22,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
A proven, step-by-step guide to building a lucrative consulting practice and the mindset that goes with it
In The Seven-Figure Consultant: A Professional’s Guide to Building a Legacy-Level Consulting Practice, rockstar of consulting and renowned author Alan Weiss, delivers a hyper-focused, step-by-step guide to using your consulting skillset to build the lifestyle you’ve always wanted. Weiss walks you through his eye-opening perspective on what it really means to be “wealthy” (spoiler: it’s about time, not dollars and cents) and how to achieve that wealth.
The book explains the on-the-ground realities of building a consulting service that grows sustainably and brings in the fees you need to live your life to its fullest. You’ll learn how to frame your value proposition, how to sell yourself as a true expert, and how to walk the tightrope that lies between arrogance and confidence. You’ll also find practical tools for how to engage with the latest AI tech, how to write a proposal that gets accepted every time, and how to track your most important metric: labor intensity.
Inside the book:
- Key strategies on marketing your practice, including the six options for exponential growth that work at any level
- A revealing collection of interviews and commentary from seven-figure solo consultants who have mastered their industries
- The proper place of social media within your consulting practice, its benefits, and its unavoidable limitations
The Seven-Figure Consultant is a granular, first-hand look at building a successful consulting practice by an author who has done it himself. But it’s also a mindset, one that correctly identifies “real wealth” as the time you’re able to make for—and spend on—yourself, and the people you care about the most. Weiss explains how to build both, one step at a time.
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 214
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2026
Ähnliche
Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Preface
Other Works by Alan Weiss
Introduction: The “Ancients”
Notes
Chapter 1: The No Normal
®
Gaining Conceptual Agreement
Lean and Mean: Don't Feed the “Chicks”
Scalability
The Remote (Seven-Figure) Consultant
Notes
Chapter 2: The Reality of “Wealth”
Value-Based Fees
Fee Formulas (Clients, Collaborators, Referrals)
Advisory Work Is the Future
Legal, Financial, Administration (yada yada yada)
Notes
Chapter 3: Whom Do You Want to Be?
No Wind Is a Good Wind Without a Destination
Your Value Proposition
The Power of Solo
Who's Pushing Your Buttons?
Notes
Chapter 4: You're an Expert Now, So Act Like One
Thought Leadership
Process vs. Content
Critical Thinking Skills
You're Not Selling, You're Giving
Notes
Chapter 5: If You Don't Blow Your Own Horn, There Is No Music
How to Build and Sustain Your Business Community
How to Maximize Referrals and Reduce Costs of Acquisition
Skating Up to the Confidence/Arrogance Boundary
Notes
Chapter 6: Naisbitt Was Right
Consulting Isn't Advising, Which Isn't Coaching, Either
The Uses and Limits of Social Media
How Executives and Business Owners
Really
Make Decisions
Better Practices in AI and Technology
Note
Chapter 7: Watch Your Metrics
TDTC (Total Days to Cash)
How to Write a Proposal That's Accepted Every Time
Letters of Agreement
How to Reduce Labor Intensity
Notes
Chapter 8: Marketing 601
My Unified Field Theory of Marketing
Passive Income
Collaborations
Notes
Chapter 9: The Esteem Machine
Self-Worth
Servant Leadership Is Ridiculous
Peter Drucker Didn't Debate, Neither Should You
Maybe There Was a Monster Under the Bed
Notes
Chapter 10: Eight-Figure Consulting
Cutting the Gordian Knot
From Those Who Have Been There and Done That
Appendix
101 Questions for Any Sales Situation
Sample Proposal
Letter of Agreement
Notes
Acknowledgment
About the Author
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 Three Dynamics in Marketing
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 Collaboration Formula
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 Watertight Doors
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1 The Value Distance
Figure 4.2 Respect vs. Affection
Figure 4.3 Problem Solving and Innovation
Figure 4.4 The S-Curve
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1 Efficacy and Esteem
Chapter 6
Figure 6.1 Boats in the “Channel”
Chapter 7
Figure 7.1 Total Days to Cash
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1 Creating Marketing Gravity
Figure 8.2 The Accelerant Curve
Figure 8.3 The S-Curve
Chapter 9
Figure 9.1 Resilience
Figure 9.2 The Bandwagon (Fadwagon)
Figure 9.3 Happiness and Meaning
Figure 9.4 Constant High Self-Esteem
Chapter 10
Figure 10.1 Confidence and Skills
Guide
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Preface
Other Works by Alan Weiss
Introduction: The “Ancients”
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Appendix
Acknowledgment
About the Author
Index
End User License Agreement
Pages
iii
iv
v
xi
xii
xiii
xiv
xv
xvii
xviii
xix
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
37
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
71
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
87
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
141
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
203
204
205
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
A PROFESSIONAL’S GUIDE TO BUILDING A LEGACY-LEVEL CONSULTING PRACTICE
ALAN WEISS
Copyright © 2026 by Alan Weiss. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission.
