Tips for Growing an Independent Practice

Most soloprenurs/fractionals/independent consultants/freelancers hit the same wall… they’re stuck doing EVERYTHING. They’re selling, delivering, managing clients, handling ops.. while also trying to “scale.” The problem? If you’re the business, you don’t own a business. You own a job. I recently spoke with a marketing leader who’s building an agency and grappling with this exact challenge. “How do you transition from selling yourself to selling a scalable business?” Here’s what I shared which is based on hard knocks from my first go as an entrepreneur from 2009-2015. 1. Stop selling yourself. Sell your team. Many solopreneurs struggle to step back because clients/customers expect them. If every deal requires you to be the selling point, you’ll never escape the cycle. The shift? Position your approach, methodology, and process as the differentiator, not you as a person. Start introducing team members early in the sales process so clients build trust beyond just you. Gradually reduce your direct involvement in projects while still providing oversight. 2. Hire for impact, not affordability. Many founders make their first hires based on cost, bringing on junior ppl to “help out.” But this creates more work. You spend more time training, reviewing, and fixing than if you’d just done it yourself. Hire senior-level talent that can take full ownership of work without needing constant hand-holding. Think of new hires as force multipliers, not just “help.” They should free you up, not create more work. Pay for A-players. The cost of an expert is lower than the cost of your own time. 3. Shift from selling time to selling value. A business that scales isn’t built on selling your time. It’s built on selling outcomes. Package services as fixed-fee solutions tied to results, not billable hours. Charge based on impact, not effort. Clients care about solving problems, not how many hours you work. Build an operating model where the team does the work and you focus on strategy, relationships, and growth. 4. Accept that scaling requires risk. Hire people before you feel “ready.” Bringing on overhead when you don’t have months of locked-in revenue feels risky. But waiting until you’re drowning before you hire is worse. Think of it like a runway game. If you have 3-4 months of cash, your job is to extend that runway through sales, not to wait until it runs out. Take calculated risks. Hiring too late is just as dangerous as hiring too early. Accept that there’s never a “perfect” time to scale. If you wait for certainty, you’ll stay stuck. 5. Define your endgame. Do you want to build a business that runs without you, or do you want to keep trading time for money? If it’s the first, you have to start making decisions now that remove you as the bottleneck. Scaling isn’t about just getting more clients. It’s about building a system that delivers value without requiring all of your time. Onward & upward! 🤘

Tips to grow your consulting business? Here's how I've achieved double-digit growth for 4 straight years. 1. Be prompt Answer emails quick Solve problems quicker Admit you're out of your lane quickest 2. Be professional If you say it; make sure it happens. People will smell BS quickly if it's all talk & no action. Hold secrets & IP tightly. No one hires a gossiping consultant. 3. Talk upstream & downstream & horizontally Some of my best clients have come from folks above / below in marketing. Some would view them as competition. I never have. Other referrals have come from logical segues in business cycle. For example, CPG brand wants to GTM > hires a co-manufacturing consultant > then will need a brand. Co man consultant refers us. Pay these ppl for these intros 4. Be a real person Sounds stupid, but easier said than done. Ask clients about themselves Get to know them Show them some of yourself. LinkedIn is a great tool for this. I also put several diff items on my Zoom screen to generate convo. 5. Solve problems that you aren't paid to. If you're a savvy business consultant; you'll be able to help solve for things outside your zone of genius. For example; many clients ask about payment providers for their hemp brand. I have built a network of folks who can solve this problem. I make intros all the time. Saves clients time. Makes me look smart. Sometimes I also benefit from a rev share; sometimes I don't. I don't refer based on best rev share. I focus on best fit. The rev share is just gravy. Keep solving problems for them & they'll keep bringing you new ones. TL;DR: 1. Be prompt 2. Be professional 3. Network around your clients 4. Be a real person 5. Solve problems you aren't paid to.

3 things you need to scale your consulting biz from someone who made plenty of mistakes when they first started consulting (me): Grit: -Show up when it's brutally hard -When the odds are stacked against you, outwork everyone Pain tolerance: -Things will go off the f-ing rails from time to time -You’ll be stressed -Stay calm in moments of chaos Stubbornness -Refuse to quit, but stay flexible enough to adapt -Listen to your business -Client feedback is your lifeblood, use it For example, I still travel and audit manufacturers/brands all the time Those audits are 10-12 hours/day When I return to my hotel, I have 4-6 hours of work to catch up on Do I have to do that? No Will I continue to do that? Yes Why? It keeps everything moving forward and calms my mind Every week, I get messages from new consultants asking for advice and this is what I share most often And one more thing: Nothing matters more than your ability to deliver value to your clients Without clients, you're not a consultant You're just a teacher without students