independent business consultant

Summary

Daniel Meyers
I'm Daniel Meyers and I've been working as an independent business consultant for over 8 years.
As an independent business consultant, my sole focus is on you, and how we can meet your professional needs and goals. Each time I talk to my clients and candidates, I look for ways to excel in the search assignment and transform what we do into a rewarding experience for everyone.

The process begins by understanding precisely what will attract the top talent to today’s healthcare opportunities. This includes really getting to know each applicant’s motivation and each client’s professional staffing needs. I explore the candidate’s motivation to make a change, their ability to meet the requirements of the offered opportunity, critical points in the development of their career, and how their mindset fits with the company’s culture.

To meet my client’s immediate needs and longer-term goals, critical thinking is applied so I can offer ideal solutions and candidates that will thrive in the position and contribute to their organizations success. A large part of this effort involves industry insight — understanding the needs and trends that affect today’s healthcare professionals, and anticipating future developments so we can proactively offer the best possible career services.

My specialties include: Talent Acquisition, Client and Company Development/Relations, Executive Management, Business Start-up, Social Networks, and Leadership.

Timeline

  1. -
    Small Business Consultant, ADP

    Helping Business Owners minimize the burden of managing payroll tax, garnishments processing, and unemployment claims.

  2. -
    Implementation Consultant, ADP TotalSource

    I help on board new clients for ADP's PEO service, ADP TotalSource. I work with a team of payroll and benefits specialists to get the client started before the client is transitioned to his Human Resources Business Partner.

  3. -
    Consultant, Bain & Company

    Skill included:

    • Human Resources
    • Employee Relations
    • Training- Marketing
    • Project Management
    • Organizational Skills
    • Sales Management
    • Strategic Planning 
  4. -
    Consultant, Simparel Inc.

    Available for all matters involving company executive management, business law, startup and restructuring, technology, software licensing, logistics, construction and manufacturing, including funding, growth, cost reduction, compliance and process improvement.

    Helping Business Owners minimize the burden of managing payroll tax, garnishments processing, and unemployment claims.

  5. -
    Business Consultant, Independent

    • All General Counsel, Director and CEO functions
    • 20-year attorney with MBA/MSIM; licensed to practice in California, Florida, and New York
    • Building startups and restructuring established entities
    • Focus on executive management, business law, technology, software licensing, logistics, manufacturing and construction
    • $300m OEM contract with Compaq
    • $200m software replication and packaging agreement with Apple
    • $50m software licensing and replication agreement with Microsoft
    • $50m+ acquisition of assets by CMGI
    • $80m+ credit agreement with GE Capital

Proudest Accomplishment

Starting my own consulting firm

Experience Highlights

  • Traveled to Europe in 1985
    France, italy, england, spain
  • Founded Meyers Consulting Firm
    April 2011

Education Highlights

  • Oxford University
    Study abroad program, 1985
  • Brown University
    Economics A.B, 1986
  • Cornell University
    Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, MBA, 1988

Causes

  • Cornell Alumni Association
    business
  • Economic Empowerment
    Giving What We Can Organization

Interests

  • Culture
    travel, film, art

Results

  • 310
    networking events
  • 102
    lectures
  • 250
    new clients

Skills

  • Contract negotiation
    12
  • Brand Development
    15
  • Contact Management
    16
  • strategic planning
    19
  • consulting
    20+

Questions & Answers

What is your advice to people looking to be independent business consultants?
My advice is simple. Even the fiercest independent doesn’t usually benefit from going it alone. Partnership and the use of smart tools and resources are the way to stay happily self-employed. Without an infrastructure for managing the risks and administrative details of business, consultants can become full time business managers instead of focusing on their core expertise.

The best way to avoid the distraction of business management is to outsource your administration and infrastructure. Sure, you could do it yourself and spend countless lost billable hours on the Internet finding solutions to manage the administrative, HR, legal and financial end of your business – or you can seek out solutions that easily handle all these processes for you. When your primary product is your knowledge, every minute you spend doing something else is a lost opportunity.
Who is your biggest influence?
Shaugn Davenport is one of those people who reinvented his career and used independent consulting as a bridge between two career directions — but needed help managing the inherent challenges of becoming self-employed. Davenport, a CIO, lost his job after his corporate employer struggled financially and lost the safety net of health insurance. The interruption of income would be hard on anyone but Davenport also had a child with a disability and health insurance was critical. Unhappy as a CIO, he used this opportunity to re-orient his career path.

He leveraged his skills to become an independent consultant and found a partner to help set up the right infrastructure, managing the business and benefits side of the time he spent as an independent consultant. When the time was right, he returned to a traditional role but remains an advocate for the independent lifestyle and its many benefits.
Why did you choose this profession?
Self-employed or independent workers are a bright spot in the otherwise grim workplace result. I’m not at all surprised by their high happiness level, because I’ve been running a business that serves the independent consulting market for more than 8 years, and I see this happiness effect firsthand.

Independent consultants have control over their income and life. They can add skills in response to market demands, adjust fees up or down, scale work to fit their life and income goals and are not reliant on the economies of a single employer for survival. Being in control is a recipe for happiness and success.
How do you develop your business plan?
Your business plan is developed to not only eventually guide you through your endeavors, but to initially assist you in convincing a bank to provide your financial banking. Remember that a banking institution may need to be educated on how profitable a dental practice can be.

A framework outline is given below:

1. Executive summary (mission statement, purpose, the service, the market, competition, management team, financial information, conclusion)

2. Marketing plan (product, price, place, promotion – both internal and external)

3. Business plan (goals, inventory, practice income, collections, fees)

Blog

Big vs. Small: The Real Difference Among Consulting Firms

The popular belief is that 99 percent of all management consultants are freshly scrubbed 20-somethings with crisp MBAs and staggering IQs. For the 20 or so major worldwide consulting firms, such is the case. In fact, McKinsey & Company, the world’s best-known firm, likes to offer up an additional array of Ph.D.s, nuclear engineers, and world-class economists.

As measured in sheer numbers, it’s true that a sizable portion of the consulting world is populated by those stereotypes. Each year,...

Location

Albany, New York

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