Author: Breandan hEaghra

Build Personal Brands and Company Brands Through – Video Production | Branding | Content Creation.

I’m Katie – And I am the founder and Director of Kreate Ldn.

Kreate Ldn is a Branding and Content Creation agency based in London.

We specialise in designing and building your brand story through engaging, value added content which focuses on influencing public perception to build company brands and personal brands across social media. Whether it’s video, photography, written content, branding or design you require in building your digital presence, we are able to produce bespoke creative content which is tailored and suited to your brand.

As a creative branding and content creation agency, we can help businesses with big ideas and even bigger goals to reach their potential by equipping them with the tools needed to grow and thrive in competitive online spaces. From brand creation and transformation to brand optimisation and communication strategy, together we can truly become a force to be reckoned with.

We create content to spark engagement and conversation and to build stronger and better businesses.

Q1.  Did you always want to become a consultant, or did you fall into the role?

Before starting my own content creation agency, I would say “yes” – I did fall into the role of being a consultant as the agency I went to work for saw my passion for building and developing new client relationships which is where they realised I could provide real value to their business.

Q2.  What makes a good consultant?

Being a good consultant, takes a lot of patience and resilience. I sometimes found it an incredibly tough game as I had to accept that it was a “work hard, play hard” environment. Having patience is also equally as important as it’s crucial to put in the graft to really leverage those relationships with your clients and your candidates.

Q3.  Do you feel you manage yourself well or is it a case of ‘the cobbler’s shoes’?

I have always been a super independent person so in this case, I would say I can manage myself and my workload very well – it’s all about priority and self-motivation.

Q4.  Are there enough hours in your day?

Never – especially now I have started my own business. You end up working all hours, every hour!

Q5.  If you could magically stop your clients from making one mistake – what would that be?

Learning to understand the true value of marketing your brand and yourself as an individual. People buy from people, so not investing in your marketing is a big mistake in my eyes!

Q6.  What do you find is the best way to market yourself?

I market myself by sharing valuable added content across LinkedIn – this has allowed me to share content on what I want to be known for, how I can provide value and content around the problems I solve. This is how I’ve built my business on 100% Inbound leads.  

Q7.  What do you do to unwind?

Go to the gym, if I could do that whilst having a glass of vino then that would be my perfect duo.

Q8.  What advice would you give a starting consultant?

As I know longer work as a consultant, this is a hard one for me to comment on. BUT – I would suggest if you’re starting out your career as a consultant then I would suggest you start marketing yourself and building your personal brand across LinkedIn. This is something I wish I started years ago! And it will really help you build trust and credibility you need with you candidates and you clients.

Q9.  What’s your guilty pleasure?

Wine, Peanut Butter and Bananas.

Q10.  What’s your goal for next year?

To make new hires and carry on building Kreate Ldn!

Broadcast PR Campaigns Consultant, Shout! Communications

I am a writer, editor, blogger and media/PR consultant, based in Uxbridge, near London. I have more than 30 years of experience as a journalist and editor. I help people with effective content for websites, blogs, newsletters and press releases and help them with raising awareness for their business or organization.

Q1.  Did you always want to become a consultant or did you fall into the role?

I fell into the role. I started out as a sports journalist because of my passion for sport and writing about it. Then I went on to become sports editor of several newspapers and an editor of magazines and websites. Now I help people who want to promote their business with effective content.

Q2.  What makes a good consultant?

Be true to yourself. Provide a service that is based on your own experience and expertise. The starting point for any project should always be to listen to the client and understand their objectives.

Q3.  Do you feel you manage yourself well or is it a case of ‘the cobbler’s shoes’?

I think I manage myself well. Good communication is important. It is also important to work in a way that delivers on the client’s objectives, but that can be done in a way that also works well for you.

Q4.  Are there enough hours in your day?

Yes – and it is also important to strike a good work-life balance.

Q5.  If you could magically stop your clients from making one mistake – what would that be?

Not taking advice from and trusting someone with relevant experience and expertise, then wondering why a campaign or project did not go as well as it could have done.

Q6.  What do you find is the best way to market yourself?

LinkedIn has been a great tool for this. Also, keeping in contact with your clients and wider network of contacts, plus business networking and good old fashioned word of mouth recommendations and referrals. If budget allows, working with a specialist marketing agency also helps.

Q7.  What do you do to unwind?

