What Is the Thinkers & Makers Community?

A new model is emerging for HR consultants, HR managers, and tech-savvy professionals: build enterprise-grade HR systems without writing a single line of code, deploy them for clients, and generate sustainable consulting revenue. Thinkers & Makers is the community shaped entirely around this model.

In this post, we break down what the community is, who it's designed for, and what it delivers to its members.

1What Is Thinkers & Makers?

Thinkers & Makers is a selective community of professionals who use the OrchestraHCM platform to build HR systems, deploy those systems for businesses, and generate income through consulting services.

The name is deliberate: Thinkers — people who deeply understand HR processes and organizational challenges, who think strategically. Makers — people who translate that understanding into concrete, working systems. It's built for professionals who carry both identities at once.

"I'm no longer just an advisor — I build a system for my client, maintain it, and develop a long-term business relationship with them."

2Who Is It Designed For?

Thinkers & Makers doesn't require a specific background or title. These profiles fit perfectly:

• Independent HR consultants — professionals looking to expand their client base and add a tangible software product to their service portfolio
• Corporate HR managers — those who want to convert their work experience into consulting income and build a parallel revenue stream
• HR technology enthusiasts — people who enjoy building HR systems with no-code tools and want to commercialize that expertise
• ERP / CRM consultants — consultants looking to expand their service offering with an HR module and deliver additional value to existing clients
• Recent graduates and career changers — those who want to build a career in HR technology and need a practical starting point

The common thread: a mindset that's comfortable with technology, curious about HR processes, and genuinely motivated to produce concrete value for clients.

3Have Your Own Demo System

Every member who joins the community gets their own demo/learning system on OrchestraHCM. This isn't a showcase — it's a fully functional, full-featured HR environment.

With your demo system, you can:

• Show the platform live to prospective clients
• Pre-configure different HR scenarios and keep them ready to present
• Practice in a real environment during training sessions and workshops
• Develop and save your own workflow templates

This is far more powerful than a sales pitch. You're telling your prospect "I can build you a system like this" — and showing them immediately.

4Deploy for Clients and Earn Maintenance Revenue

Thinkers & Makers membership gives you the authorization to deploy OrchestraHCM for your clients and keep it running. That authorization comes with concrete revenue models:

• Implementation project fees — project-based income for configuring, customizing, and going live with a client's system
• Monthly maintenance retainers — recurring consulting fees for keeping the system you built running, updated, and evolving
• Training revenue — onboarding client HR teams to the platform and the processes you've designed
• Process consulting — not just technical setup, but designing and optimizing HR processes from the ground up

This model goes well beyond one-off project logic. Every client becomes a potential long-term maintenance contract.

"I built the system for one client. Three months later they wanted to add a module. Four months after that, another department was added. Now I have an annual consulting contract with them."

5Live Workshops and Continuous Learning

Thinkers & Makers members don't go it alone. The community grows together through live online workshops held over Microsoft Teams.

What gets covered in these workshops?

• New features and updates to the OrchestraHCM platform
• Lessons learned and best practices from real client projects
• Sales methodology and client acquisition techniques for HR consulting
• HR technology trends and how to position yourself in the market
• Collaboration opportunities and joint project possibilities among members

The sessions aren't one-directional. Every member has as much to share as they have to learn. This operates less like a training program and more like a peer learning network.

6Business Consulting Training

Knowing the technology well isn't enough — asking the right questions, understanding the process, and presenting the solution clearly requires a separate skill set entirely.

Through HR consulting training, Thinkers & Makers members develop:

• Client needs analysis and requirements gathering methods
• HR process design and optimization frameworks
• Project management and client communication
• Proposal writing and consulting pricing strategy

When this training combines with technical implementation skills, you get a genuinely "complete consultant" profile: someone who builds the system and solves the client's business problem.

What Do You Get When You Join?

Conclusion: A New Dimension of Consulting

HR consulting is changing. Giving advice is no longer enough — you need to produce concrete, measurable, and sustainable value. Thinkers & Makers sits right at the center of that transformation.

For professionals who blend technology with HR expertise, who hand clients a working system instead of just a report, and who build their own income in the process — this community is a genuine career accelerator.

You think and you build. You learn and you teach. You grow individually and you strengthen the community.