The Consulting Valley

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Hi there!

A solo consultant friend of mine and I were on the phone for about an hour yesterday.

He’s a great guy & he recently celebrated one year in the independent consulting space.

I think he also beat my first year in solo consulting, which is AWESOME since I did $500K.

That’s not the takeaway, though.

The takeaway from our conversation was the Consulting Valley.

Let’s talk about the valley and why it matters to you!

Let’s talk about the Consulting Valley

You are working a job, and you’re good at it. You have skills, and you know how to execute

You’re on the top of Corporate Mountain.

You decide it’s time to explore this new thing called consulting. It’s time to climb the consulting mountain.

Here’s the thing: Corporate Mountain and Consulting Mountain are the exact same.

For almost all of us, the work you do on Corporate Mountain will be the work you do on Consulting Mountain.

• If you do market research in corporate, you’ll probably do that in consulting, too.

• If you do product strategy in corporate, you’ll be a product strategy consultant.

• If you do financial analysis in corporate, you’ll be a fractional CFO.

This is the main point my friend and I discussed yesterday. Your actual work doesn’t change between corporate and consulting.

So, if corporate and consulting Mountain are the exact same, why is it so hard to start a solo consulting business?

Answer: The Consulting Valley

Even though your work is the same between the mountains, there is a whole host of “stuff” you must figure out.

This “stuff” is in the way before you can get back to work you know how to do and you get paid as a consultant.

This “stuff” might not seem intimidating.

But, 99% of questions I get from prospective consultants are part of the valley.

Aspiring consultants get stuck in the valley.

So what does the valley mean for you?

You might be thinking:

“OK, so consulting and corporate work are largely the same, but to get back to doing the same stuff I was doing in corporate, I have to cross this valley first? What does that mean for me?”

The takeaway here is simple: cross the valley as quickly as possible.

You can:

• Find someone to help you with it.

• Do it yourself, but force yourself to make it sub one week.

• Skip as much as you legally can.

They all can theoretically work

But, get it done as quickly as possible.

Get over the uncomfortable valley and get back to doing work you know how to do and like to do.

How can I help?

If you reply to this email, it will come directly to me & I’ll respond as quickly as possible.

To head off a very common question: I’m sorry but I don’t have any quickstart guides, courses, communities, or other paid resources!

What would be most helpful to read about next week?

Let me know what would be most helpful for you :)