I’m on a mission at the moment to redefine what I do (again). The bid space has changed a lot in the last decade and continues to change. I’ve been moving towards the consultancy end of it for some time while still being (relatively) content to do the writing bit alongside.
Over the last couple of years especially, it’s become clear that focusing on the writing side is a fool’s errand as a solo practitioner; the constant moving of publication dates for large frameworks – a big chunky bit of work – means that you can never be certain whether the projected income you’re relying on for the next month or two is going to arrive.
At the same time, you can’t commit to more than two big pieces of work, because if they do all publish on time you’ll be working night and day and not giving your best to any of them.
So, I’d been moving – trying to at least – towards more strategy, pipeline, bid content library and other development projects, to flatten out the feast vs famine cycle.
The core issue with that is that clients don’t often see the need for those development projects until they’re caught up in a big important bid and they suddenly develop 20/20 hindsight.
So, what’s a girl to do?
Many of my colleagues in the bid industry are combining forces with others to form small agencies, where the work can be flexed up or down across the in-house team and augmented with external ‘associates’ when needed.
This is still not without risk; that small agency I briefly worked for in late 2024/early 2025 was also firmly on the ropes because of delays to expected, significant, projects.
Alongside the bid work – and before, over the course of my illustrious career – I’ve taken on, or found myself involved in, a wide range of odd projects, often some kind of work process improvement with a side of cultural change.
“The way you spend your days is the way you spend your life”
– Anne Dillard ‘The Writing Life’
When I achieved chartered management consultant status in 2025 I wasn’t really sure where that was going to take me. I just knew I wanted something I could use as a springboard to diversify from bid-only work.
Since then I’ve been knocking around ideas, trying to fit myself and my way of thinking into a variety of not-quite-right personas and, periodically, being pulled back into writing bids (or, at the time of writing, the ‘promise’ of writing bids; I have two large projects both delayed indefinitely. I am trying not to panic but I couldn’t pay my bills this month and likely won’t be able to next month. It is not a viable business model).
I think I’m getting somewhere near what I want to do, achieve and be known for (although I reserve the right to tweak it indefinitely). I’ve mentioned elsewhere that this is the last quarter of my working life and it would be nice to do something useful, for others as well as for myself.
I’m not for everyone and everyone is not for me. And that’s fine.
We live in a weird world at the moment and, it seems, one that gets weirder every day. I find it hard to disconnect one train of thought from another; the older I get the more I see just how connected everything is.
My natural instinct is to plonk all my thoughts, opinions and advice in one place and let the reader self-select in or out, as friend, client, or watcher-from-the-sidelines.
Maybe a couple of decades ago that might have been possible but with our collectively reduced attention spans, curating who sees what and where is essential.
I’m also on a bit of a mission to claw back some of my own reduced attention span and put it back into art, writing, making and other personal pursuits.
So this is where I’m (currently) at:
LinkedIn Lyndsey: Random observations, weekly posts, monthly newsletter – all in service of developing a ‘broader than bids’ reputation as an independent management consultant and, subsequently, attracting the right kind of clients. Also cross posted on other business profiles.
Lyndsey Wray dot com: Sporadic posts, personal stuff, Song of the Day, bits of art, writing, occasional rants. A traditional personal blog.
Substack: A new thing for me and one I hope serves as a bridge between the work and life personas. Without a rigid posting schedule but a home for broader thinking on how, collectively, our working lives and living lives are in fact one and the same.