On the surface, your consultancy looks strong. 

Revenue is growing. The pipeline is full. Projects are being delivered. 

But when you check the numbers… the profit isn’t there. 

That’s the Profit Illusion. 

Because here’s the truth: revenue ≠ success. 

Here’s why: 

— Costs Rise Faster Than Fees — 

Every new hire, lease, and subscription eats into your margin. 

Without tight control, you end up scaling overhead, not profit. 

— Delivery Leaks Go Unnoticed — 

Projects look “fine” on the surface, but budgets blow out quietly. 

Scope creeps. Hours get written off. Margins vanish. 

— The Founder Focuses on Top Line — 

Revenue feels exciting. But it hides the cracks. 

Most consultancies don’t realise how bad it is until cash flow crunch hits. 

— No One Owns the Numbers — 

If project managers aren’t accountable for profit, no one protects it. 

And the leaks keep compounding. 

The truth is simple: 

Revenue i...

Here’s a hard truth: most consultancies don’t lose profit because of bad clients or poor delivery. 

They lose it quietly… at the end of every project. 

The final invoice goes out. The team bolts straight into the next job. And that’s it. 

No pause. 

No reflection. 

No lessons captured. 

And what happens next? 

The same mistakes get repeated. 

Hours keep leaking out of budgets. 

Margins quietly erode. 

And before you know it, you’re delivering more projects than ever… but the business is running harder just to stand still. 

That’s the problem. A leaky bucket business. 

And in this podcast episode, I’ll walk you through the exact 20–30 minute project closeout process we install with Boardroom clients to stop profit leaks for good. 

Here’s how it works: 

Trigger: When a project hits 90% complete or the final invoice is raised, a closeout meeting is scheduled automatically. No excuses, no forgetting. 

Agenda: Four key par...

Most consultancies think they’re “fine” without systems. 

The team knows what to do. Work gets delivered. Clients aren’t complaining. 

But under the surface, the cracks are showing. 

Margins are tight. Projects run long. And the founder is still stuck in the weeds. 

Here’s why not having systems is killing your business: 

— Delivery Becomes Inconsistent — 

Without SOPs, every project is a one-off. 

Quality depends on who’s doing the work, not the system behind it. 

— Training Takes Forever — 

New hires take months to ramp up. They shadow, guess, and ask endless questions.  

Knowledge stays in heads, not in systems. 

— Mistakes Repeat — 

Without documentation, errors happen again and again.  

Small slip-ups become expensive rework. 

— Growth Stalls — 

You can’t scale chaos.  

If you’re still the “last line of defence,” the business can’t grow beyond your bandwidth. 

The truth is simple. 

Firms that scale...

Let’s cut to the chase.  

If you’re an engineer, planner, surveyor or architect running a consultancy, here’s the hard truth: 

Your technical skillset will only get you so far. 

You can report, design, calculate, and solve problems brilliantly. 

But those skills max you out around $40K/month - roughly $500K a year. 

Beyond that? You hit the ceiling. Burnout sets in. Growth stalls. 

Why? 

Because running a $2M, $5M, or $10M consultancy requires a different operating system. 

In this week’s podcast episode, I unpack the 3 distinct stages of growth we’ve mapped inside Boardroom: 

- Technician Business Owner - you do the work, and cap out fast. 

- Conductor Business Owner - you lead the business, your team delivers. 

- Lifestyle Business Owner - the company runs without you, profitably. 

To make these leaps, you must master new skills: 

- Strategic thinking: seeing market shifts before they hit. 

- Winning work: consistently att...

Your revenue looks fine. Projects are getting delivered. Clients aren’t complaining. 

But when you check the numbers, the profit’s gone. 

It’s not pricing. It’s not pipeline. 

It’s your team performance. 

And if you don’t have the right systems in place - it’s silently killing your profit. 

Here’s why: 

— Hours Leak Without Boundaries — 

A team without clear rules will happily burn through project budgets. 

Not out of malice - but because no one set the bumpers. 

— Delivery Gets Inefficient — 

Every job feels like starting from scratch. 

No SOPs. No repeatable processes. 

