Most experienced professionals don’t have a marketing problem.
They don’t have a confidence problem.
They have a system problem.

They have years of experience, judgement, and results, but they’ve never translated that expertise into a clear, adoptable system the market can buy.

So selling feels heavier than it should.
Positioning stays vague.
Authority doesn’t compound.
Income plateaus.

That’s the structural issue I work on.

My goal is to future-proof your business in an AI economy.
And the only way to do that is to become a category of one.

That doesn’t happen when you sell what you do.

It happens when you build a system the market wants and package your judgement into infrastructure that buyers can adopt.

I help experienced consultants, experts, and coaches turn their expertise into systems, assets, and business infrastructure, not services, not offers and not job descriptions wrapped in consulting language.

My clients don’t hire me - they adopt my system.

What makes my work different

I merge two operating systems.

Most people try to build a $500K+ consulting business using the same internal programs that have run their entire life - the same decision patterns and default settings.

So they build the “right” strategy…
and then sabotage execution.

That’s why I design the external operating system
(system architecture, market validation, positioning, sales, distribution)

and upgrade the internal operating system - the operating code behind how you decide, implement, and follow through.

This isn’t therapy or motivation.
It’s 13 years of deprogramming distilled into a simple method that removes internal friction so the external system can actually run.

For high performers, this is not optional.

Inside my work, I help you:

-Define the real business problem you solve
-Codify judgement + decision-making into a system
-Design frameworks, methodologies, and operating models you own
-Validate demand before you sell
-Build multiple monetisable assets from one system design
-Commercialise the system end-to-end
-Build authority-led sales, marketing, and LinkedIn positioning
-Position you as a category of one

How I use AI:

I design AI instructional systems, not prompts - capturing judgement, edge cases, and decision logic so AI supports execution without replacing intelligence.

I connect everything into one system so you can validate demand, build the assets, and start monetising within 30 days.

Schedule a private conversation here:
👉 https://go.oncehub.com/15MinuteExpress

Mary Henderson

Can I pick your brain?" is the most expensive question you will ever answer.
Stop saying yes...


Every time you agree to a "quick coffee" or a "15-minute call" with someone who wants free consulting...

You're losing money.

Not theoretical money. Real revenue.

That hour you spent "picking your brain" for free? 
That's an hour you could've spent with a paying client.

That "quick coffee" that turned into 90 minutes? 
That's $500+ of billable time you just gave away.

But it's not just money. It's energy.
These people are Energy Vampires.

Read my article to find out what you can do to repel these people away from you and start attracting premium buyers. 

Share my article with your network
Leave a comment
Subscribe to #TheMidlifeQueen

Business & Monetisation Specialist | Build a One-Person Consulting Business in 2026 | Replace a $200K+ Salary | Codify Expertise Into Offers That Sell | LinkedIn Strategy → Clients

Can I pick your brain?" is the most expensive question you will ever answer. Stop saying yes. Every time you agree to a "quick coffee" or a "15-minute

Open article: "Can I pick your brain?" by Mary Henderson • 3 min read

How to build a consulting business in 2026 so you can replace your $300K salary in 12 months.


There are two mistakes I’m seeing new consultants make right now and both will keep you stuck.

Mistake #1: Believing what ChatGPT tells you to sell.

Last week I spoke to a COO who said, “I’m brilliant at what I do. I got ChatGPT to figure out my value proposition, and now I know what I sell.”

ChatGPT can give you language that sounds incredible on paper.

But here’s the real question:
Does the market want what ChatGPT just told you is your solution?

If you don’t have validated demand, you don’t have an offer.

You have a theory.

That’s why so many people can’t package their expertise into an offer that actually converts.

They’re selling what sounds good, not what buyers are already buying.

Mistake #2: Thinking pipeline will magically appear.

If you don’t know how to get consulting clients on LinkedIn, you will not replace a $300K salary. Period.

Because ChatGPT can create content… but most of it is dead on arrival.

If you don’t know how to build a pipeline on LinkedIn, you can’t test messaging.

You can’t start conversations.

You can’t generate DMs.

You can’t get in front of the decision maker consistently.

You end up posting and hoping.

