Growing a consultancy firm is hard work. We often write about the challenges with clients, staff, sales and operations (and, of course, how to overcome them). But it’s not all hard slog. There are clearly some very rewarding aspects to leading an ambitious professional services company.

Better than a multinational

There’s no doubt you can make a very good living if you’re doing it right, and there’s also a chance of selling the company down the line. (Thinking of selling? We can help you value your company and find ways to increase its value - just get in touch, or take a look at our white paper on profitability and other measures.) Depending on the number of founders and the sector, you should be able to exceed the income of an equivalent Director / Partner in one of the multinational consultancies, and, when you sell, get a payout to clear your mortgage and set up retirement.

While the money is clearly important to many, it’s far from the only upside available. If you’re not enjoying running a consultancy, then the long hours and time spent away from home will be a painful experience that no financial reward can compensate for. So let’s take a look at the benefits aside from the financial motivations.

Lasting friendships

For me, one of the best aspects of spending 15 years building my business was the relationships that I formed with clients at all levels in the organisations I worked with.

When you face adversity together (and, let’s face it, nobody uses consultants when everything is going along swimmingly) a special bond is created which brings you closer to the people involved than perhaps you’d find even in your own team. These relationships have transcended the workplace into some lasting personal friendships. It’s surprising how often I find myself introducing friends at parties with “I think we met when Joanne was originally a client, though that feels like a long time ago now….”

Playing at the top table

The trust that’s built up with clients also gives you access to the inner sanctum of some significant companies where you can play a role, often operating at board level, in ways that very few have the opportunity in a line management career.

I often found myself participating in the decision-making process and finding my opinion was respected even if it wasn’t my main area of expertise.

And you can make a real difference. Gone are the days of “wristwatch consulting” where the consultant would simply play back the opinions of client staff members they’d interviewed - consultants are expected to, and do on the whole, deliver much more value than that.

Working in unlikely teams

Variety is a well known trait of a career in consulting - and sure, you can get to work in different sectors on different problems many times in a year. What I enjoyed the most was working in multi-disciplined teams. Rarely was there an assignment which only required a single skillset. Looking at how to increase sales for a retailer? You’d need customer research, ranging advice, supply chain optimisation, ecommerce, strategic analysis, customer experience, technology and brand/marketing expertise. As I’ve written before, nobody can do everything - and so you find yourself working in a group that you can learn from about areas you never dreamt of getting exposure to.

Speaking of which, I think another great thing about a career in consulting is the way you can develop as a “T-Shaped” person. You might have a deep expertise in one area but then you also gain lots of broad experience in other areas. Some of these are subject-matter specific, and others are useful general life skills like negotiation, presenting, hosting client dinners and working with people from different backgrounds and cultures. Oh, and if you’re the kind of consultant who travels a lot, you also become adept at airports and hotels!

In summary, alongside being well paid, a career in consulting allows you to avoid much of the politics of senior roles in operating companies, work with the brightest and the best and discover new things in almost all areas of life.

What’s your experience? Do let us know. And if you’d like to talk over any aspect of consultancy, drop me a line.