I have been a mentor for over 30 years.  I only recently began a consulting business.  I thought I could move easily into consulting, after so many years mentoring up and coming entertainment professionals, as well as dancers, dance educators, costume designers and costume fabricators.  I realized quickly that these two ‘functions’ are very different from each other.  While both are teachers, a mentor nurtures while teaching, where a consultant teaches without emotion.

One of the hardest things I ever did in my work history was getting my company certified as a Crew Manning Office and Recruitment Placement Service for the Maritime Industry.  You must have an ISO Operating System to become a CMO/RPS.  I thought there might be another way, but no, you must have an ISO system in place.  Not only is it expensive to create and manage, if you have never worked with an ISO operating system, the learning curve is at least a 6 month effort, if not more.

When I achieved my certification, I realized this was something I could help other entertainment companies with, as my ISO had to marry the Maritime governing standards, the MLC 2006 specifically.  Unfortunately, when I was trying to get certified, there were no examples of an operating system that reflected what I did in the maritime industry.  I had to create my operating system from scratch.  I am finding out more and more cruise lines are asking their entertainment vendors for this certification.  If you are reading this, and you are one of those vendors, know it is very difficult, it is very expensive, but it CAN be done!

I have now consulted a few companies who have asked me how to get certified, as well as consulted with a company who wanted to know how to get a contract with a cruise line in the first place.  Along the way, I have found myself in odd situations when I have realized the person who has hired me only really wants “inside information”, or a ‘shortcut’, if you will, to what they are trying to achieve.  I am not that shortcut, but put in the work, and I will stand beside you and help you every step of the way.

When you mentor, you give information freely.  Also when you mentor, you usually are not mentoring those who are your competition.  When you consult, and you have been paid a fee for your expertise, there is one pitfall you must be very careful about, and that is confidential and proprietary information.  Example … I had a company engage me simply to find out what the dollar amount was on my contract with a client who they were seeking similar work with.  I had no idea when they first engaged me that that was what they were after, but when they asked ‘the question’ … how much my company was paid annually by my client, I hemmed and hawed when I should have just stated, ‘that is proprietary information.’  This was in the beginning of my consulting business, and I squirmed with such an uncomfortable question.  I learned quickly that people who hire consultants think they are paying for inside information.  Nothing could be further from the truth, at least if you are an honest consultant.

I have recently been asked to join a costume panel at Megacon in Orlando this May.  I am not being paid for this, but I will receive a pass to the convention floor.   One of the topics I have been asked to speak on is “How to Break Into The Costume Design Business.”  If someone asks me what my design fees are, I will gladly share that with them, but what I will not share is the spreadsheet I created in order to arrive at said fee, or how I arrive at the cost of what I charge a client for a costume.  Now, hire me as a consultant, and that is information that I would certainly share.  I paid a professional to help me create my proprietary cost spreadsheet, just as I paid an ISO professional to help me create my operating system for my CMO/RPS certification.  I no longer give away for free that which cost me money, time, and hard work.  I still do when I mentor young talent, however, but I don’t when I consult those already making profit in our business.

The hardest part of consulting for me is sharing the ugly part of my industry in a palatable manner.  Every industry has its warts.  As a consultant, you must be 100% honest with your client, as a really good consultant can help their clients avoid the pitfalls that befell them.  Take the cruise industry for example.  I am now very honest about the Yin/Yang of this industry.  The first time I sent a group of performers to a ship, having painted a beautiful picture of what they would encounter, was the last time I sent a group of performers to a ship, having painted a beautiful picture of what they would encounter.

Both a mentor and a consultant must be 100% honest with those they are teaching.  That includes the bad with the good.  I still love mentoring young people.  I will never stop doing that, but I have stopped giving away the store for free.  My expertise is a culmination of a 50+ year career in the entertainment industry.  To quote a character in the sit-com, “Fresh Off The Boat” … “My legacy is set.”  I smiled inwardly when I heard that, as it defined for me why I am no longer motivated to accomplish more things.  I am set.  Life is good.  Time to teach!