I’m reading the truly excellent book, The Positioning Manual for Indie Consultants by Philip Morgan.
The first chapters explain the temptation to direct market to your network when getting desperate for new business. And then goes on to clearly and succinctly explain the various other models for creating visibility and relevance.
Good descriptions of vertical and horizontal market positioning, including other approaches like platform plays and audience alignment are also included. I’ve just started on the second half of the book which is about learning how to gain greater trust (ie. bigger engagements) with your clients.
I really wish I had read this book 20 years ago when leaving university, and latterly when I started to suspect that running a one-person consulting company is very, very different from 2+ person businesses. It also explains why much of the business coaching I’ve had to date seemed to lack specific expertise when it came to the business of independent consulting.
Philip has spent many years researching independent consultants and his unabridged research notes are included on his website, as an interesting aside.
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Frank Ray Consulting. Software requirements for agile development teams, particularly remote, outsourced and offshore development teams working in financial services. |