Does the valley really need more consultants?
I know I’m going to upset some people with this post and it isn’t mean to have that affect. I mean no disregard to consultants. Most of my best friends are consultants. I’ve even been a consultant. And to be perfectly clear, I’m talking about individual consultants, not agencies or firms. And I’m not just talking about marketing (although there seems to be as many marketing consultants in the valley as there are real estate agents).
Do we really need that many consultants?
As I meet with people who are:
- dealing with the layoffs that have happened across the valley
- just moving here
- getting ready to leave the corporate nest
I run into more people that are going to be individual consultants than are trying to put together a scalable business plan.
I see talented, bright, tech smart people who have figured out it is easier to sell their services back into the company they left than it is to build a product based company. (By product I mean something that has scale and goes beyond selling your individual hours, not necessarily a physical widget.)
I personally think this is one of the biggest reasons we haven’t seen more startups in the valley as people leave the corporate gig.
Again, I have nothing against consultants, they play an important roll in the business ecosystem. But I would like to challenge all the current or would be consultants in the valley: While you’re consulting (so you can pay the bills) why not put together a business plan for a scalable company. You know something that could actually employ a few hundred people locally.
Just a thought.
The trouble with most consultants is that they hang out a shingle and call themselves a consultant with no real focus in mind or a business plan. They inevitably say they are a jack-of-all-trades so they can score a gig just to pay the bills.
I learned the hard way - you must have focus (what you are offering and to whom) and you must have a plan (how you intend to get from here to there in business). If you don’t do at least these two things, you will flounder in consulting.
Does the world need more consultants? Yes, but only if they are focused and have a clear business plan.
Professional services do not “scale up” like a product-based business. A 200 person public relations firm would be one of the largest in the U.S. Because they are largely relationship based, it takes a long time to build a large law firm, accounting firm, marketing firm. Not practical in this market — not at the 200 person plus level. Perhaps you are referring to some other kind of consultant.
I can appreciate the trend. To begin with, we function in an increasingly knowledge-based economy. For another, technology can support a level of infrastructure for an individual that would have previously required a lot more resources.
When I was interviewing for my current position at MPC Computers, I was asked if it would be hard for me to forego the role of “consultant” to sit in a cubicle and “produce” rather than “advise”. My response was that I’d never thought of myself as a consultant to begin with, but rather one who typically suffered through the strategy to get to the tactics. Call it a personal preference. The world needs people with both inclinations, but I suspect that with the general trend toward downsizing, both functions will be increasingly outsourced.
Here’s a question with local relevance: if HP shut down tomorrow, what do you suppose the ripple effect would be beyond the immediate impact on its employees?
Hey, Mike! Drop me a note… TIA!
You characterized alot of folks in-transition. Of course we call ourselves consultants as being “between jobs” is a losing proposition, and because traditional “jobs” are drying-up. Just so happens that some of us find that you can make a good living as a consultant, especially if you work with firms that are used to paying coastal prices.
Consulting could also be scalable, if made into a multi-level deal. However, this really requires capturing some procedural IP. Instead of doing this, most consultants are casting-about, hoping to consult on the next winning proposition and be brought aboard.
However, if you want to know the next “big idea”, I’d be happy to tell you . . . for $200/hour plus travel.