It’s good to switch off. I enjoy watching sport and films and I’m looking forward to an overseas holiday again at some point!

Q8.  What advice would you give a starting consultant?

Focus on what you are good at and enjoy. Do everything you can to let as many people know about you and what you do. Use LinkedIn, attend networking events – and work with someone who can help with effective content and PR! Have confidence in yourself. People can benefit from your expertise and experience. Build good relationships with people. They are more likely to work with you if you provide a good service and they enjoy working with you.

Q9.  What’s your guilty pleasure?

Watching late night films.

Q10.  What’s your goal for next year?

Overseas travel!

To connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-roach-3200b512/

Q1.  Did you always want to become a consultant or did you fall into the role? 

Fell into the role as I really wanted to be a professional footballer. I spent 10 years earning my experience and it then became a natural progression from my earlier career in security.

Q2.  What makes a good consultant?

I am not sure there is an answer to this. People I suppose have to like you, but you also have to know your stuff, be experienced enough to handle curve balls and tough enough to deal with the barbed comments that come from some customers when they perceive the “day rate” your being paid. I always refer them to Picasso when a lady who queued for his signature then asked why he charged $500 for a signature, when it only took seconds for him to squiggle it. His response was Madam, that didn’t take seconds, it took years.

Q3.  Do you feel you manage yourself well or is it a case of ‘the cobbler’s shoes’?

I think I manage myself well, but the trick is managing others expectations and being realistic. They as the above quote alludes to, think the job is easier to do because they are not doing it. You have to communicate this to them and not over promise and under deliver.

Q4.  Are there enough hours in your day?

Yes, in reality most roles are a 7.5 hour day as an employee’s role would be, so to take on extra pressure or to let the customer believe you are on call 24 hours a day is a failing in your approach to the assignment.

Q5.  If you could magically stop your clients from making one mistake – what would that be?

Thinking I am at their beck and call because I “get a handsome day rate”.

Q6.  What do you find is the best way to market yourself?

LinkedIn is really good for that. But also being proactive and keeping an eye on what is happening on the market and building relationships with good recruitment companies (more niches ones rather than the bigger boys).

Q7.  What do you do to unwind?

I ruin a good walk by carrying a Golf bag around with me and recently taken up walking with friends in the countryside.

Q8.  What advice would you give a starting consultant?

Be yourself, don’t be anyone else, or what you perceive the customer wants you to be. They are hiring you for your experience and background and you must show this when you are discussing the role with them.

Q9.  What’s your guilty pleasure?

I have recently begun enjoying Whisky so a nice little tipple once a week works wonders 

Q10.  What’s your goal for next year?

Keeping the customers I have and finding newer ones. Growing CyberOff is key to all of this and the videos I am developing to help improves everyone’s cyber savviness are so much fun to do.

From Auditor to CEO of Trampoline Global Consulting & Founder of #InspirationCafe (DEI), today we spoke to Beatrice Ruiz about life as a consultant!

Q1. Did you always want to become a consultant, or did you fall into the role?

I always wanted to be an artist, an architect, a singer, a ballerina, a cook, but I was also pragmatic.

I studied a few (!) degrees (when your father is a professor, expectations are high). Back then, I realized that I was good at translating big words, strategies, complex ideas into easy-to-understand actionable items;

I was good at teaching and supporting others achieve their goals, and I was good with numbers. I decided that, at some point, I’d run my own company. The first step was to learn all about running a real company from the ground, so I joined Accenture then move into Finance.

After a few years of working in different capacities in the USA, EU, UAE, UK, it was clear that I was ready.

Today, I am a global consultant helping companies grow into Excellent, Diverse, Equal, and Culturally dynamic organizations running Trampoline Global Consulting and #InspirationCafe, supporting clients like Salesforce UKI.

Q2. What makes a good consultant?

A set of big ears and a very open mind make the best consultant. 

We all have met the typical know-it-all of a consultant. Unfortunately, there are more than we’d like to see.

A good consultant listens to their client with an open mind, understands where the client is coming from, what their needs, concerns, priorities, and constraints are so they can offer an optimal, tailored solution. 

Q3. Do you feel you manage yourself well, or is it a case of ‘the cobbler’s shoes?

One of the great things about being a consultant is that you get to manage yourself, your time, your clients.

