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Engage and prosper
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by Brian A. Kane, President
Spider-Man soon will be swinging through Rochester for a reason. Rochester is the most successful region in upstate New York. That was the assessment of Sandy Parker, president and CEO of the Rochester Business Alliance, during her visit with the RPCN on March 8.
Sandy Parker at RPCN
Photo: Janice Hanson
Her advice to consultants: Get involved with the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council. Recently, Governor Andrew Cuomo awarded the region $96.2 million in economic development grants. Parker says that consultants can have a two-fold impact from volunteering with the Council: We can influence the development of the region and we can network to create the right relationships for our businesses.
The Council will be working to strengthen the regional economy around the following innovation hubs: higher education, agriculture and food processing, advanced manufacturing, life sciences and health care, business services, energy innovation, and tourism and the arts.
If you want to prosper as a consultant along with the rest of the region, you should be designing your business and marketing strategies with these hubs in mind. Here is a link to Parker's PowerPoint presentation.
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David Powe brings corporate experience to consulting excellence
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By Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, freelance writer/editor, www.writerruth.com
Launching a consulting business was a logical - and carefully considered - move for Rochester Professional Consultants Network (RPCN) member David Powe, partner and lead consultant in AIOPX Management Consulting.
Powe came to Rochester from New Jersey, as director of manufacturing for Arch Chemicals. Eventually, a larger company bought Arch and released all of its corporate employees. Powe spent about six months "going through a process of elimination for where I wanted to go in my life," he recalled. "I decided I had three options to consider: find another job in corporate America, buy a franchise business or go into consulting. ... Consulting came to the forefront as best meeting my career aspirations and personal needs."
And he was prepared for consulting - in his last two years with Arch, he functioned as an internal consultant. "I went to all the other company locations to help them start up, develop a structure and use operations excellence," he said. "I had a home office."
Powe launched his business officially in February 2012. He considers his consulting business to still be in launch mode, although he has found success and fulfillment in his first year as a consultant and has learned a few valuable lessons along the way.
Click here to read more about those lessons learned, how he came up with his business name and his take on the value of networking.
For a video interview with David Powe, watch this YouTube video.
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Making your business better
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Simplicity: Streamline a process and you will gain time that is better spent elsewhere. When you write an email, provide only the most relevant information. These are two ways Judy Dobles lists for how business people can reduce "additional effort that does not help in creating the final end product or service." Read more in her article, Strive to Attain the Elegance of Simplicity.
Mission vs. Vision: Do you confuse a mission statement with a vision statement? A mission statement is about what you are trying to accomplish every day at work. A vision statement is where an organization is trying to go in the future. Bob Whipple explains the difference in Mission and Vision Essentials.
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Of interest
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Community Report Card: ACT Rochester (an initiative of the Rochester Area Community Foundation) hosts its second annual community report card event on Thursday, April 11, 8:00 - 10:00 AM at the Rochester Museum & Science Center. Be the first to learn about updated regional trends; connect with community initiatives linked with ACT Rochester; and discuss opportunities to leverage resources now that ACT Rochester aligns directly to the governor's nine-county Finger Lakes structure. Click here for more information.
Closing the Deal: SCORE hosts a workshop on improving your selling skills on Wednesday, April 10 from 3:00 - 5:00 PM in Fairport. When you are talking with an interested customer face-to-face, on the phone or on the Internet, how good are you at selling and closing the sale? How would you rate your selling skills, on a scale of 1 to 10? Would you like to improve? Click here for more information.
Freelancing: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter will be one of the presenters in the first-ever virtual conference hosted by the Society for Technical Communication (STC), on starting a business, April 16-18, 2013. Click here for more information.
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Expanding your reach
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If you write and submit an article for the RPCN website, then what? It will soon be posted in the site's General Articles section. You can then share that link through Facebook, Twitter, your blog or website, or email. The newsletter will highlight articles that focus on issues of broad interest to consultants, especially ones that provide useful information such as specific actions professionals can take to improve their businesses, serve clients better and better manage the many tasks of a solopreneur.
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Upcoming events
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Technical Forum facilitated by Mike Van der Gaag
Friday, April 5, 2013 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Pittsford Community Library
An informal, facilitated roundtable discussion of any technical issues that consultants encounter in running their businesses, including computers, the Internet and telephones.
Generating Evidence-Based Outcomes
presented by Brian Kane
Friday, April 12, 2013
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Brighton Town Hall - Downstairs Meeting Room
Organizations achieve their missions and generate substantial impact by focusing on and measuring their most critical outcomes. Learn how to combine evidence-based metrics and the right stories to create a compelling narrative that proves your effectiveness and increases your value to donors, employees and the community. Here's a video introduction to the program:
Business Forum
facilitated by Lynn Dessert
Friday, April 19, 2013
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Pittsford Community Library
An informal, facilitated roundtable discussion of any issues regarding starting or running a consulting business.
RPCN Board Meeting
Friday, April 19, 2013
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Pittsford Community Library
RPCN's monthly board meeting begins at approximately 10:00 AM following the Business Forum. Everyone is welcome to attend, but only board members may vote.
Revitalizing Eastman Business Park
presented by Michael Alt, director of Eastman Business Park, Eastman Kodak Company
Friday, April 26, 2013
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Brighton Town Hall - Downstairs Meeting Room
Michael Alt will speak about turning legacy assets and intellectual capital into key drivers of today's innovation economy. Often referred to as a "city within a city," Eastman Business Park is a one-of-a-kind multi-use advanced manufacturing and research center in Rochester that includes approximately 40 companies in a range of fields.
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