Stop getting cozy with your clients

Dec 8, 2025

Consultants often become trapped by embedding with clients, leading to diminishing value over time. Discover the crucial distinction between contractors and consultants that influences growth. Learn how structured, outcome-based projects can enhance pricing and reputation, allowing for more fulfilling work. Ahmad shares insights on the value decay curve and why true expertise thrives on diversity in client engagements. Embrace pattern recognition to elevate your consulting practice and avoid the pitfalls of client dependency.

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INSIGHT

Consulting Requires Defined Start And End

Embedded, indefinite work often looks like continuity but functions as renting a job.
True consulting defines a start and an end with a clear outcome to deliver measurable transformation.

ADVICE

Scope Projects Around Outcomes

Scope projects to defined outcomes and timelines instead of billing indefinitely by the hour.
Price around quantified outcomes so projects become more valuable than time-based execution.

INSIGHT

Expertise Grows With Volume, Not Duration

Time spent with a single client is inversely related to your expertise level.
Rare expertise creates demand, so spending years embedded reduces opportunities to scale skill across many clients.

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I can tell within five minutes of talking to a consultant whether they're building a business or just renting a job. If you've landed a few good clients and found yourself billing the same people month after month—becoming "indispensable" to their operation—you're not winning. You're getting trapped. I've watched this play out hundreds of times: the value decay curve kicks in around month nine, the "we need to hit pause" email arrives, and suddenly you're scrambling with one case study and zero pipeline. In this episode, I'm breaking down why the embedded model destroys your positioning, your expertise development, and your pricing power—and what the consultants who actually scale to seven figures do instead.

Show Notes:

The distinction between "consultant" and "contractor" that determines your growth trajectory—and why your legal agreement saying "consulting services" doesn't mean you're actually consulting
What happens between months one and eleven of every embedded engagement—the value decay curve I've observed across hundreds of client relationships, and why you never see the end coming
The phone call that taught me loyalty is an emotional expectation, not a business strategy—and what that partner actually meant when he said they needed to "hit pause"
Why two years embedded with one client leaves you with one case study while project-based consultants accumulate six or seven—and how this compounds into a positioning gap you can't close
The inverse relationship between expertise and time spent with any single client—what David C. Baker's insight reveals about how the best consultants actually operate
How expertise compounds through volume, not duration—why we can now predict consultant questions before they ask them, and how you build that same pattern recognition
The five things scaling consultants do differently when structuring client relationships—from scoping defined outcomes to celebrating completion instead of dreading it
The question I ask every consultant who's gotten too comfortable—and why only one of the three possible answers leads to sustainable growth