Mindshare community member, Jack, had a great question about how narrow to go with your niche when just starting out as a new consultant. Here's the gist of his question: I'm currently in-house at what would probably be classed as a B2B manufacturer. The plan is to step into strategy/advisory within the next 6 months. So with my current experience, I see it as an easy step to niche further into B2B - helping B2B manufacturers grow by transforming their marketing. However, the company I work for ...
Apr 22, 2022•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mindshare Pro used to be a premium upgrade to the free Mindshare Community membership. But in my opinion, that was a mistake . It should have been positioned as Group Coaching . And the templates/resources should be categorized separately as knowledge products. In this episode, I talk about categorizing your own products and services, how to break them down, why it matters, and also how to apply it to an industry like web design. Give this a listen and let me know if your products and services h...
Apr 21, 2022•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast On a long drive today, I re-listened to some of the book, The Passion Economy , by Adam Davidson. It spoke to me the first time I read it. It's about craftsmanship in your business and working on something you're passionate about. It's about the power of building small-scale, high-quality work instead of mass-produced commodity work that can be scaled infinitely. The book has a lot of great rules, quotes, and stories. I'll share one quote that came up because it fits so well into how we price ou...
Apr 18, 2022•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast How much work should you take on? When does the quality of your work suffer? What are the ethical implications? I talk about this and more in today's episode. —kw
Apr 17, 2022•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast A while back, I had my car detailed at a new shop around the corner. When I called to book, the new business owner asked how dirty it was. I said it was decent but it had some dog fur in parts of the back seat. He grumbled and told me (reluctantly) to come in. They were closed a few months later. In this episode, I get into a few lessons we can all learn, including the importance of: Doing work that you're intrinsically motivated by For people you enjoy working with At prices that excite you to ...
Apr 15, 2022•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast There are a lot of problems with having purely generalist positioning. The main one, though, is that potential clients don't know what you're actually good at. So they're left to figure that out for themselves—and there's no way to tell what you're actually good at until they work with you. And by then it's too late. The best clients will go to someone who looks the most qualified on paper. They will spend top dollar with them to do things right. And that means you'll be left with the less-than-...
Apr 14, 2022•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast I cleaned my office today and I felt a lot better. More clear-thinking. Strange how your environment can affect your mental state. And to me, this is analogous to all areas of your business. For example, cleaning out expenses you no longer use. Or services that are not profitable enough. Or clients who are not the right fit for you. Or emails that are left unanswered for too long. Or tasks that you have neglected and need to be either dealt with or deleted. Or decisions you have been putting off...
Apr 08, 2022•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast I had a window installer come by recently to quote new windows on my house. When I asked how the process works, he told me he'd educate me on the products, size the windows, give me a quote, then I'd "beat him up" on price, and then we'd make a deal when we figured out the details. The throwaway line about haggling over price had me feeling uneasy. I don't know anything about windows let alone how to haggle over their prices. There are lots of lessons here to unpack. Should you negotiate? If so,...
Apr 01, 2022•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast One of the things I've noticed about myself is that when I don't have a fixed publishing schedule, it's easy to push it off for long periods without publishing anything. Just like exercising, the longer you don't publish content, the harder it is to get going again. I noticed this recently with Mindshare Radio, too. I used to publish episodes 3 times per week—every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Then, I decided to record something once per week. But, I didn't set a strict publishing date or real...
Mar 30, 2022•4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Could you take one day off client work per week to work on your business (and yourself)? I've been doing that for the past five weeks and it's been incredible. In this Mindshare Radio episode, I talk about how and why it might just be the best thing for you, too. Listen on the web or subscribe on your favourite podcast player. Have a great weekend!
Mar 25, 2022•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Super-consumers are the 10% of your customers who account for upwards of 50% of your profit. All industries have them. All of us are super-consumers of at least something. It's true. And for very logical reasons. In this episode, I break down the concept as coined by Eddie Yoon in his book, Superconsumers —and why it matters to your both business and the clients you serve at a strategic level. Give it a listen and let me know what you think. —kevin...
Mar 18, 2022•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast There's a common misconception that marketing advisors don't execute. The reality is, we do execute. We just don't use our hands nor manage the minutia. In this episode, I talk about how to think like an agency (even if you're doing advisory work). At the end of the day, you're responsible for execution. You just do it differently than a typical agency. Listen in and use this way of thinking in your own business—and during sales conversations when delivering this idea matters most. —kevin...
Mar 15, 2022•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast What do you do when a client comes along looking for your help, but until now, they haven't been doing much (or any) of their own marketing? Do you take on the work, turn it away, or do you use this as a chance to educate them on what to expect? Personally, I prefer the latter. And if it seems like they are bought-in to reality, I'll consider working with them. In this episode, I talk about how to be fully conscious when clients like this come along, how to educate them about how long things sho...
Mar 09, 2022•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast > Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community. Your thinking will get updated. You will try things that don't work. You will pivot your advice based on what works. In this episode, I give you permission to change your mind and update your thinking—regardless of any sunk costs. Listen in to hear more. —k
Mar 03, 2022•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast > Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community. One of the biggest challenges I hear from marketing consultants is getting stuck doing execution work. Managed advisory services/fractional CMO is a great way to ease into advisory work. In the short-term, it can be an exciting and profitable line of work. But if you don't manage to shift into pure advisory work, it will create a lot of unnecessary stress and it will hold you back from growing your business. In ...
