Turning experience into value. What I want to convey in this note, and what I will not write
You have experience and a track record. Yet, you can't land any work?
You have qualifications, extensive professional experience, and a proven track record.
Yet, when you finally go independent, you can't land any work.
I have seen many experts
stumble in this state.
And I am witnessing many people
who are still stumbling here right now.
I truly think it is a waste
for hardworking people who pour so much time into studying
to be marking time there.
When I talk to them, they are all very smart,
and far more capable than I am.
Translating knowledge and experience into a 'form that customers can buy'
It has been nearly 10 years since I earned my qualifications.
I started my own business two years ago,
and my points of contact with a wide variety of people have increased.
In that process,
the answer I arrived at for the cause of this stumbling
is that what is lacking is not knowledge or experience.
The answer is that
the method of translating 'knowledge and experience' into a 'form that customers can buy' has not been built within themselves.
That is what I think it is.
I started this note
to leave behind the steps for that translation.
Toward value that customers choose
Information on independence and entrepreneurship
is overflowing in the world right now.
The more you read, the more you lose track of what is true
and what suits you.
At such times, we tend to reach for
either success stories or collections of know-how.
I am the same.
But this note I am about to write
is neither of those.
Experts turning their own experience
into value that customers choose.
I will write only about that one point.
What I 'write' and 'do not write' in this Note
In this article,
I will clarify what I want to convey and what I will intentionally not write.
By the time you finish reading,
I think you will be able to judge
whether it is worth continuing to read.
Why did I start this note?
I quit my job at 52 and started my own company.
As I wrote in my previous and second-to-last articles,
my decision to go independent, and my experience of being asked 'what can you do?'
outside of my qualifications and titles,
were by no means pretty.
My previous job was at a consulting firm.
I was there for about 20 years.
I hold SME Consultant and PMP qualifications,
and during my consulting days, I sometimes handled
projects worth hundreds of millions of yen.
I also spent six years as a side business
utilizing my SME Consultant qualification.
Therefore, I was arrogant enough to think that
I could manage on my own even if I went independent.
I understand because I stumbled too
To write honestly, I am the same in that I stumbled
in my independence while having abundant experience without being able to turn it into a 'form that customers can buy'.
Even with knowledge and experience, things don't go well.
I still think that it is particularly difficult for SME Consultants to go independent.
From the perspective of an entrepreneur,
it is hard to understand what they can do.
The unit price for public institutions is low,
but the time commitment is long.
If this continues,
you cannot escape from low-unit-price business.
As a result, many people cannot go independent and work as a side job.
They are trapped in a structural problem that leads to this cycle.
Why does that happen?
It is because
there are very few opportunities to be taught the method of
turning knowledge and experience into value and providing it to customers.
The place where this note stands
Therefore, I will leave the steps for that translation here.
The name is 'Practical Consulting Theory: Turning Experience into Value'.
I think SME Consultants should be able to go independent and earn more.
If stable income is visible, more consultants will go independent,
and they will be able to support more companies.
That is what I think.
SMEs account for 99% of all companies in Japan.
As long as the salaries of the people working here do not rise,
and the form where money is biased toward large company employees continues,
I think Japan's GDP will not rise
as long as this structure continues.
Therefore, the axis of this Note is
'Turning experience into value'.
I will serialize it along the following three thematic axes.
They may seem disjointed, but I will write them so that they are all connected
by a single thread of 'turning experience into value'.
Who this is for
Theme 1 | Entrepreneurship from your 50s
Target:
Those who have experience being independent but don't know what to offer as a product (of course, you don't have to be 50 years old).
What I will cover:
Taking stock of your experience to date, preparation for independence, decision-making criteria, etc.
Theme 2 | Practical consulting work in the field
Target:
Those who have knowledge but cannot apply it in the field.
What I will cover:
How to move toward winning a contract, initial actions after winning a contract, interviews, problem setting, how to create deliverables, and activities up to delivery.
Theme 3 | Acquiring projects and productization for professionals and consultants
Target:
People who have qualifications but cannot connect them to high-unit-price or recurring projects.
What I will cover:
Proposals, fee design, and designing ways to connect one-off jobs to ongoing support.
The entry point will be sharing my own
experience of starting a business at 52.
However, the core of this note lies in the
hard-to-find
"how to approach proposals, and what to do in the field after winning a contract".
I intend to pour my own consulting and
project management know-how and project experience
into this.
What I will not write about (this is my promise to the reader)
I believe that what I do not write about is just as important as what I do write about.
In this note, I will not cover the following.
Strategies for passing qualification exams.
There are already many excellent creators for exam preparation.
I will focus on those who are thinking about starting a business "after getting qualified.""Just take action" style motivational talk.
Nothing happens if you don't take action.
That is a fact, and courage is very important.
However, you cannot win projects with courage alone. I will write about reproducible procedures.AI articles that just introduce tools.
When you need all the help you can get after starting a business.
In this day and age, you cannot think without generative AI.
When I touch on AI, I will introduce it in the context of
"how to advance the practical work of experts"
that I have practiced myself and found useful.Techniques for increasing followers themselves.
I don't know how to do it myself, so I can't write about it.Polished success stories that omit failures.
There is more to learn from failure than from success.
Because I fail, I think about what to do next.
As a result, know-how has accumulated within me.
I will share this part.
I have no intention of irresponsibly pushing you to "become independent."
Because independence is not the right answer for everyone.
With that premise, I will only write about things that will ensure those who have decided to move forward can do so.
Role division with the series "The Reality of Starting a Business at 52"
I am writing another series, "The Reality of Starting a Business at 52," on my own website.
I would like to change the role slightly for this note.
It is the image in the figure below.
On nights when you feel like giving up,
read the "The Reality of Starting a Business at 52" series.
On mornings when you want a next move, read this note.
I hope to create such a structure.
If you want to touch on the raw records of your first year of business,
please see the series "The Reality of Starting a Business at 52."
https://nxrise.com/archives/category/column/the-reality-of-starting-a-business-at-52
What I will uphold here
Finally,
I will make a promise regarding my stance as a writer.
What I write is based on my experience as a consultant
and as an entrepreneur,
crawling forward yesterday and today.
Also, I am only in my third year of running a business.
Therefore,
I will write about things I have actually done, stumbled over, and recovered from.
That is the kind of content I will include.
I will not write about things I have only heard from third parties
or content that is already written in other articles
as is.
Rather than lining up smart know-how,
"There is also this way of doing things" I value presenting options
that are down-to-earth and realistic, even if they are plain.
And when I touch upon past cases,
I will limit it to the level of industry and scale,
and will never write in a way that identifies individual companies.
This is because these practical theories exist only thanks to those who entrust me with their trust.
Summary
This note is a referenceable practical record for those who want to turn their experience into value.
It is not a success story or a discussion of spirit,
but I will write about ways of thinking, methods, and procedures that can be used starting tomorrow,
including my failures.
If you find value in this kind of note,
I would be very happy.
And I would like to connect with people who share the same aspirations.
If you are interested, please follow me. And thank you very much for reading this long text to the end.
#EntrepreneurshipInYour50s #Entrepreneurship #Career #SelfIntroduction #Consultant #SMEManagementConsultant