Alles was Sie brauchen, auf einen Blick

We met Nika in central London for a drink after work. It was interesting to find out what a fellow Warwick graduate and a new Googler made of the world post-consulting. We chatted about the time at Morrisons Online and how it compared to their role at Accenture. Nika also talks about leaving consulting and, of course, how it is working for Google now.

Nika’s story gives some important lessons on how to maximize your development post advisory:

Why did you decide to leave consulting?  

I wanted a new challenge and to further develop my expertise in analytics and digital. It was daunting to search for jobs with so many job boards to plough through and recruitment agencies constantly hassling you. I wasn’t sure who was hiring consultants and where I should start looking. A friend in consulting recommended using Movemeon because of its’ niche focus on jobs that require a consulting background. Movemeon was the ideal solution, no-one was hunting me down and putting me forward for roles I had no interest in – it was all driven by me. I applied for roles I liked and had control over the process. I was after this hands-off approach (yet I knew if I wanted to get in touch with someone from Movemeon I could) so this felt like a perfect fit. The application was really straightforward too and I heard back from the employer promptly. This is how I landed my first job out of consulting at Morrisons Online.

How was the transition to Morrisons Online?

Working at Morrisons Online was a great pleasure! I am very much a ‘yes’ person when it comes to new opportunities so it was great fun just diving in. I wanted to work in digital so being there when Morrisons Online was just launching was incredible. In a way, it felt like I was working for a start-up; the vibe was really exciting and the culture really fitted my personality.

We were starting from scratch, which meant we had to build everything from the grounds up for our analyses and analytical modelling. We were all new, figuring it out and verifying our hypotheses as we went.  It was a crash course on how to run a new business – we had to be creative and learn on the job. Looking back at it, it was absolutely the right opportunity to take on after consulting. My team was great and I am still friends with them now (we used Movemeon to recruit into our team due to the positive experience we personally had with it).

What are the differences between working in a consultancy and in industry?

In consulting, you work on so many different projects, especially when you are junior. At Morrisons, I had to become an expert in my area very quickly. I also did not travel that much but that was actually quite nice. I had time to see my friends instead of spending the weekend doing laundry! I’d say consulting is definitely the best first job after finishing university. You learn the skills we now take for granted like work ethic, managing expectations, time management, learning to fail and learning from your mistakes with the safety net of a big company with all the resources you could want in order for you to develop.

How does Google compare to all your experience up to date?

Working in Google is incredibly collaborative. They make it really easy for you to work too; the tech always works and you have all the equipment you need so you can focus on the core of your job. You can call on experts as and when you need which allows you to move fast and really get things done. 

I work on conducting analyses and insights for FMCG brands, to help them develop their digital marketing strategies. We try to understand and make sense of online customer journeys and behaviours. I get very undefined problems and briefs and try to make sense of what is actually happening in order to answer how these problems can be tackled. Of course, it is challenging, but that is what I am after!  My immediate team is 7 people, but the hierarchy is flat. I really like Google’s ethos around learning and failing fast. It’s about innovating and always trying new things, and if something is not working, then it’s just about moving on to the next solution quickly.

Any tips for our members thinking about moving on from consulting?

1. Choose your manager well – make sure they are someone you want to learn from, and someone who is willing to teach you. Be honest with yourself around what you need and want, and look for a manager who can teach and inspire you to achieve that.

2. I keep an open mind when it comes to opportunities and disregard any preconceived notions you may have. Try as many new things as possible early on in your career, because you never know what you’ll end up enjoying or where your unique skills lie. I spent a lot of time resisting projects in the public sector at Accenture, and they ended up being the most rewarding and enjoyable ones while I worked there. I also recommend to get involved in as many projects as possible – your workload will be crazy, but your learning trajectory will be greatly expedited, take a look at this article to find out how to discover the best opportunities for you

3. Choose jobs according to your potential – you can always learn as you go. The great thing about consulting is that you gain the skills to learn and adapt quickly.

4. Learn by discussing your ideas and theories with your colleagues. I keep checking-in and comparing the way we each think about a problem and often that leads to the most fruitful outcomes.

5. Make a decision and commit to it 100%. This is the way you give yourself the best chance of succeeding (and other opportunities will follow).

