The Expert Edge

The Stimulus Effect - How recovery funds are generating new consulting opportunities

Here's an interesting article from Consulting Magazine regarding how federal stimulus funds will trickle down to consultants.

The Stimulus Effect
By Eric Krell
Consulting Magazine
June 11, 2009

The day President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, seven Deloitte Consulting consultants brought the text of the new law and their laptops into a conference room. A few weeks later, they emerged with good news.

“A lot of consulting opportunities are going to come out of this,” asserts Jessica Blume, Deloitte Consulting’s national managing director of clients & industries. (Read entire article)

Putting your experience to work as a consultant

The following article was posted on KTNV.com, and includes a quote from PATCA President Walt Maclay. 
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By Rebecca M. Knight

Cynthia Currence always dreamed that she would one day retire early from her company and set out on her own as a consultant. Last January, when she lost her job as a marketing manager at the American Cancer Society during a corporate reorganization, the opportunity presented itself earlier than she had expected.

One year later, Currence, 52, who lives in Atlanta, is a consultant with more than 10 clients, including the Atlanta Falcons football team. "It's challenging, and it was scary at first," she says. "But it's a lot of fun."

In the face of rising corporate layoffs and declining opportunities for salaried employment, a growing number of workers are becoming independent consultants. Recent retirees whose investments have been hit hard by the falling stock market are also taking consulting jobs in order to replenish their portfolios.

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PATCA Reports Optimism Among Silicon Valley Consultants

Santa Clara, California, June 8, 2009:  A recent survey of PATCA members shows continuing economic uncertainty, but guarded optimism for the Silicon Valley and Greater San Francisco Bay Area consulting market. PATCA, an association of professional and technical consultants founded in 1975, also reports growing interest in the profession from laid off workers and increased participation in its educational programs.

 

“We recently conducted a mini-survey to put our finger on the pulse of our members,” said PATCA President Walt Maclay. “Much has changed since our last major consultant survey in the first half of 2008, but I’m surprised and delighted with our findings.” PATCA members are highly credentialed, experienced consultants who work either independently or in small consulting firms.

 

The survey asked three brief questions, designed to update key data points from the organization’s last member survey. Although 40% of PATCA consultants saw a decline in gross income in 2008, 47% of the respondents saw an increase in revenues that same year.

 

In looking toward their anticipated results for the year 2009, 57% of the consultants surveyed feel somewhat optimistic, expecting either an increase in business or no loss of income. Only 43% anticipate a decline in earnings.

 

A closer look at the data revealed... (see complete press release.)

Member Spotlight: Theresa Shafer

Theresa Shafer of SKMurphy follows a "Do it! Done!" methodology to manage a long list of action items.

 

Shafer works with lots of start-up companies, helping them to sell such intangible products as software and consulting services. She guides young firms as they develop their products and begin to grow. She often becomes a virtual member of a client's team by pitching in and helping to get things done. 

With a background in hardware engineering, her work has taken her across diverse industry sectors including electronic design automation, proteomics, text analytics, legal and medical services automation, Sarbanes-Oxley analytics and workflow. One of Shafer's strengths is her ability to organize complex systems into a streamlined flow that is clear and easy to understand - a skill that is important to initiatives of many different types.

 

In addition to business strategy, She especially enjoys developing sales and marketing material for highly technical audiences. She has managed mailing lists, developed tests and testing scenarios, created use cases, and implemented lead generation campaigns.

 

An associate member of PATCA for about a year, Theresa will be a co-presenter at PATCA's June dinner meeting when SKMurphy hosts a website peer review.