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Using Biography or CV As Proposal
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This is not so much a proposal as a focused bio. A PR friend planned to refer me to the Governor of a western state for career transition assistance, and she wanted to know my background. This is what I sent her, and it produced the assignment.


William S. Frank

CareerLab is a national career strategy and human resource management company based in Denver, Colorado (www.careerlab.com). William S. (Bill) Frank, M.A., founded the firm in 1978 and serves as President/CEO. Under his leadership, CareerLab has consulted to the leaders and senior executives of more than 300 U.S. corporations, large and small-including AT&T, Coors, Honeywell, Kaiser Permanente, Schlumberger, Sears Roebuck & Company, and TRW. His personal network of executives, leaders, venture capitalists, and executive recruiters is extensive and international.

CareerLab's typical career client looks something like this: 

  • A senior executive, business owner, top professional, or management consultant with a difficult, complex, or sophisticated career problem. Often the issue is  "been there, done that."
  • Career-oriented: enormously successful in a "previous life" and wanting to continue or improve that pattern of success.
  • Wanting to balance work, life, and family issues after a lifetime of having "given it all at the office."
  • Seeking an objective and confidential sounding board "away from the fray."
  • In a career dilemma. Facing some kind of crisis or transition, such as conflict with a boss or peer, downsizing, job loss, burnout, mid-life crisis, or forced early retirement, or a combination of several life problems at once. For example, financial challenges, a death or serious illness in the family, or a partner's unemployment.
  • Mid- or late-stage career. Usually age 40-70.
  • Highly-paid-often financially independent. Wishing to maintain or improve their present compensation and net worth-or wanting to work for personal satisfaction where money is not the primary driver.
Career transition is a two-step process: 1) creating a blueprint of the desired outcome, and 2) implementing a job campaign or marketing plan. Having spent 20,000 hours consulting executives and leaders on their careers, Bill is the "go-to" person when it comes to detailed, sophisticated, complicated, high-level career management issues. And he can provide strong references to substantiate that position.

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William S. Frank, M.A., President/CEO
25 Reasons I love consulting.
by William S. Frank
  1. Brand. You are your own brand, and you can define it any way you want. For many years, I provided outplacement to the ex-employees of Schlumberger, the world's largest oilfield service corporation. When departing employees left the company, they didn't request outplacement in their severance package. They said, "I want Bill Frank."
  2. Demand. The world will always be full of terrible problems that need solving.
  3. White Hat. I can be a helper and get paid for it.
  4. Pay. I can be paid to do things I'd gladly do for nothing.
  5. Variety. Every day is different.
  6. Happiness. At this stage of my career, I only work for people I respect and care about. If a client micromanages me or is otherwise no fun, I complete the assignment and replace them.
  7. Talent. I'm using 110% of my talents and stretching myself to the max.
  8. Change. I can change my focus any day I want. If you're a McDonald's franchisee, you don't say, "Hey, I've got this great idea for a meatball sandwich—let's try it out today." In consulting you can adjust your focus hour-by-hour, as long as your clients still understand and appreciate what you do.
  9. Income. No one else would pay me as much as I pay myself.
  10. FUN. I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing.
  11. Retirement. I can write and consult as long as I am physically and mentally capable. Peter Drucker worked into his 90s, and when asked which book was his best, he said: "My next one."
  12. Job Security. Although clients come and go, no one can come into my office and say, "Pack up your stuff . . . You don't work here anymore." In 29 years, I've only had one employer: ME.
  13. Travel. I don't have to travel unless I decide to. I travel if it's both FUN and profitable—or at least FUN.
  14. Commute. I live five minutes from my office, a corner office in an upscale six-story tower. In winter, I leave a heated garage at home and drive to an underground heated garage at work. There's seldom time to hear even one song on the radio.
  15. Vacation. Consulting is more fun than vacation (except on Wailea Beach in Maui).
  16. Friends. I have developed hundreds of close acquaintances and several lifetime friends.
  17. Time. I can work as much or as little as I like: four-hour days or 18-hour days. (Of course, my income will reflect that.)
  18. Employees. I can work with employees, subcontractors, partners, or alone—I've done it all.
  19. Passive Income. I've developed several products that provide "mailbox money." I earn while I'm sleeping.
  20. Ethics. I've never had to violate my values or personal code of ethics. I've never had to lie, purposely deceive or harm others, or promise things I can't deliver. I go to bed with a clear conscience. That doesn't mean there's never any conflict. But the conflict is conducted according to generally accepted business practices.
  21. Virtual. My career is fairly portable. With the Internet, e-mail, cell phone, and FedEx, I can work nationally, even internationally from my office—or anywhere in the world.
  22. Purpose. I make a difference in peoples' lives every day. I see it in their faces, hear it in their voices, and read it in their thank-yous.
  23. Experience. Every painful or joyful life experience makes me a better consultant. So does every person I meet or book I read. Grey hair can be good in consulting.
  24. Structure. I have to work very hard, and the clients expect superb results—but I get to structure my days, weeks, months, and years.
  25. Boss. Most of the time, I love my boss.
As I was posting these letters online, I realized I want to communicate my love for consulting. It's just a great business. The single letters, taken together, may create a picture of enjoyment, but in a burst of creativity I listed some of the reasons consulting is such a good fit for me—and perhaps for you, too. They are not prioritized; this is just how they came out.