Starting a Consultancy Is Not Hard.

But owning a consultancy is hard. Grit is necessary. But don't let anyone scare you away from thinking YOU CAN.

Don't let anyone fool you, thought leaders.

If you’re reading this, you’re likely interested in building a consultancy (or here’s your sign to start - no one’s role is safe from change. Always have a Plan B and C).

The journey of owning your consultancy as a full timer is ROUGH.

Some days feel harder than hard. I’m thirteen years into owning mine.

Today in our backyard was the EPITOME of the solopreneur life. And I share without shame to show you how important that grit will be in your journey, too.

I’m highly qualified in my area. Like you.

So when I have to do stuff that I don’t know how to do, and find myself wrestling with things that -are so challenging, I can’t possibly be the right path, I remind myself - think again.

You’ll find yourself using your turquoise trivet that was in the Amazon box when you got that new clothes iron, wrapped like a taco, and held in place with a hair tie you yanked out of your messy bun.

You’ll have oil draining into an old water bottle as you empty old motor oil out of your lawnmower.

And you're not gonna really feel proud of it, until you realize that you got the job done, and most people would've given up and called some expensive lawnmower repair person.

But not you. You said screw it, I need to mow the lawn today, and I'm going to learn how to get this oil out with YouTube and gumption, and that's that.

Here’s to you that said screw it, I’m going to be brave, and plan to get out of corporate when it isn’t serving you.

Here’s to you that said screw it, I’m going to forget this CRM nonsense and use a Google Sheet for business development - and started.

Here’s to you that said screw it, I’m going to schedule posts on LinkedIn even though it feels off for some reason (till you do it and realize it’s NOT A BIG DEAL AT ALL).

Here’s to you that said screw it, and cancelled that expensive business insurance when you realized that a contract clause that said you can’t be held liable for an amount greater than the contract value was enough for you in Texas (I’m willing to take correction here, fam.)

Here’s to you that said screw it, and figured out a workaround to health insurance duct taped together with five novel approaches (Indiepop sounds interesting) and didn’t pay for that useless high deductible COBRA or Marketplace crap any more.

Here’s to you that said screw it, and ASKED FOR HELP without fear of it embarrassing you or revealing that you don’t know everything about pricing your retainers and packages.

Here’s to you that said screw it, this set of services I can do isn’t making me happy - or managing people isn’t making you happy - and you did something about it, choosing what the market needs from you and where you actually want to work.

Here’s to you that said screw it, I’m not paying for this !%^# anymore, and cancelled that expensive membership that wasn’t serving you.

Here’s to the ones that went fractional before it was the hot thing on the market.

Here’s to you that built a website with blearly eyes and hours on YouTube even though you were a CMO but didn’t know how to website (verb!) - until now.

Here’s to you that said screw it and figured out Substack, Medium, Convertkit, tool after tool, until you found the way that worked for you.

Here’s to you.

Here’s to you, friend.

There’s nothing - nothing - NOTHING - that can stand in your way if you are willing to do the work and step out of corporate and into being a consultant.

Thought leadership is a vehicle. Where do you want it to take you?

Don’t go it alone, friends. And don’t wait for perfect. Just start.

-Julie Michelle Morris