When business was slower, or you were starting out, being busy made sense. There were clients to find and bills to cover. You expected that once things improved, you would have more choice in how you spent your time.

Now the consultancy is doing better, but you’re even busier.

You’re pleased with the progress, and probably enjoy much of the work. Yet the freedom you thought would come with it still seems to be somewhere ahead.

There is always a reason to wait

In difficult periods, it’s easy to put your own plans aside until you’ve got through to the other side. Taking time for yourself feels harder to justify when you could be doing something to improve the situation.

When business is good, the reasons change. There’s worthwhile work to do and money to be made. Turning away an opportunity can feel wasteful, especially when you remember how much effort it took to create those opportunities.

Both situations can lead to the same conclusion: a little more work now, then more freedom later.

The conditions you were waiting for may arrive, but there is usually another reason to keep going.

What has the business become better at?

Much of the effort that goes into developing a consultancy goes towards finding the right clients and creating greater value for them.

That matters. Better fit makes the work more rewarding, and greater impact gives clients a stronger reason to choose you and pay well.

But if those are the main things you’ve been improving, your consultancy may have become very good at creating more demand for your time.

You win more of the work you want, then find room to deliver it. A gap opens up, and another opportunity fills it. Revenue grows while the choices available in your working week stay much the same.

Freedom is left to whatever remains after the business takes what it needs.

Freedom deserves equal weight

Freedom means something different to each of us. It includes working with clients who fit you well, making the contribution that draws on your brilliance and earning what you want from the business. It also includes choosing when you work and having time to enjoy the rest of your life.

If you concentrate on fit and impact while continually postponing freedom, you can build a successful Performance Consultancy without developing the lifestyle you wanted alongside it.

Freedom needs equal weight in how you judge progress. If it has usually come last, put it first when thinking about the next stage of the business.

Your wider life contributes too

The experiences and relationships you enjoy outside work can enrich the perspective and energy you bring to it. Giving your wider life room to flourish helps your brilliance flourish too.

That matters through good periods and difficult ones. Protecting that freedom helps you bring more of your brilliance to building the business you want.

Freedom isn’t earned; it’s protected

However well your consultancy performs, there will always be more work you could do. If freedom depends on reaching the next milestone or getting through the current workload, you can postpone it indefinitely.

Freedom isn’t earned; it’s protected.

It belongs in the design of your consultancy, with equal weight to the clients you serve and the impact you create. That remains true when business is difficult and when it is thriving.

As your consultancy improves, are you protecting the choices you wanted it to give you, or still waiting until you feel you’ve done enough?

Protecting your freedom includes being able to choose the right clients and work. My Ready-To-Buy Playbook shows you how to build a more consistent approach to attracting and winning clients who value what you do, so you can choose the work you take on.