{"id":3412,"date":"2015-11-20T10:00:15","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T15:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=3412"},"modified":"2018-07-19T15:10:43","modified_gmt":"2018-07-19T21:10:43","slug":"pc-tools-for-consultants-starting-out-sustainability-and-profitability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/3412\/pc-tools-for-consultants-starting-out-sustainability-and-profitability\/","title":{"rendered":"Tools for Consultants – Starting Out, Sustainability and Profitability"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Consulting02\"About 10 years ago, many large chemical companies parted ways with some highly\u00a0skilled and expensive employees in the economic downturn. Resource utilization was more highly scrutinized than at any time in history. Projects had to be low-risk, high-value and still result in near-term sales, even though New Business Development (NBD) was becoming a far greater focus as well. Many people, who had spent their entire careers at one company, were unprepared for the abrupt change. This created opportunities for consultants who became entrepreneurs at that time, or who\u00a0decided that working for themselves was more attractive than working for someone else.<\/p>\n

There are many financial obstacles to working for one\u2019s self. Important items such as healthcare, insurance and retirement income are all subjects that should be discussed with a financial planner. In addition, it is recommended that a potential consultant look at the various legal ways to separate personal assets from business to mitigate liabilities.<\/p>\n

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Job changes are difficult for most people, even with knowing your new employer, your income and benefits. It becomes more daunting when you decide to generate everything yourself. In addition, if you were used to having your work day structured, you may need to learn how to do that yourself as well. You will also need to determine your hourly rate, which needs to include costs of benefits, taxes and insurance. This may vary by the length of an engagement as well as type.<\/p>\n

The Keys to Becoming\u00a0a Successful Consultant:<\/h3>\n

Deciding what you want to be and do\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Early on, you will need to decide what your definition of \u201csuccess\u201d is. Dependent upon your financial security and comfort level with downtime, you may find yourself drawn to activities that require a lot of time with little to no reward.<\/p>\n

Marketing yourself & searching for opportunities<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are numerous web-based sites for solution seekers\/providers. I, personally, have had the most success with both Zintro and NineSigma\/NineSights. Both require a low amount of time for a proposal, and offer the potential for high rewards. Also, the \u201cBoard of Innovation<\/a>\u201d includes the aforementioned websites as well as many others of different types (marketing, technical, etc).<\/p>\n

In another\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0for UL Prospector, I outlined several tools that are applicable as a consultant. It highlights\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0and other methods of getting noticed, networking and finding profitable opportunities for yourself. LinkedIn is the best platform I have found. You construct your profile, similar to a resum\u00e9, but have the ability to link projects, publications and other items that may cause you to be noticed.<\/p>\n

You can, and should, join groups that complement your aspirations and expertise. Don\u2019t limit yourself, but join any that you will have time to visit regularly.\u00a0Interact with others by posting comments to other people\u2019s posts and get noticed. Add items to your profile, and your contacts will be notified of the changes. Post your own articles, search jobs, follow market trends and effectively network.<\/p>\n

LinkedIn\u00a0is a professional social network.\u00a0Take advantage of it. None of this has to cost you anything except time. In addition, attendance at conferences, seminars, trade shows and the presentation of papers will ensure that you will be noticed.<\/p>\n

\n

Consultants are rarely 100% successful right away. Networking and developing new skills takes time.”<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Proposal writing (if required)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once you have found an opportunity, you may need to write a proposal of varying lengths and complexities. Some sites are a quick engagement that can lead to longer-term work, and others are really meant to be a short fixed time (1-3 hours). Also, some sites list the number of respondents to a particular need they post and award, such as\u00a0InnoCentive<\/a>. You may want to pass on one that has 200 respondents unless you feel very confident about your solution.<\/p>\n

Landing the opportunity & executing the project<\/strong><\/p>\n

At times, a company may post solutions that are not desired and also some suggestions of what they see as practical. This is where you can really think outside of the box. I have proposed solutions that had no connection to the client\u2019s ideas, but was able to make a strong technical and business case to show merit and was chosen and paid for a solution.<\/p>\n

If you work through a website such as\u00a0Zintro<\/a>, the fee is paid by the client upfront and held in escrow, which eliminates your risk. You pay a nominal fee for the convenience of this service. If you work wholly independently, you will need to have developed a template for a contract. I find the best and easiest one is standard and varies only by the parties. The \u201cguts\u201d are included in a simple Attachment or Appendix and can be modified if renewed.<\/p>\n

