Pursuing professional independence pt 2 - Establish life conditions

I will currently not take on very much risk in pursuit of my target. It sounds defensive, let’s explore why.

I established my target in part one of this series: become an independent advisory consultant of operational risk modelling and quantification.

That post ended on the notion of “risk profile”. I will spend 5 lines establishing what this is:

How much cost are you willing/able to incur in pursuit of your objective?

In reverse order:

• Objective: The desired place, state or circumstances not currently materialized.
• Pursuit: The direction and speed from my current place/state.
• Cost: Inconveniences, monetary losses, lost opportunities, and reduced income or comforts.

When unsure about the right strategy or risk profile it can be useful to set up an extreme binary. In my case it would look like this:

Neither profile is viable (as ‘extreme’ rarely is). Let’s take stock of my current situation to see what costs I’m willing and able to take on:

My goals are not only professional and I have similar life obligations to other people my age: I have a family and a house that entail chores and logistics. I like to spend quality time and vacation with my young kids and my wife. I need sleep and meals. I try to maintain a basic level of health and fitness. I try to contribute to the local community as a peewee football coach. And I try to maintain relationships with old and new friends. Bankrolling is non-negotiable for some of these items.

I’m not willing to take risk on behalf of my family. I’m also not in a hurry. I can play the long game and see what opportunities pop up along the way.

So a risk profile towards the right on the spectrum is the most appropriate. With that in mind, I can start mapping out practical tactics:

1. I could find long-term T&M commitments directly or via agencies. This is likely a short route, but feels like employment “with extra steps”.
2. I could build products that enable a monthly recurring revenue or licensing business model. Potentially huge upside but time constraints could extend the horizon beyond visibility.
3. I could buy back time from my employer and spend the time to build towards smaller wins. This could be a stepwise route to viable engagements without risking all income at once.

You alone are afforded 8 extra hours each week. How would you spend it?

Well obviously work!

Tactic: Buy back one day
20% of salary for one guaranteed day a week, spent generating demand for paid projects. The other four keep household essentials covered. Importantly: It can be reversed if my conditions or target changes.

Pros:

• Dedicated independent time with minimal strain on family, sleep and friends.
• Steady traction with building proof of and demonstrating competences.
• I can take on smaller projects with short notice and bigger projects with medium notice.

Cons:

• I defer corporate career opportunities.
• I take a guaranteed pay cut.
• I may miss opportunities that require a big short-term engagement.

So this is a somewhat defensive tactic, even if I take an upfront pay cut. But I believe this tactic is the most likely to get me to my target from where I am without exposing me to too much risk along the way.

In the third and final part of this series, I’ll outline what offerings I’ll develop that will both generate leads and revenue (what the business will be).

Follow me on LinkedIn to catch future posts. Or view my offerings on scopusrisk.com.

PS. Two shoutouts are in order at this point:

1. My former boss Rasmus Broeng Jørgensen for bringing me on as a 1-day/week consultant on several projects, which made the transition effectively risk-free.
2. Justin Welsh for bringing along the idea of gradual transition to independence.