Save this: The 10-Second Consulting Business Test (2026):

1.  Can you articulate in 10 seconds what you sell?
2.  Can you define your avatar?
3.  What is your sales strategy: top, middle, bottom of funnel?
4.  What is your good / better / best solution and how will you deliver it?
5.  How will you price a consulting offer based on outcomes, not hours?
6.  What is your brand promise?
7.  What is your thought leadership strategy on LinkedIn?
8.  How will the decision maker find you on LinkedIn this week?

If you can’t answer those, it doesn’t mean you’re not smart.
It means you’re still guessing.

AI can write your words. It can’t validate your market.

What’s your real gap right now: DEMAND or PIPELINE?

Most consultants leaving corporate think they have time.
Time to think. Time to learn. Time to “figure it out.” 👉🏼 They don’t.


Consulting is splitting right now, and it’s not splitting around experience or intelligence.

It’s splitting around who can turn judgement into something the market can buy.

I explain why in this article 👇

Make sure you subscribe to: #OnePersonConsultingBusiness

Business & Monetisation Specialist | Build a One-Person Consulting Business in 2026 | Replace a $200K+ Salary | Codify Expertise Into Offers That Sell | Authority Positioning That Drives Invitations & Clients

View newsletter: One-Person Consulting Business

This isn’t a prediction. It’s a consequence. And it’s already happening, not on LinkedIn, but inside organisations, boardrooms, and consulting budgets

Open article: Consulting Is About to Split in Two:
Those Who Turn Experience Into Assets, and Those Who Slowly Disappear by Mary Henderson • 5 min read

Consulting Is About to Split in Two:
Those Who Turn Experience Into Assets, and Those Who Slowly Disappear

You Didn’t Run a CFO or COO Role With Post-it Notes.
So Why Are You Running Your Consulting Business Like That?


I see this pattern constantly.

People go from earning $300K+ inside a corporate system, making high-stakes decisions, managing risk, owning outcomes, to feeling strangely frozen the moment they’re on their own.

Not because they lost capability.
Because the environment changed.

Most consultants aren’t failing because they lack experience.
They’re failing because they tried to turn a job title into a business.

And those are not the same thing.

A senior operator understands:
-risk
-profit and loss
-decision-making under pressure

But none of that automatically converts into:
-a defined problem the market recognises as urgent
-a structured solution a buyer can mentally place
-a monetisable asset instead of bespoke effort
-a sales and distribution engine
-leverage in an AI-shaped economy

Six months in, the symptoms appear.

Pipeline feels thin.
Confidence is at an all-time low.

And the conclusion becomes:
“Maybe consulting isn’t for me.”

That conclusion is wrong.

This isn’t an intelligence problem.
It’s a structure problem.

In corporate, you didn’t improvise your way through complexity.
You didn’t “figure it out as you went”.

You said: “We need a specialist to architect this properly.”

The irony is that when you step out on your own, you expect yourself to magically know how to do all of it.

Here’s the part most people don’t want to face:

Your corporate performance has zero value on its own.
The market doesn’t pay for titles.
It doesn’t care what you were.

It pays for what you can extract, structure, and deploy from that experience into something it actually needs now.

Running a consulting business without structure isn’t brave. It’s inefficient.

And it quietly destroys confidence.

Save this: The Corporate-to-Consulting Reality Check

If you’re being honest, which of these are you doing right now?
-Hoping experience translates without being re-architected
-Treating clarity as a substitute for validation
-Building offers in isolation instead of against live demand
-Assuming confidence returns before structure is installed

If you wouldn’t run a company like an experiment, stop running your consulting business like one.

The people who move fastest don’t work harder.
They stop pretending they should already know how to do this.

They treat the transition seriously.
They invest like operators.
And they build something intentional.

That work happens inside The IncubAItor.
Next cohort starts January 26.
Comment GAP or DM me GAP.

If you want to replace your $250K salary, stop selling hours. Build this instead.


I spoke to an ex-CFO this week.
She took a severance package and is building her consulting business.

Her back story was impressive.
Then she told me how she plans to “help companies solve problems.”

So I asked one question:
Are you sure organisations are actively buying that problem… or are you assuming they should?

Because here’s what most executives don’t realise when they leave corporate:
A lot of organisations are not shopping for “skill gaps.”
And when they are, they’ll often pay hourly.

Save this: Let's do the salary replacement math

To replace a $250K salary at $200/hour, you need:
1,250 billable hours.
That’s a lot of hours.

