Are you a consultant who workshifts between your home office, the library resource center and the orthodontist waiting room? Afraid you might flub an important detail or miss a deadline because your day is consumed by work for 2 or more (distinctly different) clients? Then this article's for you.

Tips for managing concurrent client programs

1. Maintain separate writing tablets or Moleskines - Wherever it is you like to jot down meeting notes and to-do lists (many of us still prefer old-school paper), it helps to keep things for Client A separate from Client B. When you maintain separate hard copy "bibles," you prevent taking a bunch of notes about your financial management client in the middle of the notes reserved for your software start-up client.
   
   
2. Designate one color Post-it pad for each client - Lower your eyebrow, pal - colors are valid organizational criteria. I love little punches of color, even with mundane things like office supplies. Second, I like the way I can easily scan the frame of my monitor (my favorite stickum surface) for orange slips when I need a WordPress logon for Client A and for blue slips when I want the call-in numbers associated with Client B. As a visual learner, the color theme is processed more efficiently in my head than regular handwriting. 
   
   
3. Separate file folders in different colors - This might go without saying, but file folders can really help compartmentalize all the project trappings. I like to jot client phone numbers and email addresses on the outside of the folders - you never know when you might need to go Betamax because your system or cell phone is on the fritz!
   
   
4. Separate online calendars - I use Gmail calendars for personal appointments and, along with Tungle, for work-related meetings and due dates. While the central Gmail calendar keeps me in tune with each day's agenda, I use the "copy to [additional] calendar" function to single out appointments associated with individual clients. When needed, I can zip up an account of the time spent on calls or in meetings within each calendar as either backup to an invoice or as part of an assignment's progress report. There's no need to look things up and then manually create another document if a question arises. The calendar layout also helps add visual context to each client touchpoint (often triggering memories of billable time spent together).
   
   
5. Use the Pomodoro Technique to allocate time well - It's all too easy to let time slip away from you when engrossed in research for a project. Before you know it, it's 3:30 PM, and you still have tasks due for another client. Consider using the Pomodoro Technique to avoid sinking too much of your days' time into single tasks related to just one client.
   
   
6. Use Dropbox to centralize documents - Dropbox is a service I simply adore for its simplicity and ease of use. It allows me to work with clients and subcontractors to share files via the cloud for fast collaboration with version control. It's also a great way to deliver large finished projects without fussing over thumb drives or CDs.
   
   
7. Refer to your accounting software often - When you're running your own business, a couple of things can happen. You may enjoy the actual client work but despise the operations and administration side (avoidance is not a good management technique). Don't let your aversion to the "business" side of business keep you from looking at P&L statements. Quarterly tax payment mandatories aside, you should check things monthly to ensure that values are aligned: you're charging appropriately for your work , and remittance is being made in a timely fashion. If not, consider revisiting your terms and fee schedule for problematic or slow-to-pay clients. For me, Freshbooks makes this easy.

Working on concurrently running programs for separate clients demands your different skills and talents - bring variety to your day (possibly one of the very reasons you went out on your own, eh?). With deliberate organization and careful planning, workshifters can be their own boss, achieve their ideal work/family balance and deliver top-notch results to clients.

How do you manage your client workload?

Photo Credit: ideali

People that work for themselves know their time is valuable. If they've a head for business, they know precisely what an hour of their time is worth, and their monthly revenue objectives. Really good businesspeople even know how much developmental or non-revenue-generating work they can take on each month or quarter before the law of diminishing returns takes over and risk sets in. The line between "income now" and "potential income later" can be a narrow one. So what type of client opportunity should you think twice about?

The Carrot and the Stick

It can be a tough lesson, especially in the early days of business, to learn the difference between clients that just want a job done, and clients interested in your expertise. Maybe you can nudge a few in the former category into the latter category, but at what cost? Will you have to reduce your rate or submit a reduced estimate to get the client to approve the new scope? Change your terms? Knock off a few features (perhaps prudent now, but may lead to remorse later)?

