I keep having the same conversation with consultants lately. Different industries, different experience levels, same story: "My network's not giving me deals anymore." These aren't struggling consultants. These are people who built successful practices over ten, fifteen, twenty years on referrals and relationships. The phone stopped ringing. The introductions dried up. And most of them don't understand why. In this episode, I'm breaking down what's actually happening in the market right now, why the conditions that made network-dependent consulting work have permanently changed, and what the consultants who are still growing have figured out that everyone else hasn't.
Show Notes
In our conversations with consultants this quarter, we've noticed something troubling: the majority are adopting what we call the "waiting posture"—hoping their network reactivates, hoping the market rebounds, hoping things return to normal. Here's the problem: while they wait, a smaller group of consultants who faced the exact same disruptions are actively pivoting, testing new offers, and building new relationships. The gap between these two camps isn't closing—it's compounding. In this episode, we break down the two distinct mindsets we're seeing as consultants head into 2026, why waiting is a losing strategy even when it feels safe, and what the consultants who will emerge stronger are doing differently right now.
Show Notes:
I can tell within five minutes of talking to a consultant whether they're building a business or just renting a job. If you've landed a few good clients and found yourself billing the same people month after month—becoming "indispensable" to their operation—you're not winning. You're getting trapped. I've watched this play out hundreds of times: the value decay curve kicks in around month nine, the "we need to hit pause" email arrives, and suddenly you're scrambling with one case study and zero pipeline. In this episode, I'm breaking down why the embedded model destroys your positioning, your expertise development, and your pricing power—and what the consultants who actually scale to seven figures do instead.
Show Notes:
You know the conversation. The prospect nods along, says your approach is "very interesting," mentions they'd love to do something like this "one day"—then nothing happens. I've watched this play out hundreds of times with consultants who can't figure out why their pipeline is full of maybes. The problem isn't your expertise or your market. It's that you've positioned yourself as a nice-to-have instead of a must-have. In this episode, I'm breaking down the three bridges that move your offer from "interesting" to "necessary"—because interesting gets considered, but necessary gets bought.
Show Notes:
You're waiting for referrals that never come—checking your inbox, hoping a past client remembers you exist. Meanwhile, there's a massive network of people in your orbit who would happily refer you tomorrow, except they can't explain what you do. I've watched this pattern play out across hundreds of consulting businesses: consultants sitting on untapped referral potential while chasing the same 8-10 past clients who might think of them. In this episode, I'm breaking down why your referral strategy is fundamentally limited and showing you how to build referral infrastructure that compounds—turning acquaintances, former colleagues, and content followers into active referral sources who understand exactly who you help and what problems you solve.
Show Notes:
A consultant filled out my workshop intake form last week and wrote something that caught my attention: "I want to land clients without reaching out to hundreds of people hoping for one yes. I cannot do that kind of marketing." That single sentence captures the exhaustion I see across my client base. The LinkedIn gurus are telling consultants to send a thousand messages and wait for the 1-2% response rate, but nobody's talking about what that approach actually costs you. When prospective clients see generic, mass-produced outreach, they're drawing conclusions about how you operate—and those conclusions aren't helping you. In this episode, I'm walking through why volume-based outreach backfires (based on patterns I've observed across hundreds of consulting businesses), what actually works better, and how positioning lets you reach 40 people instead of 1,000 while landing better clients.
Show Notes:
I keep having the same conversation with consultants: "My network is feeding me deals, so I'll fix my positioning when things slow down." It sounds perfectly rational—why fix what isn't broken? But here's what I've learned from working with over 1,000 consulting businesses: the consultants who wait until they feel crisis pressure to build positioning and pipeline face a fundamentally harder challenge than those who do it proactively. You're not just building skills—you're trying to rethink your entire market approach while worrying about next month's mortgage, while your confidence is shattered, while your runway shrinks. In this episode, I'm breaking down the five legitimate reasons you might not need to worry about positioning right now, the hidden vulnerabilities each one creates, and why the consultants who scale to 7 figures consistently build these capabilities before they need them—not after they become desperate.