That’s also why time-for-money consulting becomes an uphill battle fast.
You don’t replace a salary by billing time. 
You replace a salary by selling something deployable.

This is what my clients are doing differently:
They’re not selling advice.
They’re not selling access.
They’re not selling “I can help.”

They’re selling a solution a business can adopt inside systems it already uses.
They codify their judgement.
They validate what the market is actually buying.
They target the right people on LinkedIn.

That’s why they can charge $20K+ for an outcome.
Not hourly rates. 

If reading this makes you feel uncomfortable, good.
That discomfort is usually the moment you stop trying to “make consulting work” and start building something commercial.

And if you don’t know how to do this, it doesn’t mean you’re not smart.
It means commercial packaging isn’t your domain.

That’s what we do inside The IncubAItor: codify your intelligence, validate demand, and build a full-stack content + marketing system, fast.

Comment: SALARY and I’ll share the 3 deployable solution types that replace a salary fastest in 2026.

Posting more on LinkedIn won’t fix a quiet pipeline. And not posting doesn’t protect you either.

The real problem is simpler - the right buyers don’t know why they should think of you yet.

I hear this from serious industry experts all the time:
“I can’t be bothered posting every day. Surely there’s another way to get clients.”

There is.

But the answer isn’t frequency.
And it isn’t hacks.

The real issue is that most people are still treating LinkedIn like a broadcast channel instead of a demand system.

Posting frequently doesn’t build pipeline.
Posting without a system doesn’t.

Not posting doesn’t buy you focus.
It just ensures the right buyers never think of you.

Here’s what is important:
Organic LinkedIn doesn’t work when you “show up consistently”.
It works when your content helps the platform and the buyer place you.

Industry experts aren’t selling attention.
They’re selling codified judgement, outcomes, and results.

That requires a different operating model.
Not more posts.
More precision.

Save this: The Organic Demand Misdiagnosis Test
If organic LinkedIn “isn’t working” for you, it’s usually because one of these is true:
-You’re posting without a declared outcome
-Your buyer isn’t obvious within 5 seconds
-Your content changes topics faster than the algorithm can place you
-You’re optimising for views instead of conversations
-You’re treating content as output, not as signal

If any of those are present, frequency won’t save you.

Here’s the reframe that changes everything:
Organic content works when it’s part of a closed-loop system:
-clear problem
-clear buyer
-clear perspective
-clear conversation path

When those are in place, you don’t need daily posts.
You need recognition.

That’s why some people post twice a week and get DMs from the right buyers 
and others post every day and attract nothing but noise.

Posting more on LinkedIn won’t fix a quiet pipeline.
And not posting doesn’t protect you either.


Posting more on LinkedIn won’t fix a quiet pipeline.
And not posting doesn’t protect you either.

Posting more on LinkedIn won’t fix a quiet pipeline.
 And not posting doesn’t protect you either.

The real problem is simpler - the right buyers don’t know why they should think of you yet.

I spent six months pulling apart how distribution actually works, not from gurus, but from platform behaviour, engineering signals, and live testing and turned it into a structured system that connects:
-offer
-message
-content
-buyer placement

Once that’s installed, organic stops feeling effortful.

It becomes directional.

This isn’t about being everywhere.
It’s about being correctly placed.

And when that happens, the right people don’t need to be convinced.
They already know why they’re reaching out.

Question:
If you’re honest, what’s missing right now -OFFER clarity or PIPELINE placement?

Share below and I will give you my honest answer.

Repeatable Client Acquisition & Fulfillment | Our mastermind community helps you convert online income into a real business | Book a call or DM to apply

I'm an operator documenting what I've learned building revenue engines over the past decade.

CEO @ MSP Sales Partners. Managing Partner @ Repeatable Revenue. Former PE-backed CEO. Former Managing Director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Spent six years building sales systems for Robin Robins (TMT, sold to PE). Built revenue engines for 100+ service businesses.

I write about what I've learned: how sales systems actually scale, the difference between activity and productivity, why hard choices matter more than hard hours, building a business without burning out.

This isn't guru content. It's lessons from the work... what I got wrong, what finally clicked, patterns I see across businesses, frameworks that actually held up under pressure.

I write for three types of people: Strategists thinking about exits and scale. business owners stuck at a plateau trying to break through. Thinkers who want to build intentional lives, not just businesses.

If you're one of those (or all 3), follow along.

