Investing in ex-corporates who want to build high-impact, profitable consulting businesses.
A few years ago, I made a rookie mistake. I spent months developing a new service offering. Poured in countless hours and lost significant income. And the result? A grand total of zero clients. The problem wasn’t the offering itself - it was the decision to invest in it in the first place. This mistake is a classic example of what I call the abstraction trap. Consultants are problem solvers. We thrive on tackling challenges, often seeking out complex and abstract ones. But here’s the trap: we end up focusing on what’s intellectually stimulating, not what actually moves the needle. It’s like the streetlight effect - searching for your keys under the streetlight because that’s where the light is, even though you dropped them in the dark. I’ve seen this with countless founders. A friend spent months creating a shiny new methodology for his service. He loved the process but ignored the "boring" parts - business development, maintaining a healthy pipeline, and listening to clients. If he had, he’d have realized his clients didn’t care about his new methodology. They had operational issues that needed solving, not an innovative framework. The lesson? Don’t chase shiny problems at the expense of what’s important. Ask yourself: - How does this get us closer to our goals? - How will I know if this is working? If you can’t answer those questions, it’s time to rethink your priorities. Focus on the work that truly drives outcomes for your consulting practice.
