been running my company for 23 years now and have friends that also have.
1) staying general works, but niching down works even better. My most successful friends found an up and coming technology partner and rode that wave.
2) most of my business year to year is grown in existing customers. Very little comes from new customers (90/10).
3) marketing/selling becomes much easier if you have a technology partner that is exploding like a rocket (e.g. chat gpt consulting?). Otherwise marketing/selling is mainly about producing content that drives leads. Presenting at conferences is probably one of the best ways we have driven business. But no one method drove enough business.
4) there is an inflection point around 4-7 people and at 30-40 people. at 4-7 you need to manage but the people arent quite generating enough money for you to not work on projects. It can be very hard to get past this point. At 30-40 you now need a layer of management and you have to develop them.
I really like the following sources that apply to consulting
1) so you want to be a consultant (whitepaper)
2) naked consulting
3) managing a professional services firm
Also really like 5 dysfunctions of a team. It isnt specifically geared towards consulting, but it is important as you get employees.
1) staying general works, but niching down works even better. My most successful friends found an up and coming technology partner and rode that wave.
2) most of my business year to year is grown in existing customers. Very little comes from new customers (90/10).
3) marketing/selling becomes much easier if you have a technology partner that is exploding like a rocket (e.g. chat gpt consulting?). Otherwise marketing/selling is mainly about producing content that drives leads. Presenting at conferences is probably one of the best ways we have driven business. But no one method drove enough business.
4) there is an inflection point around 4-7 people and at 30-40 people. at 4-7 you need to manage but the people arent quite generating enough money for you to not work on projects. It can be very hard to get past this point. At 30-40 you now need a layer of management and you have to develop them.
I really like the following sources that apply to consulting 1) so you want to be a consultant (whitepaper) 2) naked consulting 3) managing a professional services firm
Also really like 5 dysfunctions of a team. It isnt specifically geared towards consulting, but it is important as you get employees.