6. Make sure you like what you do and don’t take that for granted.

What was best about each company?

I loved that I was surrounded by my peers at Accenture – moving down to London and starting a first job post-uni is made a lot less terrifying that way.  Everyone was the same age, figuring it out and making similar mistakes. We had a lot of resources and knew where to go for help. Morrisons was a great business crash course and perfect for developing expertise. At Google, it’s about growing this expertise further and working on a wider variety of problems as you help your clients navigate the intricacies of digital consumers, and just learning as you go. Consulting was a lot more high level whereas at Morrisons and Google I get my hands dirty. Sometimes we have to improvise and move on to the next thing. When it comes to life/work balance the busy periods oscillate with every job  – as I grow more experienced I am learning to enjoy the periods between projects and really recharge. At the end of the day, it is your responsibility (and privilege!) to make sure that you are working the way you like and want.

How does one land a job at Google?

It’s about doing all your prep, and then hoping everything works out on the day. I had 5 sets of interviews with 7 different people. They want to understand the way you think and if you fit into the team. Despite the stories you hear, there are no trick questions where someone is trying to catch you out. They were all fair questions which relate to the job, your experience and leadership, and a cultural fit. And everyone was really friendly and responsive throughout the process.

We have a number of interviews with ex-consultants, click here to have a look at some of our most recent inside view based articles.

The best job interviews aren’t one-sided interrogations but rather two-way conversations designed to let both sides figure out if they’d be a good fit.Since your goal shouldn’t be just to get a job offer but to land in a position in which you’ll thrive and in an environment, you won’t dread as you come to work every day, you should be interviewing the interviewer right back.Asking the right questions shows a level of thoughtfulness and engagement. After all, your interviewer wants to know that you’re interested in the details of the job, the department you’ll be working in, your prospective supervisor’s management style, and the culture of the organization. Otherwise, you risk signalling that you’re either not that interested or just haven’t thought very much about it.

Here are 10 questions to consider asking

1. Why is this position open?
2. What are the biggest challenges or obstacles the person in this position will face?
3. Can you describe a typical day or week in the position?
4. What would a successful first year in the position look like?
5. How will the success of the person in this position be measured?
6. Thinking back to the person whom you’ve seen do this job best, what made their performance so outstanding?
7. How would you describe the culture here?
8. How would you describe your management style?
9. Are there reservations you have about my fit for the position? (This is a great way to give yourself the chance to tackle any doubts they might have about you—as well as for you to consider whether those doubts might be reasonable and point to a bad fit.)
10. When do you expect to make a hiring decision?

After spending 5 years working at Deloitte, Al Dea made the move from management consulting to become a Product Marketer at a tech company. In addition to working as a Product Marketing Manager, Al also is a career coach, he runs CareerSchooled, a career advice blog, and advises professionals including many consultants on career changes of their own. In this article, he talks about how you can prepare for a move out of consulting.Predicting the future is hard and there’s so much that can change, but there are a few things that you can do to help set yourself up for success if and when you do decide to move on from consulting.

Figure out what your experiences are in

Consulting moves so fast that sometimes it's easy to forget what we actually did on that case 6 months ago, or what role we had on that one project late last year. Take time to write down all the projects you worked on, the roles you had, and the experiences you gained from the process. Reflecting on this should give you a sense of potential opportunities.

Figure out what you like doing and are good at doing

Ideally, your next role will be a mix both of what you like to do and what you are good at doing, so answering these questions is a great place to start. Take stock of what you like doing and what you enjoy doing based off of your past consulting experience. Eventually, you’ll want to figure out where your skills/interests map to specific roles, but it starts with knowing what you like and are good at.

Figure out where you do your best work

Knowing what you want to do is great, but an underrated thing is knowing where you do your best work. So not only about what kind of work do you want to do, but who do you want to do the work with, or what kind of culture do you want to do the work in?For some, this may mean a competitive environment with colleagues that push and challenges you to perform at your best. For others, it's a collaborative and supportive culture where people work together to achieve results. Knowing what type of environment you thrive in is helpful as it can help you identify a company, industry, or role that fits you best. And when you do select that company and its culture that fits your needs, you are putting yourself in a great position to be successful in that next jobLooking at your past projects and the culture/environment that was created is a great place to start. Identify where you felt the most energy or excitement and dig deep into what the partner/project manager did to create that team culture.

