Ahmad interviews Kristen Mashburn who built a thriving and sustainable consultancy in Company Culture.

If you're not doing this right, your marketing will fail.

We see this constantly: a consultant closes a good deal, gets excited, and then quietly starts absorbing everything the client isn't doing. Filling in the gaps. Over-delivering. Losing sleep over an outcome that was supposed to be a shared effort. And when the engagement ends badly, there's no honest conversation to be had about why, because nobody ever defined what the client was responsible for in the first place. In this episode, we get into why so many consultants take on all the responsibility in an engagement, what the "superhero" dynamic costs you in the long run, and what it actually looks like to hold a client accountable without blowing up the relationship.

Show Notes:

• The client who scored his clients: One consultant's approach to tracking client performance throughout an engagement and giving them periodic feedback on where they're falling short, and why more consultants don't do anything close to this
• Why you marketed yourself into this corner: How the instinct to minimize the client's role and maximize yours in your pitch creates the exact dynamic you'll be fighting for the rest of the engagement
• The pit in your stomach is telling you something: What it means when you sign a contract and immediately feel like it's all on you, and why that feeling is a structural problem, not a mindset one
• What the highest-priced engagements have in common: The pattern that shows up consistently in consulting work that commands serious fees, and how client contribution is at the center of it
• Scope creep vs. scope explosion: Why going above and beyond without the client knowing you're doing so can be the thing that leaves them dissatisfied at the end
• The fear that's running your client conversations: What happens to your ability to give objective counsel when the client's revenue makes up too much of yours, and why that trade-off is more costly than it looks
• What to say before the contract is signed: The specific conversation most consultants skip because it feels like friction, and what it costs them when they do

The subtle quality that gets tremendous results.

Ahmad interviews Jason Bryll of Parable Associates on his journey from solo-preneur to an 18 person solution shop.

Do you have this trait?

Why do we insist on spending so much of our time and energy on things that don't matter?

Should you aim high? Should you aim low?

Who are you selling to and who do you want to be selling to?