Sometimes you can reap rewards from giving - investing - concierge-level service and bestowing add-ons to clients, the type that favor such consultants with repeat business or a referral. Other times your hard work and diminished profits become a pawn in the game. Any derivative of "If you can give us xxx at a discount this time, I'll have a case for sending you more work" should prompt you to stand, shake hands, and excuse yourself from the meeting, pronto.

"Just Get It Done" Clients

This tire-kicker type is often price-sensitive - possibly for the sole purpose of wielding control. He may or may not have been burned by a freelancer previously (real or imagined injustice). He has trouble seeing beyond the top layer of a problem and, frankly, has little interest in your cautions about the framework underlying the project or ancillary issues. He usually wants things done his way: quickly, cheaply, and with little disruption to his personal schedule. This type of client likes boxes checked rather than real solutions.

Pay special attention to any of these behaviors:

• Difficulty meeting by phone to go over your questions
• Incomplete or nonexistent project brief
• Email replies that lack substance (did he even read your questions?)
• Ridiculous timelines (surely they knew they were set to launch a new product before now?)
• The "Hot Handoff", i.e., "We had someone helping us but we fired them because..."
• Initial inquiries that begin with "How much would it cost us to...?"

If you have some extra time on your hands or think you can piece together enough information from this guy to do a quality job that A) won't become a time suck and B) won't bite you later, then these clients could boost bottom-line monthly revenues. You just suffer a little metaphorical blood loss in the process.

Next time we'll look at dreamy "What Do You Think?" type clients, the ones that, regardless of their size and income statement, look for fresh ideas and value-learned opinions, even from little old you.

Meanwhile, keep your antennae up and listen to your instincts.

Photo Credit jkunz

Listen up, consultants and solopreneurs. It's time you learned to carefully, thoughtfully say No.

That's right. In this economy, when the cost of gas is up and hourly rates are down and the check isn't quite in the mail as promised, you need to learn to say No.

On the cheap

Erika Napoletano (aka Readhead Writing) covered part of my meaning in her recent post about the C-word. She addresses the stunning paradox between the less tangible soft services those of us in the communications/web space provide and the more concrete services delivered by a surgeon or dentist. And while we'll moan from the anesthesia and the bill, we won't quibble with the doc. His bill is his bill, and we know darn well we have to pay it (after all, we went to the best guy we could afford - who do you want working on your body, eh?).

So why the heck do prospective clients quibble with our proposals or say things like, "That shouldn't take long, right? You can still do it within your allotted hours." Sure shooting they don't say to the surgeon "You can do a little nip/tuck while you're in there, can't you?"

Who's zooming who?

Someone in the SoloPR LinkedIn group started a thread the other day about a client of hers pushing boundaries in just this manner. Seeking the advice of fellow solo practitioners, the consultant described a situation where her client keeps asking for more and more work but is closed-minded to adjusting the monthly retainer to accommodate the additional tasks. In fact, the client takes umbrage at the idea, despite the pro's meticulous itemization of tasks and requisite hours. The edge of the sword - the client remits payment on time, and for this the consultant is grateful, making her reluctant to push the issue to square up scope with compensation.

What kind of situation are we in when we can't present a well-considered case to a client? Especially, as with the case with this consultant, a client of 2 years? A bedrock of trust and respect should be poured by that time. Furthermore, where does gratitude enter the equation with timely payment? For services rendered throughout the month, isn't timely payment a fair shake? If there are questions, shouldn't it be on an item level rather than a broad stroke shortchanging of time requirements?

Enough already

Say it with me, kids. No.

No to the price-minded, unless you're ready to let that price become your standard rate for that client and those they may refer to you. I'm not suggesting that you leave good judgment at the door or practice price gouging - on the contrary. Just be aware that if you discount your hourly rate by 15% to land the project, it could be very difficult to get the client to see you as worthy of full price, no matter what the results are.

