Thousands of consultants across the country will gain an extra day’s pay in 2020. 

Why? 

2020 is a leap year; 366 days make up the calendar year rather than the usual 365. If you want to get really specific, this means 254 working days rather than the usual 253.

Consultants will charge for this extra working day while those in full-time employment will usually work the extra day without any additional financial benefit. 

But pay is just one reason to make the Leap into Consulting™ this leap year. Working as a consultant has many benefits. Here are just a few to consider: 

You can choose your projects:

Have you ever been pulled into a job by your manager that you really didn’t want to do, but had to because ‘it’s work’. Think again. As a consultant you can choose which jobs you wish to take on and - perhaps more importantly - which ones you don’t. Love organisational design? Choose projects focussing on this and go to work happy every day. Don’t enjoy recruitment? You’ll never have to look at a CV again. 

You can choose who you work for:

The choice of who you work for as a consultant is up to you. Entirely up to you. Your CV will become a running list of the people you have chosen to include, not those who have chosen you. So if you prefer working with smaller start-ups, you can dedicate your time to them. If you’re looking for big corporate names, you’ll rack up a few in no time at all. And the best thing? If you want to work with a combination of both, you absolutely can. 

 

You can design your work/life balance:

As a consultant, you get to choose who you want to work for - but you also get to choose when. Do you want to work Monday-Thursday only? Clock-off by 3PM? Take a month off in between jobs? All of this is possible. Yes, even the month off. You’ll decide which hours, days and even months you work. Whats more, even if you do decide to stick to the regular 9-5, Monday-Friday, you can still cut out that pesky commuting time and be finished up with work for the day well in time for dinner.

You’ll build your network: 

Working for a multitude of companies means working side-by-side with many different peers, VPs, board members and CEOs. Aside from the rounded experience this brings it also allows you to build a long, long list of professional contacts from varying specialities. What does this mean? It could mean someone to soundboard off next time you have a tough question from their niche. It will also likely mean a long list of full-time employees with your name on-hand next time they or their boss are looking for a consultant. We call that win win!

The growth opportunity:

Growth opportunities as a consultant come quicker and faster in terms of both experience, and pay. It works like this: consulting across many different companies means you’re not stuck doing the exact same job day in, day out. Its a fast-track to wider learning opportunity. You therefore have a far wider scope to learn and understand many different parts of a business and increase your specialist knowledge. This alone makes you incredibly valuable and sought out by businesses, which in turn comes with a higher pay check. 

Better compensation (including extra pay for overtime!):

It’s no secret that when a company is looking for a consultant to assist with a project, they’re willing to pay above and beyond market rate than that of a full-time employee. They need someone with specialist knowledge and that’s you, the consultant. You can also charge for an extra day’s work (hello, leap year!) and even more brilliantly - for overtime. If you’ve not yet made the Leap into Consulting™, have a think next time you’re stuck at the laptop past 6PM: you could be charging for this. You’ll never look at overtime the same way again. 

Freedom from office politics:

One major advantage of being a consultant is the freedom from office politics that you'll gain. Yes, you may have to deal with some of the day-to-day issues, but on the whole once you clock off from your working day, you’ll leave it behind. Even if not, you'll absolutely leave it behind once you move on to another project. And remember that month off we talked about. There’ll be no dealing with politics then! 

- Are you ready to make the Leap into Consulting™?

- Find out how we can help you make the leap this leap year.  

I have listened to many consultants that worry about the fall in client work throughout the summer months. For me this is something that you should only experience in your first year until you get your business model right. 

• What types of services and products can you offer during the summer months that will continue regardless of holidays?
• Do you offer Summer Specials to generate interest and cashflow opportunities?
• What is the balance between your products and services?
• What % of your income is from the internet?

I'm happy to talk - please don't feel alone with this stressful situation. I have been there and it requires a fresh approach!

Here's the link to my calendar - book in 20 minutes for us to get ideas and some quick wins.

https://calendly.com/sarahhg-ghr

It's all be quiet on here and there is a very good reason for this. I have been through a rapid transition both professionally and personally and have just come back to the UK after an amazing 3 week trip travelling from the UK to Corfu via France and the East Coast of Italy. Russell and I were inspired by Gino D'Acampo's The Italian Escape series.

I have a love of photopraphy so if you want to see the amazing places we wentt to please go to our blog on facebook: @livingthedreamcorfu

It was one of the most interesting journeys in a T5 VW van and latterly some quirky hotels. During the journey I wanted to test how easy it was to continue to work with clients remotely and on the whole this worked well.

So our social experiment is over and we are looking forward to seeing everyone next week at the Festival of Work at Olympia.

This week saw the launch in the New Forest of our 3 hour discovery events and what an inspiratonal group of delegates. We had a blend of HR, Learning & Development , Employee Relations, Employee Engagement, Award winning Nutrionalist, South Coast Influencer and a specilaist in the Defence Industry.

They all had one passion though, to grow their own businesses.

Thank  you all x

I'd like to share with you one of my secrets to success.

3 years ago I discovered Arbonne. An amazing range of Vegan, Gluten Free products that help with your nutrition to maximise your health and energy.

In addition to this the range of skincare and make up products not only make you look great but are all botanical and beneficial.

So if you lack energy, want to maximise your sporting performance or just want to look your best please take a look.

http://SarahHamiltonGill.arbonne.com/

and just call if you want to know anymore, I'm happy to talk !

This week has been full of coaching calls for HR Consultants. The key themes this week revolve around :

• How do I charge for my services ?
• Should I discount to get work?
• Is networking still the best way to get business?

Working out your "Why" and then your "What and How" are some of the first steps when setting up. Even before this though is to explore what your ideal work/life balance looks like.

We will be exploring all of these topics next week on our "Is Consulting Right for You" events . Still a few places left so it would be great to see you there.

More info on the events page.

Sarah :-)