Hey there,
This month marks two years in business. I haven’t sent out a single proposal.
And yet, I’ve sold my work dozens of times.
This is a far cry from my last consulting business, where every prospect got a bespoke proposal. A shiny custom deck. A one-off service invented on the fly.
And then I wondered why I hated selling. Because the selling I was doing was actually unpaid R&D. Constantly sprinting on a hamster wheel of reinvention, trying to shape-shift for every client who walked through the door.
That was my trap for years. Which my friend eloquently dubbed, The Burnout Carousel.
It’s the same death spiral many service providers get stuck in.
Friends and clients will say things like, “Everything I do needs to be tailored to my clients’ unique needs, which change from person to person.”
And sure, that’s true… because you allow it to be.
Just like I did, they think their differentiator is offering highly bespoke solutions for each and every client.
That’s honorable and all, but here’s the fallout…
Your content is a rotating merry-go-round that speaks to different people with different problems. And so, naturally, your sales calls mirror that traveling circus…
Each call, a new rando showing up with varying goals, needs, budgets, and urgency to act. Which means you never know who’s showing up, what they’ll want, or what you’ll sell.
And so you tap dance…
Reply