No to the manipulative, assuming narcissists who may draw you in with a seemingly defined project, to then put you through your paces with add-ons and extra stipulations (and drama!) while denying you a fair right to re-estimation. These are usually the ones that offer up assurances of repeat business right off the bat, at first handshake. The carrot before the stick. Only their kind of business will end up costing you time you can't recoup and keep you running like a hamster on a wheel.

Keep your dignity and sanity when you smell this type of situation brewing. Some opportunities are worth the risk in order to gain exposure to a new pool of prospects, nab a portfolio-worthy piece, or fill in gaps between assignments. Other opportunities are just plain risk with no reward.

Photo Credit: AshtonPal

I have a sometimes problem. It has to do with "soft" deadlines and medium-level priorities.

Now I never miss a milestone or a "hard" due date for a project that actually matters to someone other than myself. Interviews? Check. Drafts and finals? Check. Launch dates? Check. After practice pick-up? Check. My problem, it seems, is my inability to consistently keep a commitment to myself. I do just fine with other people. What's up with that?

Take my business blog, for example. I'm good about keeping a list of possible titles and links to resources I might want to reference. I even accepted that a twice weekly posting schedule is the frequency I can reasonably commit to. I also know that time is money, and striking a balance between keeping my blog fresh (which is undoubtedly good for business development) and doing hands-on work for clients (the ones paying me now) is imperative. And yet I think I spent about 4 hours on a single post yesterday. Sigh.

It wasn't 4 straight, uninterrupted hours. "Uninterrupted" went out of my vocabulary 14 years ago with the arrival of my first child; by my estimation I have another 13 years before the word gets reintroduced. That is, assuming my youngest takes flight at age 18.

So I had better get this "soft deadline" thing worked out, eh?

Recently I stumbled across something called the Pomodoro Technique. Heard of it? It's supposed to be a life-altering approach to time management that "eliminates the anxiety of time" and "enhances focus and concentration." Raise your hands, folks. I *know* I'm not the only one who gets anxious over time. Where it goes, how much I have left, whether it was billable, what I missed when I used it for X instead of for Y, how much of it the other things on my list will take, ad nauseum. My color-coded task list doesn't actually get the work done; it just helps me feel better about being organized. But I've found, after 18 years in the work force, that being organized just isn't enough to get me to buckle down and muster through my own personal, heaping task list. It just sits at the corner of my desk and mocks me.

Pomodoro is based on the theory of time-boxing. Time-boxing is a fixed time constraint. The goal is to steadily increase efficiencies by decreasing the units of time needed to complete a task.

The general idea:

1. Plan your day's tasks. Not a full week's worth of stuff, but just for today.
2. Choose one task.
3. Give yourself a hard 25 minutes to work on it. Set a timer.
4. Work on the task. When time's up, put a check mark next to the task.
5. Take a 5-minute break. Stretch, check email, send a tweet, etc.
6. Repeat steps 3-5. When complete, start back on step 2 and repeat.
7. Every four pomodoros (increments of 25-min work), take a longer break. Assess your progress. Assemble your thoughts on what's needed to complete the open tasks.
8. At the end of the day, add up your pomodoros. With a few days under your belt, you should start to see some patterns emerge.

I think this approach could be a little tough to manage at first. Reading through the guide, it discusses those pesky little "internal interruptions" we all have - a quick call, a short email, a fly-by to see what's up on Twitter. We allow ourselves these little excuses and distractions because they don't seem to amount to much. But the reality is, when you add them all up, several hours of each day just evaporate because one interruption or distraction leads to two... and by then, it's almost time for lunch so maybe you should just go early.

Anyone up for giving Pomodoro a try? I'd be willing to try it if I had a partner, someone to bounce the experience off of. Let me know by pinging me on Twitter, @heatherrast.