The manufacturer's authorized representative according to the EU General Product Safety Regulation is Wiley-VCH GmbH, Boschstr. 12, 69469 Weinheim, Germany, e-mail: [email protected].
Trademarks: Wiley and the Wiley logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and the author have used their best efforts in preparing this work, including a review of the content of the work, neither the publisher nor the author make any representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Certain AI systems have been used in the creation of this work. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives, written sales materials, or promotional statements for this work. The fact that an organization, website, or product is referred to in this work as a citation and/or potential source of further information does not mean that the publisher and author endorse the information or services the organization, website, or product may provide or recommendations it may make. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a specialist where appropriate. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic formats. For more information about Wiley products, visit our website at www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:
ISBN 9781394376230 (Cloth)ISBN 9781394376247 (ePub)ISBN 9781394376254 (ePDF)
Cover Design: WileyCover Image: © kirstypargeter/Getty ImagesAuthor Photo: Courtesy of Marie Weiss
This is for my wife of 57 years, Marianna (in her Italian heritage), who has forgiven my flaws, exalted in my victories, and made me a better man than I could have ever imagined. I love her dearly, and even though I tell her that, and I'm a man of letters, it has always seemed insufficient. So I'm proclaiming it to her and all of you now
Preface
As far as anyone can determine, I've written more books on consulting than anyone, ever. Even if someone eventually proves that somehow untrue, you can see by my “other works” appearing here that the number and diversity are significant.
Thus, I've chosen to write this book in a different manner, since I now have 40 years in the profession under my belt, have worked with half the Fortune 500, and hundreds of thousands of solo practitioners and boutique firm owners have read my books, joined my podcasts, watched my videos, and participated in my virtual and live events—and been advised by me, sometimes for decades.
Rather than create a linear flow of how to move healthily into seven figures (and remain there or even move on), with sequential steps and charts and graphs, I've interspersed my recommendations for action with my recommendations for philosophy—how to perceive yourself and your “calling.” This is because I've constantly witnessed people failing because they're trying to raise fees instead of raise value; because they ignore lowering labor intensity and focus on securing business; and because they fail to change their beliefs with the times.
I urge you to carefully consider the chapters and segments that emphasize your life, your health, your contributions, and your loved ones as key supports for your business and financial growth and success. If you want to skip to the segments that seem more about making money at the expense of missing those about creating meaning, don't say I didn't warn you.
There's an old, hackneyed story among professional speakers about a group that came upon a stonemason and asked what was being built.
“A wall,” said the stonemason.
Stopping at a second stonemason, the group asked the same question.
“A cathedral,” said the second.
The story ends here, attempting to show the difference between a job and a career. But I think there's a third stonemason.
And when asked the same question, that person replies, “I'm bringing people closer to God!”
That's a calling. That's what I'm discussing and proving in this book. Heed my words, follow my advice, and you'll create the greatest life that, to this point, you've never imagined.
I have.
