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By Mike Barrett, 5 July 2007 09:00

COMMENT

After six months working as a consultant, Mike Barrett has some successes, horror stories and advice to share...

For the first time since I started out on my own, I've been so busy over the past month that I've barely had time to write this column.

I suppose that's a good thing. It made me realise it was six months ago I was sitting here in my untidy home office wondering how I ended up here, working as a consultant after years as a CIO and COO.

I thought it would be a good point to stop and reflect on all that has happened so far. It's been an amazing rollercoaster journey and I've learned a huge amount.

Let's look at the highlights...

The highs

Getting paid.

I have real, live paying clients! Only four of them but all are significant projects so I have a healthy sales pipeline that stretches towards the end of the year. It's taken six months to get to the point where I don't have to worry about paying the bills - a huge milestone. Even though I hadn't expected to earn much in the first three to six months, the thought I was spending more than I was earning was always at the back of my mind.

Meeting people.

I've met some amazingly talented and passionate people. I worked in one of the best cultures I've ever experienced at CNET and when you leave, it's hard to imagine that anything similar exists elsewhere.

Learning from others.

Seeing how different businesses plan and execute projects has been a real eye-opener for me. Having only serviced internal customers previously, witnessing the level of professionalism the agency community applies to winning business has been instructional. My teams have always been great at delivery but the presentation and communication of ideas and plans to clients is definitely something we could have done much better.

Plenty of variety.

In the past six months I've been part of a team that won the pitch for a multimillion-pound project, judged entries for an industry award, been interviewed by industry publications, taken part in an event panel and been asked to run a training course for the digital media industry. I've even seen my blog posts picked up by industry experts.

Giving something back.

When I started out as a consultant, I set a target of one day per month to work on charitable projects. I'm grateful to have become part of the Byte Night board. Together with NCH we have extended the existing event this year to enable people outside London to take part by creating Byte Night Local. I'm proud to say my first completed project as a consultant was the accompanying website which is a mash-up of the CNET Networks community engine, Flickr, Google and YouTube.

The lows

Losing my first big sale.

I doubt anybody can prepare for the feeling when your first big deal goes pear shaped. It hurts - especially after having invested a large amount of time and effort to scope out the project timeline and budget. My philosophy is always to trust people to tell the truth until proved otherwise but for a week or so that philosophy was sorely tested! Like a former colleague once told me: "Mike, it ain't sold until you can smell the gold." A good, if painful lesson.

Having no work to do.

Twice so far, I've woken up on a Monday morning to find I have no meetings planned for the week. The requirement to constantly market yourself to keep the prospects coming in can be quite a challenge. This is especially true when you are working on assignments and have less time to devote to keeping the wheel turning. All of a sudden, you finish a project that you've been working flat out on for two weeks and find there is nothing to do.

Loss of control.

Working inside an organisation, you know how to get things done. When you are on the outside, it's much harder. This can be frustrating both in trying to get the job and also once the project gets underway and you have to manage people that not only don't report to you directly but work for several different companies.

What have I learned?

I know a lot.

That sounds big-headed but in the areas of online publishing and social networking I've realised I'm an expert. I could have spread myself across a wider set of areas but then I would have been competing with people who know more than me. I've found out how little knowledge there is in my speciality areas. I have sat in client meetings with a room full of smart, successful people and watched everyone furiously scribbling notes about what I would consider the basics. Focus is everything in consulting.

Invest in good tools and services.

Buy the best laptop, smart phone and printer you can afford. Get a 3G card with unlimited data - you'll need it. Sign up for Mozy or an equivalent data back-up service. Create a project collaboration site with a tool such as BaseCamp to communicate with clients. Use a proper accounting package such as Quickbooks to make sure you are tracking your expenses properly. With all these tools in place, you'll be free to concentrate on the two most important tasks - getting and doing the work.

Talk to people.

Enduring the lows on your own can be tough. I've developed a network of consultants and freelancers who know what it's like to lose a sale, to be frustrated by a client, to not get paid fast enough. It's comforting to know you are not the only one who has these problems and it's all part of running your own business. I've also been fortunate to have a great friend who has experience in the two areas I don't: sales and marketing. I would recommend finding somebody you can trust to give you advice in whatever areas you're weakest in.

What next?

It's been an amazing experience so far. The highs have outweighed the lows and I feel like I'm running a business now rather than starting up. I still need to learn to enjoy the non-work times and separate work from home a little more. You are never off duty when it's your own business.

I still haven't spotted the opportunity that will be the next big step but it's early days and I have a few ideas now floating around in my mind - so that's progress.

And I still haven't tidied up my office - which either means I've been too busy or that I just hate housework...

Mike Barrett was formerly COO for CNET Networks UK, the publisher of silicon.com and other online publications. He now consults on strategy and development for the online publishing industry and assists tech start-ups in building products for the web 2.0 world. You can read his blog at www.compoundmedia.co.uk.