Grow Your Independent Consulting Business

Juggling client delivery with advancing your business goals can be a big challenge for independent consultants. While there are many solutions to this challenge, I want to focus on one that I’ve found to be very effective. And that is hiring a Virtual Assistant or VA for your consulting business. Listen in as I share with you the nine mistakes that you should avoid when hiring a VA and also the si...

In this episode, I share the 5-step process to overcome undercharging as a consultant. I give you the 5 steps to stop undercharging as an independent consultant. And then, to bring it to life, I share two examples of how to apply these 5 steps, including (1) when you’re initially creating your consulting proposal and (2) when you’re pricing follow-on work for an existing client. This episode concl...

In EP. 50 we discussed the five methods that you can use to determine if you are undercharging in your IC business. Assuming that you’re undercharging, which almost every consultant is in some way, we're going to talk about the four reasons why you might be doing this and what to do about it. Listen in to learn more about the four root causes that could be leading to you undercharging in your...

Almost every consultant I talked to is undercharging in some way. Undercharging can be blatant or subtle. No matter where you're at in that spectrum, whether you're unaware of what's possible, or you've literally been avoiding this, it's not a problem. There are five methods or tools that work really well to help you to figure out for yourself if you are undercharging as a...

Just as guardrails along the roadway keep drivers safer, business policies help you proactively create an experience that's representative of you, your values, and how you want to show up as a business owner and consultant for your clients. Today I want to share with you a mistake that I made in my business back in December.  After working through the emotions of embarrassment and regret from...

As an independent consultant, you might be wondering “when is the best time to implement a CRM solution for my consulting business?” “What is the best way to track my consulting pipeline?” And, “how can I make tracking my consulting pipeline and follow-ups easier?” My guest today, Reuben Swartz, shares that using a CRM is the best method to help independent consultants manage and grow their consul...

Work-life balance is a top goal for most independent consultants as we leave corporate. Instead of achieving work-life balance, we end up recreating the same imbalance we had in corporate. The only difference is that now we're the boss instead of someone else.  One of the primary reasons is that we thought work-life would come automatically as part of the process versus something that we inte...

One of the reasons independent consultants leave traditional corporate jobs is to achieve a work-life balance. But then, what ends up happening in practice, is you get bogged down by the day-to-day and your schedule is constantly hijacked. The result is that you’re left feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and unfulfilled.  This is definitely not what you intended to create but it’s possible to correct...

What makes the difference between an independent consultant who has an endless flow of leads compared to the independent consultant who is struggling to create those leads, and to create that momentum in their consulting business? It’s not exceptional selling skills, a great personality, or that they have a great network. There is ONE difference between the independent consultant who has an overfl...

As you work through your annual business plans, you’re probably looking for that competitive edge. You’re probably asking yourself “how can I decrease downtime in between projects, improve the profitability of my current projects and win new projects to drive additional revenue?” In this episode, I will provide you with a tool you can use to improve and sustain your business results for this year...

Setting yearly goals isn’t always exciting. It can feel overwhelming and daunting. There’s one major adjustment that you can make to your planning process to create the feeling of inevitability for yourself and your business. Want to know more? Tune in as I share exactly how you can make achieving this year’s consulting business plan inevitable. Click here to get full show notes and more informati...

If you're like me and you love planning, then this is a really exciting time as you close out the current year and start thinking about the new year and what you want to achieve.  After all, if we don't know where we want to head, we're never going to get there. We all know this, but a lot of times, we let planning fall by the wayside. So on today's episode, I want to share a p...

When it comes to your consulting business, do you have a regular routine of evaluating your results? As entrepreneurs, to know where you’re going, it’s important to look at where you’ve been. That's why year-end business reviews are so important. The year-end review is the difference between you having a successful year or you hitting a plateau. Conducting a year-end review process makes you...

Looking to grow your impact in the next 12 months? Then this conversation is for you! Today we’re joined by McLean Robbins. McLean comes to us with a well-rounded experience and vantage point as she is the Vice President of Enterprise Marketing at MBO Partners and an independent consultant herself. McLean interacts with independent consultants on a daily basis and meets with enterprise leaders reg...

Spending the time to think strategically and purposefully is a critical component to the success of your consulting business. When you’re not making strategic thinking part of our success habits, you're basically acting like an employee would and waiting on your client to tell you what to do. The result is other people are managing your priorities and ultimately the strategy of your business....

I’m frequently asked questions about coaching such as “what is a coach”, “who needs a coach” and “what are the benefits of working with a coach?” As a coach myself who’s coached 100s of different people, and also as a client who has had my own coach for the last six years, I want to give you a well-rounded perspective of what it looks like to be coached from both of these points of view. You’ll ge...

As a coach, I’m honored to work with independent consultants to grow their businesses. As a coach, I see common themes and mistakes almost every IC makes in their business at some point.  One of these themes I see across almost all ICs is under-earning. The issue with under-earning is that you can often look outside yourself for things to blame and for external justifications. However, as an indep...

The world of an independent consultant can be lonely at times. A remedy for this loneliness can be found in a collaborative community. Collaborating with other independent consultants can ease the sense of isolation and help your business to become successful in many ways.  My guest today, Will Bachman, was very aware of this fact and as a result, he founded Umbrex, a global community specifically...

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4 million Americans quit their jobs in July 2021. Resignations peaked in April and have remained abnormally high for the last several months, with a record-breaking 10.9 million open jobs at the end of July. How can you use the Great Resignation to create consulting clients?  Listen in to learn how you can use the Great Resignation to create client...

Our guest today is Brian Hoffmeyer, SVP Market Strategies at Beeline. Brian shares with us that right now they have “325 clients and 50 billion in spend running through their system every year.” That's a massive number. There is so much opportunity out there for independent consultants who know how to take advantage of it.  Brian shares insights from his 17+ years working with the Fortune 100...

Have you ever completed a business task like making a presentation or had a consulting call and afterward you were second-guessing yourself? Did you wish that you’d never revealed something, or that you could go back in time and undo the action that made you question yourself after the fact?  This is called the “Vulnerability Hangover”. It’s a term coined by Dr. Brené Brown. She defines it as “the...

There are five mistakes that I see independent consultants make with their service offerings that ultimately lead to low close rates and the feast or famine cycle.  In this episode, I want to bring these 5 mistakes to your attention so you can address them. After you do, you’ll set yourself up to start earning more, continuously filling your pipeline, and ultimately feel more fulfilled in the work...

Are you approaching your consulting sales process based on what your prospects care about or based on what you have to offer? This is a very common deal-killing mistake that Independent Consultants make. The mistake is when you are approaching the sales process based on you assuming that a client needs what you have rather than what the client cares about. This mistake can end up killing your deal...

Are you working as a consultant or as a contractor, a staff augmentation-type resource, in your consulting business? If you’re like many independent consultants, you’re trapped taking staff augmentation roles, and as a result, overworking, underpaid, and not making the level of impact that led you to consulting in the first place. Listen in as I share with you how to get out of the staff augmentat...

Are you ready to finish the year strong in your consulting business?  Listen in as I share with you a tool that you can use to create consistent revenue in your consulting business. This tool can be used at any point in the year, but especially in Q4, so that you finish the year strong and build momentum as you move into next year. Click here to get full show notes and more information. Want help...