I've been out on my own for almost 5 years now. The first two years or so of consulting were spent finding my feet. The basics of figuring out what my approach was, how to talk about it, how to find clients and so on.
But more recently I've spent the last few years trying to deepen my understanding of
*how to be an independent consultant*.
In the course of this introspection and research I uncovered a critical flaw in the way I approach consulting. It's all about frameworks. They're highly effective tools but for too long I've been trying to bring off-the-shelf frameworks to client work and failing.
Instead I realized that I need to roll my own..
Here's my 5,000 word exploration of my own failures, theory of frameworks and 4 case studies from my own work:
How (and why) to roll your own frameworks in consulting engagements
For those new to this tinyletter (hi! thanks for subscribing!) this is part of an ongoing series of writings that will hopefully turn into a book-ish object later this year, working title:
The Strategic Independent.
What do you think? I'd love to hear your experience with consulting, independent work, frameworks, co-creating mental models with clients and doodling. Leave a comment on the post or hit reply here!
(Aside: if you identify as an independent consultant you should really check out Art of Gig - it's a newsletter from Venkatesh Rao of Ribbonfarm fame all about consulting and it's delightful. $5 / month and worth every penny.)
In other (blog) news
Here's what else has been going on in the feeds:
