May 5, 2009
New Name, Same Focus
You’ll notice this blog is now “Powers Consulting Blog” rather than “Eric Powers’ Blog”. This reflects my intentions to use this site to comment on the type of work I do for clients and offer insights to a larger audience. The domain name “powersconsultingny.com” redirects here as well.
May 2, 2009
Powers Consulting Menu of Services
These are examples of services I provide for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and potential entrepreneurs:
For Small Business Owners
Introductory Meeting: A free 2 hour interview and consultation, where I will ask the owner to cover, in broad terms:
1. The critical issue facing their company (In the owner’s terms, although I may steer towards redefining this critical issue)
2. Company activities in each of these seven systems:
- Executive Leadership
- Financial Stewardship
- Innovation
- Sales and Marketing
- Operations and Logistics
- Human Resources
- Legal and Compliance
Recommendations: I will offer recommendations on where problems lie, and, if the owner chooses to work with me, I will create an agreement as to the scope of the project or potential projects.
Depending on the needs of the company, the projects may consist of:
- Mission/Purpose, Goals, and Objectives setting to coordinate the direction the company’s activities
- Strategy development (to achieve the mission, goals, and objectives, often with an eye towards an exit strategy for the owner wherein they build equity in the company)
- Operations systems and processes audit and redesign (redesign systems which are hurting the company’s profitability or are not aligned with its mission)
- Activity analysis (Map the work of the owner/company, breaking the activities into the seven systems to determine the best strategy to begin to delegate, outsource, and grow the company at the lowest possible cost)
- Marketing strategy analysis (looking at the clear definition of the company’s product or service positioning, target market, and the coordination of communication, market and competitor research)
- Designing and software or cloud computing solutions for sales, marketing, and operations (ACT!, Quickbooks, Excel, Salesforce.com, Freshbooks)
- Develop company wiki/knowledge base
Entrepreneurs
Potential projects are based on the entrepreneur’s stage of development:
Stage 1 – Idea without Business Plan
- Consult on business model
- Create business strategy
- Undergo feasibility study
- Market research
- Create business plan and pro forma financial statements
- Create business plan slide presentation
Stage 2 – Business Plan without funding
- Develop funding strategy, create pitch for investors
Please contact me with interest in any of these areas by email or by commenting here.
April 27, 2009
The Values of Beta Gamma Sigma
On April 3 I had the honor of being inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma International Business Honors Society and the Sigma Iota Epsilon National Management Honors Society. I thought I would take a moment to explain what Beta Gamma Sigma stands for and how I intend to uphold its values in my work.
Beta Gamma Sigma stands for honor and integrity, pursuit of wisdom, and earnestness:
Honor and Integrity: I will seek to pursue the honorable vocation of consulting, advising individuals and businesses on how to to better their lives and livelihood. I will seek work that creates positive social change in the world both through my choice of clients and through how I advise those clients. I will maintain the utmost integrity in upholding my client’s best interests in each engagement, interaction, and word between a client and myself.
Pursuit of Wisdom: I will seek wisdom in the both the process of management consulting and in my areas of expertise, entrepreneurial and small business strategy and operations. I will seek out a continual education in the best practices in the field and through interaction with clients and colleagues. I will reflect on these best practices to continue to evolve my personal consulting process, which I will document to institutionalize the wisdom I gather.
Earnestness: I will uphold sincerity in every business interaction and maintain an intense drive to seek the successful and efficient definition of key problems, analysis of options, recommendation, and implementation of a solution.
April 8, 2009
Recommendations for Powers Consulting
I’ve been spending time over the past month updating and polishing my resume and building my linkedin profile.
I’m extremely thankful for the kind words shared by clients, colleagues and classmates as recommendations and thought I’d repost them here to further detail the qualities I bring to Powers Consulting. I’ve removed the names of these individuals to respect their privacy. Thank you to everyone for these words of support!
“Eric is a bright and talented business analyst. He has performed at a superior level in every aspect of the work he has done with us. He takes initiative, is a self-starter, is diligent and detail oriented when required, and does an excellent job keeping management updated on his work.”
Top qualities: Great Results, Good Value, High Integrity
- Client (delivered business analysis, research, presentation development)
“I recommend Eric Powers as a talented business consultant. He combines solid knowledge with many other attributes including enthusiasm, punctuality, resourcefulness; the experience is always pleasant and rewarding. Importantly, Eric delivers!”
Top qualities: Great Results, Good Value, High Integrity
- Client (delivered consulting on business model, research, business plan, financial plan)
“In my final semester of business school, I had the pleasure of sharing a class with Eric. Every time he made a comment in class I remember being bowled over by his uncanny ability to see the big picture and at the same time flesh out the smallest details on a variety of topics. I was so impressed that I asked him to be on the Advisory Board of the nonprofit I hope to start. It was the best decision I’ve made so far. Since coming on board, Eric has given me advice, feedback and suggestions that have not only improved my business plan but have boosted my faith in my project. As a consultant, Eric is truly a rare talent. He is bright, compassionate and insightful in a way that simply amazes me. His dedication to his craft is unmistakable. He is detail-oriented and thorough in everything that he does. And he always delivers high quality work. He is absolutely the best! I highly recommend Eric and believe he will be an asset to any company that he works with.”
- Classmate, Client (advised on revisions to business plan and financial plan)
“Eric possesses excellent organizational and analytical skills. He brings a focus and zealous approach to the task at hand. Eric would undoubtedly be a major asset to any consulting project.”
- Classmate/Teammate on case strategy project and small business consulting project
“Eric is a terrific operations, finance and systems person. While working with him on various cases, business plans and documents, I was always impressed by how quickly he was able to get the accurate and precise message across. His level of productivity is second to none and you can always rely on him to deliver on-time. Once Eric says, “I’ll do it by tomorrow 4:00 pm”, you will never ever need to follow-up and he will get the job done. I’ll always count on Eric to hold an important role and fulfil it in any mutual engagement.”
- Classmate/Teammate on business plan project
“Eric and I have collaborated on several school projects. His breadth of knowledge is astounding, combined with an unparalleled work ethic and ability to think creatively, Eric’s services as a consultant will be a wise investment for any start-up or small business.”
- Classmate/Teammate on case strategy project
Clients Wanted at Powers Consulting
If I was to create a job description for clients at Powers Consulting it would look like this:
Small business, new venture, and non-profit consulting firm based in New York City seeks business owners and leaders in need of sounding board, research, analysis, and recommendations from a process-oriented MBA.
The proper candidate will:
- Believe in building a sustainable business and not a job for him/herself that he/she cannot leave without destroying the business
- Have a business model with an exit strategy or desire to have such a business model developed
- Recognize the need for a business plan or strategic plan to set goals against which they can measure success, identify risks, and prepare to present their concepts externally to partners and funders
- Realize that spending time planning and working with a valued external consultant is among their highest priorities and make the time to do that even in the face of constant, immediate, and pressing constraints on their time
- Recognize that they may not be seeing the whole picture or thinking long-term enough yet and need help in knowing what are the right questions to ask
- Realize that they can’t do everything by him/herself
Candidates should be prepared to pay either for time worked or on a fee basis for project deliverables with half payment as deposit and half upon completion.
Compensation includes a process tailored to your needs, thorough and thoughtful consideration of your business situation, and the highest level of integrity in execution.