Photo Credit: RLHyde

The end of the week can be a great time, can't it? It usually bubbles up with a feeling of mild euphoria. You swiped one or two big items off your list and squelched several unexpected fires (with style and grace). Work is done and you can officially walk away from the laptop for the better part of two days...ahhh. Haul out the sock monkey slippers, drag out the ice cream.

Not so fast. There may be a glitch in that formula if you're a workshifter. Particularly if you're self-employed.

If the nature of your work requires consistent, daily attention and action, it can wear on you. Emails, bug fixes, a post or some research. We all need a chance turn our work brain off, and bed time doesn't count. Sleep is an autonomic response. Besides, I've lost hours of sleep lying in bed thinking about work. I'm talking about having the opportunity to willfully, deliberately power down, made more satisfying because you can join friends and family when they kick back. For some workshifters, traditional hours and norms are a lost language.

The Conflict

My kids are heavily involved in several sports so we've been traveling a lot each weekend for months. My thoughts are with my kids and on their games, but there's a very practical side to attending their events, too. I have to work longer hours during the week to take care of what would otherwise be done over the weekend. Or I have to tote my laptop and work during pockets of time in the car, between games, when the other parents are hanging out during pool time.

Neither feels like a great option. I already work long hours so tacking on more each day makes me more tired and possibly less productive. Working during wedged-in time pockets on the road may sound efficient, but it can be hard to pound out a report with interruptions and distractions. Remember I'm talking about working within the vicinity of kids, games, gymnasiums and swim floaties.

Little Green Monster

If I sound like I'm a little envious of some of the boundaries "traditional" professionals enjoy, maybe I am. After all, I have to make the tough calls. This is my business. I don't have any teammates to pick up my slack or serve as buffer to clients who (rightly) expect their deliverables. Rolling deadlines really don't apply.

So I've felt a few of these envy pangs lately. Some 'me' time would be really nice. And then one afternoon I was suddenly struck with a great realization. It hit me while taking my son to hockey practice at 4pm.

I could actually take my son to hockey practice at 4pm.

Cue The Sunbeams And Chorus

I didn't have to take vacation time. I didn't work myself up into a lather just getting to the boss's office to make the request. Every Wednesday, I can just take him, no questions asked. No eyebrows raised by childless, snarky coworkers who think they're disadvantaged.

You know what else? I can take my daughter to the orthodontist and to get her hair cut on a Thursday morning. Or meet a friend for lunch without glancing at my watch 8 times in 50 minutes. What I've come to realize is I made some tradeoffs. I didn't lose my weekend, it just took a different, non-traditional shape.

Sure, being a salaried employee has its real, tangible benefits. If you're sick a day, you probably still get paid. Someone else helps contribute to your retirement. Someone else worries about ergonomics and the lifespan of a laptop. Someone else might even pay for some sweet training.

Workshifting Is A Lifestyle, Not A Job

But being salaried also comes with some strings, strings I had no hand in making. The question is, are you the kind of person who can operate with those strings tacked on? Maybe they give you some freedom from certain pressures. For someone else, the strings might be too binding.

Today when 7:23pm rolls around, if I'm still in front of my computer while my family is arguing over which Netflix movie they want to watch, I'm going to remind myself of my tradeoffs.

I chose to clip those strings. And all in all, it feels pretty good.

Photo Credit: Marc van der Chijs

By nature, workshifters need to have flexible solutions to suit their "work anywhere" style. Here are three tools I use to stay on top of projects and be efficient with every keystroke - at my desk, on the bleachers, or in the library.

Tom's Planner: Visualize Project Planning

Tom's Planner is web-based project planning software which produces Gantt-style charts. Schedule tasks, organize timelines and assign resources. Groups categorize tasks into functional areas, and a status field establishes stage of completion or to-do notes. Tom's Planner lets you create charts and save them to the cloud for access from any computer. You can also save a copy to your local hard drive as an image or a PDF. Collaborate and share with team members by distributing access privileges.

