Working in a business where decisions are made for rational reasons, rather than corporate ones can be very liberating, as can the freedom to take on work which you know will fit your abilities and ideals. Best of all is the chance to do work to the highest standards, rather than the dispiriting, yet common standard of ‘barely good enough, but makes the bean counters happy’.
This autumn it will be fifteen years since I set up David Dodds Ecology, which rapidly grew into David Dodds Associates Ltd. I often hear from ecologists who are keen to make the jump out of the corporate world and set up on their own, so this seems a good time to offer some advice. I'll leave you to decide for yourself which of these thoughts represent sage words of wisdom and which are the thoughts of a jaded and grumpy old ecologist!
Business is about responding, not deciding. One of the many reasons small businesses fail is that their owners set out to run the business they want, rather than the one their customers want. Think very carefully about what your marketplace will be, whether it can deliver enough work and what that client base want/need from you and how you will deliver it. Fail in this and the rest of your business will have no chance of success.
Sub-contract or direct to client? These two groups require very different approaches, so be sure which you're aiming for. As a subbie is you will have limited control over the work that you do and at times it may be like working for an employer, but with fewer benefits and no job security. On the other hand, you will mostly be working for people who (at least in theory) understand the work that you do and can relate to you. If you work direct to client you may be dealing with people who either don’t know or don’t care about what an ecologist does, so you’ll need to develop strong customer relationship skills. Managing expectations, influencing disinterested people and selling yourself may become a big part of your life.
How do you price your time? Don't undervalue your time, but it's important to be flexible too. Rigid costing is likely to lead you to spend more time preparing quotes than doing work and at times it may be better to do low-priced work than to twiddle your thumbs, doing nothing. On the other hand, if your fees don't cover your costs AND a healthy profit margin to pay you some income then there is no point in getting out of bed in the morning – you may as well have a duvet day. The goal is to find those upper and lower limits and move your pricing between them, to maximise your chances of getting each piece of work, whilst still making a good income. Whilst we're on this subject, remember that your cost calculations must include all the indirect ones like business insurance and software.
Beware of sub-contracting. For anyone starting out in a small way it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking “I can take on anything – I’ll sub-contract out what I can’t do myself.” Your clients will judge you by the quality of work that is carried out in your name and how the client relationship is managed, regardless of who actually does it. If you hand control of that to others, you are taking a substantial risk. If you must use subbies, make sure you know them and are certain of the quality of their work. Expect to have to devote time to supervising and quality-checking.
It’s as much about people as ecology. As an industry we are often truly awful at managing clients. I’m astonished how many new clients we get every year, simply because a competitor has done a rotten job of working with them. Always think about your client and consider in the simplest terms what they want from you. For example, a clients' attitude may be 'make this go away without costing more than is necessary'. If your approach to this client is to try to educate them about bats or share every detail of the process with them then you shouldn't be surprised no repeat business comes your way - you have failed to meet their expectations, even if the survey work you did was superlative.
It’s as much about business as ecology. Book-keeping, invoicing, quotations, payroll, annual accounts, more quotations, insurance, client hand-holding, dealing with enquiries, fending off the many people who now see you as a sales opportunity. And that’s all before your first coffee in the morning (after a late night survey, of course!).
Respect everyone you deal with. This is a small industry and the saying 'don’t sh*t on your doorstep' couldn’t be more true. A few years ago a company we did sub-contract work for went out of their way to make our lives difficult and we parted on acrimonious terms. Within 18 months they came crawling back, full of apologies because a promising new client was only willing to give them the contract for a massive piece of work if they sub-contracted the bat survey element to us. I chose to be magnanimous and forgiving, but boy, was it hard. Whenever another firm needs your help or advice, give it freely if you can. One day you'll be the one who's up to your neck in smelly stuff.
Make no mistake, going it alone is tough. You’ll have many days when you wonder why you did it. You’ll have sleepless nights and many occasions when you’re unsure if you’ll be able to pay your bills. But you’ll have more freedom than you’ll ever get as an employee. Most of all, you will have the opportunity to have a positive influence on professional standards in your little corner of the profession.Whatever else you do, don’t waste it.
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