There was a period building our engineering and built environment consultancy to $30M where I was completely consumed by it. 

Every win felt enormous. 

Every setback felt catastrophic. 

Every bad day at work followed me through the front door. 

I thought that level of investment meant I cared. 

That it made me a better business owner. 

That it was just part of being serious about what I was building. 

My wife saw it differently. 

One night she said something I wasn't ready to hear. 

She told me that living with me had become exhausting. 

That my mood was dictated by whatever had happened that day in the business. 

That the kids were walking on eggshells when I came home. 

That she never knew which version of me was going to walk through the door. 

It stopped me cold. 

Because I hadn't even realised I was doing it. 

I thought I was showing up for my family. 

I was there physically. 

But emotionally? The business had all of me. 

And here's ...

As we were building our engineering & built environment consultancy from $3M to $30M, we were obsessed with winning work. 

Every new contract felt like progress. 

Every new client felt like a win. 

Every yes felt like momentum. 

But underneath the revenue growth, something wasn't adding up. 

A handful of clients were consuming a wildly disproportionate amount of our time. 

They changed scope constantly — but pushed back on every variation. 

They paid late. Every single time. 

And every interaction left the team drained. 

But we kept saying yes to them. 

Because the revenue looked good on paper. 

The truth we had to face was this: 

Not all revenue is equal. 

Some clients pay your invoices. Others cost you far more — in time, in energy, and in the toll it takes on your people. 

So we did something we'd never done before. 

We scored every major client. Not just by revenue — but by margin, by relationship, and by whether they were the kind of wo...

Most consultancy owners I work with have experienced this at some point. 

Revenue is growing. The team is expanding. Things are moving fast. 

And then…  

Everything plateaus. 

Growth slows. Forward movement stalls.  

And suddenly you start asking yourself — what's wrong with the business? 

Here's the truth: 

Nothing is wrong. 

Growth plateaus are not a problem. In fact, they're often one of the most important phases in building a strong consultancy. 

In this week's podcast episode, I unpack why business growth rarely happens in a straight line — and why the plateau phase is actually where the real foundations of a great business get built. 

Inside this episode we cover: 

• Why strong consultancies grow in cycles, not straight lines. 

• Why plateau phases are where systems, structure and team capability get built. 

• How to stop reacting emotionally to slowed growth and use the period strategically. 

• The difference between chasing r...

For a long time, I believed that figuring it out on my own was just part of the journey. 

That asking for help meant I wasn't capable… or even worse — a failure. 

That needing support was something to be embarrassed about. 

That the best leaders just... knew what to do. 

So I kept it all in. 

Every worry. 

Every doubt. 

Every problem I couldn't solve. 

And for a while, I told myself that's just what it takes to build something successful. 

But the truth? 

I was exhausted. 

Overwhelmed. 

Running on empty. 

And the people closest to me were getting the worst of it. 

I wasn't showing up the way I wanted to at home. 

I was short-tempered. 

Distracted. 

Not the husband or father I wanted to be. 

The business looked fine from the outside. 

But inside, I was drowning. 

I finally admitted I needed help — to myself and to those closest to me. 

And it was one of the most important decisions I ever made. 

I got a business coach. 

Most engineering and built environment consultancy owners build their business by saying yes. 

Yes to every client. 

Yes to every project. 

Yes to every opportunity that comes through the door. 

And it works — until it doesn’t. 

Because at a certain point, saying yes to everything means saying no to the things that actually matter. 

The consultancy owners who are stuck right now aren't stuck because they're not working hard enough. 

They're stuck because they're saying yes to the wrong things. 

Yes to the client who grinds on price and drains the team. 

Yes to the project that only works if the owner is in the middle of it. 

Yes to staying involved in delivery instead of leading the business. 

Yes to doing tasks that someone else should own. 

And no — by default — to the things that would actually move the needle. 

The shift happens when you flip it. 

Yes to clients who value your expertise and pay without hesitation. 

