There is a small percent, however, that seems to thrive consistently. They are happy with their positions, they get good raises and promotions, they are well-liked and respected within their companies and they progress with increasing responsibility. Sure, they may lose their jobs to a restructuring like the rest of us. They also face the personal challenges that we all face. Yet they manage to get their professional lives back on track and eventually rise to new heights once again.

They have a secret, a system to improve their odds. Many of these professionals are only indirectly aware of the system, even though they are using it, while others are only aware of pieces of it. Rare is the person who grasps it all. It’s been misunderstood for years, but enough of this secret has been divulged for us to identify it.

Secret Revealed

The capital markets created a structure for business to be conducted. Over hundreds of years, those structures developed, became sophisticated and formulated a model for success. The model is the corporation. With its boards and senior teams, short- and long-range plans, protocols and policies, departments and functions, processes and systems, communications and clients, the corporation is the model for functioning successfully in a capitalist economy. Within each corporation, the fundamental unit is the business professional, whose independent and coordinated efforts make the corporation work. Each person, in theory, is a microcosm of that fundamental structure of success and is subject to the same rules and laws of the capitalist markets. In essence, you are a mini-corporation.

Successful business people have figured out that they are CEOs of their own personal companies: with revenues, expenses, customers, investments, advisers, a brand and a bottom line. They run their professional lives as a company, taking a proven model to establish a pattern and a path for professional success.

Board and Direction

Like any other organization, there are many aspects of your corporation to which you need to pay attention. The first is your personal board and direction.

• Mission Statement and Goals – As CEO of the You Company, you need a proper mission statement and long-term goals, something that defines who you are, what you do and what you are trying to accomplish. Corporations state their core values and chart their five-year strategic plans and so should you. First, define who and where you are. It will give you context for your direction and the length of your path. For example, “I am a CPA with 10 years of technical accounting experience with mid-size pharmaceutical companies.” Then define your mission: “My mission is to develop experience with controllership, financial operations and tax.” Lastly, articulate a tangible goal: “Over the next five years I will use this growth to become a controller or chief accounting officer of a mid-size pharmaceutical company or a major division of a large pharmaceutical company.” Your company definition will change over time and so will your goals, but you need them to channel your efforts and focus on an achievable target. Corporations without missions and goals become listless and stagnant.
• Investors and Advisers – Like any other company, you have a board of investors, people who give you their time, money and help. The boss that pushes for your tuition reimbursement, the CEO who authorizes pay increases, the human resources director who helped you compete for the internal promotion – they are investing in you. Identify those who invest in you, and make sure they know that you are thankful. Reward their investments with gratitude and hard work, and they will continue to invest in you. And if a company has a board of advisers, why shouldn’t you? Surround yourself with smart, successful professionals who care about you but who are likely to be impartial. They should probably be people who work outside your firm. Try to include people from different industries and job functions. Keep them updated on major events in your professional life, and remember that they are trying to help you – particularly when their feedback doesn’t jibe with what you want to hear. It will keep you grounded and give you peace of mind that you are doing the right things or at least making well-thought-out decisions.

The Revenue Line

What your personal company brings in is often a reflection of what you put out. So when it comes to the idea of “revenue” for your efforts, you should have an external focus.

• Clients – The corporate you has clients, too. Many of us don’t realize that. We get locked up in the importance of our own function. We can never forget that we ultimately serve our clients and must provide them with value and a return on their investment. For example, a manager in a public accounting firm will have the obvious external clients she serves daily in audit, consulting or tax. But she also has internal clients: her partners, co-managers and staff. Client development begins within the four walls of the office. We need to build relationships and trust with our internal teams before we can be confident in our ability to provide quality products and services to our external customers. Internal client relationships also help with career progression, advice and support because they are the people who work with you, know you and care about you the most in the professional world.
• Sales and Marketing – Your personal corporation needs a strong sales and marketing department. Good marketing often leads to sales opportunities; and sales opportunities lead to revenue. Marketing yourself correctly means having a good brochure (résumé) and other collateral (biography, business cards, portfolio, “client” references and so on). It also means having a solid Web presence. These days, that means active LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter accounts. Selling yourself correctly means also having the ability to “close the sale” by confidently convincing others that you are an expert in your field and that you can and will build value for the organization.
• Public Relations – Public relations is an area that often goes overlooked by those managing their own careers. People rarely acknowledge that they have a personal brand. There’s a Chinese proverb that says, “Everything speaks,” and another that goes something like, “How you do anything is how you do everything.” Public relations is about managing those individual statements that collectively tell the world about who you are. It encompasses the following items, among many more:
  
  • How you dress, your hair style, and, for men, your facial hair
  • How you speak – on the phone, in person, and in emails 
  • How well you network – the quantity and quality of the people with whom you associate 
  • How you treat others, from the CEO to the custodian
  • How you respond to adversity and your own mistakes
  • How you present yourself online – your public profile leaves an indelible mark

All these elements define you, or rather the You Company. They define your brand, or how the business world sees you. You may not think it’s relevant, but perception is reality. “Everything speaks,” so don’t accidentally “say” something that you don’t want said in your professional presentation. It’s okay to be super conservative or casual – it’s your choice. Just be aware that you are making a choice either way, and it matters.