Pros

• Free (for one schedule) to low cost (20 schedules)
• Much easier and more intuitive than Microsoft Project 
• Rapid deployment - get projects rolling quickly 
• No installation necessary (a great work-around if your IT department is rigid)

Cons

• Would be more useful if it had the ability to create subsets of tasks 
• Lacks customization of color palette or the ability to add texture (would help with a large project) 
• Icon options are pretty limited 
• Opens in a new browser window, cluttering up the desk tray

Evernote : Remember Things

Evernote is a clever way to digitally capture, categorize, and save everything. Save a voice memo or text note (the weekly deals from your favorite dining spots). Save a photo of a friend or a copy of a receipt for your expense report. Clip part of an online article to jump-start your next blog post. Evernote lets you save all of that important stuff up to your cloud account for access from any computer or mobile device.

What makes Evernote super-usable is the indexation and searchability. That photo of your receipt from Panera contained text, right? Well that text - "Panera," and anything else in print - are searchable! Add tags to give saved items further meaning and organize all your stuff into stacks.

For example, if you offer freelance writing services you could have a "stack" of Evernotes for each client. Within each of those stacks you could have receipts tagged with specific project ID numbers or meeting dates.

Pros

• Printed and handwritten text within images is completely searchable 
• Free, up to 60 MB per month storage 
• Synch across all platforms

Cons

• You have to just try it to "get it" (kind of like Twitter)
•  The free version has promos/ads (not a real big deal, though)

Dropbox: Cloud File Storage

Pros

• Synch all files online 
•  Access stored files from multiple computers and mobile devices 
• Collaborate through file sharing privileges 
• There are safeguards in place if a connection gets dropped

Cons

• The synching isn't instant, although it's pretty close

There you have them, three of my favorite productivity tools. What are your favorites, and why?

Photo Credit: smemon87

When you first started your business, you were likely overcome by the vast pool of opportunity that lay in front of you.

Set my own hours! Wear suggestive or polarizing t-shirts to work! Refuse stupid projects! Name my own salary! Stink up the place with microwave popcorn!

And probably a few more serious benefits as well.

Opportunity does exist in the world of small business, often in the way of small wins and new introductions that might lead to something, someday. But rarely does opportunity just present itself in full fashion. "Here I am," Opportunity said sweetly, "Yours for the picking." That rarely happens. So you have to learn to see all your individual efforts and attempts as building blocks that lead to something incrementally more substantial. Your time is money, so spend it well. Make sure it takes you somewhere you want to go.

From the realm of Viability to the land of Won

Owning a small business, especially in the beginning, is about toiling. It's about digging through the crusty mantle layer in search of the promise that lay underneath: a sustainable client base. To achieve this you likely network and blog, attend Twitter chats and scour connections on LinkedIn for prospecting. You may submit RFPs until you're seeing XYZ's and tire of the "Everything is great" smile frozen on your face at industry functions (where you network some more). You'll do anything to wrench a lead from the realm of Viability and lob it into the land of Won.

That feeling when you win? Yeah, it's awesome. Break out the champagne! Boy, those are smart folks over there at Acme Company. Good people, they are.

But here's the thing, they say. Your work samples are good. We want stuff like that, but on more generic topics. With fewer words. We'll need a draft and links to support material a week before your publication date, just to make sure we like the direction. We'll need editorial control of the final product, so expect rewrites. Sorry, no byline. We'll pay our standard rate. Submit an invoice at the end of the month you produce the work, and we'll pay net 30 days. This is gonna be great!

Pffffzzzt. That's the sound of your balloon popping. Not feeling so hunky-dory with this win right now.

This is one of those times an opportunity may not be an opportunity after all. As a small business owner, you have tough choices to make when deciding what type of business best fits your business.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• What were your expectations for the project? How could you have communicated them more clearly, before things got this far? Were there questions you didn't think to ask?
  
  
• Strip away your immediate reaction. Re-think how the parameters really affect your work schedule and budget. Beyond those logistic pieces, does producing Acme's kind of work fit with your vision or values?
  