Think about what path you want to follow

I think it’s always healthy to spend a little time thinking about your future career, and it's even more critical if you’re anticipating making a transition within the next year. But I think it starts with self-reflection. Every job is a combination of skills, experiences, and a market need, so one simple exercise you can do is to understand your own skills and experiences. Write down all the projects and cases you’ve worked on in the past year, and identify the unique skills/experiences you have that you could use in your next role. Furthermore, get some guidance from your peers/mentors. Find out from them what skills or strengths you have that are valuable, as those are great potential tip-offs as to what another company might find value in you.

Have an idea of the transition

Another thing you can do is to get a sense of what the transition process can look like. You probably know a few people who have made the transition - reach out to them to understand how they went about the process and how they like their new role. Furthermore, your firm may have resources for you to use (ex: paid time to search for a new job, placement services) but in addition to that sites like Movemeon are great because they can show you exactly how other people like you are navigating the change. It should also give you the confidence to know that if other people are able to do it, you can too!

Ok, let’s dispel a myth: you’re not going to “spot” your next big career move. And it’s certainly not going to find you!I don’t need to re-enforce just what an important decision a job is. Most people spend well over half their time at work. And its impact on your life is far more wide-reaching than just the hours you spent there. We’ve all come home excited by a recent work success; and vice versa, when we’re unable to stop thinking about a certain problem or deadline at work, well after office hours.In this article, I want to focus on how to assess just how well a job “fits” you. It’s important you ensure that you are seeing a steady flow of potential opportunities, and also talking to your network. However, this article will hopefully give you a structure to think about whether these jobs would fit with you.THE FOUR ELEMENTS IN FINDING THE “PERFECT JOB”We’ve spent a lot of time hearing why people are so excited about the opportunities they’ve found on movemeon, so we wanted to put some of that into writing. And like any good ex-consultant, we came up with a framework!Having read, and heard from a number of candidates who have recently moved, the “fit” of the new job seems to focus on four elements:

1. What are you good at and what do you want to do more of
2. What lifestyle balance and compensation do you want
3. Where does your experience lie
4. What are the macro trends like

WHAT ARE YOU GOOD AT AND WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO MORE OF?If you excel at something, it’s a strength to build on. Like any business, focusing on your strengths and where you’re already performing well, is a great first place. In addition to being something you can perform well at, it’s also typically something you enjoy and thus want to do more of.As we’ve alluded to before, focusing on skills as opposed to industries or jobs will ensure you don’t cut out potentially relevant roles because the job title is different!WHAT LIFESTYLE BALANCE AND COMPENSATION DO YOU WANT?I remember on my first day of consulting, being sat down as a cohort of 20 recent graduates, and being branded as an “insecure overachievers”. We see countless times where this insecurity is guiding people and their decisions. No more so in wanting to earn a certain amount by a certain age.My advice here is two-fold. Firstly, if you work in an area you are good at, your rewards will come. Secondly, don’t pick a compensation level based on being competitive about a number. Calculate what you want financially in life, and work backwards. More often than not, the actual salary you need, and progression of that salary, is much lower than you think.A lifestyle typically goes hand in hand with compensation. Decide what’s important to you, and what you’re prepared to sacrifice. It’s also worth noting that lifestyle can change dramatically as you progress in a job, so understanding how your work-life balance will likely evolve as you progress is key.WHERE DOES YOUR EXPERIENCE LIE Whilst this won’t always marry well with 1 (where your skills lie), it should always be an important consideration. You are a marketable asset. As such, looking for a job in an industry where you don’t have any will be very hard.Whilst we would love all businesses to hire based on skills, it’s a lot harder. And typically, the easiest first screen hiring managers and recruitment teams do, is: do they have experience in a similar job or role? It de-risks who they are hiring/ planning to interview.So whilst sometimes you’ll be looking to move to an area where you have no experience, it will definitely make life harder. If this is the case, MBAs can be very helpful as a route to move into a new industry.WHAT ARE THE MACRO TRENDS LIKEA fast-growing company will promote faster, pay better and give you more opportunities. My advice is always to look at a company you want to join as an investment (potentially the most important investment of your life).To this end:

