Consulting: My First Year

Consulting: My First Year

Literally my first clients were "cut and pasted" from the on-line yellow pages. What's best for this client? Soon we had our first premises! Check out the view! Being there and communicating. Bigger premises! More staff! Meet my team. On top of the world.

It began in Yale Street Internet Cafe, downtown Vancouver.I'd made my decision, I knew the basics of LRH admin tech and now Ineeded clients. I downloaded a 30-day trial version of the contactsoftware GoldMine and surfed the on-line yellow pages cutting andpasting together my first prospect database. I began promoting to them.Getting started was that simple. Within a year I'd have a team ofstaff, my own premises and a thriving consulting group.

In retrospect a career in consulting wasalways in the cards. I had first learned of LRH administrative tech asa client of Hollander Consultants, Inc., in Portland, Oregon. Iattended an introductory workshop as a veterinarian—I was blown away.This management system made sense; it dealt with people and theirmotivations (or in some cases their lack thereof). I was looking for asystem of management that paralleled my clinical thinking and here itwas!

After I got trained on LRH admin tech it wasnatural to disseminate it; I started to help other business owners thatcame to my practice. It was exciting to have simple solutions to whatfor them were frustrating and difficult problems. It was then that Imade a postulate to get into consulting. I was also lured by the incomepotentials I'd seen in consulting. All the major consultants were wellup The Bridge, disseminating full-time and were not the effect of timeand money.

To get my feet wet I started working withWISE-licensed consultants Measurable Solutions, Inc., in Florida. Ibegan in the Sales area. I realized early on that the income of aconsultant depends very much on his or her skill in disseminating toothers. After some training and a strong intention to make this happenI started selling services. I realized that HCOPL 25 June 1978, COME-ONDISSEMINATION is a must for any consultant to know and apply—it works like a charm. In fact, initially I lost tens of thousands of dollars because I violated this policy.

I studied LRH admin tech courses on theweekend and soon got my own license as a consultant. I attended a WISEconsulting conference aboard the Freewinds and it was here thatI really put the postulate there to start my own LRH admin techconsulting company. Soon after, my family and I returned fromClearwater, Florida to Vancouver, Canada.

STARTING OUT

That's when I went out on my own and startedProfessional Business Solutions. It was the month of October and usingthe free Internet access of a local cafe I began to build a database ofpublics to whom I could promote. The market I went after were technicalprofessionals, people like me who were very technically trained butneeded management skills to survive (contractors, veterinarians, etc.).It was broader public than most consulting companies but I was able topull it off.

CREDENTIALS NOT ESSENTIAL

Whenever a dentist or someone would ask meabout my background, I responded that I wasn't going to teach themtheir profession, I would train them how to build and manage a businessand live to tell the story. This handled 90% of objections.

At the end of October I had done my firstintroductory lecture to an association of contractors. A local WISEmember introduced me to them and I made my first income.

I registered my company name and startedlooking for premises. I was soon joined by a trained, stable andinexorably uptone partner, we formed a team and never got into theone-man band trap—that was key. I searched the web for a local"rent-an-office-in-a-box" company and found one that supplied front-endsecretarial services (phones, faxes, mail, etc.) and a nice boardroom.Soon after two more staff came on board.

Inthese first months, the hardest thing was generating enough income tohave some reserves and be able to put some future there. Christmas wasfast approaching and it was getting really tight (I had a family tofeed and presents to buy). I made it go right by contacting an oldfriend who had attended one of our introductory seminars. He wasvice-president of a trucking company and literally was in the middle ofa rat's nest of suppression.

I drove out to see him mid December and did astandard registration interview and brought him up the Awareness Scalewith regard to his business. I signed him up for a series of coursesand consulting. He paid. I remember driving one mile away, pulling thecar over and calling my wife—the relief was intense.

I started putting in LRH's policy OrganizationProgram No.1 on how to build an organization with three or more staff.We found new premises—a professional office building with a choice oftwo sets of offices. We took the larger one with a boardroomoverlooking the city, mountains and ocean. We decided: We'll make it goright—it would be perfect for seminar and training course delivery. ByDecember 28, we had hired a part-time supervisor to deliver courses.Within seven days we were ordering and receiving our WISE course packsand on January 2 we began training delivery!

During this time I promoted my introductoryseminars not only to new professionals I'd never met but also to my ownpersonal database—people I knew from when I was a veterinarian. When Ilook back on it, my personal communication lines definitely helped tokick off the company.

"I love the freedom of the career—it's changing everyday and isa very fun game. ...I should have taken the 'plunge' and started fiveyears earlier."

Throughout this time, we were selling anddelivering services and in doing so I was constantly reminded that theprofessionals I was contacting did not have this technology and thelack of it was ruining their lives. One comparison really brought thishome to me.

PEOPLE NEED THIS TECH

When I first trained on LRH admin tech coursesmany years earlier with Hollander Consultants, Inc., my bookkeeper cameto me one very busy day and said: "Dr. Parker, I just have to tell youthat four bank deposits have gone missing, and three have come backwithout the cash." I remember thinking "Now what the heck am I supposedto do with this!" I would rather have gone and spayed more cats! Butwho was doing this?

I called my consultant, and asked for help.His response: "Is there anyone who is critical of you in the practice?"As it turned out, there was a receptionist who had been rolling hereyes in disgust at me. When I looked into things, it was her initialson the missing bank deposit forms.

Now came the dilemma: I had to do something,however, this girl was the daughter of a very prominent local family.Was I to call the police and ruin this girl's life? I felt stuckbetween a rock and a hard place. My consultant directed me to the Introduction to Scientology Ethics book and the formulas for improving lower-level conditions.

I sat down with the employee and got heragreement to take responsibility for her actions. Using the lowercondition formulas as our guide she walked up the conditions. She paidback all the money and worked extra hours for months to make up thedamage. In the end she stayed with us for seven years and went on tofinish her university degree. And she helped me start a second company.Now that's powerful tech!

I used this example at one of my advanced workshops to demonstrate the LRH datum, "IF ONE KNOWS THE TECH OF HOW TO DO SOMETHING AND CAN DO IT, AND USES IT, HE CANNOT BE THE ADVERSE EFFECT OF IT."One of the attendees originated that he had an employee who hadembezzled $20,000 out of his practice. With no ethics tech and notknowing what to do, he had told his employee that she needed to workout how to handle this over the weekend. The employee, a wife andmother of one, couldn't confront this. She went home and shot herself.To this day, the business owner feels responsible. Don't kid yourselffor a second, people need this tech like there's no tomorrow.

THE YEAR WAS UP

By the end of 12 months, I had gone fromnothing to a flourishing consulting group with seven staff and smartpremises. I'm disseminating LRH admin tech full-time and totallywinning. I'm helping people and I love the freedom of the career—it'schanging every day and is a very fun game.

To this day, I know that I should have takenthe "plunge" five years earlier. To anyone considering consulting, Isay: get trained and go for it! Don't leave it another day. Trust me!