The Path to Consultancy

I worked more than 30 years for a multi-national company. During that time, I had the opportunity to help teams and solve problems all over the world, from the US to Europe to Asia. I worked in five distinct industries and had many roles, from engineering to operations to continuous improvement. I enjoyed most of what I did, but realized something was missing.

When you work for someone else, you meet their requirements and work on their assignments. You don’t always get the opportunity to pick your projects. Sometimes you have to work on things that have nothing to do with your chosen field or interests. But, that’s life in a big company.

I used to take time off and help friends identify and implement improvements in their own businesses. I would take a day, travel to their location, and walk through their process with them. We would spend time with the people, processes, and equipment, reviewing the issues and problems in their business. At the end of the day, I would help them lay out a plan to improve things, which they were able to use after my visit. I enjoyed doing this, and thought I could become a consultant after I retired from my primary career.

In April 2018, I was visiting a local company, and spent the day doing what I enjoyed, reviewing their processes, people, and issues. Following a wrap-up meeting, I told my contact I wanted honest feedback on my visit. I felt like I could use this feedback for the time in the future when I intended to consult. Maybe in about 3 to 5 years, I said. He said he would let me know what he heard and we left it at that.

One week later, I was downsized. While this was surprising to me, I didn’t feel bad about it, because I felt something better would come of it. I just had to figure out what that was. It didn’t take long, as I realized I had the opportunity to forge my own path as a consultant.

Downsizing with an upside

I placed a call to my friend from the week before and let him know I would now be available 3 – 5 years sooner than I expected to be. He seemed excited to hear that and said he would talk to his plant manager to see if he was interested in letting me help them execute the improvement plan we had developed together. The plant manager was willing to use my help. Now I had to figure out all of the details required to open and run a consulting business.

Luckily for me, and for many others, there are ample resources willing to help and support small business owners. Using those resources, a lot of networking, and tons of phone calls and meetings, I established my consultancy in May 2018. Once done, I was able to start working with my first client. We decided to run a Value Stream Mapping session to lay out a continuous improvement strategy for the plant in June. I had run many such sessions in my prior company. Now, I had to put one together with a group who had little to no experience with this approach. I knew I had to prepare them for what was going to happen and do everything possible to ensure they had a great experience and beat their expectations.

Success is in the details

I spent many days at the plant, preparing them and myself for the Value Stream Mapping event. Every detail was critical, from the layout of the meeting room to the activities each day and the food we would be feeding the attendees. The people at the plant were intrigued by how involved I was in even these details. I kept telling myself and them that it was all for ensuring a winning experience.

The first day of the event, we had over 50 people attend, and we broke them up into three working teams, with facilitators I had trained in advance. Throughout the week, each of these teams identified waste in their processes, ways to reduce the waste, and improvement efforts and projects to implement over the next few years. It was hard work, but the team members seemed to be having a good time and were energized by the opportunity to create their future. I was having a blast, realizing I was helping people do something they had never done before.

By the end of the week, all teams had strategic plans they were committed to implementing. Corporate leadership came to the plant for the report out and was extremely pleased with the results. After the event was over, I reviewed my approach with the leadership team to see what they thought. They were very happy and even suggested I could help them with a number of other improvement efforts over the coming months. This reaffirmed my belief that I had chosen the right path.

The reward for good work is more work

A few months later, I received a call from the corporate supply chain director for the same company. He told me I had been recommended to him by the plant manager and he wanted my help with another improvement project. I was elated and scheduled the work for August.

Since those early days, I have had the good fortune to acquire more improvement efforts for multiple locations of the same company and other companies as well. The more I do, the more I learn, and the more fun it has turned out to be. I have the opportunity to help people and do it in a way that is fun, engaging, and energizing. I am so glad I didn’t wait to get into consulting, even if I needed a nudge to start.