Show Notes:
I can tell within our first conversation which consultants are operating with a mental model that will keep them stuck. If you've built your practice through referrals and now feel uncomfortable "selling," you're carrying beliefs about sales that will cap your growth far below your potential. After working inside 1,000+ B2B consulting businesses, I've identified the exact pattern that separates consultants who scale past $500K from those who stay trapped in referral-dependency. In this episode, I'm breaking down the four-pillar ethical selling framework that the top performers use—the ones who don't struggle with sales because they've reframed it as professional responsibility, not self-promotion. This isn't about tactics or scripts. It's about rewiring how you think about the entire sales process so closing deals feels like doing your clients a favor, not imposing on them.
SHOW NOTES
You just wrapped what felt like a perfect sales call—great chemistry, all questions answered, prospect seemed ready to move forward. Then they say "we'll discuss internally and get back to you," and suddenly you're second-guessing everything. Here's what most consultants don't realize: your deal isn't won or lost during your presentation. It's decided in the room you're NOT invited to—when the buying committee sits down without you and asks three specific questions about whether to hire you. Miss addressing these questions during your conversation, and you're gambling on hope. But when you understand exactly what they're discussing after you leave, you can structure your entire sales process to make those questions easy to answer. I'm breaking down the three questions that determine every consulting deal, and more importantly, how to address them before you ever leave the room.Show Notes- Discover the three questions every buying committee asks after you leave—and why most consultants never address them during the actual sales conversation- Learn why "booking a meeting" and "getting budget approved" are completely different decisions (and the urgency gap that kills deals in the committee room)- Understand why clients want to feel "common" not "unique" when hiring consultants, and how this psychology shapes their decision-making process- Explore the assumption of prior attempts: why every prospect has already tried to solve their problem internally (and what that means for how you position your approach)- Uncover the critical difference between Consultant A who says "I can solve your problem" and Consultant B who explains "here's why you haven't solved it yet"- Master the specific questions top consultants ask during discovery to surface real urgency and consequences—without manufactured pressure tactics- Get the exact positioning strategy that pre-answers the buying committee's questions before they even gather to discuss your proposal
Starting a consulting business feels like you need everything perfect before you begin—the website, the positioning, the delivery system, the tech stack. So you spend months "getting ready to get ready" while your bank account stays at zero. The real problem? You're doing everything except the one thing that actually matters: talking to prospective clients. I've worked with consultants at every stage, and I've never met one who got their first clients by perfecting their website or running ads to strangers. Every successful consultant started the exact same way—and in this episode, I'll walk you through the exact sequence I'd follow if I had to start from scratch today. No theory, just the proven path that actually works.
Show Notes:
I'm going to tell you something controversial: the most successful consultants I work with aren't the smartest ones. They're not the most credentialed, most experienced, or most technically brilliant. Yet they're the ones building thriving seven-figure practices while their more qualified peers struggle to hit six figures. The difference? They have an extreme bias toward action while everyone else is trapped in analysis paralysis, waiting for perfect conditions that never arrive. Every day you delay publishing that post, making that call, or testing that offer is another day your less-qualified competitor is building the business you want. In this episode, I reveal the exact traits that separate action-takers from over-thinkers, why your intelligence might actually be sabotaging your success, and the specific practices you can implement today to break free from the planning trap and start building real momentum.
Show Notes:
Most consultants struggle to win clients because they focus on showcasing their expertise rather than understanding what prospects actually need. The real breakthrough in positioning comes from identifying unmet needs—specific problems buyers desperately want solved but can't find solutions for in the current market. In this episode, Ahmad Munawar and Ana Laskey explain how to conduct customer research that uncovers these positioning goldmines, differentiate from competitors, and build offers that command premium prices while requiring less work.
Show Notes:
Cold outreach fails for most consultants because they skip steps. In this episode, Ahmed and Karie break down the 100-year-old AIDA model—Attention, Interest, Desire, Action—and show how to apply it directly to consulting sales. Learn how to grab attention, spark genuine curiosity, build desire, and finally get prospects to take action—without sounding desperate.
I used to think that working harder and being smarter was enough to scale my consulting business – but I was dead wrong. After watching countless brilliant consultants hit the same revenue ceiling around $500K-$1M, I discovered the brutal truth: most consulting businesses will never scale to the level their founders dream of, and it has nothing to do with intelligence or effort. The real problem? We're trying to scale chaos – doing different work for different clients with no clear focus, making it nearly impossible to hire talent or attract new clients beyond our warm network. But here's the solution that's helping consultants break through to $2M+ revenue: scale requires simplification, and growth means removing things before you add them.
