| | Graham Thomson made the
leap into contracting in
2003 after a 16 year
career split evenly
between international
sales & marketing and
management consultancy.
“I had always considered
myself a corporate type
of person, enjoying the
status of working for
some blue chip
consulting
organisations. They
provided me with
fantastic training and
enabled me to work on
some great projects with
leading multinational
organisations,” he
explains. “However, I
didn’t always feel in
control of my career. I
was a very small cog in
a very big wheel and was
often exposed to factors
a long way outside of my
sphere of influence.”
Joining the firm
Arthur Andersen and then
watching it disintegrate
around the world under
the weight of the Enron
scandal, finally being
taken over in the UK by
rivals Deloitte &
Touche, was an
experience that left
Thomson feeling jaded.
“Following yet
another global
restructuring, this time
at Deloitte, I was
offered a redundancy
package and decided the
time was right to take
control of my career and
go it alone,” he
explains. “Rather than
take the easy option and
join another big
consultancy I wanted to
become the master of my
own destiny again.”
In 2004 he founded
his own company,
Accelerant, based in | |
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| | Oxfordshire, offering
consultancy and interim
management services in
the fields of customer
relationship management
(CRM) and programme
management.
Thomson is not alone.
According to the
National Statistics
Office in the UK, the
number of self-employed
people is estimated to
be 4.2m, equating to 13%
of the working
population (figures for
September 2007). Also
recent research from the
European Commission
revealed that 45% of the
individuals interviewed
from 25 EU member
countries said that they
would prefer to be
self-employed.
The most common
reasons people give for
leaving full-time
employment to set up
their own businesses
will not cause any
surprises – they include
feeling undervalued at
work, tired of office
politics and the poor
work/life balance.
However, working for
yourself is clearly not
for everyone. Anyone
seriously considering
going it alone should
first ask themselves the
following questions:
● Is there really a
market for my services?
● How strong is my
network and can this be
tapped to generate
business opportunities?
● Am I willing to
live with the risk of
not securing contracts
for a period of time?
● Will I be able to
pay the bills until my
business becomes | |
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| | established?
● Do I really have
the motivation to make
it happen?
Four years on and
business is progressing
very well for Thomson.
“I felt like I was
taking a real leap into
the unknown but,
fortunately, I managed
to secure work quickly
through my own network
and have been on some
great back-to- back
contracts ever since,”
he says.
His diverse work has
included an
international market
research project for a
top pharmaceutical
company, a global
software selection
project for an email
security company and the
management of a major
change programme for a
county council.
However, it is his
work with the leading
financial services
company Zurich that has
recently earned him a
national accolade as
“Programme Management -
Interim Manager of the
Year 2007”. Each year
companies from across
the UK are invited to
nominate interim
managers who have made
an outstanding
contribution to their
businesses. Thomson was
nominated for his work
on Zurich’s “Treating
Customers Fairly”
programme and was
delighted to win the
award at a ceremony in
London in September
2007. Simon Godsave,
Zurich director
commented: “Zurich uses
various programme | |
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| | managers, both employees
and contractors/interim
managers – Graham is one
of those who can and do
make a difference.”
Not surprisingly,
Thomson has spent no
time looking back: “I
couldn’t go back to
working for someone else
full-time again now. I
enjoy the flexibility
and the rewards of
working for myself too
much. I’m still often
working as part of teams
in large organisations
but I have much more
control now over the
work that I take on.
It’s worked out so well
that my wife Sally has
left her employment as a
director in an executive
search firm to go it
alone as well.”
He offers the
following tips for
anyone thinking about
going it alone:
● Understand your
market and what sets you
apart from others;
● Work your own
network – people who
know and trust you are
the most likely to offer
you rewarding work;
● Get yourself a good
accountant who
understands the
freelance market and can
support you through the
early days of
establishing your
company;
● Form a limited
company and invest in
professional indemnity
insurance – these are
often pre-requisites for
gaining consulting or
interim management
contracts;
● Join the
Professional Contractors | |
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| | Group (PCG), which
offers a great package
of services including
legal/tax advice, guides
to freelancing and
standard contract
templates;
● Don’t spend too
much time and money on
developing a fancy
website at the start,
this can wait until you
have established some
contracts and have some
money coming in through
the door;
● Don’t go out of the
house without some
business cards in your
pocket, you never know
when that next business
opportunity will arise.
● Stay optimistic and
believe in yourself!
Graham Thomson can be
contacted through his
website at
www.accelerant.co.uk
Useful links:
● Professional
Contractors Group (
www.pcg.org.uk)
provides a range of
resources and services
for freelance
consultants.
● Business Link (
www.businesslink.gov.uk
) provides advice to new
and recently established
companies.
●
Top-ContractConsultant
www.top-contractconsulta
nt.com
provides contract
opportunities and a
forum for exchanging
information with fellow
contractors.
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