The New Consultant's Quick Start Guide

10Surviving the First Year

In this chapter you will

• Identify a plan to take care of your mental and physical health
• Establish a plan to manage your time
• Establish good habits for managing a business
• Establish a plan to balance your life
• Develop a personal ethics statement for operating your business

Take Care of Your Health

Many people I meet think of consulting as an exciting, high-powered career: flying from coast to coast, meeting with publishers in San Francisco and executives in New York City, staying at the Madison in Washington, D.C., or the Ritz Carlton in Dallas, eating at a coffee shop in Seattle. I am paid well, dress well, land large contracts, and hobnob with the influential. But that’s only the first layer.

My friends know what my life is really like: up at 4:00 a.m. to catch a flight for a noon meeting, spending six hours in an airport because of delayed flights, canceling dinner plans, and finally arriving home at midnight. It is also about eating poorly prepared restaurant food, writing proposals until the wee hours of the morning, and losing a contract due to a technicality. Most of all, it is about long hours.

You do have the freedom to set your own schedule—but often those hours are long. You will make enough money to eat well. And it will take a concerted effort to do so when you’re on the road.

We’ve touched on taking care of your health in Chapters Two and Seven. That demonstrates the importance. You can’t be a good entrepreneur and consultant if ...