Boutique Consulting Club - Becoming A Router

Yesterday I wrote about the third toxic mindset that consultancy founders usually adopt: The control trap. They feel the need of being actively involved in every task, and as a consequence end up limiting their growth and work flexibility.

One of the best images of what the opposite of this looks like is that of a human router. Chances are you have a networking router at home. Its main goal is to connect and forward information from one network to another.

Why is that analogy helpful for partners?

When I get stressed at work, it's usually because I’ve failed to build a system and have tasks I can’t route to someone else. I have too much to execute. Or I'm doing something I know could be done faster and better by someone else for less than what my time is worth.

Your goal as a founder or consulting partner is to hire yourself out of every job and go after opportunities.

Ask yourself:

• Which activities am I doing, that someone in my team can take care of?
• Which activities am I doing, that someone else can perform better and for less than my (aspirational) hourly rate?
• Which activities am I doing, that are recurring and can easily be automated?

Chances are, your ego is holding you back.

The value you create (and capture) is not correlated with your working hours, but with the outcomes you deliver to clients. What you want is more leverage and better judgment, not adding more ticks to your to-do list.

Build a business, don't be a business.