25 Reasons Why You Will Not Make It as a Consultant

Some people make a great career as a consultant, while some struggle to pay the bills solely from consulting.

If you’re hoping to be a full-time consultant, or finding it difficult to get your consulting career going, some of the points below may help you figure out why.

I’ve had people respond with raised eyebrows when I tell them I’ve been a successful consultant for more than twelve years.  I believe a consultant is “successful” when you own your own home, own your car, support your family, and can comfortably pay 100% of your bills on your consulting income.

If you disagree with this description of making it, leave your thoughts below.

25 reasons why you will not make it as a consultant:

  1. You sleep past 9:00am most mornings
  2. When you hear the word “hex” you think someone is talking about a curse
  3. Your phone manner is terrible and you mumble
  4. You are not good at talking to strangers
  5. You are not self-motivated
  6. You don’t have a desire to be the most successful person you can be
  7. You don’t have a website
  8. You think white space on a website is wasted space
  9. You struggle to complete personal projects
  10. You have zero business skills and won’t ask for help
  11. You don’t make your clients sign contracts
  12. You think you are right, and the client is wrong
  13. You think your prices must be lower than the competition so that you get the business
  14. You don’t study your competition
  15. You don’t even know who your competition is
  16. Your people skills are terrible
  17. You don’t really understand what marketing is
  18. You think a brand is a logo
  19. You are unable to manage and save money
  20. You don’t have a desire to continue learning every day
  21. You don’t actually know how to help a client’s business grow
  22. You let clients choose their price
  23. You’re not a risk taker
  24. You do not manage your time well
  25. You’re guilty of more than fifteen of the points above

One more… you’re angry with me after reading this.

Comments

  1. Joelle says

    Don’t forget:

    When meeting clients you wear a t-shirt and your hair looks horrible and you keep apologizing for it.

  2. Marian says

    #27 is you’ve worked for corporations all your life and you think you know what its like to do branding and marketing in the real world without all the insular corporate support you take for granted, and because you’ve managed to finagle your way through the office BS for all these years without realizing how myopically subjective office BS really is.

    • D.K. says

      Sounds like you’ve been there and done that.  Add this one to the list of reasons I left the corporate world many years ago…

  3. Hugh Mackerley says

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