Ray J. Green

"I do have to tell you, Ray, there is a small chance of sudden death."

My cardiologist. 

About a year-and-half-ago following a chance diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). 

I initially reacted the way you'd expect. 

"WTF am I supposed to do with that?!?!"

And, "Why in the hell is this happening to me?"

After all, I do 2 hours of cardio a day. 

In fact, my last echocardiogram shows I have 'athlete's heart.' My heart has literally grown because I've exercised it so much--in a good way. 

So how do I end up with a heart condition? 

But I had it wrong. This wasn't happening TO me. 
It was happening FOR me. 

That reframe changed how I look at this. Even with a couple ER visits in recent weeks. (Which ended up perfectly fine and just more awareness.) 

And it's reframed how I see every hardship in general. 

I break it all down in 10 min podcast here: https://lnkd.in/e3FKQD-m

CEO @ MSP Sales Partners | Man. Partner @ Repeatable Revenue | Ex-PE Backed CEO | Former U.S. Chamber Man. Director

No alternative text description for this image

6 years ago I started posting on LinkedIn because I actually enjoyed creating content. 

I also had a decent amount experience turning around sales teams & businesses using some unorthodox practices. 

So, I wrote about it. 

And wrote about leaving the C-Suite, moving my family to Cabo, and figuring out how to generate income from a Mexican beach. 

My wife and a couple friends were the only people who liked my posts. Sometimes not even them. 

But I actually enjoyed the process. And I wrote just about every day. It was easy. It was light. It was enjoyable. 

With just 3 or 4 likes per post (I don't have many friends), I even managed to get a couple clients from content. They saw a post, looked at my half-assed "optimized" profile, and hired me to give them advice. 

Shortly after that, creating content became a task. Something I had to do every day to be seen and known. To generate some business. 

Sit down. 
Think of something to write. 
Hammer out a post. 
Make it look pretty with descending lines. 
Post. 
Every day at the same time. 

It started to consume every morning. 

Then I learned that commenting on everyone else's posts helped my posts get more reach. So I'd block time every day to "engage" with people's content. A couple hours a day... on a slow day. 

Then I decided to start "batching" content, sitting down and hammering out 6 or 7 posts in one setting and scheduling them all out in advance. 

Then I started recycling content, taking old stuff, refreshing it, and adding it to a second publishing slot for the day. 

Before long, I was cranking out 21 posts a week and racking up who knows how many hours of commenting. 

For all intents and purposes, I was a machine. 

And that's before AI got added to the mix. 

But along the way, I stopped enjoying the process. 

I managed to systematize the joy out of writing. 

Content was forced. Engagement was forced. 

I wasn't sharing a viewpoint I felt strongly about. I wasn't enjoying the process. I was just "building an audience" and generating leads. 

And to some extent, that's perfectly fine. It's LinkedIn. We're all here to do business in one way or another. Myself included. We all gotta eat. 

But today I made a decision: I'm going to start spending more time doing things I genuinely love doing. And one of those things is writing for the sake of writing. 

Not for leads. Not to check a box. Not at a specific time. Not on a schedule. Not in conjunction with 7 hours of commenting on other people's posts. 

But for the joy of it. 

And hoping it adds value in one way or another to someone else here. Even if it's back to 3 or 4 likes per post. 

This post is the first stab at that. And I'm already enjoying this process a hell of a lot more. 

If you want to follow along, comment "WRITING" to receive my.... kidding. 

You'll never see another handraiser post like that from me again. But that's a post for anther day. Maybe tomorrow. But then again, maybe not. 

See you around.

undefined undefined

Newsletter

Join my email list to get growth strategies for your business here: https://resources.rayjgreen.com/reprev-email

OCAS 2.0

It took me 40 months to break $40k/month as an independent consultant. If I started again, I'd do it in a fraction of the time. I created this course - and share it for FREE - to help others do exactly that: https://www.rayjgreen.com/digital-course

RJG Newsletter

Join my email list for practical advice on sales, strategy, and self-mastery from an operator, not a guru: https://rayjgreen.beehiiv.com 

Chief Executive Officer

Managing Partner

Writer & Podcaster 

Expert In Residence: Sales & Sales Management

When people say, “just stay consistent” or “it’s about volume,” what I hear is: work hard, cross your fingers, and hope you get lucky. 

Just read a post from a popular ghostwriter on how to go viral. His hack? Just have to keep posting. 