You can find contract templates on the internet. Key parts need to include: state and city where a dispute would be addressed in court (yours is preferable), court legal fees to be paid by defendant if you find yourself the plaintiff in a court case, disposition of Intellectual Property and a Non-Disclosure Agreement.<\/p>\n

Reporting\/completion and post-mortem<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the conclusion of the project, reflect on what you did and learned. This is a post mortem of the project to put it to rest. What did you do well? What could you have done better? Take the time to file away documents and data and refine anything for future use that is not proprietary.<\/p>\n

Billing<\/strong><\/p>\n

In your proposal, you should also include billing details. Inclusion of business expenses such as travel and lodging can be negotiated for payment by the client. Billing and payment terms should be specified and the frequency of payments should be consistent with your comfort level of exposure if the relationship deteriorates. This rarely happens, but that risk-reward ratio is always present. With international customers, check to see if your business account can accept wire transfers. Many US credit unions and smaller banks are unable to handle international wire transfers.<\/p>\n

Potential Pitfalls<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are several issues that new consultants may face due to inexperience. Lacking enough work, they will take on projects that are not a good fit for their skills. Some will underestimate the time it will take for a fixed-price project, or they set their rates too low for the type of work to be done. Others do not have the resources available for a job, such as a laboratory and haven\u2019t included any subcontract work to be completed.<\/p>\n

But the biggest problem for all consultants is not defining the scope of a project fully before the project starts. Scope-creep occurs at large companies but is manageable.<\/p>\n

Clear expectations and delivery dates have to be agreed upon in writing at the onset, or you may find yourself in court. Understand clearly what the client wants, including quantifiable performance requirements. These could be ASTM, DIN or ISO tests and specifications, or internal tests provided by the client.<\/p>\n

And finally, most consultants are rarely 100% successful immediately. Networking and developing new skills takes time. On average, 100% engagement, or 2080 hours per year (if you wish to be that busy), takes 1.5-2.5 years to develop and cultivate. But it can be worth it to work for yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About 10 years ago, many large chemical companies parted ways with some highly\u00a0skilled and expensive employees in the economic downturn. Resource utilization was more highly scrutinized than at any time in history. Projects had to be low-risk, high-value and still … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":3430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1242],"class_list":{"0":"post-3412","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-paint-coatings","8":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nTools for Consultants - Starting Out, Sustainability and Profitability - Prospector Knowledge Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/3412\/pc-tools-for-consultants-starting-out-sustainability-and-profitability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tools for Consultants - Starting Out, Sustainability and Profitability - Prospector Knowledge Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"About 10 years ago, many large chemical companies parted ways with some highly\u00a0skilled and expensive employees in the economic downturn. 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In his career, he has formulated architectural, industrial, military and specialty coatings. He has also worked with and formulated adhesives, inks, and construction products and in general is a material science generalist. He has a keen interest in Sustainable and Bio-based paints, inks, adhesives and elastomers. He was a Developmental Scientist in the Advanced Materials group at Luna Labs 2004-2008, formulating military coatings and adhesives. Previously, he was at Dow Chemical (1999-2004) as the applications and development manager in Core R&D in the Coatings & Functional Polymers Group. He also managed the TS&D group for coatings while at Dow Chemical (1995-99) and held positions at Rhodia (Laboratory Manager, Latex & Specialty Polymers (1989-95)) and was the Development Chemist, exterior latex paints at Benjamin Moore & Co. (1979-89). Mr. Hirsch has served in a consultancy capacity as a Director with the ChemQuest group, (chemquest.com) June 2021-March 2025 at OmniTech (omnitechintl.com) (2015-2022) for soy-based adhesives and coatings, Daikin America (daikin-america.com) (2011-2015) fluoropolymers and materials, and also with organizations that provide formal mentoring (TORCH 2018-present), coaching and leadership training, as well as the facilitation of problem-solving teams. He has several granted patents, many patent applications and internal disclosures for trade secrets. Connect with Marc on LinkedIn...","sameAs":["https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/marchirsch\/"],"url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/author\/marc-hirsch\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":1242,"user_id":26,"is_guest":0,"slug":"marc-hirsch","display_name":"Marc Hirsch","avatar_url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/IMG_1016-scaled.jpg","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3412"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}