—Alan Weiss, September 2025
—East Greenwich, RI
Other Works by Alan Weiss
Alan Weiss on Consulting
(interviewed by Linda Henman, Aviv Shahar)
Best Laid Plans (
originally
Making It Work)
Building Dynamic Business Communities
Business Wealth Builders
(with Phil Symchych
)
DNA of Leadership
(with Myron Beard)
Getting Started in Consulting
(also in Chinese)
Fearless Leadership
Good Enough Isn't Enough
(also in Spanish)
Great Consulting Challenges
How to Acquire Clients
How to Establish a Unique Brand in the Consulting Profession
How to Market, Brand, and Sell Professional Services
How to Sell New Business and Expand Existing Business
How to Write a Proposal That's Accepted Every Time
Life Balance
Lifestorming (with Marshall Goldsmith
) (also in Korean, Indonesian, Turkish)
Managing for Peak Performance
(also in German)
Masterful Marketing
(with Lisa Larter)
Million Dollar Coaching
(also in Portuguese)
Million Dollar Consulting
(also in Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Chinese, Korean, Arabic)
Million Dollar Consulting Proposals
Million Dollar Consulting
®
Toolkit
Million Dollar Influence
(with Gene Moran)
Million Dollar Launch
Million Dollar Maverick
(also in Spanish)
Million Dollar Referrals
Million Dollar Speaking
(also in Chinese, Portuguese)
Million Dollar Web Presence
Money Talks
(also in Chinese)
Organizational Consulting
Our Emperors Have No Clothes
Process Consulting
Sentient Strategy
®
The Consulting Bible
(also in Portuguese)
The DNA of Leadership
(with Myron Beard)
The Global Consultant
The Great Big Book of Process Visuals
The “Hidden” Drivers Behind Every Successful Project
(with Kursten Faller)
The Innovation Formula
(with Mike Robert) (also in German, Italian)
The Language of Success
(with Kim Wilkerson)
The Modern Trusted Advisor
(with Nancy MacKay)
The Resilience Advantage
(with Richard Citrin)
The Son of the Great Big Book of Process Visuals
The Talent Advantage
(with Nancy MacKay)
The Ultimate Consultant
The Unofficial Guide to Power Management
The Power of Strategic Commitment
(with Josh Leibner and Gershon Mader)
Threescore and More
Thrive!
Value-Based Fees
Who's Got Your Back?
Your Legacy Is Now
Podcast Series:
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth
®
Video Series:
Alan Weiss's The Writing on the Wall
®
A Minute with Alan
®
Newsletters:
Balancing Act: The 1% Solution
®
Alan Weiss's Monday Morning Memo
®
Blog:
Alan Weiss's Contrarian Consulting
®
Introduction: The “Ancients”
At this writing, I've written 55 books (and another 18 that are subsequent editions, which are themselves “new books” because I don't merely update them, and they appear in a total of 15 languages). Obviously, mere quantity is certainly inferior to quality, so I'll note that some of my books have been on the shelves for four decades and through two to seven editions.
For proper perspective on the profession, however, it's only fair to begin with the “ancients.” And the possible “founder” of consulting, certainly of “time and materials,” was a gentleman by the name of Frederick Winslow Taylor.
He created approaches that became known as “Taylorism” in the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. He was a mechanical engineer, graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, still a prestigious institute today and, coincidentally, the next town over from Union City, where I was raised. (I was born in Hoboken!)
Taylor focused on improving industrial productivity by studying time and motion. In 1911, he published The Principles of Scientific Management.1 He would study, say, a person shoveling coal, measure the amount of coal moved on each shovel, the time required for the distance involved, and so forth; hence, the “scientific” appellation. And the process was all the rage until people applying it realized that it failed in two dimensions:
It did not consider fatigue. That coal shoveler could not maintain the same pace after six hours as was measured at the outset.
It did not consider motivation. We all recognize today that passion will help people work harder and longer because they believe in the pursuit and see self-interest in it, rather than performing monotonous repetitions for someone else's benefit. (Think of the third stonemason in the example in the Preface.)