Over the weekend watched a YouTube video from a popular business guru on how to find the right growth strategy. Solution? You just have to keep trying new things until it works. 

But if you take this advice literally, and completely, you’re essentially saying “Just keep doing shit until you get lucky.”

And if you’re wired anything like me, that’s not going to fly. Not is it going to be sustainable. 

Volume does matter. Consistency does matter. 

But just like driving to the office everyday doesn’t train you to be an F1 race car driver, volume and consistency aren’t enough. 

It’s intentional volume. Combined with focused reflection and aggressive iteration. 

A critical mass of effort done on purpose. Then regularly reflected on to discern what’s working and what isn’t. And adjusting accordingly. 

Volume without intentionality and iteration is wasted energy. Or lottery ticket-type betting. 

And a good way to burn out.

The thing you're most certain about in your business is probably the exact thing keeping you capped.

Just took my kids to a Museum of Illusions in Utah. Your brain swears things are true that aren't—by design.

Same thing happens in business. 

I've spent a lot of time this past year with founders of $200M businesses. And founders of $2M businesses. 

Biggest difference between them? 

A few simple beliefs. 

I break down what this looks like in a 10 min podcast. 

Tune in to listen here: https://lnkd.in/eCpt5-i7

My inner critic is a loud SOB.

Good workout? 
You could've gone harder. 

Eating okay? 
Could be cleaner. 

Time with your kids? 
Could be more present. 

Productive at work? 
Could've done more.

It never stops.

I used to fight it. Try to quiet it. Tell myself that I should be easier on myself, like everyone says you should.

And you know what happened?

It made things worse.

Because then I had the critic AND a voice criticizing the critic. 

Layering noise on top of noise.

So I stopped fighting.

I realized my inner critic is a feature. Not a bug.

That voice... the one constantly pushing me... is what I credit for jumping literal generations for my family.

Growing up with divorce. Absent father. Broken homes. In a foster home at one point. Not a lot of money. Or formal education. And layers of other challenges. 

Today? Happily married. Two healthy boys who know nothing of that instability. MBA from a top school. Living in Cabo. Traveling the world.

That tough critic that pushed me said "This is not for you. You can do better. You will do better."

And I did.

Here's the nuance though.

I've learned to allow the critic to push my actions. My habits. My standards.

Without allowing it to define my worth.

I can accept that my actions will never be "enough" while also knowing that I am enough as a person.

And that's a big effing difference.

One keeps you sharp. 

The other keeps you whole.

Dropped a podcast expanding on this a bit if you're interested: https://lnkd.in/eAm7GyPn

Most salespeople treat discovery like a podcast interview.

"Tell me about your business. How many users? What's your current setup? Walk me through your IT history."

Like you're only there to gather information and collect facts.

And I promise you it's costing you deals. 

Something that's helped the hundreds of consultative sellers I've coached: 

Discovery isn't information gathering.
It's the first step of a strategic close. 

Run a bad discovery and the rest of the process is going to pay the price. 

Example for IT companies:

Bad discovery: "How many servers do you have?"

Good discovery: "How is IT accelerating your growth or holding it back right now?"

One gets you data. The other gets you business impact—the ammunition you need when you're actually trying to close the deal 3 weeks later.

The same thing happens in assessments.

Example for IT companies: 

You find cracked passwords. You find too many O365 admins. You document the vulnerabilities.

Then you present them like a checklist: "You have X problems."

But the MSPs who close? They explain why that matters: "You have cracked passwords on essential systems. Let me tell you what happened to a company last month when a disgruntled employee knew they were leaving…"

Every step in your process—from first call to final proposal—has one job: move the deal forward.

Not educate. Not inform. Not "let them think about it."

Move. The deal. Forward.

I shared a podcast on this, and why despite the stigma attached to it, it really is Always Be Closing. 

I explain why and how here: https://lnkd.in/e7SVFiVx

I wish there were more 'right' and 'wrong' calls in business. But what I've learned from 20 years of leading teams, divisions, and businesses? 

It's a lot more "good bet vs bad bet' and a lot less 'right decision vs wrong decision.' 

Regardless of whether you're running $500K business or a $500M business, when you're making high level decisions about where the business should go, you're operating with uncertainty. 

You may be 55% sure on some days. 90% sure on a good day. But that's the job description. 