The Expense Line

What you deliver can be considered your expenses. As such, these elements have a more internal focus.

• Finance Department – You have to manage your You finances in a way that minimizes stress and avoids the unproductive in your career choices and major decisions. If you manage your profit line well, you avoid short-term distractions, stay focused on core opportunities and keep to your mission statement. For example, if you’ve stretched yourself thin with an extra car payment and vacation home, the result may be pressure to make more money. You may make a job decision based on short-term benefit but potentially a long-term cost. Beyond that, good finances allow room for savings and investments in yourself and other members of your company – your family – that will further promote your ability to grow and prosper.
• Information Technology – The You Company must stay current with information technology. Organizations that invest in relevant technology can maximize productivity, improve turnaround time and quality, deliver more consistent results and improve visibility. A CPA skilled with the latest general ledger and consolidation packages can take on more assignments, has confidence in her data and can enter many situations understanding the business processes, the flow of information and where controls need to be. There is another critical benefit: remember, “everything speaks,” and a professional who is up on the latest technology comes across as more savvy and impressive. Advancements in workplace technology always seem to be accelerating, making IT a particularly challenging area in which to keep up. You do not have to be a technological guru, but being aware of the latest trends and how they might affect your job will help you adapt more quickly to the changes.
• Operations – It’s important that you are aware of your operations, or how you do things. It’s critical to have a process and management system, a consistent approach that yields fast, reliable results. A good operation is routine enough to build strong skills and outcomes over time, yet it is flexible enough to be modified to match the scenario. Self-awareness of how you approach your work will help you to understand the You Company’s strengths and weaknesses. You’ll learn which assignments to tackle aggressively, which to support as an indirect contributor and which to punt altogether. Finally, you need to be realistic about how much you’ll be able to grow your skill set in any direction. It’s important to know the sphere of your ability and how far you can expand it. It affects the investments we make in a realistic career development plan, and it affects your credibility to the outside world. When you stick to your core skills and admit when you go beyond them, you demonstrate confidence in your expertise as well as the common sense and poise in what is right for you and the customer.
• Audit and Controls – All good operations have a system of audit and controls. A good CEO makes sure he has checks and balances to keep his company grounded and to guarantee the integrity of the work being done. You should have an internal set of controls that you use to check the quality of your own work, and you should also have an external control, such as a trusted colleague, to review your work and provide advice. These efforts elevate your personal value set. If you force yourself to be the kind of person that insists on layers of quality control, then you will force yourself into being the kind of person that does other things with that level of exceptional quality and care.
• Human Resources and Administration – Division of labor at the You Company will help you stick to what you are good at while delegating the noncore duties that drain time, energy and focus. While improving your delivery, it also provides others with an opportunity to contribute and be a part of the team. For example, a partner at a Big 4 public accounting firm can focus on her career, deal with travel and juggle her work schedule with confidence knowing that her spouse is taking care of the kids and keeping up with home matters. The arrangement, however, could be derailed if there was an accident, illness or other significant event. An internal “HR department” needs to ensure that appropriate continuity plans are in place to prevent a tragedy from permanently altering your professional and personal life. That includes medical insurance, short- and long-term disability, life insurance, emergency contacts and so forth. Companies with contingency plans are more likely to keep setbacks contained and to resume operations and growth in a reasonable period of time.
• Wellness Program – A You Company wellness program should focus on providing the appropriate life balance to ensure productivity and quality output. Vacation time, training, outside activities and good internal relations ensure that you can break from time to time and recharge your battery. It also means including your family in your professional life and career decisions. Too often, we compartmentalize our work and family. It’s a form of self-alienation that creates a huge blind spot where your family cannot connect with you. Make sure they are on board with where you are, what you are doing, how much time you are putting into it and so on. Having your family’s support will strengthen your relationship with them, provide an invaluable level of confidence and peace of mind and give you firmer resolve to do what you need to do at work.

The Secret Is Yours

Now that you know the secret, you will see that it wasn’t much of a secret after all. It’s simply the application of a known model that functions well in capital markets and yields growth, which is what we all want as a part of our professional lives. Some will be intimidated by the prospect of “setting up their own company.” Fortunately, the company approach is less of a process and more of a philosophy, a way to look at and manage your career. You are your own company, and that model is a creative and productive way to develop and grow as a professional.

Once you acknowledge that you are your own company, you can use your strengths to manage some departments and get help from your network and trusted providers on the others. If you don’t, then chances are those departments won’t run very well, and your professional development will be affected. There’s no time or place that is better than another for setting up the You Company, so incorporate today!

David Maturo is a partner with Attolon Partners LLC, an executive search firm in Philadelphia. He can be reached at dmaturo@attolon.com.

Reprinted with permission from the Pennsylvania CPA Journal, a publication of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants.