rather than having to wait for others to make a decision, and managing the doing, not doing it themselves. They've had their calendars managed for them, and it has been years since they had to look up an address or mail a letter.

Having spent your entire career working for someone else, what do you need to do to make a successful transition? 

The rhythms of self-employment are fundamentally different. You no longer have an identity and a status tied to an organization and title, there is no one telling you what to do, you have to create your own structure – everything you do is self-initiated. And perhaps most important, there will be no work unless you can first create and then sell a demand for your services.

So if you're thinking of selling professional services, here are some tips to help you avoid the most common mistakes:

Park your ego. Remember all those times you didn't return phone calls to those pesky vendors? Well, now you are on the receiving end. Get accustomed to people not returning phone calls or getting back to you when they say they will, or not responding to proposals you've killed yourself to finish because the client said they were needed yesterday. 

Stay connected. A management trainer was upset to learn that a potential client had hired someone else to do work that she had pitched and that she was particularly qualified to do. When she did a follow-up, he said, "I completely forgot." It's up to you to manage your client's memory bank. Just because you told someone something once doesn't mean he or she will remember it. You need to stay in touch with clients and do regular follow-ups – walking a fine line between bothering them and keeping them informed. Don't immediately panic, though, when people don't get back to you when they promise to. The world rarely unfolds the way clients tell you it will. If they say they'll call you back in a week, expect a month.

Get ready for the audition. It's not only what you say and how experienced you are but how you package yourself. You may be prodded and probed and evaluated on everything from how you dress to how you show an understanding of a client's needs. If you find this kind of self-marketing distasteful, remember that when you are selling services, the client is looking for "fit" just as much as skills, and that it is up to you to show how you fit. If you were the client, what would you be looking for, given their culture? Shape your pitch and style accordingly. Alternatively, seek out clients who share your values and style so that you don't have to "spin" how you pitch them. After all, there is a pretty good chance you are seeking self-employment so that you can express who you are. 

Get to the point quickly. Don't say the obvious or what everyone has heard a thousand times already. "The looming talent shortage, blah, blah, blah . . ." "People are your most important resource . . ." Or the most egregious: "We provide solutions to your personal business needs. . ." Who else's needs would you be meeting?

Provide a compelling value proposition. Don't bury your client in endless detail about the process you use to carry out the work unless, of course, you're asked. Focus instead on the results the client will achieve. Translate what you do into language your mother would understand – no jargon please. 

Understand bigger is not better. The most common mistake people make when they set up their own business is assuming that, if they are part of a larger partnership, they will be better positioned with marketing leads, work opportunities, and support. Often, however, having a partner, although emotionally comforting, means that, instead of one unemployed, self-employed individual, there are two. If you do go the partnership route, be vigilant in ensuring that your associate will be truly capable of delivering in ways that complement your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses. 

Specialize. "I'm sick of these vendors who come in pitching me on everything under the sun, asking me what my needs are, and then telling me how they can satisfy every one of them." I hear this kind of comment from vice-presidents of human resources frequently. When you have a lot of skills, it's tempting to want to keep all of your options open so, in case they don't want to hire you for editing, for example, they can hire you to do desktop publishing. But no one is abundantly talented in everything. In any case, you will lose your potential client's attention with an endless shopping list of services. Consider the difference between saying "I do recruitment, coaching, leadership training, team-building, and performance management" and "I coach managers in how to do their jobs better by understanding their boss's needs and the individual needs of their staff." Try to differentiate yourself from your competitors rather than saying "I can do that, too." As they say in the advertising business, look for your unique selling proposition. 

Be fabulous. When you're an employee, the expectation is that you can do your job well but you don't have to prove you are amazing every time you complete a task in order to stay employed. But when you are selling services, especially when they support in-house providers of the same service – training, for example – you are expected to be able to hit the ground running and to deliver the goods seemingly effortlessly and flawlessly. 

Be generous with your expertise. This means providing expert advice even when the clock's not ticking. It also means providing information or services that go beyond what is expected. Many independent consultants I know have been overly schooled in the idea that meeting a client's stated needs is what's most important. The result is they don't step far enough back to understand that often the presenting problem, that is, the client's description of the issue, is not the real problem but simply a symptom of something more complex or subtle.

Show your personality. Be yourself. There is nothing more off-putting than a wooden-sounding and looking vendor. Make a connection. Clients want your talent, but you will capture their attention with your humour and charm. It will take you a while to adjust to the rhythms of working as an independent and to create an income-producing business. But if you succeed, the payoff will be well worth it. 

Barbara Moses, PhD, is an organizational career management consultant, speaker and author of What Next: The Complete Guide to Taking Control of Your Working Life.

Image courtesy of stock.xchng.