Four years in business and it’s time to look back on the lessons learnt.......

I get repeatedly asked how my business is going, if I am enjoying it etc. The questions in themselves, highlight that a lot of people aspire to take a similar ‘leap’ and start up on their own and gain the benefits of all the life/work balance and independence that brings.

Background

After 25+ years of working for major oil and gas corporations, I started my own strategic advisory service (I suppose you could call it ‘a management consultancy’!?) in all things oil and gas decommissioning related that involves advising businesses/organisations (operators, investors, regulators and the supply chain).

That’s typically; mentoring/advising tech innovators and the supply chain to grow in the decom market, Due diligence, 3rd party independent verification and assurance for the operator and investor community, strategic advice and supporting the strategic development and delivery of industry initiatives.

I thought I’d share my story, in the hope it inspires. So what have I learnt, so far…….

Before I started…..

I asked around for advice and lessons. Unfortunately I gained such a negative feedback, I nearly stopped then! So the key lesson learnt is not to listen to the sooth Sayers!

The feedback received was that there was not a need for a strategic or management consultancy in the Decommissioning industry. Some had failed trying. It was the age old oil and gas industry issue of insufficient hunger/dynamics and a lack of confidence of success but also, in some cases, a simple lack of true experience/capability that could be leveraged to add value.

I have a long industry history (sometimes against the odds) of delivering excellence (from front end to execution) and taking low probability or high-risk scenarios and turning them into successes. I had that self-belief and gut feel that lots of organisations desperately needed help (whether they knew it or not), that would help them excel.

Why now/then?

I had looked at starting or joining consultancy businesses a few times, but for various reasons didn’t. But I had just been given a package due to an operator I was employed by being acquired and it was the ideal time. I was flexible in my time and had gained an industry leading knowledge base in ‘strategic’ decommissioning.

How did it start off?

I wanted to help the Decom supply chain, notably the innovative tech-based supply chain. I joined an industry body for technology and soon realised, this was not going to work and what was needed was to support the supply chain with deep decom knowledge, for them to gain investment/support in their solutions and technology.

Opportunity North East had an idea for a decommissioning programme, that filled that gap. It was the best idea I had encountered and aligned perfectly with the objectives of my own company ‘Evolved Solutions’. It went on to prove itself a success in supporting innovation in the supply chain (80+ organisations), by gaining direct feedback on ideas from true industry experts from throughout the operator community and supply chain and gaining mentoring to grow their businesses.

I was doing something so rewarding! We were truly adding value and this subsequently resulted in improved solutions offered to the operator community and an increased win rate. Equally we had a few companies, who valued our intervention, even if it was to redirect their efforts or even make them re-evaluate the potential of their ideas.

At the same time, I was contacted by an ex-colleague, who set up an organisation to transform operator and investor decisions, where I became the decommissioning practitioner. Great people to work with.

And I was directly approached by operators, through contacts, to provide strategic and independent advice.

I had done little (ok none!) BD, but I was off and running!

Am I making a living?

I can break it down into year;

·        1st year yes – I worked more than I wanted to.

·        2nd year was quiet. Lesson ‘Unlearnt’ was that although I advise companies to have a long look ahead and do their BD, I didn’t!

·        3rd and 4th year I’ve been full time. Now, full time means I’m booking 30 hours a week on average but working 40 to 50!

The unproductive time can be admin but also a lot of 1 hour waits or travel between activities (workshops, meetings etc).

I’m now quiet again, hence why I’m writing this! I did not learn the BD lesson from year 2! So am actively (finally) doing BD.

How many people do you employ?

Evolved solutions have successfully worked with associate partners (experts), for example Dr. Tom Leeson as the wells expert, but I have no desire to grow the organisation in employee numbers. The USP is to bring highly value adding expertise to the challenge and therefore that requires this flexible associate partner arrangement.

Have I ever had too much work or let a client down?

No. If you take work on you deliver it to plan, quality and within cost, that’s the simple rules we work by. And if that means working a 70 hour week, fine as you know that the first quiet time you’ll take time off.

What is the value proposition?

We only book the actual hours work and they are near 100% productive, as we are solely focused on the task, no wasteful meetings, coffee shop conversations, research etc.

So the value brought to clients is very high, they only pay for productive hours and they get a call-off service of true industry leading experts, only when they need strategic interventions and therefore the value proposition (and benefit proofs brought) far outweigh the cost.

Any difficult issues to overcome?

Clients have been excellent to work with. The vast majority have the same goals, which is to make informed decisions and add greater value. And engagements are focused on that shared benefit.

In the world of 3rd party independent verification, due diligence and assurance, you try to be impartial and independent, but we have been drawn into one difficult discussion, but that was eventually resolved.

Have you gained a better work/life balance?

Not in year 3 and 4! It’s been busy and multiple clients to juggle. It was purely lockdown luck, but in July of 2020 I was able to reduce my working time down to 1 or 2 days a week and enjoy the summer.  I had limited work and took advantage of it. So this offset the other times.

I built the companies office beside my house, so I could see the family more.

So, hopefully that gives aspiring ‘independents’ an insight into my story and some lessons to consider.

This has been the most rewarding period of my career, even though I miss the comradeship and celebrations of all those project completions! And I would encourage others, if they go into it with their eyes open.

Cheers

Andy