How to be become a company advisor who gets cash and shares to help small companies grow.
You’ve had an interesting career. You’ve had highs and lows, you’ve worked on award winning projects, launched products, handled complex relationships and lived to tell the tale.
You have a network, you have insights, you have resources and you’re trusted by your industry.
If all of the above is true, you’re in a perfect position to build a portfolio of fast growth companies you can advise.
These companies might only need a few hours a month – they might need some doors opened, they might want a sounding board or they might need some clear cut advice. In return they can pay a combination of cash, equity and the feel-good factor of making an impact.
To be this person, you need to be seen as a Key Person of Influence in your industry. You need to consolidate and package your story so it’s understood and valued.
There are 5 things you must do in order to position yourself as a valuable advisor:
1. Brush up on your pitching skills – you’ll need to pitch yourself, you’ll need to pitch on behalf of the company and you’ll need to be able to give feedback on the way the team are pitching.
2. Publish your insights – take some of your case studies and ideas and put them into articles, blogs and or even a book. This helps people discover what you’ve previously done and it helps you to distill the learnings.
3. Productise your service – package up an offer that allows you to look after a small portfolio of companies easily. Standardise the pricing and the value delivery process so it’s easy for you and them.
4. Boost your profile – if you’ve had a big corporate career, a lot of your achievements are hidden behind the company brand. It’s time to get some public recognition personally as a person of influence. When you’re name is Googled, you want that first page full of good information about you (not the companies you’ve workd for).
5. Consolidate your partnerships – make a detailed list of the doors you can open and the partners you can bring to the table. If you dig through your contacts you’ll discover you’re probably far more connected that you realise.
These five steps allow you to better package your value. If you’re sitting on a lot of value that’s not clearly understood, you miss out on this incredibly rewarding opportunity to leverage your experience.
We believe you are standing on a mountain of value that you probably take for granted. We would love the opportunity to help you see a new perspective on how your story, experiences and relationships could be utilised more fully.
Our upcoming one-day conference in London will be focusing on how you can provide value to your clients, how you can become influential within your industry, how to expand your reach and how to formalise the assets your business is sitting on.
