PICA Member Spotlights

Q&A with independent consultants who successfully “made the leap” and created the consulting career of their dreams

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Q: What is the name of your business and your area of expertise?

A: My company is called Wavelength Solutions and my area of focus is really in where strategy meets purpose. My background is in strategic planning, marketing, change management, and reputation. I help companies think about how they want to marry what they're doing with what their mission and their purpose is.

Q: How long have you been independent and why did you make the leap?

A: I’ve been independent for five years now. I wasn't actually expecting to make the leap. It was something that sort of just evolved. I was at a big firm for many years and got to a point in my career where I realized I had gained as much experience as I wanted out of that particular place and had no desire to move further up in the ranks. I realized that I needed to reassess what I wanted to do next, but I had been working so many hours and so long that I didn’t have the brain space to figure it out. So with no plans, I just took a break, went on vacation, and traveled a little bit. After that I started having some conversations with people just to start networking. I spoke to one of my former clients and she said, "Oh you know, if you're free, I need a little help with something. Would you be interested?" That's just kind of how it all started. 

Q: So when you say you took a break, you actually resigned from your other job or you took an extended leave?

A: Yep, I resigned. It was a big leap of faith to leave that job with zero plans other than the fact that I needed to travel and really take a break. I just wasn't in the head space to even think about what my next job was going to be, and I quite honestly wasn’t showing up as my best self at that point. I knew I needed a break.

Q: When you came back from your traveling, did you start to stress out or freak out? Tell me a little bit about that time of your life.

A: I did a little bit, but I made a promise to myself when I started the trip that I was going to enjoy the time and not stress out. I wasn't ever going to get a time like that where I could just travel and not worry about job or anything like that. I had to trust that answers would come and I would figure it out. 

When I got back, I tried to maintain that sort of attitude knowing that I needed to figure things out, but really kind of trusting in the process and knowing that I was going to find something that suited me and that the best way to do that was to start having some conversations. It starts to get a little worrisome, when you have to pay your bills and pay attention to bank accounts, but I was very fortunate that I had some good relationships with old clients and colleagues and something panned out pretty quickly. 

Once that first offer hit, other people started to hear that I was available and showed an interest in working together. Things started to move pretty quickly from there. It just made sense. I wasn't sure if I was going to do this long term, but I at least had enough to get me started and give me some time and breathing room to figure it out. As I started to do it I realized I enjoyed it. I liked the independence and the freedom. I got back all of that time I used to spend on administrative work and internal meetings and things like that. I was just so thrilled and it ended up being a great fit. 

Q: Tell me a little bit about your approach to finding new work. 

A: I've been very fortunate in that it's mostly happened by word of mouth. It's been old colleagues and clients who have left and gone into other things. I do try and stay in touch with people who have been good sources of work in the past and just make sure that I'm keeping those contacts warm because they've always reached out when they needed something. I've been able to pretty much make that work for me.

I've also purposefully never hired staff or taken on more work than I could handle myself. There have been a couple of occasions where I have brought on specific expertise to help support a project that I was doing, but mostly I've been fortunate that it's been pretty simple in terms of my marketing efforts. 

Q: If that comes pretty naturally and easily for you, what has been harder? What's been another challenge to being self-employed?

A: I would like to be more proactive with colder contacts or branching out beyond my own circle of networks to find more work. That's been a little bit harder for me, but it wouldn't be bad if I was just a little bit more proactive in that area. So that's something I'm still working on, particularly since I'm expanding my services into executive coaching for high-potential, mid-career women looking to grow their careers or make a transition. I'm going to rely on my existing network and clients for this work, but I feel like I’m going to need to do some more proactive marketing in that area. So I've set up a photoshoot to do some pictures for the website and other things I didn't really do for my first round of consulting work. This is all kind of a new area for me that I'm exploring so it's less of my comfort zone. 

Q: If you could go back five years and tell yourself one thing when you were on the plane home from your big trip, what would it be?

A: I think early on I was still a little bit nervous about my own abilities and my ability to take on this work by myself. I think I would have told myself to trust myself a little bit more in that. I look back and realize that people reached out to me and offered me work because they trusted the work that I did. They knew that I was good at what I did but I didn't always trust myself. I think that I would go back and tell myself that there's a reason why they're reaching out. It's a good thing. Trust in your abilities.

Also I would say, I think especially for women (from my observation), it's okay to be a little more forward in what you think your rate should be and to negotiate more. Don’t be afraid to put in what you think might be a big number. I have had a number of female colleagues come to me for advice and I tell them, "You're hesitating over this number because you ‘feel bad’ or ‘don’t want to overcharge.’ I can tell you that I have colleagues and friends who are men who don’t worry about those things, who walk in confidently, put that number forward, and get it. And they're doing much less work than you, so you need to be confident that you are worth that money."

Q: What piece of advice would you have for somebody in the PICA community?

A: It took me a long time to get comfortable with this and I still struggle sometimes, but when you have downtime, enjoy it! I know it’s sometimes really hard when we’re in between projects, not to freak out or worry about the next project and subsequently spend a lot of time marketing or doing other things. I’d say learn to take some of that time to enjoy those down moments and do things that you enjoy. Hopefully part of the reason why you decided to go independent was to be able to make your own hours and have that freedom. Life is short and part of the beauty of being independent is being able to enjoy those moments. Trust in the process and enjoy the time you get!

 

Q: If somebody wanted to find out more about you, your consulting or coaching, what's the best way to get in touch with you?

A: They can reach me at my website samewavelength.co (not .com) and there's a contact form there, or PICA members can contact me directly via my email address.  Or of course via LinkedIn.

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