Grow Your Independent Consulting Business

If you procrastinate on writing proposals for your consulting business, you’re not alone.  Most consultants delay, avoid, and dread writing consulting proposals. It’s common to rush through, water down, and undersell your consulting proposals as a result of this procrastination. In today’s episode, I help you with the formula to conquer this procrastination. Listen in as I walk you through a proce...

Today we’re welcoming back to the podcast, McLean Robbins. McLean is the Vice President of Enterprise Marketing at MBO Partners and an independent consultant herself. MBO partners is a company that helps connect independent consultants and micro business owners with enterprise client engagement opportunities. On an annual basis, McLean and her team conduct research that's called the State of...

As an independent consultant, you represent both yourself and your business.  In this episode, I focus on personal branding for independent consultants. This topic is commonly misunderstood, misapplied, or overlooked by consultants, yet it's an important foundational aspect for IC businesses so you build a reputation, become known for and sought after for what you do, and ultimately make busi...

In this episode, I interview Brian Owens, a current coaching client, former corporate colleague, and past consulting client. I invited him onto this milestone episode, #100, so you can hear and experience the way he thinks about selling. He’s sold over $100 million dollars in services over the course of his career, and roughly $1B in software and services. He’s an expert at selling, and I wanted y...

As you think about what's happening in our economy, you may feel concerned about the “poly-crisis” and how it can potentially impact your business. I want you to know that you don't have to be in survival mode this year, hunkering down and hoping that the recession ends soon. Instead, you can use this as a benefit for your consulting business.  Listen in as I share the 3 consulting trend...

I talk to so many independent consultant business owners who say their business is shifting from the work they intended to do, which is consulting, to more of a staff augmentation role. And, they don’t want to be stuck feeling like a pseudo-employee where they have less autonomy doing work that isn’t fulfilling or challenging. You may be having the same experience. So today, I want to share with y...

Do you get stuck because you’re not sure how to turn a conversation into a potential consulting opportunity? You meet a new potential client and you’re not sure how to progress from the initial meeting into a discovery process, and ultimately to a signed engagement contract. In this episode, I share a tool you can use to convert more of your conversations (networking, people you meet at events, yo...

In this episode, we are wrapping up with the 5th and final step of the 5-part planning for independent business success process — Create a Follow-Through System To Make Achieving Your Goals Inevitable.  It’s easy to set goals for your business.  Where many independent consultants get stuck is consistently following through to bring their goals to life. You get busy with your day-to-day delivery fo...

In this episode, we dive into the 4th step of the 5-part planning for independent business success process — Embracing Obstacles.   Listen in as I share why hitting obstacles in your business is healthy for growth in your business and as a CEO. The key to independent consulting success is to put yourself in a position to create and overcome obstacles, not avoid them. I walk you through a process t...

This week we’re continuing with the 5-part series on planning for independent business success. In part 1, I shared a formula to assess the past 12-months of your consulting business so you have a clear and accurate baseline from which to set goals for the next 12-months. Part 2 was all about goal setting. I shared a unique approach you can take to set effective goals, specifically for your indepe...

Last week, we took a deep dive into step one of the 5-part series, Planning for Independent Business Success. I shared a formula to assess the past 12 months of your business so you have a clear and accurate baseline from which to set goals for the next 12 months in your consulting business.   This week, I share part 2 of the 5 part process, Goal Setting.   There’s a unique approach you can take t...

It's planning season! As we prepare to turn the calendar over and welcome in a new year, I’m going to be sharing the 5-step strategy to plan for independent business success in the next 12 months. Over the next five weeks, I'm going to walk you through a five-part process you can use to plan for the best year you've ever had in your independent consulting business. This process will...

If you find that your business isn't hitting the numbers and giving you the fulfillment, joy, and value you want then I encourage you to tune in to this episode. I’ve been working on new tools to simplify and make business more effective for my clients and this concept of micro-skills was born. It’s been so valuable in making it easier to be a successful business owner, and I want to share it...

In this episode, I share an incredible game changer I recently implemented in my business. I recommend this strategy for you, as I know for sure it will be a game changer for you too.  What is this game changer? I had a four day solo corporate retreat and it brought so much clarity and rejuvenation to my business. So in this episode, I’m sharing all the behind-the-scenes. In this episode, I will s...

Relationships are the best way to fill your consulting pipeline. However, consultants frequently hit a challenge when they want to transition from a “networking” call into an opportunity.   There are three common reasons your conversations aren't converting.  In this episode, I will share what those three reasons are, examples of best practices to convert an opportunity and strategies to conv...

As an independent consultant who’s juggling everything for your business. Everything is on your shoulders.   It’s so common for independent consultants to experience burnout, either situational burnout or overall burnout.    Burnout isn’t inevitable. It’s not part and parcel of being an independent consulting business owner.   In this episode, I share the formula to overcome and prevent burnout an...

This is the time of year when pricing becomes a hot topic for you as a consulting business owner as you think about your pricing strategy and what you want it to look like moving into the new year.   With so many pricing options out there to choose from, I want to present you with a risk-free pricing approach you can take as an independent consultant to ensure you’re not leaving money on the table...

Value-based consulting fees are where you base your consulting fees on the client’s perceived value (tangible and intangible) from the services you provide. Value-based pricing is a form of fixed fee pricing.   You probably either have it in place, been thinking about putting it in place or you might be curious about value-based pricing and its benefits.   This is a pricing concept that’s very wid...

When what you do comes naturally to you, it’s common to underestimate, overlook, or even completely miss the value, benefits, and impact you create for your clients. This results in common pricing mistakes that have a huge impact on your business.  Understanding the effects of these pricing mistakes will help you decide on what to do when it comes to the overall growth and success of your business...

Whether your business is slow or thriving, I highly encourage you to listen to this 2-part series on what to do when your business is slow. Last week in EP. 083 Why Your Consulting Business Is Slow , I shared the 4-root causes that are slowing down your consulting business. This week l am giving you four detailed examples of these root causes and the 4-step process you can use to overcome this “sl...

This may feel like a gut punch, but the REAL reason your consulting business is slow is YOU. You created the slow cycle in your consulting business and on today’s podcast, I walk you through why that’s true and how to turn this around to get back to a robust pipeline and ultimately a thriving business.  Whether your business is slow or thriving, I highly encourage you to listen to this 2-part seri...

In this episode, I interview one of my independent consultant clients, Maria Balcazar Tellez. Listen in as she provides invaluable insights from behind-the-scenes into how she’s running a successful independent consulting business.  Maria shares  how she's been able to transform from employee-based thinking into the CEO-level mindset required for a successful business owner,  how she’s increa...

This may come as a surprise but believe it or not, for some IC business owners having a full pipeline is a source of anxiety.  Without some intervention, it’s common to self-sabotage and kill the momentum that you've created in your independent consulting business. In this episode, I share how to handle the times when you’ve landed too much consulting business, or are on the verge of landing...

Last week, I talked about the three components of the successful IC business owners' routine, and this week I am giving you a deep dive into one of those components, which is the Quarterly Business Focus Project.   Tune in as I outline this concept of a Quarterly Focus Project in more detail, so you can put it into practice in your own consulting business. In this episode, I share what The Qu...

Having a routine is critical to your success as an independent consulting business owner. Routines help you  Maximize your independent consultant business owner time Manage through conflicting priorities Balance working on your business with working in your business Ensure you’re proactively progressing toward your goals and business vision  Cut down on being reactive and wasting time on business...