Lessons From the Field

Some of ours to kick off:

1. Zero to One - Peter Thiel

2. S.P.I.N Selling - Neil Rackham

3. Becoming Steve Jobs - Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli

The cool thing about working an in-house job…

Is that someone else is doing your marketing for you.

Usually, high-achiever types, who are investing their paychecks in something stable on the side… driving the fast cars… and living the high-performance lifestyle.

And their consistent energy prospecting, qualifying, calling, selling, following up and closings…

Hundreds of leads, per day, per person…

Is what affords almost all other non-revenue producing positions their ability to do what they do. Not that what they do isn’t important, but just that without that stable revenue, it just simply isn’t affordable.

LinkedIn has over 15,000 full-time employees… and 6,500 are in sales.

What does that tell you?

What exists at a larger level, must also exist on a smaller level. And in larger organizations, these truths are just most obvious.

All this to say that, in business: marketing is not optional.

Especially not when you’re on...

Being an independent freelance consultant, or professional service provider means you have to be good at self-promotion.

Self-promotion is simply not optional in today’s digital age.

But here’s the thing about self-promotion:

There is an inverse correlation between looking good and being good.

The people who are the noisiest about what they do, often aren’t the ones who are the best at what they do.

Because the people who are actually good, are always focusing on how to get better.

They’re asking themselves, “How can I be better? How can what I do be better? How is this not already perfect?”

While the people who are good at self-promotion are saying to themselves...

“I am already perfect. This is already perfect. I need to make sure everyone who needs to know about it, knows about it.”

And as a result, the people who are doing the best work… often get the least clients.

This is because, you can’t promote yourself and...

One of the biggest challenges most consultants face is being able to think clearly in the midst of adversity.

The nature of what we do is solving problems.

Constantly, solving problems.

Which is chaos.

And when we are paid to enter chaos and adversity voluntarily, it becomes extraordinarily difficult to keep a clear and objective mind about ourselves and what we do.

To be clear and objective about the things that matter most, like:

- Is this the most efficient use of my time?
- Should I be focusing on this now, or later?
- If I put this off, will it get easier later do this, or harder?
- Is this actually good for me?
- Am I getting better at the tings I want to be getting better at, or am I just coasting from opportunity to opportunity?
- Is how I feel about this, an accurate reflection of whether this is a good idea, or not?

These are just a few of the hard questions we face.

And in truth, the answers are too far out of reach, when you’re on your own in a chaotic environment.

This...

Ever heard the saying, "the best defense is a good offense"?

Well, in the world of the consulting it is reversed.

In consulting, the best offense is a good defense.

What do we mean by this?

Well, consulting is actually a risky business.

You need to execute a defensive strategy that lets you assert yourself, command the fees you deserve, and generally not get pushed around.

Why?

Two main reasons:

1. Client side risk (Demand side)

If you only have a few clients, or worse still, ONE major client... then the loss of that client is going to severely impact your income if that client leaves.

No matter how good you are as a consultant, you simply cannot control all the external variables and influences that may cause this to happen.

So if you're in a position where the loss of a single client is going to materially affect your personal and professional well being, you are essentially working a job without the security of an employment contract. No bueno!

2. Keyperson Risk (Supply...

When growing your business, it’s easy to get caught in the trap of trying to add more. More processes, more systems, more leads, more sales, because more is more — right?

Actually yes, it can be seen that the most successful consultants are adding more value, more often, to more people.

But the important distinction, that separates the best from the rest…

Is that before they added more, the world’s top consultants ruthlessly eliminate everything unnecessary from their lives and businesses…

Until only the essential remains.

Then, and only then, are they able to truly grow without restrains.

After working with dozens of the world’s most exclusive consultants, entrepreneurs, authors and experts — we discovered a pattern that these were the most critical 15 things they gave up first.

In order to gain the momentum to carry them for the duration of their career —and reach the heights of personal and professional achievement. 

...

As you will learn in our  upcoming presentation, "The Truth About Consulting", any consultant can achieve a life of success and freedom.

One where you reliably attract qualified clients, have no limitations on the income you earn, scale without restraint, earn back your time and are unanimously respected by the clients you choose to work with.

Resulting in a life of ultimate lifestyle freedom.

Many consultants start out with this dream...

But not everyone makes it.

You see this reality is accessible to everyone, but not everyone takes advantage of it.

Why?

It comes down to...

Beliefs, values and attitudes.

You see, while these opportunities are available to everyone, most don’t know what is possible for them...

Why it’s possible (and what really makes it possible)...

Or what really separates those who make it, from those who don't. 

But to save you the time, if we really had to sum it up in one sentence... 

Fundamentally it comes...