• What do you think of the product: is it, or can you imagine it being a market leader?
• Do you believe the industry is going to grow as a whole: a great product in a declining industry will struggle to find great growth
• What do you think of the leadership team: do you have faith that they are going to grow

What to do about it Use these filters as a framework to weigh up potential jobs. As mentioned in the introduction, you need to ensure you’re seeing a steady flow of potential opportunities (movemeon is quite a good place). This framework will then allow you to assess each opportunity on its potential “fit” with you.

Find out more about hiring on movemeon

We ran a poll on “why enter strategy consultancies”. We were intrigued to see the main reason was “to open doors”: to have more opportunities in different industries when you leave. This is understandably very appealing for top graduates who aren’t yet sure what they want to do in their careers.

In this article, we start by looking at the results from the “why enter consulting” poll. Given the importance of “opening doors” (transferable skills, multiple industry exposures and prestige on the CV), we then go through the analysis of which consultancies were best at providing this. Based on the preferences of ex-consultants on Movemeon, we were interested to find out it wasn’t the most prestigious brands that were “opening doors to most industries”. We look into the probable causes of this. Followed by a short conclusion on how you can increase the breadth of your appeal across industries.

WHY START YOUR CAREER IN STRATEGY CONSULTANCIES?

When we posed the question “why did you enter strategy consulting”, the answer was to have more opportunities afterward. All three of the top responses were actually about the future jobs they could get.

• Transferable skills
• Prestige on CV
• Multiple industry exposures

BUT WHICH CONSULTANCIES GIVE THE BROADEST EXPERIENCE?

Of the three most popular reasons people enter strategy consultancies, transferable skills and prestige have been well documented. We’ve seen countless “prestige lists”, and from our experience, we’ve found the skill sets of consultants to be extremely comparable between consultancies. As such, we wanted to dig into the question of which consultancy opens doors to the most industries. To analyse this, we looked at the preferences of our strong community. We then analysed, by a consultancy firm, the number of different industries consultants were looking for jobs in.

STRATEGY BOUTIQUES OPEN DOORS TO 20% MORE INDUSTRIES THAN OTHER LARGER CONSULTANCIES

Whilst we were expecting to see the largest firms to drive the most choice, it was, in fact, the opposite. Not only were the large consulting firms resulting in narrower industry experience. Also the smaller boutiques were outperforming the most prestigious strategy firms. We identified three potential drivers behind these trends: the type of work; the need to specialise; and larger firms being limited to certain industries as a result of larger fees.

The type of work

Every company needs a strategy. Whether it’s how to take advantage of growth opportunities or increasing profitability: all companies, no matter the industry, are following a strategy. As such, strategy consulting can be very broad, and relevant to all industries The work at larger consultancies can be much more specialized. For example, lean and operations are only applicable to certain industries. The same goes for Big data/ analytics, for example.

The need to specialise

One big difference between consultancies is the rate at which you are expected to specialise. In McKinsey, we were encouraged to work across a broad number of industries as a “generalist”, for the first four years. It was only at the manager level, where people started to consider where their industry “platform” was going to be. This was very different from my colleagues in some of the larger consultancies, who were specialising in various functions/ industries within a matter of months. This specialism question might also go some part of the way in understanding the difference between McKinsey, BCG & Bain and the smaller strategy boutiques (LEK, OC&C). Given the smaller size of the strategy boutiques, there is less of an expectation to specialise. Whilst managers will typically have industries and functional areas they work commonly in, the size of the consultancy will result in less of a need for specialisation.

Larger fees limit industries

It’s no surprise that prestigious brands charge higher fees. As a result, only businesses of a certain size (and often profitability), are able to afford to bring in the most well-known brands. Given this, the potential variety of industries you’ll be able to consult with will diminish with the increased prestige of the consulting brand.

GREAT, BUT HOW CAN I BROADEN MY APPEAL?

