Where to Pick Up Practical Knowledge to Run a 1-Man Consulting Practice While Working a 9–5
Because there is no Consulting College to attend to learn the ropes of the trade
There are 3 sources of knowledge instrumental to running a 1-Man consulting practice.
- Experience and exposure.
- Professional courses.
- Books.
I rank them in the same order in terms of my professional learning. Working to solve complex problems with our clients is my primary go-to. It beefs up our consulting acumen as we work.
Professional courses and books have a place in terms of knowledge pick-up. However, I do worry about the relevance of the material presented.
The last thing I want is to be rendered out-of-date and irrelevant by my clients.
Therefore, I am very picky about the courses and books I read for professional development.
My Selection Criteria for Professional Courses and Books for Growing Consulting Acumen
I have written at length about professional courses in this article. Therefore, I will not repeat them here.
Books imparting practical knowledge on understanding the consulting business are rare. I have come across many that do not deliver the goods. Thus, I have developed strict criteria for buying books on the consulting genre.
The primary reason is I am operating a 1-Man consulting practice on the side. I have little time for reading, especially after my day job and consulting assignments.
The book must teach me something. Or, help me get better at what I know and do.
Thus, any books I pick up for professional development must meet the following criteria.
- Helps me get better at my craft.
- Highly applicable at the individual level (I am running a 1-Man consulting practice).
- Thought processes are laid out neatly in the form of case studies.
- Demonstrate how obstacles and initial failures are overcome.
You will quickly realize that these criteria act as an active funnel for relevant knowledge content. I will purchase these books without batting an eyelid.
And these books follow me wherever I go. They feed my brain with knowledge whenever I have pockets of available time.
Books on Consulting Knowledge I (Strongly) Recommend
This is the best quote that distills the essence of the 1-Man consulting business.
“I’ve learned a lot on the fly, and I think, actually, my academic and management consulting background has enabled me to quickly pick up on a lot of disciplines.”
Books allow us to learn a lot on the fly. And these are the books I recommend aspiring consultants on the side to read and re-read.
Book # 1 on Growing Our Consulting Muscle: The Back of the Napkin
This book is about solving problems (a key skill of a consultant) and selling ideas (another key skill of a consultant) using pictures.
I am not recommending you to be a paint-artist. However, having many years of consulting experience under my belt taught me one thing.
Seeing is believing.
Organizational problems scale as we go higher up the hierarchy. Think about it. The C-Suite you consult thinks about the business, not one team’s performance. Therefore, you need to paint a high-level picture.
If you consult middle management or teams, you want to zoom into the picture to vividly present the technical nuances of their daily work. And then show them how they can get better in small increments.
Pictures allow you to do that. I call it a snapshot. And it can be presented in many ways.
- A flowchart.
- An Ishikawa (Fish-bone diagram).
- The production line value stream map.
- A blueprint diagram of the client’s enterprise in the future.
Dan Roam, the author of The Back of the Napkin, has provided a wealth of information and problem-solving visualization techniques to aspiring consultants on the side to work on complex problems.
This is the book I carry with me wherever I go. It is also the body of knowledge I refer to when thinking on the job.
Book # 2 on Growing Our Consulting Muscle: Why Moats Matter
Hang on a second. An investment finance book?
Yes, you eagle-eye. I am recommending an investment finance book for aspiring consultants on the side. Here’s why.
The investment analysts from Morningstar have done the heavy-lifting of knowledge scouting for us. This book covers the characteristics (in detail) of good businesses in 8 different segments.
- Basic material.
- Consumer goods.
- Energy.
- Financial services.
- Healthcare.
- Industrials.
- Technology.
- Utilities.
You, the consultant on the side, will be equipped to take your consulting client to a better future because you know what a good business in their segment should look like. In Warren Buffett’s words, you are developing moats for your client’s business.
This is the second book I circle back for reference time after time. It taught me what matters to my client base seeking digital transformation and how I relate the benefits of technology adoption to their business performance.
In Conclusion
There is no Consulting College to attend if you are an aspiring consultant.
Our best source of knowledge comes in the order of experience, professional development, and a body of knowledge wrapped in books.
I prefer to trek in the consulting jungle. It allows me to understand the business sentiment in real-time. That said, there is room for professional development and books.
After all, we do not want to be rendered irrelevant by our clients. We want to be seen as consultants on the cutting edge of the industry we serve.
The books recommended in this article are important not just because they grow our consulting acumen. They contain a body of practical know-how. They also teach you how to do it from an implementation and research perspective.
And this is critical for anyone running a 1-Man consulting practice.
Because we rely on ourselves for knowledge, research, and getting the job done.
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure. Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.
