Mastering independent consulting without driving yourself mad

The appeal of independence

I’m often asked what life as an independent consultant is like, typically by people who have spent their working lives ensconced within an organization…while fantasizing about breaking free.

What to say? If you have ever hankered to play in a one-man band, put on a one-woman show, or strike out on your own as a gun for hire, then yes, independent consulting may be for you. It can satisfy those urges — to a degree. It also demands somewhat less creativity and risk-taking than the aforementioned vocations, while allowing you to earn a pretty decent living.

…and the limits of that appeal

Independent consulting is not, however, just about indulging in appealing work arrangements. You still have plenty of obligations. The less that is imposed upon you by others, e.g. managers, the more you have to impose upon yourself. You need to substitute internal motivation for external motivation. To quote Eleanor Roosevelt, with freedom comes responsibility. A big part of independent consulting is about managing, or coping with, that freedom.

There are conditions attached to being a free-wheeling consultant. This includes the need to be self-motivated. You must also develop the discipline to manage your own schedule, set your own internal deadlines, and find substitutes for the structure and social interactions that a normal workplace provides. And although you will be liberated from the yoke of the worst bosses, you’ll also want to avoid becoming your own worst boss. In other words, there are tradeoffs.

Is there anything in life that doesn’t involve trade-offs? No, there is not. 

One hundred tasks

To return to the one-man band analogy, consulting means doing a lot of tasks that normally would be carried out by others. In fact, you would be delegating those chores right now if you hadn’t turned down that plum managerial position last year.

Out of curiosity, I recently made a list of everything I do, professionally, over the course of a year. I came up with over 100 different tasks. (And yes, writing this blog is one of them.) Those tasks that are normally divided among supervisors, subordinates, and specialists — now fall in your lap as a solo independent contractor.

You may have a fantasy of specializing brilliantly at just one thing, of becoming, say, a world-renowned expert in energy regulatory policy or on malaria. That’s a luxury few consultants can afford. Going narrow means going deep, but going too deep can become a problem if demand for that particular skill dries up, even temporarily. I myself am a generalist. It took me years to figure out a balance that works for me. Like Goldilocks, you want to build up capacities in the “right” number of areas — not too many and not too few.

Many roles, one employee

As a consultant you don’t split your identity, but you play many roles: supervisor, researcher, data analyst, writer, administrative assistant, accountant, business development specialist, PR person and so on. You are, to a greater or lesser extent, going to have to internalize the various positions that constitute, well, a small firm, while staying sane. What I mean by “internalizing” is that, instead of different employees performing specialized tasks, you have to do them all yourself, in effect consolidating the different employee roles within yourself. To keep things moving, you’ll find yourself almost continuously switching back and forth between them.

At a minimum, you need to think of yourself as your own boss and your own employee. A boss needs to manage the budget, make sure deadlines are met, ensure quality control, motivate employees, and deliver results. An employee needs guidance, instruction and direction, and to produce what is asked for. Sometimes I, in employee mode, feel tired or lazy, or just totally bereft of inspiration. So, in manager mode, I have to cajole, or lay down the law, to get my “employee” to complete the darn task. Try out the carrots and sticks that work best for you.

Breaking it down

Here’s a tip: depending on how your brain works: you may want to cut your work up into small slices, and alternate between them. I’ve found that frequently changing tasks throughout the day can be invigorating.  When you get tired of analyzing the data, you can revise your CV, after which you can review that report, go to a meeting, review the background literature for your next project, and answer emails in between. In this way, you give the different parts of your brain a rest while still getting plenty done.

Other people may prefer to set aside large blocks of time and complete a task in one sitting. I really admire that. I know someone, a phlegmatic fellow, who will sit down for eight or more hours at a time, with barely a break, staying up into the wee hours of the morning to ram through a task to meet a deadline.

The outsourcing option

Another option, especially if you are overwhelmed, is to consider outsourcing some of your work. Depending on whether it makes financial sense, you can pay other people to do some of your tasks. You probably have to absorb the costs as part of your pay, since you are contracted as an individual. But it may be worth it, if you find it allows you to take on more work and it improves the quality of your outputs. 

The key is to find good people — who are reliable and deliver the quality you want. Over the years, I have subcontracted work to research assistants, editors, translators, and graphic designers on a short-term basis.

Find out who you are

The relative freedom from the constraints of a nine-to-five life suits some people better than others. You need to figure out whether you have what it takes to live without fetters. It comes down to temperament. Do you do your best work in bed, like Marcel Proust and Mark Twain? Be my guest. Does the ambient noise and languid activity of a coffee shop help your neurons to fire? There are probably a dozen choices within walking distance from where you live. Or do you find that you do your most penetrating analysis in a beach house in Bermuda? Experiment until you figure out an optimal routine.

And if you discover that you are, in fact, your own worst boss, that management position might start looking attractive. After you are back in an office, you can then hire those freewheeling independent consultant colleagues to do the work for you…