When you are passionate about helping others grow, solve their problems, or design their future, you’ll probably have the challenge of ending your working day at a decent time, but that is a good problem to have. In the end, it’s up to you what kind of clients you welcome, how you work with them, and for how long. The sky is the limit.  

Q4. Are there enough hours in your day?

Never. I can’t complain. I have a degree of flexibility that many would love to have, but I still wish I had more time to onboard more clients and enjoy my family, friends, and hobbies.

Q5. If you could magically stop your clients from making one mistake – what would that be?

Be clear about what you want and pay for the value your consultant is adding to your business. Forget about paying per presence, per big name, etc. There is a reason why a good engineer will solve your problem in 10 min and not 10 hours. They invested resources in themselves first, so they could understand you and solve your problem efficiently.

Q6. What do you find is the best way to market yourself?

Networking.

We are not alone. There’s nothing like a good network to move forward in life.

Q7. What do you do to unwind?

I love cooking, hosting at home, reading, traveling, and any form of art.

Q8. What advice would you give a starting consultant?

Be patient and keep going. Focus more on people than on admin tasks. All the hard work will pay off sooner than later.

Q9. What’s your guilty pleasure?

Real estate in NYC, London, Dubai. I have been following the ups and downs of real estate in multiple locations, checking houses, etc. for the past 20 years. Weird as it sounds, I really enjoy it.

Q10. What’s your goal for next year?

My goal for 2022 is to duplicate my client base, grow the team, and create exclusive content for our users.

Along with that, I am searching for a university interested in researching DEI. After working in this space for many years and living in +6 countries with their very different cultures, I would like to pursue a Ph.D. on a related subject.

And, finally, I’ve been pushing learning French forward for a while now. I should add it to my list of goals for 2022 🙂

To connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beatriceruiz

We spoke to Scott McInnes of Inspiring Change and started by asking him, what exactly does Inspiring Change do…

Scott: “At Inspiring Change we’re all about helping organisations to connect their people to their strategy, purpose and change programmes. We connect leaders to teams and people to each other.  We do that by helping our clients to think about how they communicate with, engage and lead their people, all of which contribute to successful, productive cultures that attract and retain the best people.”

Breandán: Ready for your 10 questions!

Scott: Absolutely…

Q1.  Did you always want to become a consultant or did you fall into the role?

I actively decided to start Inspiring Change having looked at the market here in Ireland and seeing an opportunity to help organisations struggling with internal comms, engagement and leadership – foundational elements for strong organisational culture. 

Q2.  What makes a good consultant?

Someone who listens to understand, not to respond, and has the experience to be able to know what will help a client in that moment and into the future.

Q3.  Do you feel you manage yourself well or is it a case of ‘the cobbler’s shoes’?I don’t think I’m dreadful from a cobblers perspective as our communications is quite good.  But I do tend to jump from job-to-job, multitasking and telling myself that that’s exactly what I tell clients not to do! 

Q4.  Are there enough hours in your day?

I don’t really do a standard 9-5 so ‘hours in the day’ is a bit of a fluid concept.  I love what I do, so I tend to work whatever hours need to be worked – key is to take advantage of the quieter hours by actively making time for other things in my life.

Q5.  If you could magically stop your clients from making one mistake – what would that be?

Not listening to their people – or listening to them and then not taking the feedback on board.  Employee voice is a great way to find out what’s going on in a business and how you can do things better – it’s a long way from the top to the front line! 

Q6.  What do you find is the best way to market yourself?

The best way to market yourself is to NOT market yourself.  I podcast and I put out thought leadership content in my area of specialism but rarely market my services.  Often, the big win is helping potential clients see that they actually have a need.  I’ve found that often, people don’t know what they don’t know so education is key.

Q7.  What do you do to unwind?

I love to cook and bake and I also do triathlon (largely because I’m 48 and desperately trying to cling to my youth!).  I live beside the sea so I enjoy sea swims too.

Q8.  What advice would you give a starting consultant?

Decide what it is you do and be niche – ‘be an inch wide and a mile deep’ as my coach told me.  Then build a strong network of people who’ll advise you, listen to you, steer you, advocate for you and refer you.

Q9.  What’s your guilty pleasure?

Chocolate.  And spending money on things that I REALLY don’t need!

Q10.  What’s your goal for next year?

To continue to broaden my client list, to expand the Inspiring Change team, create a couple of training courses and a communications audit; and go on a BIG foreign holiday!