The most common reason for hiring managers not progressing candidates to interview is lack of industry fit. Time and time again, we hear from employers that there are no relevant projects in their given industry. As such, the importance of varied industry experience shouldn’t be underestimated. Our advice for candidates looking to increase their appeal is two-fold: – First, make sure you’re putting your best foot forward. Have you tailored your CV with all relevant projects at the top? If not, chances are you won’t be progressing to the interview (no matter which consultancy you worked at). – Secondly, if you really don’t have relevant industry experience, can you call out your relevant functional experience?

As discussed above, the skills developed in consultancy are extremely comparable. Employers often look for the same skills (analytics, insight, stakeholder management). So if you can’t boast many projects in the relevant industry, make sure you explain your relevant functional experience/ skills on your CV.

Do you consider joining a boutique consultancy or leaving consulting to work in the industry? Join our network of over 60,000 consultants and view all jobs online!

Mona is an ex-BCG consultant and the Product Owner at Rentalcars.com. Her job is to make car hire fully transparent for customers. With Movemeon, she talked about her career path and what it was like moving from consultancy to the tech industry.

“If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, you don’t ask what seat. You just get on.” 

This is how Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google in 2001, convinced Sheryl Sandberg to join.

When Rentalcars turned a decade old, yet it was already a multi-billion business. It was doubling in size every 3 years, and then started to accelerate! What this growth rate means is that there is ample opportunity to improve the business and (almost) no one stopping you from implementing your ideas!

Quite a change from consultancy where you’re lucky if your brilliant ideas even make it into the final slide deck…

After my educational (PhD) leave I decided not to return to BCG in order to find a new challenge with a better work-life balance. I joined Rentalcars.com about 6 months ago as Product Owner of Terms & Conditions. I didn’t understand at first. Terms and Conditions? Were they sure they didn’t want to hire a lawyer for this job? However, the job is everything but boring legal details. Rentalcars.com is a broker, so our supply partners (Avis, Hertz and so on) have terms which our customers must adhere to – for example, additional fees they have to pay at the desk. My team and I make sure customers know this up front, and we help supply partners to improve their requirements. Achieving Full Transparency in the car hire industry is a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) and I’m in charge.

The consultancy skill set is a huge benefit in my role.

Moving from consultancy with my consultancy skill set to Rentalcar.com was a great benefit for me. Creating a strategic vision and boiling it down to roadmaps, planning and implementation is crucial. But there’s a lot to learn every day. I work with engineering (on software development), product owners (on intersections between software products), our call centre (on customer hassles), UX researchers (on user experience), copywriters (on wording), and our commercial department (on supply partner relationships). Each of my stakeholders has valuable insights, skills or resources that I need to create a fantastic product.

The biggest difference between BCG and Rentalcars.com is that I finally feel like I’m in the driver’s seat. I am driving change every day, and I can already see the results of my work on our website. But not all is different. My colleagues are smart and great at their jobs.

I work with ex-consultants from BCG, Oliver Wyman, Bain, and Deloitte.

Rentalcars.com is part of the Priceline Group, the world’s leading provider of online travel, and one of Fortune’s four most admired tech companies – alongside Google, Amazon & Facebook. We also have annual plans and quarterly objectives: just like the majority of BCG’s clients.

One of our company values is “We love having fun”. We have meeting rooms with hoverboards or poker tables, free breakfast, subsidized lunch and Friday beers. We also love “being different”, “doing stuff together”, “straight talking”, and “getting it done”. It’s a great place to be yourself and to be successful. And don’t even try wearing a suit for work.

Interested in moving from consultancy to the industry? We have great opportunities on Movemeon (at all seniorities and in a wide range of functions). Joining the movemeon community (it’s free) gives you daily access to opportunities it’s impossible to discover elsewhere.

Get the most out of consulting (before it gets the best out of you!). Speak to generations gone-by, and consulting sounded like the dream job: imagine all the good parts of consulting today (sitting in a room with a client, solving their most pressing problems) and take away the endless PowerPoint and excel models! It seems a long way from today’s high-stress, long-hour environment. This partnered with the elongation of promotion cycles, and sometimes it’s hard to see exactly what drew you to the career. Well, my job today is to remind you. There are a lot of perks to a career in consulting; it’s just about making sure you get the most out of it!

