2 min read · Written by Grant Rayner on 01 Feb 2023
Share by emailTo be successful as an independent security professional, you’ll need to develop a special mindset. Without that mindset, you’ll struggle. In this article, I’ll outline some aspects of this mindset.
The most obvious challenge with being an independent security professional is that you’re, well, independent. You’ll need to be comfortable working alone. You won’t have a boss to set the direction of the company or to tell you what to do next. You won’t have co-workers and subordinates to help on projects. You won’t have an editing team to review your work before it goes to a client. Perhaps worst of all, you won’t have an administrative team to process your travel expenses (sounds terrible, right?). If you’re accustomed to having this support, you may find the demands of being independent daunting.
For me, this has translated into operating in some very difficult environments by myself, with no support. Sure, you’ll operate alone as a security consultant working for a larger consulting company. But you’ll have the organisation behind you for support. You’ll have people you can call for advice and guidance. If you get yourself into trouble, you should be able to rely on your company to either support you on the ground or help get you out. When you’re operating alone, there is no such support. You’re on your own and you need to be comfortable with that.
On the other hand, you’ll also need to recognise that you can’t work in a vacuum. You’ll need to know when it’s time to seek advice or ask for help. You’ll also need to ensure support is available when you need it.
Running a business as an independent security professional doesn’t mean you need to be completely isolated. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. You’ll have your clients. You’ll also be part of a global community of other security professionals. As such, you’ll have direct access to almost any resource you need without any substantive constraints. The onus will be on you to develop a network of professional resources that you can rely on for support. I’ll expand on how to do build a robust and useful professional network later in the series.
Another factor to consider is that, as an independent security professional, you have near unlimited freedom. Want to sleep in today? You can. Don’t feel like working? Great, you can watch TV instead.
Some people respond well to the structure of an organisation. Without that structure, they’ll struggle to prioritise their time and be effective.
As an independent security professional, however, it’s imperative that you learn to effectively manage your time and energy. Doing so takes time. You’ll need to work at developing positive habits. You’ll also need to learn to balance your time and maintain your energy. It’s perfectly okay to sleep in or watch TV, so long as that’s not all you’re doing.
One of the biggest challenges you’ll face is the fact that you’ll have the freedom to engage in a lot of different activities. You can develop countless products and services. You can write books or produce online training videos. You can go to any number of conferences. But should you? Not all of these activities are worth your time. You’ll need to define a strategy and then apply discipline to ensure the efficient execution of that strategy.
Managing your time effectively will be a key and ongoing challenge for you as an independent security professional. Time management and effectiveness are something I’ll come back to later in this series.
In the next article, I’ll get into the personal qualities required of an successful independent security professional.