Find out more about Scott McInnes and Inspiring Change, at inspiringchange.ie

Before we ask your ‘Ten Questions’, tell us about yourself:

“I am a Professional full-time Career and Executive Coach helping clients get the best out of themselves in the context of their career and job performance. I don on-to-one sessions with clients helpign them to understand what they want from a career and setting up strategies to achieve their career goals. I also help clients increase there job performance level; this has traditionally been executives however now I do this for a wide variety of jobs. This quote from Muhammad Ali sums up my spirit for openig up this sort of performance coaching to position other than executives; ‘You could be the world’s best garbage man, the world’s best model; it don’t matter what you do …but give it your best’. My academic background – Masters in Business Psychology. Bsc Psychology and HND Business and Finance.
I have a strong interest in the potential of our minds for Performance/Development/Clarity of thinking/ Purpose/Direction.
 www.robbakercoaching.com

Q1.  Did you always want to become a Career/Executive COACH or did you fall into the role?

It was an organic process. I always knew I had good people skills from an early age i.e. I understood the importance of listening properly. From that, I moved into Sales quite easily and having a strong interest in understanding people I started studying in Psychology. After completing a degree and Masters I realised I didn’t want to be a ‘research based’ Psychologist so I wanted an avenue that would enable me to help people in more practical ways; hence coaching came into my life.

Q2.  What makes a good COACH?

Your intention must be to genuinely want to help someone; without this intention you can be the most skillful coach in the world but results will be minimal and short lived.  Apart from that a love for coaching; enthusiasm is the energy that drives me. Lastly comes your skillset; rapport building, asking the right questions;  understanding the nuances between individuals that enable you to tap into them and get the best out of them; knowledge of Psychological learning/peak performance theories; having your own Philosophy to work towards etc…I could go on.. 🙂

Q3.  Do you feel you manage yourself well or is it a case of ‘the cobbler’s shoes’?

Used to be a bit more play it by ear and then I went to a very strict routine/discipline. Now I realise the most skilful way is in between; having a structure but being prepared to be flexible with it…but knowing when you’re being too flexible!

Q4.  Are there enough hours in your day?

No

Q5.  If you could magically stop your clients from making one mistake – what would that be?

Overestimating what they can do in 6months and Underestimating what they can do in 3 years.

Q6.  What do you find is the best way to market yourself?

Referrals from clients.

Q7.  What do you do to unwind?

I don’t get stressed up much these days; Meditation is a something I think everyone can benefit from; apart from that I’ve always been very sporty and I’m qualified to teach tennis; snowboarding and scuba diving so these activities help me to ‘straighten out’ my mind when I get entangled in the ‘work’

Q8.  What advice would you give a starting COACH?

Practice….and practice more…..even if it’s for free to begin with.

Q9.  What’s your guilty pleasure?.
I reserve my right to silence ;)…………..OK we’ll go for Milkshakes; There are these milkshakes in a can that you can get at most small corner shops; they  have tons vitamins and minerals in them so at first glance you think ‘oh good tasty and healthy; but then I looked at the sugar content and they are off the scale!!   seriously bad for you……still I induldge… sometimes..:)

Q10.  What’s your goal for next year?

To get better at what I do.

We were delighted to speak to Lino Velev – CEO of Farstar…. Kick back and read his answers!

Q1.  Did you always want to become a consultant or did you fall into the role?
To be honest I don’t think of myself as a consultant or at least not as of yet. More like a person from industry that got pulled into consulting relationships. It’s not something that I aspired to or at least not until a much later stage in my career. I used to think of consultants as people who’re very experienced, but don’t necessarily have the energy to build for themselves anymore. Or maybe feel that their experience can be more impactful working on a portfolio of initiatives rather than on one focused one. I’ve expanded my view over the years.

Q2.  What makes a good consultant?
It’s a mixture of two things I consider equally important. 

1. your thesis of why you can be the best in the world in some sufficiently specific thing and how you execute on that thesis to keep yourself relevant in that sense
2. how you structure the way you fit into relationships with your clients, so that there is a very meaningful devision of responsibilities and incentives for value to be created and transferred   

you can almost think of it as product and distribution
Additionally from the consultants point of view it’s also important to figure out the growth model. Or how does your work would naturally generate opportunities for new work that are in line with the thesis. 

