I now realize that when I first started Grants Works my company’s services were an extension of the work I performed when I was an employee. 

It wasn’t until about one year in business that I realized I did what many business strategists tell us to avoid--creating another job for myself instead of ...

To celebrate my fourth year in business, I’m sharing some of the not-so-great decisions and mistakes I’ve made since launching my business. I’ve put these lessons learned into two broad categories: (1) Business Structure and Operations and (2) Getting Clients and Generating Revenue.

For this secon...

Being an entrepreneur comes with its ups and downs. As a glass-half-full person, I try to learn what I can from my downs so I can become a better person, a better leader, and a better, more successful entrepreneur.

To celebrate my fourth year in business, I’m sharing some of the not-so-great decisi...

I remember a conversation I had with my former business coach when I shared the method I was using to generate leads for my business. Her suggestion on how to add rocket fuel to my lead generation strategy was simple and effective.

Today that simple suggestion is generating more leads than we can h...

A proposal is a document that is designed to convince a company to buy a product or service.  There are proposals we prepare to respond to a Request for Proposal (RFP). The RFP is typically created to attract bids from vendors, tends to be prescriptive and includes detailed information about the sco...

I recently had a conversation with someone who sought out my business coaching services. The person was interested in getting more clients. 

I mentioned that in addition to coaching the new business owner on how to get more clients, I also coach on some of the fundamentals of having a business.

I ...

After almost four years of running an independent consulting business, I’ve started to notice some quarterly trends in business activity. For example, the first quarter of a new year has shown a similar amount of interest in our consulting services with a predictable change in the second and third q...

Congratulations! You launched your consulting or coaching business but now what?

If you’re like some of the early-stage entrepreneurs I’ve worked with, you’re probably hearing that you should go after high-dollar clients, but maybe you can’t because you haven’t mastered the basics of building your ...

Some consultants jumpstarted their businesses after they decided to offer up their expertise for a price, land one or two clients, and then figure it out as they go with the first set of deliverables.

Others were fortunate enough to land a former employer as their first and perhaps only client and ...

I often tell the story of the mild anxiety I used to feel as a new entrepreneur when I read a prospective client’s email. It wasn’t because I wasn’t happy to get the email. It was because I was knee-deep in client delivery mode. I was already working on a client deliverable, had a proposal to create...

An independent consulting business has one of the lowest start-up costs.

 As a new consultant, you basically need to a website, a logo, a scheduling application, a project management system, and maybe a customer relationship management system (CRM). The CRM is optional especially since there are mu...

You’re clear about your services, you’ve delivered solutions and clarity for your clients, and you’re getting referrals. You know there are other ways to generate additional revenue for your independent consulting business, but you don’t know where to start.  

You can and should offer discounts to ...