Four Triggers That Tell You It’s Time To Make Some New Moves

As a Soloist, you’ll tend to be most successful taking small, calculated moves to experiment with something unfamiliar: a new type of client, a niched specialty, a pricing shift.

Taking carefully crafted small bets vs. risking an essential part of your livelihood is almost always the smarter move.

But every once in a while, your world changes in a nanosecond and you must act quickly and decisively.

Be on the look-out for these four triggers that tell you it’s no longer time for business-as-usual.

Trigger #1: Your business is stalled.

You’ve hit a set point that you just can’t seem to budge:

You have a whale client consulting model, but not enough clients at high enough fees to be sustainable.

You keep bumping against the same revenue ceiling.

You’re not happy with how (or whom) you’re working.

This is a scenario where taking moderate risks can produce big rewards: you can change how you attract and secure clients (quantity), play with pricing (revenue) or your services/products (mix) to see what moves the needle.

Trigger #2: You lose a pivotal whale client.

If a pivotal whale suddenly exits—or you start twisting yourself like a pretzel because you’re worried they might—it’s time to make some clear-eyed moves.

Know that not all whale models are inherently bad. Charging very large fees to a handful of clients can produce a healthy mid to high six figure—and even seven figure—business.

But.

Serving one or two and sometimes even three clients means you’re at serious financial risk if any of them bail (exception: you have a robust pipeline of future clients).

If this is where you’re at, evaluate whether you have a quantity problem (not enough clients), a pricing problem (fees too low relative to the value you produce) or a value problem (you’re operating too low in the food chain).

Oh and pro tip: keeping a healthy financial reserve on hand will minimize any panic should a key client drop out before you’ve built a sustainable whale business.

Trigger #3: Your industry (or your expertise) is changing fast.

Let’s face it: the world is always changing and we ignore it at our peril.

But even the well-prepared can still get surprised by a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Like when the 2020 pandemic tanked speaking fees and live events: the savvy pivoted to replace not only the revenue, but the pipeline speaking/events provided to their high-end services or product sales.

And now we have AI, potentially changing how you work or how clients perceive your value. You have a choice between fearing AI and riding the downward spiral OR using it to move up the food chain, working with more strategic clients.

Trigger #4: Your life requires something new.

Starting a family, dealing with an illness or just cutting back your hours because you want to, probably means rethinking how you deliver and monetize your services.

It might require taking what feels like a hefty risk—saying goodbye to a client or no more work travel—or just a thoughtful (re)construction of how you work. (Listen here to learn how CPA Erica Goode built her six-figure, 15 hour a week business.)

Bonus points if you set this up before you need it 😉.

You may not experience ALL of these triggers in your Soloist business, but I can pretty much guarantee you’ll hit at least one.

Why not get out ahead of it?

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