Managing And Leading A Boutique Consultancy

Speed & Execution

Here's a powerful mindset for consultants on 2023.

Boutique Practices And Businesses

How your set of values lead to different structure and management choices.

What Shapes Your Delivery Process

Maister's search for the ideal business model.

Don't Hold Back

In most of the cases, your fear of sharing IP is unfounded.

Learning To Remove

Take the via negativa.

Improving Your NPS

Here are the main ways to create promoters and minimize detractors.

The Delivery Number

Scoring less than 7 out of 10 means your future is in danger.

Bad Profits

A book review of "Islands of Profit in a Sea of Red Ink".

Thinking Mobile First

People are impatient when using their phones.

Fear As A Compass

Don't get fooled by your brain.

Standing On The Front Line

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Do You Know Your Numbers?

The fastest way to increase clarity.

The Biggest Advisory Secret

It's a trust-intensive business.

Client Concentration Targets

What's the % that your largest client represents in your yearly revenue?

The Law Of Triviality

The danger of wasting time and energy with details.

One Hundred Thousand

The first thing every new consulting business should aim for.

You Get No Points For Trying

Finish what you start.

Economics And Your Practice

Take your cost structure seriously.

Better Questions

They lead to better answers.

Chekhov's Gun

Helping your clients make sense of their story.

Making Better Decisions

Don't mix decision and implementation.

Working On Your Top Goal

If all you do is put down fires and complete urgent tasks, you're slowing the business down.

Your Biggest Challenge

Here are three real stories to illustrate it.

Pessimism Is Self-Fulfilling

The biggest question here is not "should I worry?", but "how should I worry?"

Bringing Ideas To Clients

It's your job to curate them.

3 Questions To Diagnose Your Time Use

From the great Peter Drucker.

Reviewing Your Publishing Game

Take some time to assess it.

Fit To Client

Productized consulting offerings do not give you permission to neglect your client's needs.

Intellectual Property Assets

Consultants, are you documenting your ideas?

Word Of The Day: Sitzfleisch

Every consultant needs to learn how to develop it.

How Are You Practicing?

Every consultant should learn like an athlete.

An Administrative Detail

Being effective has nothing to do with the size of your staff.

A Tool, Not A Crutch

How do you look at your consulting business?

When Measuring Performance Goes Wrong

“What gets measured gets managed” doesn't work.

Stacking The Deck In Your Favor

Working harder is never your only alternative to succeed.

Communicate Better Using Numbers

Adjectives and adverbs are a bad habit.

Know Thy Time

Start with your time, not your tasks.

Don't Become A Courier Consultant

Don't fall into this trap.

Consultants & Best Practices

A love story, or a complicated relationship?

Making Conversations Better

It's a big part of every consultant's work.

On Being Helpful

A reminder for consulting partners who want to sell more.

How Would I Run Your Consulting Business?

A question to give you some distance and perspective.

When A Diagnosis Creates Problems

Don't let the process strains the consultant-client relationship.

Not In A Bubble

How is consulting affected by economic downturns?

Your Only Boss

Ignore this if you want to go out of business.

Working On The Right Problems

Just because a question was posed, it doesn't mean that's the right question to answer.

Design Before Doing

You don't need to do that much.

Bigger Isn't Better

Growing too big, too fast, is not the way.

How Would You Advise Yourself?

A journaling prompt question to add to your list.

How To Ask For Introductions

Two techniques every consultant can adopt.

New Roles Consultants Play

It's not that clearly defined anymore.

Paying The Taxes Of Life

There's no free lunch.

Who’s Your Piano Tuner?

You can (and should) hire specialized business development support.

Making The Network Work

What you look for is not what you typically get.

The Problem Of Standards

You get no benefit by preaching anything. You get the benefit of that which you actually do.

Don't Make It Tougher

Those who deliver consulting engagements can become an obstacle.

Defining Success

Clarify your desired outcomes to avoid trouble.

Factually True, But Nonsense

Beware of obvious, logical conclusions.

Do Less Than What You Hoped

Big change starts with small steps.

Is It Unsustainable?

A relevant reflection for consultants, as the market environment shifts.

Building Momentum

Past performance increases confidence more than ability.

Listening To The Market

To better serve your clients, you need to understand their world better then themselves.

Boring But Important

Both consultants and clients should check their biases.

Thinking For Yourself

Does it really matter in consulting?

Finding The Third Side

What to do when conversations turn into personal fights.

Prioritizing When You're Stuck

Normalize having a bias towards action.

Fear-Setting For Consultants

Easy has a cost.

Tracking Progress

Helping your clients distinguish signal from noise.

Focus Over Optionality

Why consultants shouldn't brainstorm ideas during their weekly review process.

A Weekly Planning Process For Consulting Partners

You can't drive growth or master business development without this.

Weekly Journaling For Consultants

It's not enough to review your KPIs - you need space to reflect on them.

Auditing Your Time And Tasks

That's how every review process should start.

A Tried And Tested Weekly Review Process For Consultants

Here's what high-performing partners and founders do.

Are You Too Available To Clients?

Don't devalue your time and services.

Doing More, And Doing It Right

What consultants need to overcome to succeed with business development.

You Are A Salesperson

If you're leading your consulting practice, there is no other alternative.

Are You Working With Clients, Or Against Them?

Your expertise is not enough to calm your clients' fears.

The World's Worst Consultant

When our self-confidence drops, we become our worst judges.

Knowledge Vs Execution

Are you lecturing your clients on how to behave?

The Ability To Say No

Growth comes with new challenges and temptations.

Own The Outcomes That You Sold

Radical accountability will make you a better consultant.

Becoming A More Resourceful Consultant

You need belief and imagination.

On Being Resourceful

The importance of solving difficult problems.

Spend Less Time On Emails

Time management suggestions for consultants that live in their inboxes.

What To Do When You're Stuck

Getting started is harder than to keep going.

You And Your Expectations

Are they getting in your way?

Looking For Uncommon Commonalities

They can take your relationships to a different level.

Growth And Fear

Why so few consultants really pursue growth?

How Will You Know?

Think outcomes, not activities.

Get Things Out Of Your Head

Creating an effective plan starts with clear thinking.

Dealing With Email Auto-Replies

A simple tip for the next time you receive OOO messages.

Where's The Money Going?

Taking risks for your opinions breeds respect.

What Did You Expect?

Sometimes things work the way they are supposed to.

The Relationship Game

Designing a game where you always win.

The 50/50 Rule For Consultants

Delivering results is not enough.

Scheduling Meetings With Yourself

Better not miss those - this is the most profitable client you have.

The Never Ending Project

There's no deadline for this work.

Asking Your Clients For Advice

A tactic to strengthen existing relationship.

Reader Question on "Proactively Managing Relationships"

Is there a rule that help us prioritize?

Distinguishing Relationships From Opportunities

Here's why you should clearly separate the two.