Debating Becoming an Consultant or Finding Another Opportunity

SimplyStephanie·Mar 05, 2023

Posted in:Advice

I am 33 live in Cental Canada currently working as E-commerce Marketing Manger for large reatail company.

I have 11 years of varied experience from starting as a graphic designer to working with email marketing, then to paid social ads and now to this current role. I'm at a first poin in the past 7 years that I no longer align with the company as a whole and am in a position that I would like to move onto my next step.

I've been considering working as a consultant. When I looked to what I enjoy most about my career or what I would be looking at in my next role everything seemed to point towards mentoring or sharing my knowledge/problem solving mixed in with strategy. The idea I had behind this is I would love to create a group that is supportive of other professionals sharing learnings/and providing assistance to others. On the side of that I would love to do some content like video or a podcast or something. The more I think of the gender gap in my industry the more I would love to support others and encourage young women.

In addition I think I would enjoy working with small business owners and helping them take their marketing to the next level. I thought part of it could be me having a roster of contacts I can use and create materials for self service/training for self service models.

The issue with above is my current role is very demanding and I do get paid quite well, I wouldn't at this point with just an idea want to jump and cut my paycheck. I've wondered if maybe I try to identify my plan and slowly chip away at it maybe an hour a day or something until I start to pull some clients in. However I'm worried that the stress of my current role will make it difficult.

Another thought I had is I'm a person that always makes things complex and wants to do everything and so I think I realized if I want to do this seriously I should surround myself with people that have skills I can partner with for example if I want to do a podcast instead of me worrying about the editing I would pair with someone who would like to work with me. My main issue here is my pool seems limited whether it comes to others wanting to do a business, or the types of expertise I'm looking for. That is in part of why I joined here! I thought at least as a first step it couldn't hurt to talk to others in my industry.

Lastly -- I have considered just finding a role or a company better suited to myself. However, I'm finding my location is a little limiting and also stage of career usually requires a sizable business at best. I still will keep looking for companies I'm interested in and see if I have anything that sparks my interest but the one's I have found intriguing haven't been feasible because of where I live even in the case of remot work.

Appologize for the novel but would love to hear about anyone's experience on anything I've mentioned above. Or even if you are just a person that would love to connect as professionals!

ara206·Mar 06, 2023

I think if you're serious about starting a consulting company, at some point you will need to take a leap of faith. The longer you wait to take that leap, the longer you will end up working your current demanding job and working on the side as well. So it depends on how long you think you could continue to do that. The nice thing (I think?) is that you're in Canada, so you don't have to worry about health insurance as much as someone in the United States. That's a big drawback of being a consultant/having a small business here. Bad health insurance costs about $500 a month.I'm curious why your location makes remote work difficult? Also how open would you be to moving? You'll have to weigh the emotional/physical labor of that over the labor of setting up a consulting agency.Lastly, if you're trying to partner with people but not pay them a salary or a contractor rate yet, you may run into people not having as much bandwidth as you would hope for your project(s). If you're planning to pay them then that wouldn't be an issue and you can expect timely deliveries. However in that case it might be less of a partnership and more of just a typical "hiring a contractor" scenario.Good luck!!

rachelserwetz·Mar 07, 2023

Hey @SimplyStephanie, given what you're writing, I'd recommend pursuing the process of career exploration, which should be done in completion before any job search. It is a series of steps of practical learning and self-reflection in order to compare, contrast, and clarify which career path you are most confident in pursuing. Specifically, it will help you understand and prioritize which role, industry and environment is the best fit for you. While clarifying your ideal path can never be a quick answer resolved on a thread, it doesn't have to take forever either, or be as daunting as it seems. With 2-3 months, you can gain confidence in your direction by ensuring you learn enough about the options and reflect on what it means for you, to find the best possible fit.PS, I’m Rachel, a Career Coach. I’d be happy to discuss this further if you want to hop on a call -- check my profile for how to book time with me. I’m here to help! Talk soon!