  
• What will you net if you accept? Literally speaking, after taxes and factoring in a conservative estimate of your time and resources, will you net a figure that's worth your effort? In the figurative sense, will the project provide you with anything of value like a reference, a referral (of the caliber you desire)? What about a good portfolio sample or access to a swanky parent brand?
  
  
• What do you stand to lose? Chalk up some (clearly not a lot) unrealized revenue potential. But what would have been the cost of that opportunity? Time missed with your family during a crazy season of youth sports? Personal dissatisfaction or resentment because you feel trapped? Time better invested in perfecting your craft or prospecting elsewhere? More projects down the road?

The decision to say "No, thank you." or "Those aren't my usual terms, but I accept them." is yours. There's no guidebook, and the resident mentor is out on vacation.

What will you do when you uncover opportunity?

Photo Credit: Guerrilla Futures | Jason Tester

Recently I read an interview with someone from an internet marketing firm. One of the questions asked of this person was about how she managed to accomplish all she did each day. It seems she is a prodigious writer, is active in social media, and services clients without missing a beat. Plus she maintains a personal life, something I only have a distant relationship with. Her explanation involved Parkinsons' law, and how she incorporates it into a mindset which leads her to ruthlessly schedule work time and organize her day.

Time Management Superstardom

An organization nut myself, I naturally did a quick search to find out more about this Parkinson fellow. If he had good tips I hadn't yet tried, I wanted to know about them. I already color-code my To Do lists and place reminders in Outlook to trigger certain tasks and appointments, but hey, I figured there had to be someone more put together than me. Maybe Parkinson was that guy. I wanted his secret powers.

It turns out Parkinson didn't offer special tips so much as he had a theory. Originally prefaced on bureaucratic waste and bloat, his idea centers on how ineffective most of us are at using our resources. The most precious resource work shifters and the self-employed have is time, and this guy basically said we don't manage it well.

The Letter of the Law

The gist of the theory is "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." It was true in 1955 when Cyril Parkinson wrote a semi-scientific paper about his observations; is it still true today, with all of the gadgets and apps we have? Aren't we consummate multi-taskers?

Think about it. Let's assume you have one active To Do list, the one with things that have to get taken care of imminently. It's neatly written on lined paper in a bound notebook or in Tom's Planner (not on a Post-it note) so you mean business, right? The items on your list may range from things you know you have to do today to things due a few days out. They're a mixture of stuff you feel OK about (like creating a project estimate) and stuff you'd rather not (like getting new insurance quotes). You may even have a separate semi-soft To Do list, one listing things you'd like to squeeze in, if ever the stars in the universe align.

Distractions, Distractions

How do you go about tackling your lists? Do you consciously mix in things like status updates and Google Reader between tasks? Is LinkedIn Q&A an actual item on your list under a "Networking" heading? How many times do other things (Twitter time suck) pop up? Creep in? Do you ever look down at your still-long list at the end of the day and wonder where the last hour went?

It's Not Me, It's You

Often times, several (or more) of the less interesting items "roll over" to the next weeks' list. We'll get to them soon, right? This week just got away from us. Uh, no. Parkinson advocates say the problem is you, and your inability to hold yourself accountable with boundaries.

No More Failing Your To-Do List!

I decided to try the theory out myself. Last week, instead of simply surfing my way through my active To Do list, each night I created a mini-list for the next day. I used the mini-list to itemize specific tasks I planned to do along with respective time allotments for each. An hour for this, fifteen minutes for that. I found out a couple of things by mapping the tasks which needed doing to the hours I knew I had available:

1. I still can't mind-meld time to stretch farther than it does. Time is fixed.
   
   
2. I spent more time on certain things than I ever would have guessed. Need to adjust mental note or risk continually shortchanging myself.
   
   
3. Sometimes we just need no choices. When I put "Get new insurance quotes" next to a time slot, I really had no option but to just do it. I had completed the prior task and it wasn't time yet to do what came next. I was out of excuses.
   
