5 Myths About Project Management Freelancing

Following 20 years at a large Canadian telecommunications firm, Bruce established the project management consulting firm Solutions Management Inc (SMI). Since 1999, he has provided contract project/program management services, been a source for project management support personnel and created/delivered courses to over 7,000 participants in Canada, the United States and England.

  Career Development   Education  

It was 1999. Headlines and strategic plans were all about preparing for—and trying to avoid—the potential Armageddon-like results of moving into the new millennium. Managing the impact of Y2K was front-and-center of the minds of all businesses. There were endless projects that had a very clear deadline. Forget about the triple constraints model; there was only one constraint, and it was December 31, 1999.

The other recurring newsmaker was the world-wide aging population. Baby boomers were either leaving the workforce or planning to do so soon (The Pig and the Python author David Cook outlined how to prosper from the aging baby boom). There were to be major labor shortages, and talented individuals would be in high demand.

I therefore decided it was time to leave my secure, middle-management, corporate career at one of the country's largest employers and establish my own project management consulting firm. What could possibly go wrong?

I discovered a number of myths existed—ones that potential freelance project managers may be wise to consider even today, 20-plus years later:

Myth #1: Authors, economists and other visionaries have special insights into the future.
Individuals who invest in capital markets are very aware of the disclaimer “past performance cannot be used as an indicator of future performance.” The statement makes it …

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