How to Run a Fulfilling Consulting Business | J. Morris Public ...

To me, summer equates to NO WORK. I think this is something that has been planted in my spirit, conditioned in my mind, and manifested in my lifestyle over the years.

I use to pat myself on the back (well, I still do) on completing nearly 20 years of schooling (including undergrad and grad school) without, not ONE TIME, taking a class during the summer. It wasn?t because I was so super smart, but just that?..for me, my summers always included some type of extended vacation. So, I use to plan my school work to accommodate my summer plans.

As I got older, summer planning didn?t always work out, as I had responsibilities and obligations ?on the job?. July and August were mandatory ?no vacation taking? months for me when I worked for the Feds. Those months were during grant processing season. I remember being one of several staffers preparing grant award letters and planning for the upcoming fiscal year, while most of the others were bragging about their tans and passing around vacation photos. I hated that part of my job.

When I decided to take a leap of faith by launching my consulting business full-time, J. Morris Public Relations, rules that included when/how I could live my life were definitely going to change. In fact, there would be NO RULES.

Prior to making the decision to launch my business, I was deployed on Fed business to Miami. During one of my South Beach sneak-aways, I observed BET?s former owner, Bob Johnson, having a business meeting over brunch wearing casual clothes. I kept thinking, ?he?s probably making his next multi-million dollar deal ON SOUTH BEACH.? That fascinated me. In fact, the picture of him and his biz associates runs through my mind, often.

So, when I decided to launch my business and was putting together my business model, I knew EXACTLY the type of business lifestyle I wanted. I wanted the freedom to live a life without regrets, and one that did not operate by others? demands. And I certainly didn?t want a business where it would dictate my personal life. Nope, didn?t want that.

Today, I?ve created the type of business that I dream of. I call it my South Beach lifestyle (even though I live in Maryland?lol).

Since launching, I?ve had a few bumps and bruises due to trial and error. But after almost three years in full-time business I kinda figured out how to make my weekdays more fulfilling, in addition to practicing what I absolutely love to do.

So, here goes.

1. Choose your clients. Yep, ?business experts? will tell you that this is a major no-no when trying to grow a lucrative business and that you will not always like your work when you?re on the path to millions.

I beg to differ.

My thought (and reality) is that if you take on client work that you?re not feeling you will naturally sacrifice a part of yourself, which will lead to sub-par work. I encourage you to go for the clients that you believe in 100% because when you believe in what they are doing you will want to go that extra mile for them. And, if you?re anything like me, a great big thank you from a client, is like winning the lottery.

2. Define your grind. Sometimes social media irritates me. If you buy into the hype of a lot of business folks? tweets and posts about their grind they can have you believing that your business cannot be successful if you don?t put in 28 hours of work per day. Yes, I said ?28? hours.

The truth is that it may take me one hour to write a press release, pitch to my media contacts, and coordinate an interview. But, may take another publicist four hours to do the same tasks. It?s not that one is better than the other, or that one is more experienced than the other, but that we each have a strategy on how we approach our work.

The most important thing about ?grinding? for your business is that you are not being caught up in a lot of busy-ness. I refuse to be a Martha, and have developed a Mary mentality over the year.

If I could purchase the rights to the phrase, ?work smarter, not harder,? I would.

3. Put your work on autopilot. Starting out as a consultant, I came in with a specialized skill. Not only did I have experience reviewing Federal grant proposals, but I had also written several winning grant proposals. So, in the beginning, I thought that writing grant proposals was an excellent service to offer. The problem was that I was spending almost 20 hours per week on one proposal that I was only charging $900.00. After doing the math, it just wasn?t adding up and was costing me too much time.

So, I decided to create a grant proposal template that would include all of the necessary components that the Feds look for in a grant proposal. The only thing the writer would have to do is insert their program and administrative information.

The very first week I launched the grant proposal template, I made close to $2,000?and most of that I made while I was sleeping.

So, if you have a specialized skill that can be written in a manual, recorded on a video, or taught in a downloadable webinar??.do it. Generating passive income should be on the top of the priority list for every consultant.

4. Indulge in guilty pleasures. Okay, I?m not talking about having a big sin fest (thank God for His grace and mercy?lol), but I?m talking about indulging in those activities during the day that regular business folk will look down on you for doing. As if you?re not being productive.

Can I tell you a secret?

About five of my business associates, including me and my eldest sister (she?s a business owner, as well), have been glued to the television watching the Zimmerman Trial on CNN. We?ve even exchanged comments about the trial on Facebook.

Do we have work to do? Yep.

Do we get our work done? Yep.

Who says that you have to work 9am-5pm? Oh, yeah, that?s normal business hours. So, glad I?m not ?normal.?

Whether indulging in your favorite television shows, reading a good fiction book, taking a nap, browsing social media, or sitting in a spa for three hours, it is mandatory that you take time out of your day to just indulge. All work and no play does make you a dull person.

5. Ditch the pride, go for the passion. I have a client, Misha Lyuve, who is a big time Wall Street consultant. When we met (by phone), I fell in love with Misha?s demeanor. Unlike most Wall Street men, Misha is quite humbled and in tuned to who he really is at the core, and not drowned out by his professional accomplishments. While Misha appreciates his Wall Street gig, his primary focus is on his passion of supporting his favorite charity and expressing himself creatively. Now, Misha teaches corporate folk how to add more passioniate activities to their stressful corporate lifestyles.

So, if your business is depleting you more than it is completing you, then I highly recommend that you add a passionate element to your day. A passionate element is one that will allow you to express yourself creatively. Blogging does it for me.

6. Teach your expertise, oversee execution. Unless your expertise requires a professional license, then I strongly advise that you set up some type of coaching program to teach your clients how to do what you do, instead of executing activities for them. It took me about a year and a half to figure this out. But when I did, it was one of the best business decisions I made.

These days, my workload has decreased drastically, but my income has doubled.

This morning, as I was just heading back from my neighborhood power walk, I received a call from one of my business associates inviting me to lunch (I love being spontaneous). Said she needed some business advice and needed to vent. By noon, she and I were having lunch at our favorite caf? in Potomac. We even had a few glasses of wine and took our time conversing to accommodate the rain pour.

Before I pulled out of the parking lot of the caf? to make it back to my home office, I sat in my car and sent a few emails, retweeted a few of my associates? tweets, and scheduled a few coaching sessions. I even had taken the time to scope out the three people who had just purchased my newly released products. All of this took every bit of 15 minutes. Other than writing this blog post, that was my workday.

This is definitely how I like to spend my summer.

Source: http://jmorrispublicrelations.com/how-to-run-a-fulfilling-consulting-business/

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