So Taylorism disappeared, and over the ensuing decades we saw Mary Parker Follett (leaders needing to identify with social realities), Fritz Roethlisberger and Elton Mayo (the “invention” of human relations as an asset), Abraham Maslow and Douglas McGregor (hierarchy of needs and humanism), W. Edwards Deming (quality control), Frederick Herzberg (hygiene theory), Peter Drucker (the invention of modern strategy at GM).2
Many of these approaches were undone by their own impractical rigor (secretaries reconfiguring their desk drawers during “quality” exercises) and some have enjoyed long-term accuracy (giving an unhappy employee a raise creates a wealthier, unhappy employee, since money isn't a motivator but the lack of it is a de-motivator—hygiene theory).
And we've suffered through what I see as decades of “patent medicine sales attempts” in servant leadership, open-book management, management by walking around, one-minute management, 360° feedback, theory Z, hoteling, and all kinds of absolute nonsense. This is exacerbated by vendors—training firms, not consultants—peddling their cure du jour without any metrics to judge success.
This book is about a metaphor: Seven Figure Consulting. You can make seven figures or even eight, and I'll be showing you how. But you may have a wonderful, contributing lifestyle making, say, $450,000 annually.
I'll provide what my global community calls “Alanisms” through this work. And here's the first:
Alanism: Real wealth is discretionary time, not money.
So read on; I'll show you that “real wealth” and how to fuel it and sustain it. I've done it, thousands of my clients and readers have done it, and you can, too. Just open your mind, understand the history, and ignore the fads.
Alanism: Life is not about a search for meaning, it's about the creation of meaning.
—Alan Weiss
—November 1, 2025
Notes
1
Harper and Brothers, 1911.
2
For an excellent, brief history of the major figures in consulting, see Gabor, A. (2000).
The Capitalist Philosophers
. Times Books.
Chapter 1The No Normal®
Being patient until there is a “return to normal” or a “new normal” is like waiting for Godot. It's a long play with no point. We have to act based on constant change created by a seismic shift in demographics, a historical tectonic change in technology, and constant adjustments in social mores. Besides, “normal” means “average” or “typical.” Is that who you want to be?
Gaining Conceptual Agreement
We often make the mistake of charging ahead looking for a “sale” instead of taking our time and creating agreement on value.
Alanism: Don't try to “increase fees.” If you want higher fees, increase value.
Conceptual agreement is the focus on gaining buy-in—commitment—from an economic buyer by establishing:
Objectives:
What
business outcomes are to be gained by this relationship?
This is never strictly internal, such as:
Create alignment between departments
Enhance communications flow
Raise levels of empathy
Maintain cordial relationships and avoid confrontation
These are all “HR”1 kinds of objectives, which serve no business interest. Note that they can all be achieved without any demonstrable improvement in the business, and perhaps with actual declines in performance.
Business-oriented outcomes would include:
Decrease involuntary attrition
Increase referral business
Decrease labor intensity
Improve cross-selling of products and services
All of those can be measured and can have monetized value attached to them. We'll get to that in a few minutes. For now, understand that something like “improve profit” has copious potential, because if you improve profit you can:
Increase salaries and bonuses
Retire debt
Provide better investor ROI (return on investment)
Improve facilities
Make more hires
Increase technology and automation
You get the idea. True business outcomes leave the business in far better shape if met, and exceeded. The “no normal” means that getting one's “ticket stamped” by attending training programs with no measurable effect on productivity or performance is gone with the dodo birds.
The next step in conceptual agreement is “metrics.” These are measures of success along the way, and/or at completion. The buyer may have existing devices (turnover reports, monthly income, sales by product, average price or fee, and so forth). The buyer may not have such resources, and will ask your opinion as to how to measure progress. This is still more value that you're providing (as well as the metrics for your own success).
Finally, we have “value.” This is the actual benefit to the buyer. There are qualitative values (I no longer will have to play the role of “referee” for warring teams) and quantitative values (reducing attrition by five percent would save us an average of $120,000 per person, five percent of 100 is five, times $120,000 is $600,000).
