The myth of independence

A few troubling statistics to get us going this week:

• Three quarters (75%) of independent consultants are concerned about our business prospects over the next 12-24 months
• Nearly half of us (46%) feel that we are lacking a sufficient volumes of sales prospects to meet our business needs
• When we do manage to find potential clients, seven in ten of us (71%) do not feel confident in our pricing

Each of these data points is drawn from surveys that we have run with hundreds of independent consultants and consultancies in recent months. At first glance, they paint a grim picture, especially considering that according to the ONS over 30,000 consultancies were dissolved in 2022 alone.

Then again, the findings are not all doom and gloom. Ask independent consultants to describe in a single word what it feels like to run our businesses, and almost half of us (44%) will say ‘exciting’, closely followed by ‘empowering’ (39%). 

Nearly two thirds of us (61%) find client work ‘fun’, with nearly half (48%) reporting it to be a ‘rewarding’ experience. 

Welcome to the rollercoaster

Reading the responses, I have been struck by a fascinating polarity.

We independent consultants often feel worried and exposed.

At the same time, we often feel excited and empowered.

This makes sense: we are small business people (in statistical if not aspirational terms), and have a similar experience to anyone running a small business. Simply put, we are close to the wins and close to the losses; often, it feels, only a couple of phone calls away from triumph or tragedy. A friend of mine describes it as ‘the emotional rollercoaster’.

But the image of the rollercoaster suggests a group experience, and that is not borne out by the data. Independent consultants report feeling lonely and undersupported, with seven out of ten (72%) turning for support to an informal network of mentors, businesspeople, friends and family, but finding the advice on offer ‘patchy’, ‘vague’, full of ‘biases’ and ‘not focused on the fundamentals’.

Whatever metaphor you want to put around it, such ups and downs speak to an exhausting emotional state in which to work and live. Reading the responses, time and again I have experienced an empathetic pang: yep, I know how you feel, and I know why you feel that way.

And I also know that many of those in my network, while well-meaning, can never understand it or help me navigate through it. This is not because they don’t care. It is because they have never been through anything like it themselves.

If it was just a matter of individual energy levels, you might take the view that this isn’t actually a social, economic, or business problem. But energy predicts performance: if you are not well resourced for the journey, you might not make it. 

Which brings me back to the ONS — and the fact that tens of thousands of consultancy businesses failed last year. What portion of those might have been saved with a bit more emotional and practical support? 

On the flipside, the ONS also tells us that over 34,000 consultancies were incorporated in 2022. With the right support, might a greater number of these succeed too?

The myth of independence

The phrase ‘independent consulting’ offers clues both about the cause of the problem here, and its solution. 

People start their own consultancies because they believe they can see and solve a certain problem better than anyone. According to our surveys, money isn’t the sole motivator: an equal number of respondents (75%) ranked ‘doing work that I enjoy’ alongside ‘providing for me and my family’, with ‘recognition for my skills and expertise’ coming in a close second (62%).

To risk stating the obvious, we set ourselves up in business precisely because we want to work alone. We believe that it presents the opportunity to choose projects and build an outstanding reputation, as well as earning good money.

But ‘independent’ is also a misnomer. We are all reliant on others to succeed. 

The data illustrates this: on top of that informal network, in the early stages of our journey nearly half of us (44%) turn to business books in the hope of learning from others’ knowledge and experience. Over one third of us (39%) seek input from our lawyers or accountants. Then there is the self-evident point that we need other human beings to engage with us and what we offer to have a business in the first place. 

It always takes a village.

The fact that we are independent doesn’t mean that we don’t need support. In fact, I would argue that we can only achieve sustainable independence through support.

Community and its barriers

As an industry we need to do a better job of making ‘supported independence’ work for us.

Many of us sense this. The biggest unmet demand in our surveys was for a “mastermind group” (2.46/10), followed by “access to a community of fellow consultants” (3.04). So why isn’t that demand being met?

My feeling is that it might be a question of perceived competition for resources. If the majority of us are concerned about our business prospects, why would we want to break bread with others who might steal our lunch? Would it not be better just to stick it out alone — not least because being alone is something that we find enjoyable, if sometimes draining?

A different perspective

But the perceived threat of competition, while understandable, ignores the amount of opportunity that is out there, which is vast by any measure. According to the Management Consultancies Association, total consultancy revenue grew by 23% in 2022. Our industry now generates a whopping £18.6Bn in revenue per year.

It also ignores the fact that every independent consultant has enjoyed a unique career, and brings to the table their own blend of skills, knowledge and experience. Harnessed in the right way, that uniqueness means that every one of us should be able to find clients, add huge value to those clients, and prosper. There are 18.6 billion reasons to believe there’s enough work out there for all of us. 

If we embrace this fact, we embrace the liberating idea that there is no such thing as competition.

A question

In the interests of staving off a competitive threat that doesn’t actually exist, are we independent consultants starving ourselves of the resources we need to succeed? 

I think the answer is yes.

And I think it’s time we stopped.

We can’t necessarily switch off the rollercoaster. But perhaps we could do a better job of navigating its twists and turns without feeling sick — and, dare I say it, even have a bit more fun — if we experienced it together.

If you’re interested in tuning into a community of like-minded independent consultants, check out our podcast.

What to take from this article

Independent consultancy can be an empowering but lonely journey. But there’s no need to do it alone.

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