I look back very fondly on my McKinsey days. I worked with great people, travelled the world and learnt a lot – all in two very short years! However, given the opportunities on offer, if I had my time again, I’d make sure I got even more out of it. So, I thought I’d make a list of advice I wish I’d had during my consulting days, on how to get the most from consulting.Rich Rosser - Founder of Movemeon

WORK WITH PEOPLE YOU LOVE

The most important bit of advice: work with people you love. There are a lot of great people in consulting, but you’ve got to find the special few who you really get along with, and who also help you develop. Don’t let fate run its course: actively create a network of people you like and want to work with. Never miss the chance for an after-work beer, work social or away days / off sites.

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

Don’t shy away from being outside of your comfort zone. We all have areas we are less confident in – consulting is very good at both finding these, and helping you develop them. As I mentioned in my last blog – getting the most from the development process – be clear on areas you want to improve and ask for advice.

STAFFING

Whilst a large amount of which project you work on won’t necessarily go through the official staffing channels, there will inevitably be projects that do. Never underestimate the impact staffers have on your career (and life). It’s absolutely essential to have a good relationship with them, and for that always put yourself in their shoes. Sometimes you will have to work on the project you don’t want. My advice is:

• be very clear with what you want (industry, development areas, location);
• if you do a project that doesn’t suit what you want, and they really want you to do it, do it with a smile. But make clear that next time you want to have your first pick;
• never forget to say thank you. They’ve got a really tough job, and are very rarely thanked given how much they put into it!

TRAVEL WHILE YOU CAN

Some of my most enjoyable projects were around the world – Hong Kong, New York, Middlesborough!It gets a lot harder to travel with work after consulting. So if travelling is something you like, and you’re in a position where you can travel without it affecting your life/ loved ones, do it! Make it very clear to staffing, and investigate the options (6-month placement; global rotation schemes etc.). If you don’t make it a priority, it won’t happen.

THE PERKS

Gym on site; amazing breakfast, lunch, dinner; team dinners and events; off sites. These are not normal perks – so for all of us outside of consulting, please, please, please make sure you make the most of them!

Movemeon: jobs, insight, events and career tips for (ex-)consultants and freelancers. Click here to create a free account and access all our opportunities.

Freelancing - 9 benefits and ways to find work. Working for yourself as a freelancer/contractor/interim consultant is a career option that people often fail to consider. However, it was a great model for us as we researched and set up Movemeon. We recommend the freelance route particularly for professional services people starting out as entrepreneurs. Perhaps freelancing could be a good option for you to explore.

Here we share some benefits and some tactics for finding work.

The benefits of freelancing

1. Freedom to leave your current job without your next permanent role lined up.
   
2. Pays the bills if you’re researching a business idea.
   
3. Pays well. There are 2 rules of thumb on knowing what to charge: i) your permanent salary divided by 100 (remember as a freelancer you won’t have any benefits or paid holiday); ii) the day rate that your employer charged you out at divided by 3.
   
4. Avoids ‘gaps’ on your CV.
   
5. The work tends to involve more responsibility. The client will want you as a mini-project manager, you’ll ‘own’ the relationships, have more exposure and be your own boss.

The ways to get a freelance job

1. Use Movemeon. We know, we know…. we’re biased! But we’ve had some great freelancing roles come through the site – so keep your eyes open and register for free freelance job alerts.
   
2. Let your former employer know. You’ll be surprised at the number of clients that will approach a firm with smaller jobs (that aren’t worth your employer’s while to pitch for), or part-time jobs (that they couldn’t staff given that they only have full-time employees). Your employer could recommend your services.
   
3. Let your friends and colleagues know.
   
4. Let your former clients know (subject to terms of your employment contract with your former employer).

Freelancing need not be forever, but it’s often a good option for now. If you’re freelancing, we’d love to hear your thoughts – email: info@movemeon.com

Find your next freelancing opportunity here!

The benefits of freelancing

Freelancing offers a range of benefits – good pay, a range of projects and working with new clients. However, one of the main rewards it offers is the world’s most valuable commodity – it gives you more time. In this day and age, where everything seems to be running on fast forward, more time is something we all crave. If you stopped a passer-by on the street and offered them three wishes what would they wish for – wealth, fame or maybe just a Nando’s black card? The one notable exception, for the most part, will be the wish for more time. This isn’t because we don’t secretly all crave it. We’ve just grudgingly accepted it’s something we’re never going to achieve for most of our working lives.

