Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jim Brosseau, Principal of Clarrus Consulting Group Inc., located in Burnaby, BC, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I work with individuals to learn the skills they should have been taught in school and with companies to bring these skills together to be more collaborative, innovative, and creative. These skills are generally presented from the domain of project management (because everyone sees that as a valuable area of expertise) but usually have to do with relationships - if a project is a group of people working together to solve a problem or exploit an opportunity, it is generally the quality of the connections between the people that will drive success for the group. A Gantt chart is really only useful if it helps drive shared understanding, ownership of the approach, and energy toward meeting the goals of the group. While I originally worked in technology, these ideas are universal, and I've worked with non-profits, manufacturing, game companies, and librarians around the world in the past 23 years.

Tell us about yourself

I started my own business when I realized that I had spent much of my previous career moving from place to place every few years because of the way these organizations were managed. People were resources to be exploited, turnover was generally high, and work was...well...work.

A four-letter word. So I started Clarrus with a different set of values and goals in mind, and I've been at it ever since. Much of what I do is training groups and coaching and consulting organizations to get better (more aligned and supportive) at what they do.

The focus on tools and process is about using them to facilitate the right conversations, not the tool or process itself. The nice thing about that is that in 23 years, I haven't had to change my focus when a new hot tool or approach is presented - if it works, I'll incorporate it into what we do, but generally, most new stuff is rebranded stuff that's been around a while.
What really drives me is the moments where people 'get it', where a lightbulb goes on when they are exposed to a new concept that clarifies something that's been nagging them for years, when they now understand how to better engage with others, why they need agree on goals, or how important a good culture is in teams.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Well, surviving as a consultant for almost 23 years is a good start... Realistically, though, the accomplishments are mostly those moments I described earlier (where people have those a-ha moments), though there are some big ones as well. Helping a group in Barcelona get way better at delivering the products they intended to deliver simply by helping them understand that a new feature (that they want to get to market) can be thought of as a defect in manufacturing that needs to be worked out (because that's how the people at the bench operated). No new process, just a different mindset.

Taking a highly interactive workshop where people collaborate in teams to plan large complex projects they have no domain experience in, and moving it online when the pandemic started. We learned that what we previously thought was impossible could be accomplished with the right mix of creativity and evolving tools. We can now deliver worldwide at a lower cost and generate the same levels of excitement and outcomes.

Driving hundreds of workshops a year with graduate students across Canada, managing much of the logistics behind making this work. Solving different problems with this same client - when they needed to get something done, we were able to do it for them. You could probably distill this down to the notion of finding a way to make things work when there doesn't appear to be a way to do so. Those are the moments I look back on with pride.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Dealing with all the aspects of the business that I haven't been trained to do, or even those things that seem to be distasteful at times. It is one thing to be able to deliver value when you are working with a client. It is quite another thing to ensure that you always have the right amount (and the right kind) of clients to ensure your business goals are met. As a small business owner, you have to have a handle on sales, marketing, logistics, social media, and all those things that are handled by someone else in a larger organization. There are some of these things that we handle well, and there are others that we can still get better at. If you outsource any of these things, you need to make sure that everyone is absolutely clear on the desired outcomes. You'll also have to be clear to yourself about a number of things along the way - do you want to remain a sole proprietor or grow a larger business? What is your exit strategy - is it merely a vehicle to 'get work,' or do you want to leave a larger legacy when you are done?

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. First off, be clear to yourself about the nature of the value you can deliver to clients and how you are differentiated from others in your field (and there are always others). Please don't make your differentiation about a lower price, and remember that it's OK to evolve your thinking as you go.
  2. Find a way to experience as many parts of the business as before you dive in with both feet. Run the business as a sideline on a smaller scale to start out, and pay attention to your financial and personal needs to make sure the business is sustainable.
  3. Be ready to evolve. The world is changing at an ever-quickening pace, and you will have to react as required. Even better if you can see the changes happening and be at the forefront of adapting. Your business model on day 1 is unlikely to survive the first year unchanged. The best way to do this is to build a peer group to share advice, ideas, and mentoring along the way. A sole proprietor that truly works alone has a rough road ahead.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://clarrus.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clarrus/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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