Typically at around the $2M mark your effectiveness as the business owner starts to drop. 

You’ve got a few team leaders in place. 

You’re probably still leading or running a few projects. 

And you probably still have your fingers in every part of the business. 

But let’s face it, there’s only so much you can get done in a day. 

And if you keep going the way you’re going - something will break or fall apart. 

If you keep trying to be across everything - then you’re going to miss something critical. 

If you want to keep growing. 

And focus more on business strategy and less on the day to day. 

Then a smart next move would be to bring on a GM into your business. 

They could be someone you elevate from a technical role already in your business. 

They could be an external hire with specific GM experience. 

My personal experience from my consulting days - the best GM we ever had wasn’t from the industry at all. 

He had a business background, had run the operations of anot...

If I was doing it all again, here’s what I would do to build a $3M+ per year consultancy. 

Getting to $3M per year is one of the hardest first hurdles on your way to $10M+. 

There is usually a plateau in growth around $3M, as you’re typically trying to figure out how things need to run so that everything doesn’t rely on you. 

So here’s what I’d do if I was doing it all again: 

1) Start with one specific type of client who you know you can easily solve their problems. 

Be hyper specific here - think property developer doing land subdivisions or civil contractor building industrial sheds. 

2) Build a delivery method that allows you to deliver quality work to this one type of client every time. 

This means focusing on your delivery systems and getting them down pat. 

3) Deliver great work and get good quality repeat work from existing clients. 

4) Build a LinkedIn marketing system to generate leads and opportunities from this one type of client, winning new work off the ...

How we helped Morné achieve a 30% increase in revenue. 

From frustrated and not sure how to grow → building a business with a clear plan and is now looking to bring on more key people. 

Plus on track to 1.3X his revenue on last year. 

Which turned into... 

“Thanks for the personalised help…I owe you guys.” 

When I met Morné he: 

→ Was struggling to choose the right clients that would help him grow. 

→ Had no time to focus on high value tasks. 

→ Had no clear path forward to build the business he wanted. 

So we got to work. 

Together we worked on: 

Building a roadmap for the staged growth of the business.  

Hiring admin support to free up more of Morné’s time. 

Defining his ideal client and who he really wants to work with and pursuing work from these specific clients. 

And now...  

He’s on track to do a 30% increase in revenue compared to last year. 

We could not be prouder of the results Morné has achieved and he’s only getting warmed up. 

So if you’d like...

The fear of the unknowns and the ‘what if’s’ can often be the biggest hindrance to growth and goal achievement.   

We simply get stuck (or too comfortable) at the level we’re at right now - because we don’t have a roadmap to follow to get us to that next level.  

But it doesn’t need to be like this.   

Everything in life has a roadmap if you look hard enough.   

Career progression, getting fit, building wealth etc. 

There is always a formula, a recipe, to hitting your goals and getting to the next level. 

And building your business is no different.  

There is absolutely a roadmap, a staged business growth approach, to growing your business. 

And if followed, means that you can confidently move through the steps and the stages and continue to grow and uplevel your business… 

…without falling into the trap of the fear of the unknown. Which causes procrastination and losing time to indecision (or the wrong decision). 

It’s called the ‘Business Stages Roadmap’ and we ...

I recently caught up with John & Amanda who joined us in Boardroom in February this year.  

They’re incredibly energised because they’re clear, focused and on track to hit $1.7M in revenue. 

From overwhelmed and 1,000 things to focus on before starting with us, to achieving their first 90 day business game plan… 

…all in 30 days. 

That turned into... 

“I can't begin to tell you how happy we are that we signed up with you Josh. Hoping to secure our next 3 goals early with the direction and help you have given us.” 

When I first met John and Amanda they: 

→ Were bogged down in the technical day to day. 

→ Had no time to focus on high value tasks. 

→ Were needing to evolve the business. 

So we got to work. 

Over the next 30 days they: 

Refined their recruitment process and hired 2 x gun staff members. 

Secured amazing admin support. 

Got clear on the action required and executed against this plan. 

And now...  

"We’re on track to hit ...

On the weekend I cracked the big 4-0.  

I had an incredible weekend in the mountains and at the beach with my family.  

As I look back on the last 4 decades, here’s what I’ve learnt:  

1) The days are short and the years are even shorter. Make sure you do sh!t you love. Life and time is precious - spend it working towards your dreams (not someone else’s). 

2) Choose experiences over possessions.

At the end of the day, all of the ‘stuff’ you amass over a lifetime, pales in comparison to lived experiences and having fun with those you love.  

As Kim and I and the kids get older - we’re choosing to spend our money on travel and adventure. We want to focus on creating memories that will last a lifetime.  

3) Pay for speed. 

Life’s short. Fact. If someone has the skills to help me achieve my goals faster, I’ll happily invest my money with them to help me get there.  

If I can pay someone $30k or $60k to help me make $1M - then I will. If I can invest in someone to he...

If you want to build a sustainable business that can run without you and means you’re not chained to a desk - then you need a reliable and high performing team.  

But team can be both a blessing and a source of frustration. 

They’re great because you have people to help you, to run projects, to look after clients and to delegate to.  

But they can also be frustrating when they’re not performing, they miss things or their output drops. 

If I’m being honest, most technician, turned business owners aren’t great at leading, motivating or inspiring their team.  

It just wasn’t in the manual.  

But it’s an essential skill if you’re going to build a thriving business.  

Now what typically happens when a team member isn’t performing is that you go into helicopter parent or babysitter mode.  

Hovering around them like you don’t trust them (because you don’t) in order to make sure they get their work done and don’t make any more mistakes.  

This is the worst t...

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 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 put that to the test. You’ll be tested in more ways than one and you’ll find yourself overthinking simple problems because you don’t want to get it wrong. 

3...

Most want more time back in their days to focus 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 and fix (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 for another 6 to 12 months before you focus on bigger picture strategy - just means you’re 6 to 12 months behind where you could be if you created the t...

There’s a ton of consultancies out there doing incredible work, delivering amazing projects, getting great outcomes for their clients…

…but making stuff all profit.

What’s the point?

Why take all the risk running your own business, wear all the stress and have nothing to show for it after all the bills are paid?

Profit is the lifeblood of any business.

As a consulting business - you shouldn’t be settling for anything less than 30% net profit.

But how? 

Doing all the ‘things’ but can’t get your margins up?

If you want my advice (my guess is that if you’ve read this far, you probably do).

If you want to make more profit - focus on this one area of your business…

…focus on delivery.

There are only 2 ways to make more profit:

1 ) Get paid higher fees (I’ll cover this another time).

2 ) Deliver the projects well ahead of budget.

That’s it. 

But the funny thing is that refining project delivery, getting systems down pat & streamlining your processes seems to be ...