10 major issues consultants/contractors are confronted with

Starting out or not, consultants are facing issues. Some are more critical than others. But the way you respond to them contributes positively or negatively to your success and satisfaction.

 

We will in this article sum up the 10 challenges that occur the most often in this profession:

 

• Finding missions: For those starting out, it is often the first fear, and is present for standalone consultants too. It decreases with the number of missions and increasing reputation. But one cannot monitor and have access to all of the existing market. It always comes as a recurrent motto when seeing the end of an assignment approaching.

 

• Being paid: From large companies that have longer payment terms to some customers in default of payment, there are many, small to large, issues impacting your revenue flow and your cash situation.

 

• Defining adequately the fees and the conditions: You are not always in the driver seat. Further, being competitive in terms of fees and conditions request a thorough monitoring of the market. And finally, negotiating for oneself the terms and conditions of a mission is not simple nor obvious.

 

• Isolation and solitude: Standing alone, a consultant can quickly develop a feeling of isolation. There is obviously natural segregation during the mission. As standalone consultant, you are facing alone any issues and challenges. This creates a climate of solitude difficult to bear for some.

 

• Remaining an expert and being recognized: It is not only about remaining an expert and sustainably extending your expertise in a continuously and fast-evolving environment. It is also about being recognized as a specialist in addition to your new competencies.

 

• Administrative and legal submerged: There are a bunch of administrative and legal duties and obligations that can sink a well-performing consultant. Further, it is this administrative work that will ensure the correct redaction of contracts, the adequate definition of a mission and the payments.

 

• Work–life balance at risk: Focused on work or bound by deadlines, we can be vastly overwhelmed by all our activities and jeopardize our work–life balance. This last sustains our energy needed to maintain the quality of our job.

 

• Delivering to and satisfying the customer: In some complex situations or when facing complicated challenges or deadlines, the ability to deliver is sometimes questioned. If it is not coming from a weak definition of the mission and its deliverable, it can come from a lack of distance that would allow for a better analysis of the issues, or a lack of expertise in a particular area.

 

• Less secure environment than a company: In a company, one day where you are less productive or ill doesn’t affect your life. You can be supported by others and are part of a group. Further, Compensation & Benefits (C&B’s) can be multiple. You can build this security for yourself as a consultant. Different means exist.

 

• Difficult customers or changing objectives: This is raised when the contract and mission have not been clearly defined, but comes also from some customers who are undefined about their goals or not sure about their means. It leads to tension and discussions that can’t always be easily resolved, except by involving a third party. Scope changes or goal changes can have important consequences.

 

There are, for each of these issues, always solutions. Some are more easily applied than others. But consultants willing to be successful should consider the different options. There are 10 reasons that are limiting your success as consultant, we wrote about it too. Further, consider the advantages of being accompanied and supported.