Show Notes:
I discovered something shocking after 12 years of coaching consultants - we're facing the most brutal economic environment for independent consultants that I've ever witnessed. Even seasoned pros with 30 years under their belt are telling me they've never seen anything this challenging. The perfect storm has hit: your warm network has frozen budgets, there's a massive influx of desperate consultants flooding the market, and AI is eating away at the bottom tier. While most consultants are drowning, a select few are absolutely thriving and growing faster than ever. The difference? They've cracked the code on selling to strangers instead of relying on their cozy network of friends who used to throw them work.
Show Notes:
- Why a 30-year consulting veteran said this is the most challenging economic environment he's ever faced - and what happened to his $200K+ anchor client overnight
- The "network of 20" trap that's killing consultant businesses (and how expanding to 300+ connections changes everything)
- How AI and mass layoffs created a perfect storm that's flooding the market with desperate consultants
- The truth about why your warm network can't save you anymore - even when they love your work
- Why the consultants who are thriving right now have one thing in common: they've mastered selling to complete strangers
- The new "burden of proof" reality - why prospects assume you're just another generic consultant until you prove otherwise
- Real example: How one well-positioned consultant got a client to say "pricing is just a side note" in September 2025
- The stark choice every consultant faces: master cold market sales or polish up your resume
I've been exactly where you are right now - staring at two divergent paths, paralyzed by the decision between building a consulting practice and taking the "safe" job route. The problem is brutal: you're hemorrhaging cash, questioning every move, and that voice in your head keeps whispering "just take whatever job comes first." But here's what's eating you alive - you're hedging your bets, giving half-hearted effort to both paths, and excelling at neither. The truth nobody wants to tell you? In today's job market, that "stable" employment isn't the safety net you think it is, and while you're chasing corporate security, you're missing the fastest path to real financial freedom and control over your destiny.Show Notes:
I almost made a huge mistake last week that could have killed my consulting business before it even got off the ground. I was so in love with a specific market – one that felt perfectly aligned with my passion and identity – that I was willing to ignore every red flag screaming at me that it wasn't ready yet. The problem? When you're emotionally invested in making something work, you become dangerously good at rationalizing why obvious warning signs don't matter. You'll emphasize every tiny positive signal while minimizing the glaring negatives, all because you want it to work so badly. But here's what I learned from my mentor that changed everything: sometimes the market you love most is the one that will bankrupt you fastest. In this episode, I'll share the counterintuitive advice that saved my business and show you how to pursue your passion market without letting bias destroy your judgment.
Show Notes:
I've been watching consultants panic as seasoned C-suite executives flood the market, convinced they can't compete with decades of boardroom experience. But here's the truth: you're playing the wrong game entirely. While you're busy comparing resumes like you're applying for a corporate job, these "superior" competitors are making a fatal mistake that's about to hand you every deal on a silver platter. In this episode, I reveal why the best product rarely wins in any market, and exactly how to position yourself so that all that executive experience becomes completely irrelevant to your prospects.
Show Notes:
I used to guard my expertise like Fort Knox – terrified that sharing my best ideas would make me worthless and let competitors steal my secret sauce. But here's the truth: while I was playing it safe and staying invisible, my prospects were already 57% through their buying journey before they'd even consider talking to me. They were desperately searching for the very insights I was hoarding, and when they couldn't find me, they found someone else who wasn't afraid to show up. I discovered that in today's AI-saturated world where ideas are literally free, the real money isn't in gatekeeping information – it's in being the expert who can actually apply those ideas in context, and the only way prospects will trust you with that expensive work is if you first prove your value through generous, strategic sharing.
Show Notes:
I used to think my age was holding me back from charging premium consulting fees – until I discovered the real truth about what drives pricing in our industry. If you're tired of being commoditized, shopped against dozens of other consultants, and forced to compete on price alone, you're focusing on the wrong factors entirely. The problem isn't your age, technical skills, or the "competitive market" – it's that you don't understand the four mechanical drivers that actually determine what clients will pay. Once I learned these principles, everything changed: I stopped being a wandering generality and became a meaningful specific, moved from implementation to strategy, and transformed from a commodity into the obvious choice for high-value problems.
Show Notes: