How do you start a "Change Agent" Service Company?

-- Darnell De Brule (ddebrule@mindspring.com), September 29, 2000

Answers

From: Mark Zorro To: Darnell De Brule

Darnell, the path we chose was to incorporate our company and while that means more paperwork and rules, it keeps our commercial interests and personal interests apart. There are many change agents who choose not to incorporate, whether you do or don't is an individual preference and depends on how much you want to do this for yourself or how much you want to grow as a business ie how well it fits in your business strategy.

I tell people that you DON'T start a change agent service company, you have a service which you start serving. At the end of the day you have two choices

1. Provide a service that assists companies and people to think and do and in between the thinking and doing to generate transformation that they would not otherwise have done by themselves

or

2. Churn out cookie cutter solutions or join the ever growing list of bullshit merchants posing as change agents.

or

3. Or join the ranks of individual change agents who are transforming themselves and in doing so, spreading their particular personal message how organizations should emulate their particular transformation.

At the end of the day the path that I chose was to ask myself whether what I have to offer corporations is above and beyond what lies in the marketplace right now. The ultimate question being:

Is my company going to make a difference in the culture and profitability of the corporations we assist?

It is not a question of whether there are bad or good change agents out there. If your bad, you are bad but I take it that you are good otherwise why ask such as question as you have asked.

The question I think you should be asking is

Have I completed my business plan?

If you have not done a business plan then you have not set a roadway to map out your future. In other words, if you figure how you are going to get there you will know how to get others to get where they also want to go. If you cannot map a strategy out for yourself then how will you help others change? My best advice, the first consulting project you have been given is your own. Good luck with it because it's the foundation and cornerstone for the rest.

Don't rule out business partnerships in your locality, rest assured the market is big enough to co-exist with other great change agents. Good luck on your venture.

-- Mark Zorro (zorromark@consultant.com), October 05, 2000.

Correction:

Darnell, typing too fast without edit options is very dangerous :-) Of course, I meant to write "you have THREE options".

-- Mark Zorro (zorromark@consultant.com), October 05, 2000.