I'm inviting you to consider membership in the new Society for Advancement of Consulting^® LLC (SAC^®). After a year of careful study and sometimes painful deliberation with scores of colleagues, I've decided that a new organization is needed to improve the business and skills of solo practitioners in consulting and related professions.

The intent is to create a community of colleagues without rank, elites, or internal awards, whose members learn from each other on a continuing basis, augmented and supported by a lean national organization. As you'll see in the accompanying material, local chapters are encouraged, supported, and independent (keeping 100% of all dues money, for example, for local promotion and development, and with no need for all chapter members to even join the national organization). Our mission is clear: To build the businesses of our members and to provide development opportunities to enable them to build their businesses.

SAC will have, however, unique benefits for national members that are described herein. Since everyone is a colleague, there are no certifications to maintain or re-qualify for. But we will eventually offer "Board Approvals" in specialty areas (e.g., OD consulting, expert witness, IT, etc.) which indicate further accomplishment in such areas of expertise. (I'm a generalist myself, but I realize that many people can market better with acknowledgement of results in specialties.)

This is a for-profit organization formed as an LLC. That needs to be clear. We can't be successful with a part-time board or overarching focus on satisfying every last interest and precinct. Instead, we have to move nimbly and agilely to promote the profession, the important value of solo practitioners, and the SAC trademarked designation and logo. Once again the emphasis: Every full member is a colleague and peer, and can use the designation and logo equally. (We do offer a program for affiliate members to encourage those who want to enter the profession but cannot yet meet full entrance requirements. We want to embrace everyone interested in moving the profession upward and onward.)

In the spirit of collaboration that we should all embrace, anyone possessing a CMC, CPCM, or CSP will be exempted from normal qualifying criteria and documentation.

A for-profit enables me to transition my focus from traditional consulting work to leading this endeavor without undue hardship or sacrifice. But more importantly, it allows for the daily proactive management and oversight of the organization to provide for continual improvement of our offerings to members. I believe that organizations prosper best when a leader is proactively pursuing its goals and a profit motive concurrently.

As you'll see, our benefits include discounted alliances with web hosts, graphics designers, teleconference resources, legal professionals, tax experts, investment advisors, business publishers, list server managers, and others.

Chapters will operate independently, and will keep 100% of dues charged to local members. One may join local, national, or both. We only request that chapter officers be national members.

We welcome members of Women in Consulting as SAC members. Please see the WIC web site for special enrollment forms.

Thanks for your consideration. I hope you'll be joining us for what I envision will be a new age of success for solo practitioners.

Alan Weiss, Ph.D.
CEO and Founder