Time gets wasted reinventing the wheel. 

— Accountability Disappears — 

When no one owns the numbers, no one protects them. 

Tasks drift. Margins shrink. 

— The Founder Becomes the Bottleneck — 

Without systems, every decision flows back to you. 

Which means growth stalls - and stress rises. 

The truth is simple: 

A poor-perfor...

I’m getting a small group of engineering & built environment consultancy owners together on Zoom later on today to look at “Team Strategy Days That Actually Work.” 

So they can align their team, create clarity, and run strategy days that actually drive momentum. 

Last chance.  

Tickets are just $100. Would you like to join us? 

Details & register >> Click Here 

Josh 

Tomorrow we’re running the “Team Strategy Days That Actually Work” online workshop - and if you’ve been on the fence, here’s why now’s the time to jump in. 

Here’s what happens when consultancy owners get their team strategy days right: 

- Drew got complete buy-in from his team and tripled his profit margins in 90 days
 

- Raj built a team that delivers without him and grew his business by 246%
 

- Mandy, Alex & David nailed their internal culture and won an $850K tender 

Take a glance at tomorrow’s calendar. 

Now back to me. 

Now back to your calendar. 

Now back to me. 

Tomorrow, you could be stuck in ‘business as usual’ tasks and not moving things forward… 

...or, you could be learning how to run a powerful team strategy session that: 

- Aligns your people 

- Clarifies direction 

- And builds real business momentum 

Let’s build it together. 

The Team Strategy Days That Actually Work Workshop 

Tuesday 12 August 

11:45am – 1:15pm AEST 

$1...

Your office might have a ping-pong table. 

You might put pizza on every Friday afternoon.  

Heck, your team might even like each other. 

But if your team strategy days have no structure? 

None of that matters. 

Because here’s the truth: 

Culture perks won’t fix confusion. 

If your strategy days don’t clarify direction, drive alignment, and spark ownership… 

You’re just serving up carbs and chaos. 

Let’s fix that. 

Next Tuesday, I’m running an online workshop: 

Team Strategy Days That Actually Work 

How to Align Your Team, Build Buy-In & Drive Results 

- Tuesday 12 August 

- 11:45am–1:15pm AEST 

- $100 to join 

- Capped at 10 spots 

Register now >> Click Here 

This is a hands-on, no-BS session for consultancy owners who want to run a strategy day that actually delivers outcomes - not just awkward small talk and lukewarm Domino’s. 

No vague visioning. 

No endless whiteboard circles. 

No “team-building” games that ...

When we grew our consultancy from $3M to $30M, we thought we had it all figured out. 

Revenue was climbing. Projects were bigger. The team was growing fast. 

But underneath the surface, something wasn’t clicking. 

We’d run strategy days. Bring the team together. Talk about the big picture. 

But nothing really changed. 

There was no structure. No buy-in. No follow-through. 

And without that? 

- The team left more confused than clear 

- Decisions weren’t made (or stuck) 

- And we wasted time, money, and momentum 

Sound familiar? 

The truth is, most consultancy owners are stuck here. 

They want alignment, clarity, and momentum from their team… 

But their strategy days fall flat - or worse, stall progress altogether. 

That’s the problem. 

And next week, I’ll show you how to fix it. 

I’m running a 90-minute workshop called: 

Team Strategy Days That Actually Work 

How to Align Your Team, Build Buy-In & Drive Results 

- Tue...

Next week I’m running an online workshop called “Team Strategy Days That Actually Work”. 

It’s designed to help you align your team, make clear strategic decisions, and walk away with real momentum - not just another whiteboard full of ideas. 

If your last strategy day lacked direction… fizzled out… or failed to turn talk into action… 

Or you want to learn how to run highly effective team strategy days… 

This is your chance to fix it. 

I’ll walk you through the exact structure we use with consulting teams like yours - and show you how to run a session that actually moves the business forward. 

Tuesday 12 August - 11:45am AEST 

It’s just $100 | 90 minutes | Online on Zoom 

Register now >> Click Here 

Let’s fix your team strategy day - and build alignment that sticks. 

To your success, 

Josh