It’s a new year, and if you’re serious about growing your consultancy, there are 10 unbreakable rules you really need to know. 

I just ran a special edition podcast series breaking down The 10 Commandments of Successful Consultancy Business Owners—covering the mindset, strategy, and habits of top-performing consultancy owners. 

Here’s a glimpse at some of the key takeaways: 

- Simple scales, complex fails – Simplify in order to grow sustainably. 

- Ditch the hustle & grind – Strategies to work smarter, not harder.  

- Only A-grade clients – Focus on top-tier clients to unlock profit. 

- Charge your worth – Better clients, improved margins, and freeing up time. 

If you missed the series or want a refresh to kick off the year strong, check out the full series here >> ...

Most business owners get into business because they want more freedom and flexibility. 

They want to be the master of their own destinies, call the shots, take time off whenever they want and enjoy the fruits of their labour. 

But when you first start your business - it often demands more time of you than a day job. 

And you end up sacrificing the very things and the very reasons why you started your business in the first place. 

Now as your business grows and you hire more people, I see business owners carry the same mentality through with them from when they first started out, which is… 

“I have to do everything” 

“Everything needs to come through me” 

“I need to know where everything is up to” 

This may have served you when you first started (because you did have to do everything). 

But it certainly won’t serve you now as you...

I bet you’re running your business for a bunch of reasons. 

More money - you want a bigger slice of the pie and to set yourself (and your loved ones) up for financial success. 

More freedom - you want to design your work around the life you want to live, and not the other way around… 

More meaning - you want to make more of an impact doing the work you’re passionate about. 

But here’s the deal, there are 5 things they didn’t tell you about running your business. 

1) It’s hard. Like really hard.  

Things will go wrong. Clients will leave. Staff will leave. Team won’t follow processes. Rework will be required. You’ll need to do big hours. The things you thought you would be able to get someone else to do, often boomerang back to you, etc.  

2) You’ll second guess yourself. 

If you think of yourself as self-confident - business will quickly...

A large part of what we do for our clients is expand their thinking. 

To show them what’s possible for their lives and their business outside of their current viewpoint or thought structure. 

To push them a little to help them see and uncover what they really want in life. 

Most of the time, you start your own business for one or all of these reasons - money, meaning and freedom. 

You'd like to make more money than you could working for someone else. 

And if you dig deep enough, you would like to create intergenerational wealth and really set yourself and your family up for financial freedom & success. 

You'd like to have a greater impact on the lives of those around you. 

Deliver exceptional projects for your clients and help the community and the public who benefit from these projects. 

You'd like to build a great team where everyone is motivated and inspired to do great work...

Are you stuck in the never-ending cycle of being the technician in your business?  

Are you wearing all the hats & handling every aspect of your business - from winning the work to delivering the work, to admin, HR, marketing, operations etc? 

Sometimes it can feel like a hamster wheel. 

In order for your business to grow, you need to make the time to step out of the technician business owner mindset and into the entrepreneurial business owner mindset. 

You need to focus on controlling the resources, not being the resource. 

Regardless of whether you're a single person business owner or running a $10 million per year consultancy, the goal is the same. 

Shift your thinking from the technician business owner to the entrepreneurial conductor. 

You want to be the one shaping the vision, guiding your team, and orchestrating the path to success, not stuck in the daily grind. 

Now, I...

I used to be amazing at delaying, procrastinating, justifying and not taking action on the big things that I logically knew would move my business forward. 

But once I got serious about our businesses growth and focusing on the 'big rocks'...well, everything changed.  

As I look back on 2024, it’s incredible to think that we’ve now helped 100+ business owners: 

 - Grow their revenue. 

 - Shape their business plans and their goals for their businesses future. 

 - Gain the confidence they need to take their business to that next level. 

 - As well as meet and make friends with a whole bunch of other incredible business owners along the way. 

We've also helped our members get serious about the growth of their businesses and focus on their 'big rocks'. 

And the results... 

The average increase in revenue for our Boardroom members was 46% in 2023 and 67% in 2024! 

...

Here we are! The start of a new year. 

I hope you had an incredible break and are excited about the year ahead and its opportunities for you and your business.  

Our office is back open and myself and the Ignite team are energised about another exciting year ahead.  

Have you ever wondered why this is the only time of the year that most are actually setting goals, thinking about the changes they’d like to make and what they want their future to look like? 

For some - it’s because it’s a new year, new me, this year will be different etc etc... 

But for most - it’s because you’ve actually had a decent holiday and you’ve actually allowed yourself to relax and think about something else apart from the looming deadlines every week and the pressure of having to deliver all the time.  

There’s a reason why your best ideas come to you when you’re in...

I wanted to reach out and say a huge thank you for an incredible year! 

Thank you for being part of our community and your ongoing support this year.  

It's been an amazing year - full of opportunities to learn, grow & develop as both an individual and a business owner. 

I'm really looking forward to the opportunities that lie ahead for you and your business in the new year. 

We'll be taking our annual break over Christmas and the New Year. 

The office will be closed from Saturday 21st December (Sydney) through to Monday 6th January 2025, when we're back on deck all rested up, recharged, and ready to hit the ground running. 

Have an amazing Christmas break. Make sure you relax, have fun, connect properly and deeply with your family and loved ones and take time out for yourself. 

As a special thank you - I've included a link to a workbook below we created for our Boardroom members for you to...

The results are in!! 

At the end of each year - we look at the results of our individual members.  

As well as Boardroom as a whole. 

And this year we smashed our records from 2023! 

For 2024, the total additional revenue added into our Boardroom members businesses was $6,813,441! 

Our Boardroom membership ROI was 13.5 x times their membership.  

And the average revenue increase per member was 67%!! 

I'm blown away by these results and I couldn't be prouder of our members this year.  

They've put the effort in and the results speak for themselves.  

This year we've also celebrated a bunch of business wins and milestones with our Boardroom members. 

For example: 

 - Armin, John, James & Haydn added $1.13M in revenue since January and grew by 77% over the year.  

 - Amanda & John grew from $1.2M to $2M in 10...

We’re here!! 

Commandment #10 for consultancy business owners.  

And this commandment is arguably the most important.  

Making sure you’re building a business that you actually want to build. 

And not a business based on what others want.  

Now as you grow, it’s natural to look around you.  

At what other business owners are doing and how they’re doing it.  

And it’s natural to look at them and tell yourself “that looks great how they’re running XYZ - I’m going to copy that”. 

But the 2 x big mistakes I often see with this approach is: 

 1) It isn’t right for you and how you want to run your business at all. 

Or 

 2) It’s not the right timing for where your business is at.  

People often blindly copy what others are doing or implement...