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, demotivated and your energy decreases. 

Not good.  

Now your business needs you to lead, to inspire and to motivate. 

Your business needs your energy and your mo...

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 for another 6 to 12 months before you focus on bigger picture strategy - just means you’re 6 to 12 months behind where you c...

I was chatting with Steven recently and he’s just let me know… 

“I’m pretty stoked, my revenue increased over 300% for the year”. 

and 

“I’m expecting my revenue to double for the new year”. 

How good is that! 

From being reactive and having no time → capitalising on key opportunities and growing the business. 

When I met Steven he: 

→ Didn’t have the time to think about the longer term future of the business. 

→ Was working with not so great clients. 

→ Had been stuck in the same business position for the past three years. 

So we got to work. 

Together we worked on: 

Raising his prices and increasing his fees. 

Focusing on better clients with bigger fees. 

Building the team to support him growing. 

And now...  

He’s celebrating a 3X in revenue from this time last year. 

And is looking forward to a great year ahead. 

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

So if yo...

As the business owner, your role is to always be looking forward to that next phase of growth. 

And what the company needs to do, be and look like in order to achieve this growth.  

But often you get caught out, when you haven’t thought at all about the future and what the next phase looks like. 

That’s when growth stalls or stops.  

That’s when stagnation starts to creep in.  

Being purely focused on the here and now. 

Doing, delivering & putting out fires.  

Immediate action with short term results - but no focus on the bigger picture.  

This is what often leads to you waking up one day and realising that you haven’t built your business in a way that actually serves you.  

That you haven’t actually created your business in the way that YOU want. 

But it doesn’t have to be like this. 

In fact, with some simple tweaks and a small amount of time each week focused on the right areas - your business could look (and feel) very different. 

But...

Would you like December and January to be some of your best months? 

Would you like to go into the Christmas break knowing you’ve finished the year strongly. 

And you’ve got the work secured to start 2025 with momentum? 

I ran a training for our Boardroom members yesterday called “Clients Over Christmas”. 

Where we unpacked the 5 x strategies to generate revenue quickly.  

And go into Christmas with a confident pipeline of work.  

Would you like a copy of the video recording and workbook? 

Send me an email at [email protected] with the word “Christmas” and I’ll send it over.  

Would love to help you generate more revenue over the Christmas period. 

To your success. 

Josh 

PS: If you’re interested, here are 4 ways I can help you right now: 

1.  Subscribe to our podcast | Looking to grow your consultancy? Our weekly podcast is packed with the latest tips, tricks and strategies. Learn how to run a more efficient business and scale succ...

One of the big challenges I see (and the big opportunity for you and your business) is that too much time is spent on increasing revenue…. 

….and way too little focus is spent on making the business more profitable. 

Commandment #7 for consultancy business owners is “Thou Shalt Focus On Profit”. 

And I get it.  

Generating revenue is the fun bit. 

For some - it comes quite easily and naturally. 

It’s the thrill of chasing and securing new work. 

Of bringing new clients into the business.  

The sense of achievement and growth. 

But the profit piece… 

…it’s less sexy. 

It’s about systems. Processes. Standard operating procedures. 

Checklists. Internal training. Reviewing when things go wrong and how to get it right for next time.  

It’s the less fun stuff that no one wants to do or make much time for.  

But profit is the lifeblood of your business. 

I once had a business partner tell me “If we’re not making decent profit, what a...

Business is one of the best personal development programs on the planet. 

You’re constantly brought face to face with your own shortcomings, as things either go wrong or don’t play out as expected. 

And the question every single time is… 

Do I rise up to meet these challenges and step outside of my comfort zone? 

Or do I stay where I am? 

Spoiler alert - staying where you are doesn’t result in you building the business or the life that you want. 

So if you’re choosing to rise. 

Choosing to get outside of your comfort zone. 

Choosing for things to get hard as you grow and get better. 

The question then is… 

…who do I need to become? 

…what skills do I need to develop? 

…what do I need to do to get better? 

And only you can answer this. 

Based on where you are now, your shortcomings and the skills that you still need to develop in order to build the business and life that you want. 

Everything you have ever wanted in life is on ...

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. 

Together we worked on: 

Refining their recruitment process and hiring 2 x gun staff members. 

Securing amazing admin support. 

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

And now...  

"We’re on tra...

We’re halfway there! 

Over the past few weeks we’ve been exploring the 10 Commandments for Consultancy Business Owners. 

It’s what I believe to be true about how to run a successful consultancy. 

A business that’s fun to run, returns great profit and gives you the life and the lifestyle you truly want.  

Today we’re exploring Commandment #6. 

Thou shalt be a Specialist, not a Generalist. 

When you’re chasing work and trying to increase revenue - it can be really easy to fall into the trap of trying to be all things to all people. 

But as you pursue work from anyone in any area - you fall into the deadly trap of becoming a generalist. 

You may feel like you’re making the right business decision - being able to do all types of work for all types of clients.  

But honestly, it’s a really slippery slope towards lower revenue, poorer profit margins, working with clients who don’t actually value you and - burn out. 

Why? Because playing in the generali...

In order for your business to grow - you need to hire great people or develop them from within. 

Train them to take over a part of what you’re doing right now and then elevate yourself to that next level. 

And you then repeat this process over and over. 

I tell my clients all the time - the roles and the tasks that you’re doing in the business in 6 months’ time should be very different (and higher value) from what you’re doing now. 

You need to be constantly focusing on upleveling your role and what you do in the business so that you, your team and your business are always growing. 

But this process of upleveling can be hard and uncomfortable.  

And humans in general don’t like hard and uncomfortable. 

So you sometimes fall into the trap of unconsciously sabotaging business growth by staying where you are.  

Not growing.  

Getting involved in things you know you shouldn’t.  

Doing the same tasks and roles in the business month after month, year a...