Yes to hiring people who ...

As we were building our engineering & built environment consultancy from $3M to $30M, we almost made a mistake that could have cost us everything. 

We were growing fast. 

Winning new work. 

Expanding the team. 

Things were looking really good. 

But bubbling under the surface was an issue that was about to undo our growth. 

Our best clients — the ones who had been with us for years — were starting to feel it. 

We became harder to reach. 

Response times slowed down. 

The quality of work started to slip. 

And as the team grew, the relationships they'd built with us personally started to fade. 

The worst part? We didn't even realise it. 

They weren't complaining to us. 

They were just quietly pulling back.  

Giving work to other consultants.  

Not renewing contracts.  

Stopped returning our calls. 

And we almost missed it entirely. 

The truth we had to face was this: 

Rapid growth, if you're not careful, doesn't just create opportunities....

Yesterday's "How to Thrive in a Slower Market" workshop was one of the most grounded, practical and strategic sessions I've run on how to position your consultancy to win in any market conditions. 

Engineering and built environment consultancy owners showed up ready to get ahead of the curve — and walked away with a clear picture of where the market is heading and a plan they can implement immediately. 

And the feedback's been great: 

"Walking away with a clear plan and ready to implement." 

"This completely changed how I'm thinking about the next 18 to 24 months for my business." 

"Great session Josh. Heaps of stuff I can action this week." 

A few people reached out saying they couldn't make it live — so I'm making the full replay available until Friday. 

Grab the replay here to watch at your convenience >> Click Here 

You'll get access to everything included in the workshop: 

✔️ The proven strategies that work in the engineering and built environment indust...

 Next Tuesday I'm running an online workshop called "How to Thrive in a Slower Market." 

It's designed to give you a clear picture of where the market is heading over the next 18 to 24 months — and help you install the proven strategies to position your consultancy to capitalise and thrive in any market conditions. 

If you're watching the market headlines and wondering what it means for your consultancy… 

If you're starting to notice clients taking longer to make decisions or fewer projects available to bid on… 

Or you want to make sure your business is positioned to win — whatever the next 18 to 24 months looks like… 

This is your chance to get ahead of it. 

I'll walk you through exactly how to: 

— Identify where the real opportunities are over the next 18 to 24 months and how to get in front of them early 

— Know which sectors will keep growing regardless of the broader economy, and make sure you're in the right place at the right time to capitalise 

— Get ...

Most consultancy owners I work with are actually pretty good at making money. 

But a surprising number of them are sitting on large cash balances in their business bank account — and doing nothing with it. 

No real plan. No deliberate deployment. Just a growing number that feels safe. 

Here's the problem: money that isn't working isn't helping you grow. 

In this week's podcast episode, I unpack why hoarding cash inside your consultancy can quietly become one of the biggest bottlenecks to your next phase of growth — and what to do instead. 

Inside this episode we cover: 

• Why a business bank account is not an investment strategy. 

• How delaying hires and not building systems keeps you trapped in the day-to-day. 

• The real cost of not investing in operational support. 

• How to shift your relationship with money — from protection mode to deployment mode. 

• How to put capital to work, whether inside the business or building wealth outside of it. 

Being inconsistent with lead generation and business development is currently killing your consultancies growth potential. 

Here's how things currently go: 

1. You win some work. You get busy delivering. 
2. You completely forget about BD and focus on delivering the project. 
3. You finish the project and look at your forward pipeline. 
4. You have an "oh shit" moment and completely freak out. 
5. You rush to win more work. You get busy delivering again. 

And the vicious cycle starts all over again. 

This is what most consultancy owners are doing right now. 

But I want something different for you. 

It's time to break that cycle and install a proper lead generation system into your business. 

One that generates consistent leads every single week. 

One that keeps your pipeline growing. 

One that has you feeling genuinely confident about the future of your consultancy. 

Next Tuesday, I'm running a 90-minute online workshop to show you exactly how to do tha...