Why Small Businesses should hire a business consultant
Let’s talk about consultancy.
Personally, I always thought this word was so intimidating. I didn’t even know what a consultant was until I got to university. During student fairs, we would have the big accountancy firms like PWC, KPMG, and Deloitte looking for students who might be of interest to that company. These students usually studied economics or mathematics, whereas I was a literature student who was completely differently wired. So, it was an alien world to me and I never identified with it, nor was interested in it.
Fast forward to now — I am a consultant. And I want to talk a little bit about why I’m really not intimidated by this word anymore.
I’m Not Smart Enough
First of all, I never considered myself smart in “that way”. If you watch my TEDx talk on sleep (from my previous life) I started by saying “I never thought I was smart, because I wasn’t good at mathematics.” However, through my work, I’ve realized that I’m very good at strategy, at figuring out creative solutions, seeing holes, while also having the flexibility of being an entrepreneur.
Now, let me take you into my Ph.D. for a second. I’m doing a global executive, doctorate, Ph.D., and I’m focusing on entrepreneurship. It is a very exclusive Ph.D. at the ESCP Business School, which is the oldest business school in the world. Ph.D. candidates are between 35 and 56 years old and all of us are mid-career and successful if I might say so, and a lot of them are consultants and advisors. Basically how this works is you mostly do research on your own and it’s very much like entrepreneurship, because you don’t know where you’re going to end up. You start with an idea and as you go through the literature, as you review, you actually figure out how much of what you want to do has already been done, so you have to change it completely to get a theory that you can apply to other things. You actually learn what is important and what might not be and everything you wanted to do is going out of the window.
So, you have to be ready to pivot at any moment. To me, this sounds like fun. I know this ride, I was an entrepreneur who had everything bargained on traveling in 2020 when the pandemic hit. But I’ve noticed that a lot of the consultants there really struggled with this.
Business Consultant and Entrepreneur
So, even though I am a business consultant, I’m still an entrepreneur. Think of being a consultant as red and being an entrepreneur as blue — I am purple. What is really important to understand is that you don’t have to be a huge business in order to hire a consultant. I actually think that small businesses that want to stay lean but efficient should absolutely hire a consultant. Lots of small businesses that I work with are one-person shops that are very successful in what they do, but they don’t consider hiring a consultant, because they think it is a corporate thing. But I know how entrepreneurs work. I know how and what you think. I know how you flow. I know that the climate is ever-changing and I’m prepared for that.
Yes, I am a consultant but I love working with small businesses. You can really see me as this KickAss Fairy Godmother helping you get on your way, setting everything up so that you can have a smooth ride with more free time. This is key for your sanity, your health, your business, and the client user experience. That is why small businesses need consultants.
So, if you’re interested in hiring a consultant but you still are not sure if that’s the right thing for you, take a look at my offer for a Business Audit for only 100 euros. This will allow you to get a taste of what it is to be working with me, get your toes wet, and see what it feels like. But I can promise you one thing, it’s going to feel super empowering. It’s going to give you a whole new view of yourself as a CEO and I will help you transform your business into a jewel that is going to get you loads of income but still open up enough time for you to do whatever you’d like to do.
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