Live: It Is Your Skill, Your Clients, Your Business And Your Choice

Here are a few of my email responses to job consultants, recruiters and hiring managers in the past few months

Dear ABC,

 I have met XYZ yesterday. My constraints are with time and therefore have to pass this opportunity for the more deserving. Thank you for letting me have this learning experience. In my personal capacity, I will definitely refer my contacts to avail your services, whenever the need arises. I am already following your firm on twitter for industry updates 

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Yes please

 I will be interested in the opportunity however on contractual basis or assignment basis (Not full time) I have relocated to Kolkata a couple of months back therefore we will have to collaborate on SKYPE. If this arrangement is okay, I will be glad to take this forward. Regards 

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I am based in Bangalore and cannot relocate to Chennai. I can remotely support training/ learning function on demand/ contract basis like I support other start companies with plans, content, website, coaching modules etc, if (Company Name) is open to the concept.  

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Thank you for contacting.

 (Company Name) HR has directly sent me a mail for this opportunity. As I support startup companies with business plans, website content, marketing campaign, leadership coaching, training modules, on demand basis, I have reverted back to (Company Name), if they are open to similar idea of me supporting transition function without being a full time employee - Transition role is need based subject to deal wins. If sales do not win new clients, transition team does not have much to do which is a huge bandwidth waste. If you can pitch this idea to them, do reach out to me if there is a possibility. As far as I know (Company Name) is a 60 member transition team - I just do not want to be another new hire there please. I can sign NDA/ Contract/ confidentiality clauses to ensure there is no conflict of interest. Just that after 11 years in BPO, over 6 years in Bid Management and Transitioning several projects across Banking, Telecom etc, I need better exposure. Thanks again.

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That is how polite I am while responding to job inquiries today. First thing you will notice is I have stated my priority upfront - My time.

You will also notice, I am not flatly refusing the opportunity - I am leaving the note with a subtle pitch they may want to consider to avail my services. 

Seriously, what I did in my corporate years, AltLearn Ventures is just an extension of that capability backed by a virtual team to serve more than one company. So each of these companies can be our potential clients. Inward marketing is just as good as outward marketing.

Though I know it will take a while, may be close to another decade when even the large corporations will begin to think on those lines and feel the need to switch to part time consultants and contractual assignments for their daily activities. This is not outsourcing processes, job or office activities. This is need based in-sourcing.

M&M

You have a perfect plan for the day. To optimize your productivity you decided to do all the “thinking” piece of work when your mind is fresh – before lunch.

Traffic was not easy somehow you got over it when you got yourself a steaming cup of coffee. Just when you were about to begin work, you were called for a meeting.

The problem here is your reporting manager also has similar plans to do all the important meetings - before lunch.

So the “thinking” piece of work moves to late evening and by the time, your first and final cut is ready, the whole thing spills over to late nights.

That was my first aha point.

I write long mails in the portal itself and that is all I do to understand my client's work and deliver my assignment. I do not share email ID, SKYPE ID, phone number - nothing.

Denial Mode

Many people I know stay in denial about the reality of their job situation. They are okay with 

Extended work hours

Working weekends

Doing the mundane

Lack of recognition

It is not the company's increment and incentive structure that is holding them back or the fact that the job market is not quite encouraging. They are yet to identify their top sell-able skills to find clients based on their individual capability without a company's name to back their credentials or achievement.

After years in Corporate, the first client acquisition based on your lead, pitch, proposal, credentials does a lot of good to your confidence - the path and vision gets clearer. With every new client, your working style becomes better and a proven model.

That is the second aha moment

Now, as I hand hold others seeking alternative careers, additional income through a startup or part time venture, either through my booklet or coaching session, I facilitate their journey to reach exactly those two aha moments first.

1] Freedom from M&M - The age old saga of meetings and managers. 

2] Winning a client purely based on your skills - Without any recommendation

Soon, I and many like me, should be able write this,to every recruiter who has time based role offer,

We are not really good match

Can we talk skill based role please?

I find myself more resourceful as an external coach, unaffected by internal sycophancy, politics, people pleasing attitude, bureaucracy and waste of time or bandwidth that runs in many organizations as part of their culture, too deep to ignore and tolerate.

I also know a decent percentage of population is already out of corporate to work on their business ideas, establish online income independently, work their own hours, do their own thing and passionate about their work.

Are you keen to launch your coaching business or trade your skills and expertise to many clients?

Write to advocating.outcomes@gmail.com for a checklist to get started