September 09 - 11, 2024
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The CPO's Corner
Congratulations! Good for you for your willingness to venture into something new. As someone who’s worked in consulting, I’d like to share learnings on things you should think about before pulling the switch. (Am assuming here that you are looking at consulting in your own business as opposed to becoming an employee in a large firm).
I recently counseled someone planning such a leap. As a former senior executive at a Fortune 500 company, she had been out of work for a while and was tempted to hang out her own shingle when she got the chance to do some work at a local business. But she was the lone wage earner in her family, had two college age children, and supported her in-laws. She was unlikely to earn enough to cover her expenses as an individual consultant – she either needed to get some partners and go after larger projects, figure out a way to supplement her income stream, or continuing interviewing for executive roles. (She chose the latter and landed at a technology company)
Consulting can be fun and energizing, and a way to use both the hard and soft skills you’ve acquired over the years. Go into it with your eyes open and your prework done – then enjoy creating your business.
Joanna Martinez is a global procurement / supply chain leader and the founder of Supply Chain Advisors LLC. She is a frequent lecturer and blogger on procurement topics and also provides coaching, strategy development, training, and cost reduction opportunity assessment. Her clients range from Fortune 100 companies to technology startups.
As either regional or global CPO, Joanna has led transformation initiatives for companies in many different sectors: among them Johnson & Johnson (consumer products), Diageo (beverage), AllianceBernstein LP (financial services) and Cushman & Wakefield (real estate services, property management). She has also held client-facing roles, effectively giving her the opportunity to “sit on both sides of the table”.