On more that one occasion I have heard, “You’re so good at doing consulting, why don’t you start your own company?”

REALLY!!  Isn’t that what we’ve already done as consultants?  Maybe it’s the old notion that we need admins, payroll, managers, and sales people that’s stuck in everyone’s head.  You see we could do all that, but at what amount of effort?  And wouldn’t running a traditional business take us away from the things we do best?

As a business owner, I have strengths and weaknesses.  I try to accentuate my strengths and build them even more.  My weaknesses, I attempt to avoid, but when pressed, I push on trying to build them up as well.

But now lets talk about all of us single-person companies and how we might help each other.  Since we each have different strengths and weaknesses, maybe we could band together in a loose fashion to help each other out.  When we work projects together, our focus is normally product/module specific.  But it doesn’t have to end there.  Some of us are great managers.  Some are good speakers.  Some of us have all the right connections and some of us have all the right documentation.  As a group we’re pretty awesome!  unfortunately, we work independent of each other and we don’t share well because of the existing paradigm.

I believe we should change the normal and find ways to use each others strengths to increase our visibility and income at the same time.  Begin by keeping track of those you’ve enjoyed working with and knowing their specialties.  Then keep in touch and as you look for work, send job requests on to those you know who fit the bill.  If you get on a project and additional resources are needed, refer your friends.  If you get stuck on some idiosyncrasy within a project, reach out to your network and ask for help.

You’ll soon find that others are ready and willing to participate with you.  I’ve grown a network of some pretty special people and we are talking about ways to reward each other for the different types of help rendered.  Do you have any ideas you’d like to share?

Sure!  I already own a company!  I have lots of partners, but just a single employee.  That is a much more cost-effective way to build an organization.

If we could live forever,
Where would our dreams lead us to