Do you trust your consulting practice?

Building a consulting practice requires trust. Trust from you.

I’m very lucky to quite frequently get to work with clients who are just on the cusp of incredible growth and incredible impact within their practice. In this place, they’ve already come a long way, and they’re doing very well just putting one foot in front of the other and working hard day in and day out. But in order to move forward and achieve the next big milestone, they need one element that is often missing – they need to trust their consulting practice.

Trusting your consulting practice is easier said than done, particularly because most people have never been in the position of building a consulting practice before. There’s a recalibration that’s happening because everything is new. And many consultants simply don’t believe that this growth will come. Or that when it comes, it will last. They simply don’t trust their practice.

However, building a consulting practice requires trust. It requires a belief that you will withstand the challenge and that growth can actually happen.

Building a consulting practice with trust

I have a client who is currently in this space. Hazel is working incredibly hard and has built a practice that’s ripe for growth. She’s got great IP, she is selling and delivering and her clients are returning to her again and again. And she’s recalibrating from uncertainty to trust, occasionally struggling with her belief in her practice.

I asked her, ‘Do you trust your practice?’ And she said, ‘Interesting. I don’t trust it. I think it could all fall over tomorrow.’

So it became our goal to change her perspective, and to help her to trust her practice so that she could continue to build that practice.

How to build your trust in your consulting practice

Building trust in your practice is vital if you want to continue building your practice overall – that is, if you want to see growth. And it generally comes down to ensuring you’ve got a few important elements.

First, you need systems.

The first thing you need is systems. Systems do exactly what they say they will do – they systemise your practice so that it runs with less friction and less manpower. Most importantly, having the right systems in place means that things happen when and how they need to happen, time and time again. And this is a recipe for trust, because when you trust the systems you have in your practice, it’s much easier to trust your practice overall.

Second, you need support.

The second thing you need when you’re building your consulting practice for growth is support. In most cases this means a VA or EA who is able to do the things that you need (and so you don’t have to do them yourself). It also often means getting a coach who can help you step up to your new growth level.

Systems and support work together because with the right systems, your team is able to really accomplish what you need without having to rely so heavily on you. Support without systems will lead you right down the road to decision fatigue – since everything still needs your sign off to be finalised.

But with the right combination of systems and support, your VA is empowered to take on the things that need doing in a visible way. You’ll be able to see that your VA is accomplishing the tasks needed, and you’ll be able to trust that your practice is running well.

When you have the right combination of systems and support it’s like turning on the autopilot function. You have to oversee the destination, but the series of events that take you there can be done by someone else. And again, this builds trust in your practice.

Third, you need growth IP.

Building a consulting practice means growth, and to truly grow, you need growth IP. This takes you beyond the realm of whitepapers and resources. What you really need now is a book.

My client is almost done with her book – and it’s this that will give clarity to her messaging and give her the means for a wide distribution of her thought leadership. It will do the same for you. A book stops the ambiguity, complexity and stress and allows you to focus on those areas of your practice that will allow you to grow. Working alongside program launches your growth IP (as opposed to social media posts) will accelerate your growth and trust.

Fourth, you must trust yourself.

In the beginning, when you’re in a situation where you don’t trust your practice, you must (at the very least) trust yourself. Look at your strong IP, the clients who return time and time again, and the amount that you’re delivering and selling.

This is the power of compounding – where you work with one client, so they get you back again, and in the meantime, they start a new project led by another person who becomes a new client, and on it goes. This is when you start to get your upward lift. When you see this, embrace it and trust yourself. Then, once you trust yourself, you’ll be able to start trusting your practice, too.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson says, ‘Self-trust is the first secret of success.’

Fifth, you must be consistent.

Trust comes from consistency—consistent sales, clients, results, and delivery. Systems and support lead to consistency. Growth IP and the compounding effect allow you to expand this consistency and lead to more trust over time. Your systems and support are critical to helping you gain consistency.

Growth leads to trust

Systems, support, and growth IP are the things that create trust in consulting practices because they show you that you’re doing a great job. It shows you that your clients love and trust you and that you’ve got what they need. Your growth IP and the compounding effect build on that.

Questions to ask yourself!

When determining whether you trust your own practice, ask yourself:

1. Do you trust yourself? Your delivery and your thinking?

2. Do you have systems in place? If not, how can you get those systems in place?

3. Do you trust your support – from your VA to your coach who is advising you?

4. What support do you need to achieve consistency and, therefore, growth?

Finding the answer to these questions will get you started on building your consulting practice by trusting your consulting practice!

I’d love to hear your thoughts…