4 Steps to Double Your Consulting Revenue in 2023

Increasing revenue is a common goal for many independent consultants. Having a stable base of monthly income is great but building on that success to truly achieve your financial goals is even better. In February, executive coach Melisa Liberman hosted a webinar where she outlined four steps to double your consulting revenue.

Check out the webinar recording: The 4 Steps to double Your Independent Consulting Revenue in 2023

To double your revenue, Liberman emphasizes the importance providing more strategic, higher-paying, and less time-intensive services. With this mindset and approach, you can grow your revenue without having to dedicate more time to work. Liberman says to think outside the box—doubling your revenue doesn’t necessarily mean just increasing your bill rate. It could also mean selling a few more strategy planning projects per quarter or adding another retainer client each month. Here’s a quick summary of her four steps.

1. Increase Your Inventory

Your inventory is the services you sell your clients and your boundaries around those services and how you deliver them, Liberman says. As an independent professional, you are in control over what you sell. To increase your revenue, start by reverse engineering your inventory.

Think about how much revenge you want to generate and then translate that number into consulting service deliverables. Look at how you will need to value contracts and how many you will have to sell to reach your goal number. Be sure to consider your daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly capacity. Perhaps you need to sell fewer higher-value contracts to avoid overworking yourself with more, lower-priced services.

2. Rethink Your Value

Your value is the amount you charge for what you do, and the client’s willingness to pay for those services, says Liberman. Your value is heavily influenced by the outcomes you deliver. When clients see value in the work you are doing, they will be willing to pay for it.

When considering the value you bring to clients, think about how you come across as a business. Are you more passive, waiting for a client to tell you what they want or are you coming across as a confident expert and advisor? Base your value off qualitative outcomes that you can deliver rather than basing your bill rate off what a full-time employee would be paid. These small adjustments can make a big difference when it comes to overall revenue. Remember, the money you are paid should come from the value you deliver, not on the time spent creating those outcomes.

3. Boost Your Demand

Liberman describes an evolutionary arc that many independents experience when growing their business. Starting off, most work will come from people you know, recruiters, agencies, or marketplaces. At this point in your independent career, you’ll take most projects you can get and are not too picky.

Once you have some projects under your belt and are feeling more confident, the networking stage begins. Here, you tend to be more proactive than reactive: asking for referrals, networking your way into new projects, creating a pipeline of work, etc. As you become known for your services, inbound opportunities begin to come to you. Lastly, as you develop your reputation and are more sought after, there will be more demand than supply. Think of where you are on this developmental arc. What steps can you take to reach that next level?

4. Reset Your View of Yourself

Liberman’s final point is to reframe who you are being and how you think of yourself. When you first start out as an independent it’s easy to think of yourself as just an extra pair of hands. But it’s important to evolve this view of yourself. You are an advisor, a business owner, an expert, and an important thought leader. Your services are valuable, and you belong.