Go where the fish are or forge trails to find new water?

Full parking lots.

People all walking down one side of the river bank. 

Hearing the “Telephone Game” down the line of “Wow…what fly? Where in the current? “

As a former direct marketing leader, it was nearly tattooed on my forearm, “the best predictor of future performance is past performance.” 

And all of that is certainly true…in fishing, direct marketing, and even consulting. 

I started to think about branching off and doing a different kind of consulting more than 10 years ago—in fact, I was only looking to jump back into consulting on a part time basis so that I could do more pro bono work and be involved with my growing family….That experiment lasted all of few weeks when I joining a firm saying with the caveat that I only wanted a project that was about 30 hours per week.  I jump in (more like a cannon ball) into the deep end of things, and so I really didn’t draw boundaries or would take on projects that were the biggest/hardest problems.  I was a consultant that was used to going after the biggest projects in the companies we (and everyone else) were targeting.

Working with smaller companies was generally not profitable for a consulting company.  Finding the big contract that could bring on a team of 5-10 people and deliver a “Solution,” was (and still is) the big fish for consulting.  And really, only major companies and major budgets that can handle a $100k monthly consulting budget.  There was a conversation I remember from my early days talking with a Senior Manager where the lesson was clear: don’t get assigned to run the Mid-Market sector, there is just no way to succeed there.  With the target margin we need to meet, there are very few companies that can bring on a consultant, let alone afford a solution.

So, with all of that backstory, when I started to look at the “parking lot” of consulting companies in the area, the story does hold true—so many of my friends in the industry are continuing to do great work with many of the great large companies.  

I started Monture Partners so that I could work on going to find new water to fish.  No longer burdened with the target project margins that are needed to afford consulting offices, consultant bench time, general corporate overhead, this whole new world of consulting opens up as long as I am willing to take the plunge and go left when others are going right. 

Will the fish be on the other side of the river?  I won’t know until I get there, and I know that it can be really difficult to wade across the river and hike a bit into the backwoods.  And just like hiking the Monture Creek in Montana, there can also be dangerous things back there in the woods (like grizzlies), but there is also some of the most beautiful and fun fishing.