“How’s work?” my friend asked me over dinner a few weeks ago.

You know how you 'know' what your friends do for work, but you don’t actually know what they do every day?

“Good,” I said, then I described a bit about my coaching, the Intensive I take people through, the excitement of the ‘a-ha moments’ that come when a client discovers what really lights them up and sees the path to building a consulting business around it.

My friend, a 10-year veteran at a giant tech company who would tell you they’re moderately disillusioned with the current state of their career, was intrigued but quickly said, “Yeah, I couldn’t do that.”

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Me: “Why?”

Friend: “I wouldn’t know what to sell.”

Me: “You’ve been involved in 3 high-profile projects at [Company] - surely, you have a point of view and process you can apply other places.”

Friend: “Yeah, but I’d need a team to do what I do.”

Me: [Explains diagnostics and advisory retainers]

Friend: “Oh, I could do that! Other teams ask me all the time to advise them on how to set up [xyz]. It’s actually pretty fun.”

I smile. Then…

Friend: “Yeah, but my NDA blocks me.”

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At this point our dinner arrived and I dropped it. Perhaps we’ll revisit it another time.

But it highlighted to me the gates that spring up when confronted with a new paradigm:

• I couldn’t do that
• I wouldn’t know what to sell
• I’d need a team
• My NDA blocks me
• …

…these can go on all day. And I’d submit that they’re mostly rooted in fear of the unknown.

Building a solo business out of your expertise is no walk in the park, but re-examining what’s truly a blocker vs. a fear is Step 0 on the path.

💡

-Wes