Feb 15, 2022•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast > Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community. Are you a freelancer or agency owner looking to sell advisory services in addition to or instead of execution services? If so, are you willing to stop earning money on execution so you can become a "trusted advisor" to a fiduciary standard? Do you need to? Should you create a new website/business or add advisory services to your list of existing execution services? While there's no right answer, I have some thou...
Feb 01, 2022•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast > Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community. If you've done any fractional CMO/freelance head of growth/managed advisory work (as I like to call it), you'll quickly notice how much it limits your time to work with multiple clients and do your own marketing. In this episode, I unpack a few topics, questions, and constraints brought up by member Rob Denton-Ross in a private discussion (with his permission to respond via podcast). Rob currently does some exec...
Jan 25, 2022•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast In order to be successful as an advisor, you need to be able to: Prove you're worth hiring for your knowledge in the first place Reinforce why you're worth listening to after they hire you If you have difficulty selling advisory services, or if clients stop listening to your advice during your engagements, it might be due to one of the three things I talk about in this episode. Give it a listen and share with a friend who might benefit! —k...
Jan 21, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast > Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community. It can be tempting to ignore all or parts of your core process with a new client. You might find yourself jumping into an engagement head first, reacting to demands and/or responding to tactical projects already in motion. Things may be under tight timelines and the client feels like they know what they need to do, they just need a little guidance. But the problem is, when you skip some or all of your core proce...
Jan 19, 2022•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast As I wrote about the other day, one of the most critical aspects of scaling a consulting business without hiring a team is to generate assets from your ideas and expertise. In this episode, I break down how and why you should aim to document all your ideas and processes in your business to help you create leverage and grow without working harder. —k P.S. Know someone who would like to join this group? Have them visit https://mindshare.fm and click the button to join the free (or Pro) tier. Your ...
Jan 10, 2022•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast > Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community. A while back, I wrote a post arguing how specialization is simplification . The article spawned a series of questions around how to find a niche, so I thought I'd do an episode covering just this topic. In this episode, I talk about: Why you should niche (or not) Things to look for when picking a niche How limiting your focus increases your opportunities How and whether you should specialize in multiple niches E...
Nov 19, 2021•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast > Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community. In this episode, I break down the how and how long it took me to build an advisory practice out of my former marketing agency, including:] Revenue growth and timelines from 2017 to today Transitions from freelancer to employee to agency owner to consultant Bring a specialist and a generalist consultant Managed advisory services vs. pure advisory services And other topics related to growing over the past 5 years ...
Nov 17, 2021•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast > Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community. Sometimes, people will not be able to afford the sticker price for your consulting services. Instead of folding and offering an immediate discount, there are lots of ways to work with them collaboratively to create a win-win (read: mutually profitable ) situation for both of you. The first way is by removing scope. What can you take off the table while still helping them accomplish their business objectives? Exa...
Nov 05, 2021•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast > Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community. In this episode, I talk about: Why you want to develop systems in your clients' business—not just implement projects Why you want to start slowly before adding on more layers Why you want to watch for signs of overwhelm closely And why you want to create momentum and confidence instead …all of this so that you can create more consistent and sustainable results for your clients. —k...
Nov 03, 2021•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast > Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community. Working with bad clients: Distracts you from doing your best work for your best clients Ties you up from working with new and better-fit clients Creates stress which you bring home to your loved ones Eliminates the chances of you getting a referral in the end Reduces the chance of you being able to do a case study Drains you of your energy (physically and emotionally) Hurts your confidence in other areas of your...
Oct 26, 2021•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast > Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community. Do you get clear on business outcomes during your initial sales discussions? Do they make it into your proposal? Do they get referenced during and after the engagement? If not, chances are you're not winning as many deals as you could, and you may run into challenges down the road even if you do. In this episode, I talk about why capturing your client's business goals during the sales process and including it in...
Oct 22, 2021•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast > Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community. Last week, I had a sales conversation for a $4,500/mo. advisory engagement that I almost lost because I didn't explain what I do well enough. Luckily, I was able to save the conversation and left the call feeling good about future next steps. What saved it was being able to show my documented methodology, including my KPI spreadsheet, Methodology Trello Board, and Client Operating System. All of these and more a...
Oct 12, 2021•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast > Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community. I saw a tweet the other day by Andrew Warner, host of the Mixergy podcast. He reaches out to potential guests asking if they would like to appear on his shows. Only 25% of the people he reached out to replied... which is wild because he has a huge platform. But when he started doing follow-ups, he doubled his response rate to 50%. Which got me thinking, should you do follow-ups to your prospects who don't reply?...
Oct 07, 2021•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast > Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community. There's a common concern that working with multiple companies in a niche might create competition among your clients—especially when they operate in similar geographic areas. Usually, it's not an issue—especially if you don't work with companies who are going after the same market in the same locations at the same time and who are completely undifferentiated. But what happens when you do SEO/PPC services for com...
Sep 21, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast > Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community. I was asked recently by community member Alex Nech why I chose to run an advisory business instead going the agency route. In this episode, I break down most of the reasons I chose to go this route instead of growing my agency. The main reasons include: Higher take-home profit at the end of the year (at my size) Less day-to-day stress Less business overhead and complexity A better overall experience working with...
Sep 15, 2021•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
