E146 Still Buzzing with Mark VanderKlipp
Going Solo as a Freelance Consultant
Mark VanderKlipp shares his Experience 50 reality of pivoting to become a one-man independent consultant from the security of the President’s chair in an established design consulting firm.
Wait, doesn’t everyone want to be President? No, not all. Leading an organization may seem like the ultimate goal, but it does not guarantee happiness, fulfillment or a sense that you are impacting your world.
Many midlifers, not just Mark, find themselves at the peak of their professional lives, having attained and then surpassed their initial career goals only to find that they are hungry (starving!) for a new challenge. Mark is not the first company man to want to try things on his own terms.
Episode 069, Mark VanderKlipp’s Badass Midlife Pivot (provided below), featured Mark in the first weeks after making the decision to jump out on his own. Now two and a half years later, we ask if he is still buzzing with excitement.
So, let’s find out where things stand for Mark VanderKlipp two years later.
Mark came to the studio and we settled in for a chat about the exact type of work he is doing as a consultant and what he has learned that will be valuable information to other midlifers who may feel the itch to jump ship. I must admit that my own biz consultant mojo experienced a stirring.
As you listen to our conversation, do keep in mind, Mark’s decision was made with:
- the safety net of a healthy savings account and a solid network within his industry and community.
- decades of experience working for and leading a large consultant firm. He was very comfortable with the dance between large organizations and the consultants who they hire under contract.
I would personally enjoy taking my listeners into a deeper dive into this topic of becoming a consultant, starting a business, going freelance – whatever YOU call it. Drop a comment below or send me an email with your ideas on going solo.
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Mentioned in this episode:
Tool: Harvest Time Tracker
Book: Wisdom @ Work: The Making of a Modern Elder by Chip Conley
Episode:
About my guest, Mark VanderKlipp, Connect CX
Mark is an experience and systems designer, working in human-centered graphic design for over 30 years. He helps organizations and individuals visualize, then meaningfully impact the systems within which they function.
Since 2016, Mark has been a design resource to Michigan-based non-profit and for-profit clients as a consultant with Northsky Nonprofit Network. As such, he engages in strategic, customer-focused design initiatives that help to visualize the “wicked problems” that his clients face, then identify potential ways to impact that system in positive ways. Mark also regularly teaches a Storytelling Design curriculum to diverse groups ranging from innovation centers to philanthropists, nonprofits to college students.
As a founding partner of the Chicago-based customer experience consulting firm Connect_CX, he and his partners work nationally and internationally with a focus on healthcare, corporate and university experience design.
