Allow me to introduce you to Rodney Mann
Monday: MicroBusiness and Marketing Marvels
Each Monday, I find it valuable to feature inspiring independent professionals with the hope that you might gain insights and inspiration from their hard work and experiences.
During my years as a global consultant, I witnessed how many successful professionals share a common mindset in managing their businesses: To address their clients’ needs with a unique offering that builds genuine assets.
Today, I’m pleased to share with you a message from a friend and colleague of mine, Rodney Mann. Rodney is an experienced speaker and facilitator and has expertise in helping organizations with their most complex initiatives. He now owns an advisory management consultancy firm and he’s named it “Steeplechase Advisory Group.”
With a proven track record of managing business and digital transformation programs, Rodney is on the right track to help industry leaders achieve their objectives.
To understand how Rodney is making an impact in the business and digital industry, I urge you to read his own words and statement of purpose below.
Miles Everson
CEO, MBO Partners
Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute
Rodney Mann: Steeplechase Advisory Group
I am Rodney Mann, Founder and Managing Director of Steeplechase Advisory Group, an advisory management consultancy firm that focuses on business and digital transformation.
Here at Steeplechase Advisory Group, we assist firms, including startups and business leaders, in achieving their measurable transformation objectives.
I have been a managing consultant for more than 25 years. After graduating from business school, I worked for some large consultancies and in the process, I also founded a couple of my own firms.
I started a company with some of my colleagues from Ernst & Young and we grew our workforce to about 15 people. That was a lot of fun. After that, one of my partners and I created a smaller company on our own and then I went back to traditional consulting.
Throughout my career, I realized those in the middle of the consulting industry spectrum, like medium-sized firms, continually have difficulty establishing a foothold. Unless you’re in a large organization and have a multitude of skills, capabilities, products, and services, opportunities fall on independent folks who can come in and help with their initiatives. The “middle guys” seem to be left out in the cold.
That’s how I started my career as an independent.
One advantage of being an independent is it’s really one-on-one. You’re working for groups but you still have a relationship with an individual client. They are hiring you, not a whole consultancy. This provides a much closer bond to your client and you can treat them in a slightly different way.
One of the memorable moments I've had as an independent has been the work I’m doing with a medium-sized consulting firm. It’s been a very successful firm for 25 years and I’m helping it with market expansion and industry growth. It’s really refreshing to work with a very energetic and growing firm. I’ve had a lot of satisfaction working for them for about a year and a half now.
Since I’ve become an independent, I’ve been mostly in the Chicago area. I’m comfortable traveling, but I have more control over my time now. As an experienced independent you can make choices and weigh them on a broader level, considering what’s good for yourself, family, and quality of life.
Hope you’ve found this week’s insights interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Monday’s MicroBusiness Marvels!
