Consultant Journal and Raul’s life as a consultant. Sponsored post by Andrea Coutu

Disclosure – This post has been sponsored by Andrea Coutu as part of my campaign to raise funds for the BC Cancer Foundation. Blogathon is a charitable event and no monies ever come to my hands. The donation goes directly to the BC Cancer Foundation. Thank you to Andrea for her generous contribution to my Blogathon.

Credit: bPedro

If I had a dollar for every time I have been told that consulting is easy and two dollars for every time I have seen supposed-to-be “expert consultants” screw up entire projects, I would be retired and living in the Cayman Islands. Seriously. I have conducted research, teaching and consulting for the past 10 years in the fields of public policy, environmental policy, urban sustainability, transnational environmental movements and water governance. I have advised companies on environmental auditing, ISO 14001, cleaner production processes, etc.

Credit: Matthew Burpee

Yet, EVERY SINGLE TIME I find myself wanting to produce much better work, polish my abilities, and become a better consultant. I wondered for a long while whether I would be able to find someone who would coach me and guide me through the process of becoming a better consultant. Enter Andrea Coutu’s site, Consultant Journal. I learned about Andrea (and this may be a surprise to her) even before we followed each other on Twitter, because she used to drop comments on Darren Barefoot’s blog. I found it interesting how a consultant would teach others how to become better consultants (or how to launch their consultancy practice.

You’d think that Andrea would be worried to be put out of business, but when I asked Andrea how did she get into this business, she mentioned the following:

I originally started Consultant Journal because I was being asked to mentor so many new consultants through my marketing business (www.andreacoutu.com). I’d been working in careers and education consulting, in addition to marketing consulting, so Consultant Journal just sort of grew from there. I see it as changing the world, since running a business allows people to take power into their own hands and hopefully put their own values front and centre. I know you see your business in a similar light.

For me, as a consultant who is always looking for ways to improve his services and product delivery, I definitely see the potential and how powerful it is to have someone like Andrea work with you (as a coach) and how her site could be used by consultants (or consultants-to-be) who want to build a successful practice. Take, for example, her most recent post on how to set consulting fees. This is probably one of the most thorny issues I have faced, but I am delighted to read Andrea’s advice. I’m really glad that Andrea started Consultant Journal!

If you would like me to write a blog post about your company or a topic of your choice and pledge to the charitable cause I am supporting, please get in touch with me via my contact form. Sponsorships range from $ 50 to $ 200.

This is Entry # 29 of 49

If you enjoyed this post, please consider donating to the BC Cancer Foundation. You can find my donation page by clicking here. Every bit helps. Thank you in advance!

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