frequently asked questions about

Q  "64 and ready to consult"
I've had two successful careers. I was a graphic designer til age 38. Then turned business into a media buying ad agency and built a $37 million, 55-person shop and ran it at a profit for 28 years. Sold it to my partners with a handsome buyout program over four years and took a sabbatical. Now at age 64 I'm raring to go. Want to find a new arena where I can put advertising, marketing and graphic design experience to work in some consulting situation where I can participate on a part time basis with a smaller shop that can use but can't afford senior management help. How do I start the search? How do I make find a qualified agent for this third career. I'm in great health and still a productive idea man.

A  I don't think you necessarily need an agent to help you here. Your best 'agents' are your multitudinous business contacts. Don't ask them for job leads. Take the best of them to lunch (one or two at a time) and explain that you're putting together a 'new kind' of media business, designed to apply 'broad advertising, marketing and graphic design capabilities' to help smaller shops that can't afford them on a full time basis. In others words, you're pitching the concept of a new business and asking for advice. If you handle this tactfully, you will turn up (1) others who may want to participate, (2) potential funding sources, and (3) potential clients.

The biggest mistake you could make, I think, is to act like you're looking for a job. The best thing you can do is to 'put the word out' that you're doing something new. Your business contacts know your success. If there's work out there, they will lead you to it, if you let them.

Specific kinds of people to take to lunch: bankers who have funded you or helped organize the sale of your business (they know what new businesses need help and where money is floating in search of investment); headhunters you've worked with when hiring; past clients (assuming there's not a non-compete problem); competitors who may need help serving their client base.

If you're an idea man, build on these ideas. Don't think in terms of a job. Think in terms of starting a business, whether it's one-man or with a team.

Hope that helps get your juices flowing.

Best wishes,
The Headhunter