We find clients…but they only have a certain budget. (And those are the good ones! Let’s not even talk about the ones who haggle on price over and over.) After the project concludes, we’re back “pounding the pavement” to find more clients. All of this instead of doing the stuff we actually love! How much time do we waste every time a client churns?
And for some of us, we jump from client to client, frantically doing the work, marketing ourselves, perfecting our craft…and knowing we need to grow, but being “stuck.” How am I supposed to grow when there’s only one of me? In the back of our heads, we wonder about “systems” and hiring, but it’s tough to know where to begin. Who do I hire? How do I know they’ll do the job right? How much should I pay?
At a certain point, we find that we’ve built a machine that’s running our lives…not the other way around. We’ve created a monster! If we stop, the entire operation will grind to a halt. We started this to be able to control our lives…but how are we supposed to take a vacation when we have clients to respond to and 10 deadlines to hit? I thought I started this to have more free time…so how is it possible I have LESS free time than ever before?
We’re trading time for money, which is fine to start, but what’s the endgame? How do you grow when there are only 24 hours in a day?
Do we get more clients? (How? We’re already swamped with our clients right now)
Do we charge more? (Sure, but there’s a limit to how much you can charge…right?)
Is there some secret strategy we don’t know about? How do the highest-level consultants do it?
The typical advice sounds logical — but when we try it, we realize there’s something missing.
For example, we’re told to “prioritize.” OK. What does that mean? How do we do it, specifically? How do we say no to clients who’ve stuck with us for years?
I used to take this advice. I’d try tactic after tactic, none of them working, and I’d blame myself: Maybe I’m doing it wrong. Maybe I’m not trying hard enough.
I want to share the worst business mistakes I made as a consultant so you can avoid them. See if you recognize these.
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