One of the biggest shifts when you move into consultancy is realising that every decision rests with you. From setting fees to hiring support, you’re not just an HR professional anymore. You’re an HR consultancy business owner. That change brings freedom, but it also means stepping up to decision-making in a whole new way.
Take Jane, for example. Since launching her consultancy in 2018, she’s faced some big calls. Should she hire staff, even though it would mean stretching her budget? Was it worth diversifying into mediation training to broaden her client offer? And could she trust the marketing plan enough to stick with it through the quieter months? Each decision forced her to balance her HR expertise with the instincts of an entrepreneur.
For many HR professionals moving into consultancy, this is the adjustment that takes the most getting used to. You’re no longer the trusted adviser supporting someone else’s leadership team. You are the leadership team. In other words, you’ve stepped fully into the role of an HR consultancy business owner.
Recognising the scope of decisions you’ll face
In employment, your decisions probably sat within a familiar framework: interpreting policies, managing employee relations, advising on compliance. In consultancy, those responsibilities don’t disappear. You’re still offering expert HR advice. But layered on top are business decisions you might never have encountered before.
These might include:
- Financial decisions: setting fees, reviewing cash flow, choosing accounting support.
- Marketing decisions: which channels to focus on, how much to invest in advertising, whether to attend networking events or rely on referrals.
- Strategic decisions: whether to broaden your services, build partnerships, or specialise in a particular niche.
- Operational decisions: selecting software, managing admin tasks, and considering whether to outsource or hire staff.
Each area brings both opportunity and risk. Learning how to handle that variety is part of growing as an HR consultancy business owner.
Trusting your professional judgement
HR consultants often underestimate how transferable their existing skills are. Years of weighing up risks, balancing competing priorities, and advising leaders mean you already have strong decision-making muscles. The difference is that now, you’re applying those skills to your own business.
For example, Jane was used to helping line managers decide whether to dismiss an underperforming employee. The stakes felt high, and she had to consider evidence, fairness, and reputational impact. When deciding whether to invest in training for herself, she realised she could apply the same process: assess the cost, weigh up the potential return, and consider the impact on her reputation if she didn’t keep her skills current.
The context changes, but the principles of sound judgement remain the same. That’s a strength every HR consultancy business owner can rely on.
Balancing head and heart
One of the great joys of being an HR consultancy business owner is that you’re no longer restricted to corporate priorities or board agendas. You can align your business choices with your own values, lifestyle, and long-term vision.
That means while the numbers matter – profitability, growth, client retention – your instinct and your personal goals play a role too. You might decide not to pursue a lucrative contract if it means long hours and travel that clash with family life. Or you may choose to specialise in SMEs because you find that work more rewarding, even if it means slower growth at first.
For Jane, the decision to diversify into mediation training was driven partly by her head (spotting a gap in the local market) and partly by her heart (she enjoyed conflict resolution and wanted to make it a bigger part of her work). The result was a new revenue stream that also played to her strengths.
Avoiding decision paralysis
When you’re new to running a business, every choice can feel monumental. Should you spend money on a new website design? Will putting your fees up drive clients away? Is this the right time to expand? Even the decision about whether to go it alone or join a franchise like face2faceHR can feel huge. It’s easy to get stuck weighing every angle.
A helpful approach is to ask: what’s the worst that could happen? Often, the answer is manageable. If a pricing change doesn’t work, you can adjust. If a marketing tactic doesn’t deliver results, you can try another. Even the franchise decision isn’t set in stone – yes, it’s a commitment, but you’ll have done plenty of due diligence before signing. And choosing a franchise gives you systems, a network, and a support structure that can actually reduce the number of solo decisions you need to make.
Jane admits she used to agonise over every small step in her first year. Over time, she realised that progress came from acting, not perfect planning. Some decisions worked brilliantly, others didn’t, but each one taught her something valuable. That’s the reality for every HR consultancy business owner.
Building confidence as an HR consultancy business owner
Being “the boss” doesn’t mean doing everything in isolation. Having trusted people around you makes decision-making much easier. That might be a mentor, a coach, a peer network, or, in Jane’s case, the support of a franchise.
Being able to ask, “has anyone else faced this?” and hearing real-world experiences helps you see decisions in context. It also reduces the pressure of feeling like you’re carrying the weight of every choice alone.
Many HR consultants find that once they tap into a strong network, their decision-making as an HR consultancy business owner becomes faster and more confident. Sometimes all you need is a sounding board to reassure you that you’re on the right track.
Developing decision-making confidence over time
It’s worth remembering that confidence in making business decisions doesn’t arrive overnight. It develops as you take action, learn from outcomes, and see the results of your choices play out.
You’ll make mistakes. Every business owner does. But those mistakes are rarely catastrophic. Instead, they become stepping stones. The decision you’re nervous about today will feel straightforward in a year’s time, once you’ve built up that experience.
Jane reflects that her early decisions felt terrifying at the time. Now, she looks back and wonders why she worried so much. That perspective only comes from taking the leap and building your confidence through practice.
Final thought
Taking ownership of decisions is part of stepping into the role of an HR consultancy business owner. If you’re curious about what that journey could look like, you can download our prospectus or contact us for a chat about what’s involved.