Guidelines for conceptual agreement:
Must be done with involvement of, and agreement from, the economic buyer.
Try to create three items of value for each objective to be met.
Try to monetize two-thirds of the total value statements.
Since you'll be assuring the buyer of a 10:1 ROI, you want to make the monetized value as significant as possible, but still conservative. If the buyer says the saving will be $250,000–$350,000, or five percent to eight percent, cite the $250,000 and five percent to demonstrate you've taken the more conservative estimate each time.
Finally, on qualitative objectives, just ask, without a monetization attempt, about the value of getting home at dinner time, or seeing the kids' sports events, or alleviating stress, or better relationships with board members.
Alanism: Behind every professional objective is one or more personal objectives.
The No Normal means not discussing deliverables, or programs, or methodology, but rather what you create to improve the buyer's position.
Lean and Mean: Don't Feed the “Chicks”
Counterintuitively, if you want to move toward (and even beyond) seven figures, you want to be careful about not adding unnecessary overhead. Since I first began in the early 1990s writing about high-growth consulting strategies it's become apparent that adding staff tends to decrease revenues and margins.
Alanism: “Growth” is not the point, PROFITABLE growth is the point.
One of my all-star clients, who eventually sold her boutique consulting firm and is now playing golf, said in one of our small group meetings that she dreaded returning from traveling and finding all the “chicks” in the corporate nest chirping and waiting for her to regurgitate food. That was a visual never lost on anyone who heard it!
Even with the boutique firm owners I've coached, we focused on reducing staff, both professionally and personally. I've never known why someone who is making $250,000 a year requires a $30,000 virtual assistant! Have they failed to learn how to use a smartphone or a Filofax®? In most cases I've reduced staff for my clients from 30 to under 10, and often to zero.
But what about most of you, who are solo practitioners? How do you keep control of overhead, which kills small practices?
Vignette
When I was fired from the presidency of a consulting firm I told my wife I would never work for any moron who could fire me again. She said, “Okay, but you'd better get serious! What's the first thing you're going to do?”
“Rent an office,” I said.
“Why?” she asked, “you're going to visit prospects to sell and clients to implement; they're not going to be coming to you. If I'm wrong about that, then we should discuss an office.”
Forty years later, I've never had an office. My two kids went through private schools from pre-school through undergraduate.2Those two 17-year experiences cost about $450,000, in total, which I paid out of cash flow. I calculated that a single office over that period, with rent, insurance, utilities, taxes, a secretary, repairs and so forth, would have cost, wait for it … about $450,000!
Lean and mean is the way to go, right into and through seven figures in revenue. That's how you create profitable growth.
Here are some items and resources you don't need or should have on a “pay for play” (outsourced) basis:
Bookkeeper paid by the hour
Tax accountants paid by the hour
Legal help paid by the hour
Answering service rather than part-time assistants
Use American Express as your travel agent
Use a franchise printer who prints on demand
Use AI or a student to create your art work
Use automated schedulers
Keep your software and hardware simple—you don't need three cameras and seven lights for Zoom
Don't chase shiny objects; you don't need every new iPhone
Don't allow your ego to determine your overhead. One mistake I made was to call my legal structure “Summit Consulting Group, Inc.” with the intent of demonstrating “heft.” When people asked how many were in the “group,” I tap danced inanely talking about subcontractors and part-timers, which is like telling GM you know the auto business because you drive a car.
Don't rationalize growth with numbers of people. What really matters is your brand power, which we'll talk about later.
Vignette
I had a client named Phil who had four employees whom he strived to keep busy delivering projects. Phil traveled 80 percent of the time, often on weekends. He was the rainmaker for the implementers, and taking far less out of his company for his family than he should have.
At one point I hadn't heard from him in a month, so I called, and his wife told me that he had died of a heart attack alone in a Marriott Hotel in another city.
You won't get rich working for someone else and you won't get rich with people working for you.
Alanism: True wealth is discretionary time.
