Today is June 1, 2009 and today is the day that Friuch Consulting officially moves from being “me” to “we”. I want to document how we move forward on my blog because I’m hoping we’re going to learn some things that we can share with you as we grow Friuch into a going concern. I’m going to start with a recap of how we got here and in subsequent posts, get into the mechanics of the business.

Although I tell people that I started consulting in 2003, I actually started freelance work in 2001 when I used to do marketing and communications consulting. I wrote copy for a safety company and the Institute of Chartered Accountants. By 2003, I had jumped into consulting with both feet and was focussing specifically on science and tech policy. Like many startup consultants, I was a sub-contractor to more well-established consultants until I started getting my own clients in 2005. It was only last year that I stopped doing sub-contracting altogether.

When I had started, more knowledgeable consultants had told me that it would take me at least three years to get established. They were right. It was 2007 before things started to go smoothly. After that, my reputation and body of work had reached a point where I was no longer scrambling for clients. Business was coming my way in droves. By early 2008, I could barely keep up with demand. The follow charts shows my daily billable hours over the past year (June 1, 2008 – June 1, 2009). The red line shows how many hours most salary employees work. My totals don’t include pro bono work and business development work I do.

I was turning into the harried Technician from the E-Myth books – working 70 hours a week and getting burnt out. Late last year, when I felt like I was starting to drop balls, I started sub-contracting to people to make the workload more manageable.

Right now, I’ve got two sub-contractors working for me and I’m still working way too many hours per week. I can’t keep doing this and I’ve come to the realization that I need to make the transition from worker bee to business owner in the fullest sense of the word. Although I’m keeping the Friuch Consulting branding, it’s almost like I’m starting over again with an established client base. To ensure that the company grows (with or without me) I’ve taken the following steps:

1. I am incorporating. I’ve already secured my business name (Friuch Consulting Ltd.) and I’m going to be filing the incorporation paperwork after consulting with my bookkeeper later this week.
2. I’m seeking advice from my betters. I’ve haven’t been shy about seeking advice from people that I admire. On Friday, I’m having coffee with Stacey Cerniuk from Annex Consulting Group and the week after that I’m going to chat with Don Ference from Ference Weicker. I need to learn from people who have had success building medium and large consulting firms and I’m fortunate to know some key players.
3. I’m trying to be a Manager. I am having my first staff meeting ever on Wednesday and I’m trying really hard to partially transition from Technician to Manager.
4. I’m looking for more help. The business is still growing fast and in the next month, I’m going to be spending more time with three individuals who I think have a lot to offer and a lot to gain by associating with Friuch Consulting. With their help, the company will expand and increase its capacity to take on new and exciting projects.

My goal for Friuch Consulting is simple – I want to build the #1 Management Consulting firm in British Columbia by 2020. That’s a ways off but we have a lot of growing to do between now and then. I’m going to track our progress starting today and keep everyone up to speed on where we are going because as we learn, I’m hoping we can help others who are trying to grow their businesses.