The problem is, I see this crush a lot of founders. 

They go this direction. Then that direction, Start this project. Change to that project. Pick this priority. Then that priority. 

It's exhausting just to watch. 

Even more exhausting to do. I know from experience. 

I recorded a 10 min podcast for any founder or business leader that's felt overwhelmed by uncertainty. And anyone that's let that uncertainty lead to perpetual pivots and indecision. 

You can tun in here: https://lnkd.in/eVNUZDuY

One of the biggest challenges with digital marketing is remembering that the people in your feed aren’t the people buying your stuff. 

(Unless you sell products and services to online creators.) 

I’m guilty of forgetting this myself. 

I scroll here and see a bunch of people using AI in really cool, new ways. 

That gets baked into my head when creating a podcast or YouTube video on AI. 

Then I go to an event and talk to my actual customers and prospects and realize, they’re not using AI in their sales process in some of the simplest ways. 

But it’s not just with AI. It’s with all our messaging. 

We have what’s called “the curse of knowledge.” 

When we forget what it’s like to not know what we know so well. It’s a trap a lot of experts fall into. 

So, reminder (to myself as much as anyone) to spend a little more time creating for the people we want to listen. 

Not other creators.

Years ago I gave my wife terrible business advice.

Not because it didn't work.

But because it did.

She had a custom baby bedding business doing $25K/month on Etsy. Six-month waiting list. Countless 5-star reviews. People literally begging her to make "just one more."

She asked for my input.

I looked at all the indicators and told her what any business advisor would say: "It's time to scale."

She had some resistance. "Yeah, but I love sewing."

But she pushed on.

She hired people. Built systems. Went from spending her days doing what she loved—talking to customers, designing patterns, creating with her hands—to managing quality control and dealing with employee issues.

The advice worked. The business scaled.

And she fucking hated it.

Her initial resistance? That gut instinct she had?

Spot on.

She didn't want to build a business. She wanted to do the thing she loved and get paid well for it. Those are two completely different games.

My advice was biased by what I believed a business should be. Not what her business could be for her.

I see this happen quite a bit. And I'm more aware of it having gone through my wife's experience with her. 

I recorded a podcast breaking down: 

→ Why you should pick advisors carefully (even if you love them)
→ Why product-market pull doesn't mean you should scale
→ How to filter advice so you build the right thing (for you, not for them)

Listen in here: https://lnkd.in/eCtMPwpn

Our 4th graders were begging for cell phones. 

Parents made a pact: rewind the clock & meet 'em halfway. 

No smartphones... 

But they were genuinely thrilled to get these retro beauties instead. 📞✨

You know why so many salespeople waste 10 minutes talking about the weather?

Because they think being liked is the same as being trusted.

It's not.

Here's how I think about it:

If I needed brain surgery, I wouldn't pick the surgeon who makes great small talk.

I'd pick the one who asked questions that prove they've seen my exact condition 50 times before.

Likability gets you in the door. Credibility gets you the deal.

(If you are selling anything of high importance.) 

But there's the psychological trap a lot of reps fall into:

Small talk feels safer. It's comfortable. It doesn't require you to demonstrate expertise or challenge assumptions or risk saying something that might make the prospect uncomfortable.

So you hide behind it.

You talk about dogs and football teams instead of asking the question that might make them think: "Wait, maybe our current IT setup isn't as solid as we thought."

Real rapport is built on confidence, not comfort. 

Confidence that you know their industry. That you've done your homework. That you're not afraid to respectfully push back when they tell you something that's not accurate.

I recorded a podcast breaking down: 

→ Why people confuse likability with trust (and how to fix it)
→ The preparation work that builds real credibility
→ How to show up as an expert, not an order taker

Listen to the whole thing here: https://lnkd.in/eDs2mfSZ

There's a name for what happens in a business when leaders have no spine. 

You know what I'm talking about. When the people responsible for making the tough calls... just don't. 

They ignore underperformance. 
Avoid difficult conversations. 
Procrastinate making hard decisions. 
Or just never make them at all. 

From a business standpoint, it's called 'management debt.' 

'Management debt' compounds just like financial debt. 

It destroys cultures. And it can stunt growth just as much as irresponsible financial debt can. 

I recorded a quick podcast breaking down: 

→ What management debt is (vs. real leadership)

→ The compounding impact it has on companies 

→ How to keep it from accumulating in yours 

Tune in here: https://lnkd.in/eT3aBrt2

We all have beliefs that aren’t true. Every single one of us. 

