What I love about being a consultant

July 2024 marks 13 years since Stephanie and I started TakeTwo! In honor of our “baby” becoming a teenager, I wrote down 13 reasons I love my not-job, to share with our BIPOC consultant friends at Constellation. Here are those reasons, re-posted from the Constellation blog.

Within a year of starting TakeTwo in 2011, I instinctively knew I’d never go back to working a traditional job.* Since then, I’ve thanked my lucky stars countless times for choosing this route, but I’ve rarely stopped to analyze why I love nonprofit consulting. Until now.

Let’s get the obvious reasons out of the way:

1. Being your own boss. It’s true that being your own boss means that you have no one but yourself to blame if things go wrong (and they sometimes do) but for someone who is quite Type A, it’s wonderful to be the decision-maker.
2. Flexibility of time and place. I suspect this is the number one reason people go into consulting, and I’m no exception. As a consultant I get to make my schedule, and if I choose, I can take a bike ride (or a nap!) in the middle of the day. I’ve only done this a handful of times over these thirteen years, but just knowing that I can has made me happier.I also began to WFH before Work From Home became known as such. I love being able to work anywhere I choose — sometimes, if I’m lucky, I look up from my screen to a mountain view (as you can see in that first picture!)
3. Freedom – to prioritize what matters to you. Such as: more time with family, or for other projects, career milestones you set for yourself, crossing things off your bucket list.
4. Being on the outside. I cannot lie. There hasn’t been a single day I’ve thought fondly back to the organizational/interpersonal politicking that I was sometimes enmeshed in. Truthfully, in those moments, I was enmeshed because I cared deeply, too deeply, about the people and the places I worked. Working as a consultant, I still care immensely about the work I do, but being one step removed has actually allowed me to focus on the work more.
5. Compensation. Sadly, the nonprofit industry isn’t known for its high wages. Working as a consultant for nonprofits certainly isn’t as lucrative as consulting for corporations, but I’ve found consulting can pay better – when one can negotiate for it.

These may be the obvious reasons people are drawn to the consultant life. And they’re far from unimportant. But consulting for nonprofits in particular has its own rewards which aren’t often recognized.

6. Working your values. This is simple but can’t be overstated. Consulting for nonprofits allows me to contribute my brain and my heart to issues and values I care about. It’s nurturing, and makes the hard work worthwhile.
7. Speaking on a panel once and realizing that everyone on the panel was someone I had either worked with or would or could partner with. Coincidence? I think not.
8. Learning new stuff! I am a lifelong and proud nerd. I simply love learning – and being a nonprofit consultant enables me to learn about all kinds of issues, and approaches to solve them that I would never have encountered. Technology to reduce food waste, music for girls’ empowerment, collective actions to solve the climate crisis, the power of theater, global citizenship – all areas I’ve gotten to dive into, even if only for a limited time. It’s made my life richer.
9. Adding value. When you partner with a nonprofit, especially smaller or newer ones, you can see the value you bring. You’re hired because the organization doesn’t have the expertise that you do. You do what you do well, and it helps them continue to do what they do well. On the best days, it really is a win-win.
10. A community of “do-gooders”. I can’t say that everyone who works at a nonprofit is a superhero or saint, but it’s pretty amazing to know the majority of my professional community consists of people who are working to make their corner of the world better.
11. Inspiration. On the reg. I don’t know about anyone else, but I find it super-inspiring to meet people who are really passionate about a cause, or a problem and work really, really hard to solve it.
12. That time I got to hang out with two of NYC’s coolest chefs! Following months of hard work that had led to a successful gala.
13. Having a business partner. This might just be me, and it might sound like the opposite of being one’s own boss, but one of the best things about my consultant situation is having a business partner I respect and trust. When you have a partner, you get to talk through how to manage contracts, workloads, clients. You share the burdens and the joys. You even get to take a real vacation every now and then.

What else? I’d love to know what you love and celebrate about consulting for nonprofits!

*I should say here, never say never, because in fact, I now have a full-time job teaching creative writing! But teaching at a university for me is a dream.