This post follows on my 2 week, 2 month, and the project side of a year as a food safety consultant. In the 1 year post, I noted that I’d also write about the business side of running a consulting business. So here it is! I’m rounding the corner on 1.5 years, and it’s been great. Although I work as many hours as ever (sometimes more) I have infinitely more flexibility. I’ve learned so much and thought I’d organize it in a post.

Things I’ve done well

On the food safety side, I’ve stayed connected with my network. I continue to be active on LinkedIn, attend and present at webinars and in-person meetings, and help colleagues (without charge) when little things come up. I don’t take any of it for granted. I am so appreciative of the confidence clients have placed in me.

Early on, before I had many clients, I did a good job sticking to a fairly regular work schedule, and filled my time doing things that were beneficial, even if they didn’t pay the bills. For example, I worked through the Coursera Google Project Management course (not an insignificant time commitment!). I also wrote lots of articles (for magazines, blogs, even contributed to some peer reviewed publications). I made good use of the ‘down time’.

On the “running a business” side the best thing I did was open a separate business checking account, and set it up to auto transfer to my personal checking account twice a month, in the amount of my take home pay from my previous role. (of course I didn’t do this for the first few months when I did not make much money!). This has not only forced me to maintain a financial discipline, it has also allowed me to build a “business” fund from which I could start to bring on (trusted) subcontractors and gain confidence that I could take the leap to bring on an actual employee.

Another thing I’ve done well is work with great people. This has always been paramount: never settle when it comes to those you bring onto your team. The first person to join me was Dr. Laura Strawn. Unlike the other food safety subcontractors, Laura and I had not worked with each other before. It was a learning experience for both of us [see our joint interview blog!] and I’m thankful she’s still willing to help me support select clients. And if you didn’t know, Laura is also an amazing swag crafter! I’d previously worked with the other amazing talents: Gretchen Wall, Tejas Bhatt, and most recently Dr. Emily Moyer. Maintaining high standards helps me deliver for clients.

And when you work with great people, they have great ideas! I realized I needed to start tracking time (you’ll see why in the “not done well” section), and Tejas turned me on to Toggl which has been a game changer. I asked for Gretchen’s input on a Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) (see “things I’ve learned” to understand why) and her insights were invaluable.

Things I’ve not done well

I still say yes too much, over commit, and then get stressed. In estimating the time it will take to complete a project (and the associated budget) my biggest failure has been the consistent underestimation of the time clients need to digest and talk through projects. Too often I view things as one sided: there’s a need, I do what’s asked, and it’s done. Things are never that simple. I fail to take into account the back and forth. This is the #1 thing I want to change moving forward. Toggl is helping me see where I actually spend my time, and gives me a way to measure my actual time against my estimates.

There are plenty of other things that have not been ideal, but I continue to learn, adapt, and iterate, so I’d rather put them in the “things I’ve learned” category versus total failures.

What I’ve learned

I’ve figured out my niche! As silly as this sounds, it took a while. This is my 2nd stint doing food safety consulting. Initially I thought I would do what I had done before- mainly working with companies (food producers, service providers, etc.) on their individual food safety needs. But I realized that in the intervening decade, I’ve gained a perspective and some skills that are unique, and I’ve started to hone in on those: facilitating charged or controversial discussions around food safety and policy issues, helping companies (often associations, but sometimes individual companies) develop a strategy to address complicated food safety and regulatory challenges, finding creative solutions and building an army of allies to push food safety in the right direction: this is what I do. I also love developing technical expertise and critical thinking in others, so I still do some trainings, although I need to figure out how to scale this. I’ve learned to decline opportunities where companies are just looking to comply (with regulations, audits, etc.). There are others who can do that (often better and more efficiently than I can). I’ve gotten better at realizing when things aren’t a great fit and when I’m not providing the value or attention I think clients deserve. I’m also better at foreseeing how a relationship might unfold and walk away if I can see it’s unlikely to work out.

I also learned that in running a business, spreadsheets only get you so far. In January I moved my accounting over to Quickbooks, and there was a lot to learn! I continue to reach out to my CPA firm regularly with questions. Like many food safety professionals I am a rule follower and don’t want to mess up something as important as accounting. I’m also investing in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. I want to better organize my contacts so that I gain efficiency and to support a growing team. (this will help me deliver timely content to colleagues and clients. Today, I rely on my memory to generate the “to” list).

I also realize I need more help. Toggl shows that I spend more time than I’d like on “running the business”- generating invoices, remembering which billing platform or email address each client uses, (and remembering passwords to those platforms), getting updated insurance certificates, filing the right form for my solo 401k. Some of you know I hate filling out forms. I spend a lot of time on forms. I want to do food safety work.

What lies ahead

An exciting thing that lies ahead is a professional development program that helps women consultants. For months I passively listened to the podcasts, then joined a virtual happy hour (that was on an amazing platform I’d not used it before but was perfect for virtual networking). I met some other consultants who have nothing to do with food safety that have been so helpful and motivating. I also got some of the guides and templates and finally said “yes, sign me up!”. So I am very excited.

I’ve gone back and forth about my vision for the future of the business: should it grow, or stay small? In order to maintain the quality I want, I think things need to stay fairly small. That means capacity is finite (the “not done well” comes front and center, as well as the “learning” my niche). But I’m optimistic that quality won’t be compromised and capacity can be expanded if a great team is in place.

I’ve started to cobble together external support (my accounting firm, a specific benefits firm, small business financial advisors, etc.) but it still requires more management than I want to do myself. So I’m hopeful that help lies ahead. Stay tuned. There will be more good news to share in 2025. But I’ll hold off and save that for another post! Two years feels right around the corner!