The question is: How much are those beliefs holding us (or our business) back? 

Last week we took our beach kids on a ski trip to Utah for a few days. 

(“Dad, is that real SNOW?!?!) 

We had an unexpected delay in Salt Lake City and stopped by the Museum of Illusions—which is basically an hour and a half of mind bending experiences. 

It’s display after display of, “How in the hell is that happening?” 

And what it comes down to is your brain creates shortcuts with limited data. It stitches information together in a way that makes sense… but isn’t true. 

Like this picture. 

The tops of both of these boxes are the same size. Hard to see. But they even give you a block to hold over it to confirm. 

It’s harmless in this controlled environment. 

But what if the tops of these boxes represented a critical belief you held about something of importance that was holding you back. 

You know, the belief that: 

— “This business just doesn’t have the potential.”

— “That idea will never work.”

— “I’ve got to have [money, experience, connections, etc]  before I can do that.”

— “I’m too [young, old] to do this.” 

— “That channel doesn’t work anymore.” 

And what if it was just completely… wrong? 

An illusion that was holding you back from a monumental shift and achieving what you wanted. 

I've spent a lot of time this past year with entrepreneurs who've built $50M, $100M, $200M businesses.

I've also spent a lot of time with entrepreneurs who are struggling to get there. 

And the biggest difference I see is their belief systems. 

Founders who struggle to get to the next level typically have a belief that’s holding them back. Something they know to be true… that simply isn’t.  

A common one being that they are more essential to day-to-day operations than they really are. 

The question I’m asking myself today: What am I dead certain is true… that isn’t?

How about you?

I'm on Facebook the other day and see an ad: "Every sales expert is telling you the same lie—you need to build rapport before you sell."

The pitch? Buy my $37 course to learn how to sell without rapport.

If you read on, you'll see this supposed sales expert was making a common mistake: 

Confusing rapport with small talk. 

Rapport = trust & credibility. 

Small talk = likability. 

Talking about the weather. The local football team. The family pictures on the desk.

That might make you likable. But it doesn't make you credible.

And if you're selling anything of real importance to someone, likability only goes so far.

Think of it this way: If you need brain surgery, are you going with the doctor you like most, or the one you trust to get the job done? 

I recorded a podcast breaking down the common misconception. 

In it, I break down:

→ Why small talk doesn't equal rapport (and what does)

→ How to establish credibility in the first 5 minutes

→ The questions that prove you're an expert, not just likable

→ Why rapport is an ongoing process, not a one-time event

Listen now: https://lnkd.in/eDs2mfSZ

We glorify the benefits of entrepreneurship like independence, ownership, optionality. 

But those are the very things that crush entrepreneurs once they get going. 

Having an infinite number of options. 
Virtually no certainty while making huge decisions. 
But owning the outcome entirely. 

It's the freedom people think they want. 

But it drives a lot of entrepreneurs crazy once they get it. 

They can't make decisions. And when they do, the immediately doubt themselves and change directions. 

Which basically makes only one thing certain: they won't move forward.

I watched an entrepreneur change their mind on lead gen strategies 8 times recently. 

And I recorded a 10 min podcast breaking down why this happens (from experience). And how we can flip the script on uncertainty. 

Listen in here: https://lnkd.in/eujidhhV

The MSP owner on the phone with me sounded defeated.

His sales rep had just spent three weeks and 20+ hours on what looked like a perfect fit.

Discovery had uncovered real pain points. The assessment was thorough. The proposal meeting went well—good questions, engagement, positive energy.

Then... nothing.

Not a “no thanks.”
Not a “we’re going with someone else.”
Not even a “we need more time.”

Just complete radio silence after weeks of investment.

“This keeps happening,” he told me. “How do we stop bleeding time on deals that were never going to close?”

This was my response:

Open article: Stop Chasing Dead Deals: How to Read Your MSP Prospects Before They Ghost You by mspsuccess.com

Stop Chasing Dead Deals: How to Read Your MSP Prospects Before They Ghost You

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The Battle

Mary Henderson

Ray J. Green

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taplio

The Battle

Mary Henderson

Ray J. Green

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Mary Henderson's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreRay J. Green's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreMary Henderson's LinkedIn Performance