Some people just get busy doing a bit of sales a bit of marketing and a bit of admin, which usually just means answering emails. And for a short time that may work.

However, over time you forget who you’ve sent which invoices to or if you’ve even sent them at all; your VAT and tax affairs get dumped in a shoebox “to be sorted out when I’m less busy” and you stop going to new events and arranging meetings because you are “busy” delivering for your

I work with people who have left the corporate world and have established or want to establish themselves as Independent Business Consultants (IBC) in their area of expertise, whether that be HR, Marketing, IT or sales.

One of the most common assumptions many of them make is that they don’t need any help and they become a “lone ranger”. This is often based on a set of beliefs such as

* “I can do everything myself”

* “I can’t trust anyone else to help me in my business”

* “I can’t afford to pay anyone to help me”

* “I’ll get someone when I’m more established.

However, leading and managing a successful consultancy is about more than just delivering the consultancy services. A consultancy business is an entity made up of systems, processes and infrastructure as well as what you actually deliver – your products and services. As the delivery person of your services you may be 100% capable. However, that is not all that’s involved in running your consultancy and making it an ongoing success.

There are many other functions and roles that have to be fulfilled in order for your consultancy to be successful. Functions such as finance, sales, marketing operations and administration to name a few; Roles such as bookkeeper, invoice writer, PR person, researcher, sales person and client manager etc. All of these important roles and functions need to be performed whether you are a global corporation or a 1 person consultancy. None of these functions can be ignored and you may not have the skills and knowledge necessary to perform each of the roles to a good enough standard. Equally if one of the main reasons you established your own business in the first place was to DO what you love doing, then in reality do you really want to be doing all the other “stuff” as well?

Some people just get busy doing a bit of sales a bit of marketing and a bit of admin, which usually just means answering emails. And for a short time that may work.

However, over time you forget who you’ve sent which invoices to or if you’ve even sent them at all; your VAT and tax affairs get dumped in a shoebox “to be sorted out when I’m less busy” and you stop going to new events and arranging meetings because you are “busy” delivering for your b

ne else to help me in my business”

* “I can’t afford to pay anyone to help me”

* “I’ll get someone when I’m more established.

However, leading and managing a successful consultancy is about more than just delivering the consultancy services. A consultancy business is an entity made up of systems, processes and infrastructure as well as what you actually deliver – your products and services. As the delivery person of your services you may be 100% capable. However, that is not all that’s involved in running your consultancy and making it an ongoing success.

There are many other functions and roles that have to be fulfilled in order for your consultancy to be successful. Functions such as finance, sales, marketing operations and administration to name a few; Roles such as bookkeeper, invoice writer, PR person, researcher, sales person and client manager etc. All of these important roles and functions need to be performed whether you are a global corporation or a 1 person consultancy. None of these functions can be ignored and you may not have the skills and knowledge necessary to perform each of the roles to a good enough standard. Equally if one of the main reasons you established your own business in the first place was to DO what you love doing, then in reality do you really want to be doing all the other “stuff” as well?

Some people just get busy doing a bit of sales a bit of marketing and a bit of admin, which usually just means answering emails. And for a short time that may work.

However, over time you forget who you’ve sent which invoices to or if you’ve even sent them at all; your VAT and tax affairs get dumped in a shoebox “to be sorted out when I’m less busy” and you stop going to new events and arranging meetings because you are “busy” delivering for your

y be 100% capable. However, that is not all that’s involved in running your consultancy and making it an ongoing success.

There are many other functions and roles that have to be fulfilled in order for your consultancy to be successful. Functions such as finance, sales, marketing operations and administration to name a few; Roles such as bookkeeper, invoice writer, PR person, researcher, sales person and client manager etc. All of these important roles and functions need to be performed whether you are a global corporation or a 1 person consultancy. None of these functions can be ignored and you may not have the skills and knowledge necessary to perform each of the roles to a good enough standard. Equally if one of the main reasons you established your own business in the first place was to DO what you love doing, then in reality do you really want to be doing all the other “stuff” as well?

Some people just get busy doing a bit of sales a bit of marketing and a bit of admin, which usually just means answering emails. And for a short time that may work.

However, over time you forget who you’ve sent which invoices to or if you’ve even sent them at all; your VAT and tax affairs get dumped in a shoebox “to be sorted out when I’m less busy” and you stop going to new events and arranging meetings because you are “busy” delivering for your

oles and functions need to be performed whether you are a global corporation or a 1 person consultancy. None of these functions can be ignored and you may not have the skills and knowledge necessary to perform each of the roles to a good enough standard. Equally if one of the main reasons you established your own business in the first place was to DO what you love doing, then in reality do you really want to be doing all the other “stuff” as well?

Some people just get busy doing a bit of sales a bit of marketing and a bit of admin, which usually just means answering emails. And for a short time that may work.

However, over time you forget who you’ve sent which invoices to or if you’ve even sent them at all; your VAT and tax affairs get dumped in a shoebox “to be sorted out when I’m less busy” and you stop going to new events and arranging meetings because you are “busy” delivering for your

Some people just get busy doing a bit of sales a bit of marketing and a bit of admin, which usually just means answering emails. And for a short time that may work.

However, over time you forget who you’ve sent which invoices to or if you’ve even sent them at all; your VAT and tax affairs get dumped in a shoebox “to be sorted out when I’m less busy” and you stop going to new events and arranging meetings because you are “busy” delivering for your biggest (read only) client. Very soon though that client project is complete, the pipeline of new prospects is empty and the taxman has knocked at your door.

If only you had got some help!

In establishing your consultancy you need to decide at the blueprint stage what you want to do and are skilled enough to do and what you’re not. Then you need to decide what support you can get, from whom and to help you with what. Yes it may cost you but what will it cost you to not get help?

The issue of cost is often the reason (excuse!) for not hiring someone to help with those functions or tasks that you are good at or do not want to do.

But imagine for a moment you are a first time house buyer with 3 children both you and your partner work and the most DIY you have ever done is change a light bulb. After a few months in the house you decide that you would like to redecorate, convert the loft into a bedroom with an ensuite bathroom and sauna, install a new kitchen and completely landscape the garden.

Do you consider doing it all your self? Well maybe but unless you are a bathroom fitter, landscape gardener, carpenter and farm out the children for a few weeks the answer is probably a sensible no. So what would you do?

You might

* Decide on your budget +/- 10%

* Prioritise the order you want to or need to get things done

* Research local companies who offer these services

* Get some quotes and references

* Draw up some blueprints

* Plan the timescales for completion and how everything needs to integrate

* Start

Now if having done all the research and planning your costs exceeded your budget what could you do well for example you could arrange a barter situation where,

* you baby sit for the gardener’s children in exchange f