What to do with a Successful Clinical Research Consulting Business

I am at a good point in my clinical research consulting business right now.

The past 2 fiscal years have combined made over 7 figures. I am working with great clients on interesting projects. All my time is completely booked.

Yet, I find myself wondering what to do next.

I feel like there are 3 different paths to take in front of me, but I am not sure which to take or even how to start deciding which to take. These are:

1. Stay the course - change nothing, keep working on the business how I am.
2. Expand the business - find a way to generate new business, likely through a digital product.
3. Take a step back - reduce time spent working on focus more on life and personal goals.

This article is a collection of my thoughts on what to do next, and hopefully I will gain some insights along the way. I hope you do too.

Let's dive in.

Stay the Course ⛵

Don't rock the boat.

I have a good thing going. The business is very profitable, I love my clients, and the projects I work on are interesting. I also have the best work-life balance I have ever had, working 30-35 hours per week.

If I had to classify this choice, I would say it is the conservative option (like a conservative investing strategy). Less risk, but also potentially less return.

Rise of AI 🤖

One risk I foresee with Staying the Course is that AI will come for the medical writing and data analysis work that I do.

Perhaps not today and not tomorrow, but in the next 5-10 years I expect the bulk of what I do today, could be automated in the future. I will have to diversify the services and products that I offer if this business is to survive.

But, in 5-10 years I could make enough money to retire on anyway.

Economy 📈

The other risk to my current business is that when the economy takes a dive, research dollars dry up.

My business depends on other business conducting research. If the economy gets bad and very little money is spent on research, I won't have income coming in from my current service offerings.

Presumably, I have built a cushion because all businesses have good years and bad, but in the moment it is hard to know when the bad years will end.

With a diversified product offering I could more easily weather the storm.

But on the other hand, why stress about expanding the business when I can keep doing what I am doing. I am comfortable.

Expand the Business 🏢

More money is always a good thing, right?

If I can grow my business further, I can make more money in the short term and long term. I can reach financial independence sooner. I could also better protect against becoming obsolete.

I have a few ideas for how I could expand the business.

Digital Product 💻

Right now, the hours I work have a direct correlation to how much money the business makes.

If I didn't work for 3 months, revenue would decline by at least 25%—probably a lot more!

It would be a great asset to have digital products that could be making money—and satisfying clients—without a direct correlation to my time.

Examples include:

1. Newsletter - weekly digest.
2. Courses - teaching others from my experiences.
3. Books - condensing popular courses into a book.

Personal Brand 😤

There are lots of companies offering to develop my personal brand—for a fee.

Somehow that opens up opportunities to bring talented people onto my team to outsource some of the work that I do.

This is then supposed to free up my time to generate more sales for the business (which I actually don't currently need for consulting, but maybe for digital products). Maybe also creates opportunities for partnerships?

Certainly there is value in creating a personal brand, but will it benefit me and the business?

I don't think it benefits my current business, but would help guard against becoming obsolete or for starting a new business.

Software as a Service 🐕‍🦺

Speaking of new business, SAAS would be another way to grow the business.

This could be related to the clinical research consulting that I do.

I can think of at least one idea worth exploring. I would have to establish a market need, which shouldn't be too hard, but is the market large enough to warrant the cost involved in creating software?

I am also not familiar with finding a capable developer or what the cost involved would be. The cost is not an issue if the ROI is there.

The current business is very profitable.

Investing 📈

No, not day trading to lose it all!

Actual investing of the profits for the next 5-10 years until the current business is obsolete. Then pull the interest/capital gains out every year.

This could be investing in multi-family homes, which I do already using personal money. The downside of this is the risk of putting so much money into 1 or many properties. Real estate invested funds are also not liquid.

Investing in broad market index funds would be less risky in the long run, but also more boring. Being able to drive by a piece of real estate and know that I own it, is more satisfying then seeing the price of an index fund rise.

However, real estate is also more complicated as there are tenants, building maintenance, and other problems to worry about. Index funds are set it and forget it.

Take a Step Back 🚶‍♂️

Another option worth exploring is decreasing the amount of time I work and increasing the amount of time spent on "life."

Health scares experienced by close family members have recently driven home that life is short. It is impossible to know how much time that I or those close to me have left to live.

With that in mind, there is a large temptation to spend more time living, and less working.

I can see 2 large flaws with this way of thinking:

1. Life is best spent with friends and family. If everyone else is working the 9-5, what is the point of being by myself?
2. Hobbies don't necessarily bring more satisfaction. I really enjoy the work that I do. Hobbies are fun, sure. But are they as satisfying as being a part of research and helping people publish their work?

The Plan 📓

Writing this article has been helpful for me to clarify my thinking about what to do with my business. I have decided not to change my current business-since I enjoy what I do so much—and see if I do in fact become obsolete. At that time I can decide to take a step back or move in a different direction.

Summary

My thoughts on whether to expand my clinical research consulting business, stay the course, or take a step back. I hope you have found this useful in deciding how to move forward with your own freelance business. If so, let me know! I also love to hear if you have other things that you considered in your decision making. Get in touch!