Q3.  Do you feel you manage yourself well or is it a case of ‘the cobbler’s shoes’?
I’d say reasonably well as of late, however it wasn’t always the case. There were things in the way we managed ourselves that I’d be ashamed to admit today. Funnily enough the pandemic created the space for us to pick up on some of those and things look much better at the moment.

Q4.  Are there enough hours in your day?
We all have the same amount for hours. I’ve always thought that it’s less a matter of time and how you manage it and more a matter of energy. Be it creative energy, execution energy, relationship development energy, etc. I’ve never had a hope or aspired to be the most efficient person around, however I feel than in certain situations I can be effective. It’s ofter more about making sure you work on the right problem than being incredibly efficient across the board. 

Q5.  If you could magically stop your clients from making one mistake – what would that be?
Allowing themselves to succumb to pressures and think too short term. Very often we get sucked into ‘what are we doing with this current budget we have’, or ‘what shall we do to raise the next round’, or ‘how would this look on some quarterly report’, etc. We of course need to worry about these things to keep the ship afloat, however what is it all for if we lose sight of where true north is.

Q6.  What do you find is the best way to market yourself?
I’ve never marketed myself as a consultant, so not sure my advice would be relevant. Still what has worked for me is doing impactful work from a place of authenticity and strong values. When I’ve felt I’m doing that, opportunities have been finding their way to me kind of organically.  

Q7.  What do you do to unwind?
A broad range of things. I surf, ski, like interesting cars and bikes, travel a lot ideally to un-obvious places, geek out on obscure engineering topics, go to a lot of parties especially around the techno scene and try to get engaged with helping interesting projects here and there. But what I found is important to me and really gets me to unwind is not so much the activity itself as much as the relationships with others and sense of community I get while doing it.

Q8.  What advice would you give a starting consultant?
Don’t do it!   

No but seriously and joke aside, from my journey the biggest lesson learned has been that when you’re in a consultant role, you can’t let it feel like whatever you’re doing is your thing too much. Often you might feel like you can do it better, greater, cheaper, more awesome. However even if the client is being irrational, it’s ultimately their thing and they’re on the line for whatever happens, so you must respect that. At the same time if you’re completely dispassionate about the work, this won’t work well either. So finding the balance and managing the boundaries and structure of the relationship is extremely important. My advice would be to be self aware of that and find someone more experience who can help you figure it out. 

Q9.  What’s your guilty pleasure?
Not a huge fan of feeling guilty, however I guess there is one. I really enjoy being where I feel the action is and have been know to get on an airplane a bit too often. Probably more than is necessary. I try to buy carbon offsetting services to mitigate my footprint. 

Q10.  What’s your goal for next year?
There are a few very interesting directions for further growth and bigger impact that have taken more clear shape as of late that are quite different. I’m not under huge pressure to make those choices, but feel it makes sense to be focused and strategic about it and that involved proactively dropping things that I’m attached to and work, but probably would no longer serve an important purpose. So the immediate future for me is about collecting insights to make those choices and then making what would likely be a 5+ year commitment of direction. 

She’s a ‘change consultant’, who helps organisations and individuals to ‘exceed their expecations’. Today we chat to Zoryna O’Donnell

Patrick is a life-long entrepreneur who is currently sitting at the intersection between technology, data, and business strategy. He is currently the co-founder of Deedy – a data and marketing consultancy-agency who support client needs across the marketing and data landscape. Patrick also is a business advisor for a few start-ups and is starting to consider taking a non-executive board role on as his next step in his career.

Q1.  Did you always want to become a consultant or did you fall into the role?

I totally fell into the role. I had started a few entrepreneurial projects in high school and as success started picking up, people started coming to me for advice on starting or running a business. After a few years it got to the point where it was too much to handle informally, so I started putting together a formal consulting practice. 20 years later I’m very focused and purposeful in my consulting.

Q2.  What makes a good consultant?

There are so many types and styles of consulting, but I think it all comes down to two things:

1. Being a really good and active listener.
2. Being motivated to help others.

You can’t be good at consulting if you don’t have the skills to really understand what your clients need. They won’t always know how to articulate things, so just jotting notes isn’t enough. If you can’t help your clients tell you what they need, you aren’t going to meet expectations.

I think you can be good at consulting without being driven by your client’s success, but you’ll never be great. Greatness comes from passion, and I think that consulting taps into that passion of wanting to be helpful and enable others’ success.

Q3.  Do you feel you manage yourself well or is it a case of ‘the cobbler’s shoes’?

