Unleashed - How To Thrive As An Independent Professional

Today's episode is a new feature here on Unleashed - a book recommendation. I really loved the recently published book: The Art of Noticing: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discovery Joy in the Everyday, by Rob Walker. Here is a link to Rob Walker's website page on the book: http://robwalker.net/noticing/ If you sign up for the Unleashed email at askunleashed.com, each week I’ll let you know about the latest episodes of the podcast, a book recommendation, and periodically, some amazing bonus materials.

Jennifer Hartz sent me the following question: "Will, I send out a newsletter via Mail Chimp about six times a year. I also publish these on my website. I figure I ought to put them on LinkedIn as well – do you have an opinion about whether I should make them LinkedIn articles or Posts? If they are posts, I'd need to be regularly active to address comments, right?" I love Jennifer's newsletter - you can sign up to receive it on her website: https://corporatehartz.com/ I mention Mark Williams's podcast LinkedInFormed: https://linkedinformed.com/ And here are how to update your LinkedIn settings to get an email when there is a comment on one of your posts or articles: https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/communications-controls/email/updates-about-you To receive the weekly Unleashed email, sign up at askunleashed.com    

A listener asked for advice on how to set fees, and here are my thoughts. In this episode I refer to, and strongly recommend, Chapter 22 of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom, by David A. Fields Visit askunleashed.com to sign up for the weekly Unleashed email - get a summary of each episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips.  

Our guest today is Steve Woodruff, also known as the King of Clarity. Steve is the author of Clarity Wins. He helps individuals and businesses discover their professional DNA, define their offerings, target their ideal clients, and articulate their differentiating message. You can learn more about Steve’s work at https://www.stevewoodruff.com/ Never miss an episode of Unleashed - sign up for our weekly email at askunleashed.com

Our guest today is David A. Fields, Umbrex member and the author of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom. In today’s episode, we discuss how to set up a CRM system for an individual consultant or boutique firm. A bit more than a year ago, I attended a training session that David led on this topic, and I set up my CRM system exactly that way he describes on this show. I’ve found the simple setup that David suggests incredibly useful, and I highly recommend it. While you can use his suggested setup with just about any program, I happen to use Pipedrive, which is the system that David uses and recommends to his clients.   David has a great blog that I highly recommend - check it out and subscribe at: https://www.davidafields.com/blog/  

Our guest today is Becca Braun, an innovator and writer whose longtime passion is capturing the voices of executives, entrepreneurs, and others in new and interesting ways. Becca is an alum of Harvard Business School and Harvard College, and the President of Braun Ink, a ghostwriting firm that writes action-packed executive biographies and memoirs. Learn more about Becca’s firm on their website, https://www.braunink.com/ To sign up for the weekly Unleashed email, visit askunleashed.com

Our guest today is David A. Fields, Umbrex member and the author of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom. David was my guest on the very first episode of Unleashed and it was great to have him back on the show. In today’s episode, we discuss how to make outbound calls to the people in your network. It is so much more comfortable to send an email. It can be awkward to just pick up the phone and make a call. David argues that picking up the phone is an incredibly effective means to reach out. And that it is much more comfortable if you have a plan for how you want the call to go, and that’s exactly what David offers in this episode. In our discussion, David mentions a script outline that he uses when making outbound calls – you can download a copy of that call outline for free on his website at https://davidafields.com/outreachscripts While you are there, you might want to get access to the full script bank that David has created, and if yo

Our guest today is Katrin Siebenbuerger Hacki, who runs a boutique healthcare consulting firm based on Switzerland. Katrin’s firm works with medical device, biotech, and other life sciences clients by providing marketing, sales, business developing, and funding services. You can learn more about her firm’s work on their website: http://www.medows.ch/ To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

Is your LinkedIn headline totally generic? Something like "Independent consultant" or "Freelance consultant"? This episode is about LinkedIn headlines that tell a story and capture the attention of potential clients. To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

This short episode is about the most powerful question for finding work - either a full time job or consulting projects. To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

Our guest today is Mark Minukas, an Umbrex member, McKinsey alum, and partner at the firm Co-Creation Partners. Mark studied engineering at the Naval Academy and spent six years in the Civil Engineer Corps in the U.S. Navy before McKinsey, where he developed expertise in lean operations. At Co-Creation Partners, he brings his hard-core engineering experience together with the deep cultural transformation expertise of his partner, Gaurav Bhatnagar. Combining their expertise, their firm helps clients improve operations through a close focus on cultural change, and Mark discusses that work on this episode. You can learn more about Mark’s work on the firm’s website: http://www.cocreationpartners.com/ To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

Our guest today is Nina Leffers, a McKinsey alum and partner in a boutique consulting firm Stahl Automotive Consulting. Nina’s firm works with auto companies around the world on developing the vision and key specifications for their future models, and in this episode she walks us through some examples of how her team works with clients to design the key aspects of cars we’ll see on the road five years from now. You can learn more about her work at http://www.sac-group.eu/ To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

The CEO might think that everyone in the organization is working on the CEO's top priorities.  It is worth checking that assumption. To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

Complex projects need something more sophisticated. But for simple projects, this simple set of three questions forms the basis for a robust weekly or monthly update: 1. Last month, what did we promise to do over the coming month? 2. What did we ACTUALLY get done over the past month? 3. What are we going to do over the next month? This short episode elaborates. To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

I regularly speak with an executive leaving a corporate role, or a consultant leaving a firm, who asks me if it is possible to do independent consulting while doing a search for the next full time role. My short answer is: not a good idea My longer answer is: this episode To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

Our guest today is Cyndi Freeman, who has 20 years of experience as a storyteller and 8 years of experience as a storytelling instructor.  At The Story Studio, she leads classes in storytelling for business, among other courses.  In this episode Cyndi shares some of her own stories and we discuss the key elements that every story ought to have. You can learn more – and register for upcoming courses – at https://thestorystudio.org/corporate/ To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com  

Our guest today is Afua Branoah Banful, an Umbrex member and McKinsey alum with a PhD in Economics from Harvard. We discuss the spreading adoption of tele-health and other transformational medical technology. To learn more about Afua (who goes by B.B.), visit her firms' website: http://soundhealthadvisory.com/ To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email that includes bonus features of summaries of the latest episodes, go to askunleashed.com  

The 70-30 squared rule says that when you are in an initial context discussion with a client, the client should do 70% of the talking, and you should do 30%. And of the time you spend talking, 70% of the time should be you asking questions, and 30% of your 30% should be you speaking declarative sentences. Visit askunleashed.com to sign up for the weekly Unleashed email - summaries of each episode and bonus features.

Time to make your April Fool's Resolution.  

A listener asked me if I recommend independent professionals get disability insurance, and this short episode is my response. Short answer: yes, I encourage independent professionals to get long term disability insurance. In this episode I discuss short term and long term disability insurance, six different aspects of coverage, and the process to expect to go through to obtain insurance. Links I mention in the episode: Show notes: https://www.policygenius.com/disability-insurance/#whatislongtermdisabilityinsurance https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/06/your-money/life-and-disability-insurance/06money.html You can sign up for the weekly Unleashed email (summary of each new episode, links to download full transcripts, other bonus features) at  askunleashed.com