đź’ˇ The Lightbulb
A daily email about monetizing your corporate expertise. Give me ~1 minute a day, and I'll help you turn what you know into your most differentiated and lucrative asset.
đź’ˇ A "Get out of LinkedInfluencing free" card
I heard a familiar chorus during a few consults this week. Some variety of: “I want to get my name out there, but I don’t want to go the LinkedIn route.” It’s something I’ve grown accustomed to hearing on the first call… …almost like walking in on your first day with a personal trainer and saying: “I want to get fit, but I don’t want to get on the treadmill.” Luckily, you don’t have to get on the LinkedIn treadmill. But you’ll quickly find you need to get your thought leadership cardio...
đź’ˇ Offer a common language
When I first started helping people package their corporate expertise into consulting services, I noticed some recurring muddiness in new consultants’ minds: I like the variety of my inbound leads — do I really need to specialize? I don’t have a set service that I sell, but maybe I don’t need one? These map to two distinct questions: Should I be a generalist or a specialist? Should I sell productized or customized services? In my own research, it was easy to find plenty of resources for each...
đź’ˇ Explain like I'm 5
What’s the question you get asked the most about your domain? These days, it’s probably something about AI. But maybe more timelessly, what is the fundamental concept that seems to be misunderstood in that first conversation with a prospect? I’m working through the NicheFinder sprint this week with an expert in SaaS Customer Success teams. In her domain, the misunderstood fundamental concept is: What’s the difference between Customer Success, Customer Support, and Sales? This type of question...
đź’ˇ Enabling a client's breakthrough
Yesterday I explored the see-saw between insights and agility. Big companies have lots of data to base decisions on, but can be slow to act. Soloists can shift gears quickly, but have to do so on limited evidence. If you serve small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs), they sit somewhere in the middle. They may have some growing corporate heft to carry around, but are mostly nimble. They may have started to develop a knowledge base around their business, but it takes time. That’s where you come...
đź’ˇ Confidence vs. agility
When I was a product manager at Expedia, we had a pretty robust test-and-learn infrastructure. We could A/B-test subtle copy and UX changes throughout the shopping path to see the impact on user engagement and purchase behavior. Even better, we had the luxury of having so much user traffic that in a matter of days, we could achieve statistical significance about the amount of annual revenue one of those tweaks would generate. Anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of dollars to the...
đź’ˇ Just another [xyz] consultant...
Still feel like you’re getting lost in a crowded field? Check out this snapshot of the types of consultants in my LinkedIn inbounds over just the past two days, and tell me what you see: Fractional COO for mission-driven orgs Brand marketing leader Healthcare ethics & compliance consultant Fractional GTM for B2B SaaS startups Brand identity specialist Cybersecurity consultant for women-owned businesses Operations consultant Fractional Shopify ops & strategy consultant Marketing consultant for...
đź’ˇ Your horde of competitors is imaginary
You’ve heard the horror stories about the current job market. You might have experienced the brunt of it. A job posting goes live, just to receive 5,000 applicants in a few hours before it hits capacity and closes. Even if a lot of that is driven by bots, that's the reality out there, and it might even be what pushed you onto the solo path. In that context, it truly is dog-eat-dog. You’re competing for attention against thousands of other very similarly credentialed people. You gussy up your...
đź’ˇ Niche first. IP second.
If you didn’t get a chance to tune-in live, the talk I gave this morning on building “Your Intellectual Headshot” is now on-demand (you'll still need to register for the free conference to access it). I’d been meaning to put this talk together for a while. A 40-minute slot provided space for a more in-depth and comprehensive POV of why I think translating your expertise into visual intellectual assets is so important for us soloists. Spoiler: it improves the efficiency of how we communicate...
đź’ˇ A headshot of your expertise
Free webinar tomorrow (Wed. Feb 26) An actor has a headshot and an audition. A designer has a portfolio. An athlete has stats and “tape” These professions are built around the uniqueness of the individual and thus have developed a standard method of instantly communicating what someone could bring to a film, project or team. As a solo consultant selling your expertise, the market hasn’t quite evolved to such a standard. Instead, we go around talking about our experiences. Where we’ve worked....
đź’ˇ You've gotta talk to strangers
Securing consulting clients from your warm network is great. In fact, that’s most likely where you’ll find your first client or two. Someone you used to work with. Or maybe went to school with. They find out you’re out on your own, and an engagement comes together. (Yes, it’s a bit more complicated than that, but not much.) From there, you might start to get referrals, which are also great. “Wow, I’m building a name for myself, and I’ve done zero outbound.” It happens. And it’s awesome. But...
A daily email about monetizing your corporate expertise. Give me ~1 minute a day, and I'll help you turn what you know into your most differentiated and lucrative asset.