Fairly well, I think. I’ve run (and lost) enough companies to know the pains of not following best practices. The trick, of course, is recognizing that perfection is the enemy. As Sheryl Sandberg said, “Done is better than perfect.” In my own practice I always try to do the right thing, but give myself grace and space to iterate towards perfection. In this way, Deedy is tooled up end-to-end with all the data we need to grow the business effectively. As we grow [and we are] our sophistication grows. We like to be just a hair ahead of what we need today to buy time for that iterative growth. After all: data infrastructure and reporting takes time to set up!

Q4.  Are there enough hours in your day?

There will be! We’re in the process of implementing a number of automations to really free us up and scale with ease. Today… I guess it depends on the day.

Q5.  If you could magically stop your clients from making one mistake – what would that be?

In the context of data and performance reporting, the thing I wish I could stop was their prioritization of vanity/PR content over what’s going to really grow [or support] their organization. I think too often my clients feel compelled to show numbers or stats that are familiar to the business, but don’t take stock of the fact that this familiarity comes from seeing what’s been done before. That comes with the constraint whatever those before you could devise or see. Modern operations are often requiring new key performance indicators [KPIs] and data modelling to deal with today’s challenges.

Q6.  What do you find is the best way to market yourself?

When I was getting started I did it all wrong. I was trying to network and meet people, and drive my entire marketing machine through my personal actions & activity. I told myself it was all just part of the hustle and good for my personal brand. I regret most of it, and I wish I brought in an appointment-setting team way earlier and got more efficient with my time. Today, word-of-mouth and referrals are really what gets me business, hands down. It’s certainly not the easiest thing to build, and it’s rather glacial when you’re getting started; but few things carry the impact of being named by clients as someone they want to be brought in on a piece of work before you’re even aware of it.

Q7.  What do you do to unwind?

I play a lot of video games, and do lots of cooking for the family. I find that doing heads-down tech work (coding and architecture work) recharges my batteries too.

Q8.  What advice would you give a starting consultant?

You can’t be everything to everyone. When you’re starting out, it’s tough (and sometimes unwise) to turn away work. That’s okay, make a buck – but don’t confuse with with your offering. I see a lot of new consultants that pivot really hard really fast, and some that will pivot several times in their first year. Adaptation is a necessity for survival, but nothing good comes from driving a business in a reactionary mindset.

Q9.  What’s your guilty pleasure?

My guilty pleasure is probably cigars. I don’t smoke (or vape) but pre-pandemic I would have one every month or two.

Q10.  What’s your goal for next year?

Deedy has been really successful and has been doubling revenue year-over-year since we started in 2019. We’re on track to hold the trend this year (despite COVID), and my goal for 2022 is definitely to hold that trend and double whatever we pull in this year.

Find out more about Patrick on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmazzotta/

Roisin is on a mission to build the ultimate marketing support platform for Irish Startups and Small Business that are either overwhelmed by the challenges of modern day marketing or struggle with their business growth. 

She is an award winning marketer and innovator and was inspired to develop Marketing Mentors based on both her own entrepreneurial experience and her passion for marketing.

We’re delighted to feature Róisín in today’s Q&A…

Q1.  Did you always want to become a consultant or did you fall into the role?

I did fall into the role of consultant/mentor. I was living in the MiddleEast at the time and had my own Tech business that I was promoting to Airports and Visitor Attractions and received a lot of support from the Enterprise Ireland, in Qatar. They introduced me to a consultancy company that was looking for someone with my skillset to consult in marketing for a State agency.  My years in regional development with Shannon Development and Shannon Airport stood to me and I was in the right place at the right time! That was how I began and continued as a freelance consultant when I returned to Ireland. I was referred to two different companies, one tech and the second a bricks and mortar business. 

Q2.  What makes a good consultant?

1. Having a track record as a subject matter expert 

2. A great listener – listening to what the client’s needs and problems are is the most helpful way to ensure you are going to be able to solve their problem as easily or quickly as possible.

3. Being a team player – having a collaborative relationship with peers and clients is imperative to being a great consultant. 

 4. A good communicator : having the ability to deliver a message either written or aloud is critical to being a successful consultant.  Additionally, consultants should be able to take a solution from theory to realisation and show their clients how to complete and maintain that solution in their own environment.

Q3.  Do you feel you manage yourself well or is it a case of ‘the cobbler’s shoes’?

