Whether you have recently started a consulting practice, or are simply thinking of taking the plunge into self-employment, one of the issues you need to consider is how ready you are to tackle the assignments clients will bring you. Even if you have previously worked in a larger consulting practice, chances are, the problems you have solved in the past will bear no resemblance to the issues your clients will want you to tackle in the future.

Recession, stagflation, deflation, inflation, and even depression are words used to describe the current economic conditions. As the economists, policy makers, and television pundits debate the duration and implications of the slowdown, our concern is how the slowdown affects family businesses. Conventional thought is that economic conditions such as recessions are devastating to family businesses.

We're all consultants. We offer expertise to make a connection and receive compensation. It isn't easy. We get lost and frustrated. We imagine in private what we might say to our client. . . if we had the guts.

So why it matters is this: if the CEO of a company is successful in her or his job, then the company is successful. The job of the executive coach is to enable and support the success of the client (as defined by the client, which is part of the process). Two obvious questions follow: (1) Will the coaching actually help the client be more successful (or better ensure the success)? (2) Why would the executive need a coach at this point in his career? If he is a senior executive, wouldn't he already have the proven skills to ensure his success?