"I don't want to build anything big"

That was the answer from an indie consultant who I was speaking with recently.

"Why not? What does a small firm look like for you?" I asked.

"I don't want all the pressure and stress from running a large firm. Having employees, dealing with all the admin, and needing to fill the pipeline to make payroll."

I hear this all the time from indie consultants and owners of micro boutique firms (1 - 3 people). I even remember hearing this from the founder of the first agency I ever worked for when she had 6 employees (I was employee number 5 at the time).

The concern is familiar: bigger means more stress, more people to manage, and more problems to solve. I built a 7-figure agency with 9 full-time employees and a number of external contractors. And I got burnt out.

There’s some truth to the "more money more problems" argument. But it’s a partial truth, and one that often leads consultants to make decisions that quietly trap them.

Lie: Small Means Simplicity and Freedom

Many independent consultants I speak with believe that scaling requires headcount - either headcount to do the delivery work or headcount to offload the admin and operations. That assumption leads many to stay small in the name of simplicity, because they believe that simplicity gives them more freedom. But that simplicity comes with hidden costs:

• Not being able to take time off without losing income.
• Living project to project, relying on referrals to fill the pipeline.
• Constant downward pressure on pricing due to increased competition
• Limited capacity which creates client concentration risk

They are avoiding the stress and discomfort of growth by clinging to the stress and discomfort of staying small.

Lie: Big Means Losing Control

If you've been in the business long enough, you will inevitably have heard the horror stories of bloated overhead causing declining margins, or partners and boards ousting founders due to disagreements about business direction.

But these are actually exceptions to the rule, rather than the rule. Yes, these things do happen, and it is possible to let the business get away from you. But these things can all be prevented by being pusposeful in your growth and decision making.

Staying small feels safer - it feels within your control. But that's mostly an illusion.

Leverage Creates Freedom and Diversification Creates Safety

The truth is that you can build a larger firm in terms of revenue, impact and time freedom without building a big team. In fact, I know many solo or two-person firms generating $1M–$5M in annual revenue. What do these firms do differently?

They build leverage into their business by creating and deploying intellectual property (frameworks and methodologies). This allows them to increase prices and explore different delivery models outside of traditional consulting.

If all you have is your raw expertise, the knowledge you have in your head from years of work in the trenches, then the only thing you can do is offer to use that expertise on your clients behalf in a consulting capacity. You are trading time for dollars. Sure if you have a very unique expertise and have a solid reputation in the industry, you can charge higher prices. But at the end of the day, you are still directly selling your time, and that has a fairly low capacity. And the only way to scale that model is by adding headcount.

On the other hand, if you extract, synthesize and package up your expertise into unique IP, you can look to leverage that expertise in a variety of delivery models (consulting, workshops, events, communities, masterminds, speaking engagements, books, etc.).

Consulting will generally always be your highest revenue engagement, but it will also take the most time. While things like workshops and masterminds allow you to leverage your expertise in a 1:many, productized fashion requiring much less time.

This leverage creates freedom. Freedom to charge more. Freedom to work less. Freedom eventually successfully exit your business at a higher valuation, because the IP itself has value, as do the more scalable delivery models.

The diversification of delivery models also creates safety, because while you might go through a dry spell of consulting engagements, but your workshops and masterminds are still humming on all cylinders.

Focus on Building IP

Effective IP isn't just coming up with proprietary names and visuals for already existing concepts. It's a codified way of helping your ideal clients understand and solve their most important problems. Great IP addresses three critical questions:

• WHY does this problem exist, and how should I think about it?
• WHAT can I do about it, and what are the viable paths forward?
• HOW do I get from where I am to where I want to be?

When you build IP that clearly answers these questions, everything changes. Not only does it create leverage in your business, but it also decreases the perceived risk for your ideal clients.

And once you have your IP, you need to ensure that it permeates everything your firm does, so that there are no perception gaps.

Growth doesn’t require more bodies.
It requires more clarity, more leverage, and more courage to lead with your IP.

The stress isn’t in growing. It’s in staying stuck.

You can: stay lean, stay known, stay profitable, stay in control.

P.S. If this resonated, and you're ready to stop trading time for money, let's talk. Hit reply or book a call. I'd love to hear about the IP you're building (or want to build).

This is part of the ongoing series "The Lies We Tell Ourselves." Previous editions include:

• Our Work Speaks for Itself. We Don’t Need Marketing
• Hiring for Pedigree Will Fuel Growth
• We Have No Competition