I don’t think I am the best example of personal time management. I am certainly not a nine to fiver I do business across a number of time zones with clients and suppliers so I could be on a call or webinar any time from 6am to 1am. While this has suited me over the years, juggling work/life balance, I do acknowledge that I need to be more disciplined and learn to say ‘no’ more often. I also had some life coaching recently that I found pretty powerful, taking my own medicine I suppose!

Q4.  Are there enough hours in your day?

There are enough hours, it’s down to how you manage them. Reference Q3 

Q5.  If you could magically stop your clients from making one mistake – what would that be?

Don’t waste your time and money building a product or service that people don’t want!  A big mistake I see a lot of startups and companies spending €’s on social media platforms/SEO etc, without having aligned their product offering to it’s audiences’ needs and building a business model that monetises that relationship. 

Q6.  What do you find is the best way to market yourself?

This is a very good question for consultants!  We can be so busy working in the background for our clients,  that we don’t market ourselves which is a mistake. I believe that now more than ever there is a far greater importance in having a personal brand. Having an online presence, authority, and reputation to get your job done is essential. If you’re known, and your competitors aren’t, you win. And there’s no more important time to have that edge than right now.  Personally, I am comfortable on Linkedin, it’s less busy than the likes of Facebook and more importantly, it is where my audience is. 

Q7.  What do you do to unwind?

A good book or walking my new puppy are the extent of my unwind activities at the moment. Now that we can travel inter county again I will get to the coast as often as possible. Nothing like a swim in the Atlantic to clear the head and reboot! 

Q8.  What advice would you give a starting consultant?

Online Consultancy is one of the biggest growth areas in online business right now. There is great opportunity but it is also increasingly competitive. My advice:

• Think global but don’t be afraid to niche starting out.  
• Build your personal brand as being the expert in that particular niche. 
• Work Linkedin, by turning up consistently with content that is valuable for your target audience, ideally by video.

Q9.  What’s your guilty pleasure? 

During lockdown, watching episodes of ‘Call My Agent’ with a platter of French cheese (the smellier the better:) and a good Medoc. Transports me back to eight wonderful years living in Paris. 

Q10.  What’s your goal for next year?
My goal this year is to build the Marketing Mentors platform as a resource for Startups, to be the ‘go to’ one stop shop for Irish businesses starting out or scaling up. A year from now, I want to be reading testimonials from Irish Startups saying that ‘working with Marketing Mentors was the gamechanger, we would never have got to where we are today without them.

Find out more about Roisin Bennett at: marketingmentors.ie

In our latest blog post we spoke to Scott McArthur of Sculpture Consulting about the realities of life as a top class consultant. The answers are great… (I especially loved the unwinding in the local with some Guinness!)…

Q1.  Did you always want to become a consultant, or did you fall into the role?

I had no idea what a business consultant was until I commissioned CapGemini to help with a transformation programme and then I saw what they could do and fancied a piece of that.  They and KPMG then approached me to join, and I decided to join the latter.

Q2.  What makes a good consultant?

Deep knowledge, able to learn new disciplines quickly, first-class relationship and storytelling skills and lots of coffee. (I used to run the induction training programmes for new consultants at Cap and Atos – it was like SAS training for leaders).

Q3.  Do you feel you manage yourself well or is it a case of ‘the cobbler’s shoes’?

Manage myself pretty well

Q4.  Are there enough hours in your day?

Of course not – I’m addicted to reading and learning.

Q5.  If you could magically stop your clients from making one mistake – what would that be?

Buying the cheapest deal – that rarely ends well.

Q6.  What do you find is the best way to market yourself?

My network from 20 years in consulting is terrific and a sprinkle of social media stuff (vlogging, broadcasting etc.)

Q7.  What do you do to unwind?

Down the local with the gang and a few pints of Guinness.

Q8.  What advice would you give a starting consultant?

It really depends on the type of consulting you are going into.  If you go into big four consulting, get ready for long days, multiple projects, way too much travel, and lose the ego (you won’t be able to keep up with the kids) – it doesn’t matter what level you were at in business – welcome to ground zero.

Q9.  What’s your guilty pleasure?

TikTok cooking videos

Q10.  What’s your goal for next year?  

Publish book called “My Grandfather’s Foot.”

Want to know more about Scott? Check out https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-mcarthur-the-future-of-work/