It’s important to define what I mean by ‘more time’. Time is relative to how we choose to spend it. An hour spent commuting to work can’t equate to spending an hour doing something you truly love to do. ‘More time’ to me means being able to spend more time with friends and loved ones. Also, to travel more or just being able to sit in the park and read a good book. Basically doing all the things that make life worth living – let’s call this ‘golden time’.

The 'golden time' privilege

‘Golden time’ is being able to do the things you look back on at the end of the week and just say to yourself ‘it’s been a good week’.  It could be as simple as painting a picture or dropping your child to school every day. Everyone has their own definition of what ‘golden time’ actually means to them. Some of my fondest memories in life are those occasions that happened as a result of having more ‘golden time’. Babysitting my niece for the first time after pulling a ‘sickie’ from work, taking a gap year and traveling through Cuba & Central America. All things I wouldn’t have been able to do without this ‘golden time’. That’s not to say I don’t love what I do for work. On the contrary, I actually consider myself incredibly lucky to be doing a job I actually really care about. But if you were to ask me if I think I have enough ‘golden time’ in my week – I’d say probably not.

I think it’s safe to say that I’m not alone feeling this way. Most of my friends are in high-flying city careers and every time we catch up they all have the same complaint – work’s great but I don’t have enough free time to do the stuff I really want to. It’s something I think you feel the older you get with big milestones acting as a period of reflection. I turn 30 next month and it’s got me thinking - how will I remember my 20’s? Did I really do everything I wanted to – if not, then what was stopping me?

In my opinion, being able to claw back more of this ‘golden time’ is probably one of the main and often most undervalued benefits of freelancing. This ability to earn some more ‘golden time’ is achieved through flexing work-life balance so that you’re able to continue sustaining your current standard of living (paying bills, mortgage, school fees etc.), but freeing up ‘work time’ and devoting it to all the pursuits that you’re most passionate about. This could be either through having the flexibility of only working certain months of the year or working certain hours on a freelance project.

In today’s work environment, so much emphasis is put onto achievements & promotions. However, I promise you this – show me someone who’s managed to build a healthy amount of regular ‘golden time’ into their weekly schedule. I’m confident their level of contentment will be unmatched versus so-called ‘high fliers’ in the city. When you manage to master the life of a freelance consultant, I’d firmly put you into this category. There isn’t a single category of ‘worker’ I’d classify as being more content with their personal and professional lives than freelancers who’ve mastered the art of switching off when not on a project and keeping ‘golden time’ sacred – no exceptions. The temptation will always be to feel ‘productive’ and scout out new channels for potential projects when you’re not working. However the fact is, if you’ve set yourself up properly and put in the hard graft to establish a strong network of potential employers, there will be regular occasions you can afford to switch off – a truly rare luxury in this day and age.

One of the main reasons I love the freelancing space is because I get to meet some amazing freelancers who fill their ‘golden time’ doing some of the most amazing things imaginable. To that end – I’ll finish this piece by listing some of the best adventures and ‘golden time’ pursuits I’ve come across having met hundreds of freelancers over the last few years. Some might find some of these endeavours somewhat mundane, however, that’s what makes ‘golden time’ so amazing. Something as simple as being able to spend time with family could be as rewarding and fulling as climbing Everest.

1. Training and representing my country at the Ultimate Frisbee Championship
2. Taking summer off to take the kids back to China so they can re-integrate with their roots
3. Going coast to coast on my Harley Davidson
4. Visiting 100+ countries
5. Swimming the channel and great lakes
6. Launching a start-up that’s going to change the world
7. Flying half-way around the world to see my favourite band perform their new album
8. Finish my work by 5 pm every day so I can train for the marathon with my 18-year-old son
9. Hiring a mustang and doing the route 101 road trip
10. Helping my wife for every bedtime during our toddler’s terrible two’s

Would you also like to know how to become a successful freelance consultant? We have published an article on that as well, which you can find here.

Happy Freelancing!