Business is a game of many hats. 

Sales, marketing, winning work, delivery, leadership, people management, finance, strategy etc. 

It can be all consuming at times.  

And sometimes along the way of doing “all the things”. 

You forget about you.  

What you like, what you enjoy, what you’re really good at.  

Today we’re exploring commandment #8 for consultancy business owners. 

Thou shalt build a business around your strengths. 

At a basic and simplistic level - when you do what you enjoy and what you’re good at. 

Your energy, your output, the quality of your work and your enthusiasm - increases.  

And being honest with you - people WANT to be around someone like this.  

Both clients and team.  

And when you’re not doing those things. 

You get flat, tired, run down,...

Most want more time back in their days to focus on and do the important work that will lead to growth. 

Time and not having enough of it is one of the biggest reasons I get told by business owners that they can’t focus on growth or bigger picture strategies right now.  

Or why they just need to wait 6 to 12 months for this busy period to be over & things are quieter, then they’ll have more time to focus.  

But honestly, it’s not about waiting until you have more time - because that will never come.  

If you’re doing your job right as a business owner - you will always be busy and there will always be things to sort out, fix or make better.  

(Until you hit Stage 3 of our business stages roadmap - Lifestyle Business Owner - more on that in another post). 

So it’s not about waiting for more time - it’s about creating more time.  

Waiting...

Building a high performing business can be tough at the best of times. 

But it can be even harder if you don’t have the right people around you. 

Let’s dive in and explore Commandment #5 for Consultancy Business Owners. 

Once you get to a certain size in business, your growth to that next level is all about you growing ‘through’ your team - not you doing everything yourself. 

It becomes all about the ‘who’ not the ‘how’. 

And your journey to building the business that you want - is about surrounding yourself with Eagles (high performers) not ducks (low performers). 

Eagles are autonomous and hard working.  

They take pride in everything that they do.  

They’re always looking to improve, to learn new things and to grow - because they’re focused just as much as building their own personal brand and reputation as they are...

“Your fees are too expensive”. 

“If you just shave off $XX from your proposal, then you’ll be competitive and I can give you the work”. 

Ever hear or get told that ? 

Today we're talking about the 4th Commandment for Consultancy Business Owners. 

Getting asked to cut your fees to ‘be competitive’ and to ‘bring the project back into budget’ is like a rite of passage in our industry. 

Certain clients seem to do this all the time - regardless of your relationship with them. 

And I think that sometimes they even try it on just to see if they can get things done a bit cheaper. 

Charging what you’re worth starts with you.  

Clients are never going to ask to pay you more. 

It’s up to you to set the bar and set the standard for what you get paid and how much you charge.  

Now obviously what you...

This is a big one. 

The 3rd Commandment For Consultancy Business Owners. 

When you first start out - you’re taking work from anyone who will give it to you.  

You’re building a brand, a reputation and a business - and revenue is critically important. 

So you play the game, do the dance and try and work with anyone and everyone in order to build momentum. 

And you know what - I have no issue with this when you’re starting out.  

It works - until it doesn’t. 

But for some reason, as you grow, you continue to hold onto lower value clients who don’t serve or support your future or where you’re wanting to take the business. 

You worry what they will think or what will happen if you let go of a client who has been with you for many, many years - but no longer fits into your vision for your business. 

It’s important to realise that,...

Today we’re exploring Commandment #2 of The 10 Commandments For Consultancy Business Owners. 

I personally can’t stand the hustle and grind culture.  

It breaks my heart seeing so many business owners feeling like they need to sacrifice every other part of their life in order to focus on building their business. 

There’s a saying I saw recently “Sacrifice everything for a year, so that you never need to sacrifice anything ever again”. 

What an awful message.  

Because what if it takes longer than a year? (And it likely will). 

To build a successful business that runs without you and your constant input. 

That generates great revenue and profit. 

And sets you and your family up for financial freedom and financial success. 

It’s a marathon - not a sprint.  

I’d much rather you slow things down, focus on...

Today I’m running a training for our Boardroom members. 

On how to run highly effective shareholders meetings with their internal shareholders. 

Plus, showing them how to prepare and issue proper shareholders reports. 

Now, as your business grows. 

And you turn your attention to succession planning. 

You’ll likely consider bringing on next generation shareholders into your business. 

So they can eventually take over the running of your business. 

And you can extract the true value of your hard earned work building your company. 

By selling down to your ownership to your next gen shareholders over time. 

Now the process of selecting your shareholders and preparing your shareholders deed, we’ve covered in past posts. 

Plus we cover this extensively in Boardroom. 

Today I want to walk you through the agenda for highly effective...

This week in Boardroom we’ve been talking a lot about business metrics. 

And the importance of knowing your data. 

Why? 

Because data helps you make decisions.  

And helps you fix things before they truly break. 

A lot of business owners are fire fighting. 

Moving from one spot fire to another. 

Never really feeling like you’re getting ahead.  

Treading water. Working on a bunch of ‘things’. 

But inevitably having to then jump in and put out the next fire.  

Tracking your business data and your metrics fixes 90% of this.  

Honestly. 

If you’re tracking the right metrics in your business each week and each month. 

(Different metrics weekly vs monthly). 

Then you’re getting ahead of the issues. 

You’re being proactive in the management of your...

This week we’re talking about profit.  

Profit is the lifeblood of any business.  

Without it - things can get pretty hard.  

But with it - things start to get pretty exciting.  

A well run, profitable business creates freedom & choice.  

Choice to reinvest money back into the business for growth. 

Choice to pay yourself a nice dividend and book that family holiday.  

Choice to hire and grow.  

Choice to give a top performing team member a raise. 

Choice to spend more time with those you love. 

Choice to live a truly free and abundant lifestyle. 

I’m sure you get me. 

But most business owners choose to focus on revenue growth over profit.  

Why? Because revenue growth is fun and exciting.  

Jagging another big client. Winning a new proposal. Getting a repeat...

Hiring the wrong person into your business can be devastating 

If they're the wrong fit - both culturally & professionally 

With mis-aligned values and personality type, and not up to scratch technically 

They can quickly erode the culture and the performance of your team 

That you've worked so hard to build 

Which is why I've created this training - How to Hire High Performers 

A simple, step by step process to follow - to hire high performers into your business 

Every time 

Including the scripts, the processes and templates to follow 

And it’s yours - for free 

Download here >> Click Here

In this training you'll find a complete process for: 

Getting clear on the ideal profile for the role 

How to write a high converting advert (including examples) 

Full process & scripts to...