Don’t you just love those messages in your inbox that start “I’m so impressed by your work at [Company] and I’d love to connect to find ways to collaborate”? Or: I’m not opposed to advertising. I’m not opposed to getting … Read More
Blog – Masonry Sidebar
Ring, ring, your “ideal” client is calling
What do you feel? Excitement? Dread? So much of figuring out your Ideal client profile comes down to this question, because we have a natural tendency to want to broaden the circle to encompass as many people as possible. But … Read More
Cask-strength positioning for solo consultants
AI is all the rage (and what can I say, I find it very helpful), but for many consultants, AI is just making difficult work more streamlined, instead of transforming the nature of the work. What can transform your business** … Read More
Authenticity is the currency
A lot of folks in marketing overuse the term “authenticity”, like it’s some kind of commodity you can fake, and thereby increase sales. But authenticity is precious, which is why so many people are trying to fake it. This goes … Read More
Complexity is the enemy
When we’re deep into our field, we sometimes get so deep that clients and prospects have trouble understanding. Think of a doctor describing an operation to another doctor, rather than to the patient. This is the curse of expertise. But there’s another form of … Read More
Everyone updates the fine print, but what about your website headline?
Happy 2025. Many of you probably updated the copyright notice at the bottom of your website to include the current year. (Although I am not a lawyer of any kind, let alone a copyright lawyer, my understanding is that you … Read More
Small Year-end Solo Consulting Housekeeping Tips
Happy holidays! I hope you’re taking some time away from business to be with family, friends, nature, a good book, etc. But this is also a good time to make some adjustments while you may have a moment. Here are … Read More
Prep for 2025 and vow to do less
If you read and/or listen to a lot of business advice, the general idea is to do more. Not to say this is wrong (necessarily), but the main issue is that we don’t have enough time and/or focus to properly … Read More
What’s your secret?
What do you wish your audience knew that would unlock tremendous value for them? Peter Thiel delves into secrets and contrarianism is his book Zero to One. Thoughts on Peter Thiel and his influence aside, I think he’s onto something … Read More
Proposals don’t win deals, they lose them
“Sounds good, can you send me a proposal?” These words used to excite and terrify me. Then, I’d go off to write an amazing proposal to wow the prospect and win the business. So much stress, for so little success. … Read More