   
4. Time is money. By selectively ignoring annoying yet important tasks like getting new insurance, I was not only letting some of my hard-earned cash fly out the window (due to high premiums), I was wasting my own time and mental energy transferring the item to new lists and thinking about it each week. For six whole months.

This approach may sound a little rigid to some of you. I'll agree that unless you build in, say, 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon for the unexpected, you just may overschedule yourself. We can't anticipate everything, and some things just have to be taken care of when they come up. Flexibility will be important, so long as it doesn't become a crutch.

Just Do It

Overall, I think the benefits of following Parkinsons Law outweigh any negative factors. I can't say I'm committed to scheduling every minute of my work, Monday through Friday 7am to 5pm from here to eternity. But I really do want to get more control over what gets accomplished. It's not enough to remember or make note of what needs doing. It actually has to get done.

Must run. I'm officially 8 minutes behind schedule.

Photo Credit : Ani-Bee

"Hi. My name is Heather. I'm a marketing consultant, and I'm self-employed."

You're familiar with the scene, the one with anxious-looking people sitting in chairs cast in a circle. They each take turns introducing themselves, then follow with the statement that balances any socio-economic inequity and forces attention on the common thread tying them all together. Each person's individual story will vary - how they came to be in the room - but the fact remains, they all need support and an outlet in order to be successful.

I have the support of a great tribe of people, and my work is both my creative outlet and my means of earning a living.

But I'm new to self-employment. As in, still-rubbing-grit-out-of-my-eyes type new. I may be a veteran in my field - 18 years now - but am a rookie at running the entire show myself. All the talent and skills in the world won't help me if I can't establish an operational foundation and a recursive loop of lead development.

So what does one do when they need to hit the ground running? When they have the skills but are lost in a new environment? They call on their network, of course.

Everyone has a network of friends and acquaintances, previous co-workers and friends-of-a-friend and even family. When you're shingle is so new it shines, it's crucial to tap into the tribe of who you know to find out what you need to learn. And there's sure to be a lot to learn.

The Trailblazer

One of the first things I did was have lunch with someone who's "been there, done that." This good friend leads an agency of 10 since striking out on her own 5 years ago, shirking the protective cloak provided by a larger, well-steeped institution. She passed along valuable nuggets of advice about finding the right sized CPA firm and how to handle the client who haggles. Her experiences will be invaluable, saving me both time and potential missteps.

The Inside Man

I spent an hour with a well-connected friend, one who recruits talent and advises businesses on training issues. She helped me learn a bit about the mindset of businesses today to help formulate my approach to fresh prospects. She also passed along the contact info for a great resource at the local small business development center. It seems the center has the means to support entrepreneurs like me get set up with an attorney at little to no cost.

The Coach

For a few years, I've had the privilege of meeting with a fantastic professional coach in an on-again, off-again fashion. She's counseled me through some challenging interpersonal issues and helped me learn more about myself through some strengths testing. It can be difficult to explain the benefits a coach can offer because in many ways they're intangible until the individual begins to apply the lessons and practice them each day. Trust me when I say that an objective, professional opinion and advice will be the best money you ever spend provided you're committed to learning how to be the best you can be.

The Posse

Ahhh, the people who love you. Like a cup of hot chocolate, there's comfort in reconnecting with those who want to see you succeed. In my group, there's a designer and photographer, some web developers, copywriters, and an SEO or two. I've found that they're each happy to pitch in their talents to see that I have nicely designed collateral, a few custom hacks to my web site, and more. I'm conscientious of the time they spend and try to give very clear requests at the start to minimize any revisions. Also, I'm trying to feed paying freelance work their way to help offset the time they spend on my own stuff.

These and many more generous, talented people are helping me navigate the early stages of entrepreneurship, for which I'm very thankful. What types would you add to the list? The Voice Of Reason, The Cheerleader, The Little Engine? Let us know who you'd add and why.

Photo Credit: jimmediaart