You’ve said it to yourself more than once.
“If I were just more consistent. If I could do a little bit every week, I’d have a healthier pipeline. If I could just balance the business development with client delivery, this wouldn’t keep happening.”
Most independent consultants have run that thought through their heads dozens of times. And then gone back to client delivery, because the work was there and the pipeline felt okay enough.
In Episode 283 of the Grow Your Independent Consulting Business podcast, Melisa Liberman makes the case that consistency isn’t the problem, and trying to fix consistency is solving the wrong problem.
Why “Be More Consistent” Feels Like the Obvious Answer
The pipeline problem has a surface-level explanation that feels airtight. You get busy with client delivery, business development slips, the project ends, the pipeline is empty. The logical solution seems like: do the business development more consistently so the pipeline never goes empty.
The problem is that most independent consultants don’t even know what they’re trying to be consistent at. When Melisa asks, the answer is usually vague — posting on LinkedIn, attending events, networking, speaking, following up, staying in touch with contacts. Some combination of activities that sounds right but doesn’t have a clear goal line.
And even when they do have a plan, the real issue surfaces quickly: they deprioritize it whenever they have enough work. That’s not a discipline problem. That’s a predictable outcome of the job they’ve given themselves.
The Wrong Job
When your job is to find your next project, business development will always take a back seat to client delivery.
That’s not a character flaw. When you have an active engagement, your brain correctly identifies finding the next engagement as not urgent. You know it’ll take longer than you expect. You know you should be building the pipeline now. But when your job is to land the next client, and you don’t urgently need one, the rational thing to do is defer.
So you defer. The engagement ends. The pipeline is empty. Panic sets in. You scramble. You land work eventually. And you promise yourself you’ll be more consistent next time. Melisa calls this the Cycle of Reactivity, and it’s not a consistency problem — it’s a job description problem.
The Right Job
The job that breaks the cycle isn’t “land my next project.” It’s “create demand.”
Staying known. Staying relevant. Staying connected to the market you serve. That’s something you do whether you need a project today or not — because it’s not tied to the urgency of needing a client. It’s tied to who you are as a business owner and how you operate.
When you give yourself the job of creating demand, the question shifts. Instead of “How do I make myself do more business development?” you start asking “How do I stay known? How do I stay relevant? How do I stay connected to the people and the market I serve?” Those questions don’t disappear when you’re deep in client delivery. They’re part of how you operate.
“But I Don’t Have Enough Time”
Melisa addresses this directly because it’s the most common objection. And she pushes back.
Creating demand doesn’t require the same time as finding your next project. Finding your next project is intensive — it’s almost like a job search. It can consume your available capacity when you’re in scramble mode.
Creating demand is different. It’s an hour or two a week. It’s the relationships you’re maintaining anyway. It’s the reputation you’re building around what you do. It doesn’t require a massive outreach campaign or a 20-point business development plan. It requires showing up consistently to the things that keep you known and connected — because those things have a job beyond “I need another client.”
If you’re signing clients that are taking up 50 or 60 hours of your time, that’s a business model problem to fix. But if you have a working business model, you have an hour or two a week. That’s enough.
What This Looks Like in Practice: Richard’s Story
Melisa illustrates the right job with a real consultant — Richard — who is fully utilized and never thinks about finding his next client.
Not because he’s lucky. Because creating demand is simply part of how he operates. He doesn’t think “I need to stay consistent.” He thinks “I create demand.” It’s his job description, not a goal he’s trying to hit.
His system is straightforward. Two to three strategic conferences a year. Three to five speaking engagements a year — regional conferences, local events, workshops, some online. Nothing that requires a speaking agent or a big stage. A handful of emails and Zooms per month to stay connected to his network. A monthly newsletter.
That’s it. The consistency Melisa’s ICP is looking for isn’t the starting point, it’s the byproduct. When each of those activities has a job (build relationships, stay top of mind, generate inbound opportunities, uncover demand), you do them because they make sense, not because you’re forcing discipline.
“But I’m Not Established Enough for This Yet”
Melisa anticipates the next objection: what if you’re new? What if you’re still figuring out how to land your first few clients? Do you worry about creating demand later?
No. Creating demand is foundational, not advanced. Every time you defer it, you make the underlying problem larger. You’ll get good at acquiring projects eventually — but if you’re operating from the wrong job description, you’ll find yourself landing underpaying work, being treated as an extra pair of hands rather than a trusted advisor, and losing control over your schedule and your pricing.
The reframe applies whether you have no work right now or you’re fully utilized. The question is the same: what would change about how you approach business development if you thought of it as creating demand rather than finding your next project?
The Question to Stop Asking and the One to Start
Stop asking: “How do I make myself do more business development more consistently?”
Start asking: “How do I take ongoing responsibility for creating demand in my business?”
That’s a much bigger question. It leads to a different type of business. One where you’re building toward being known, being sought out, and having the leverage to decide what you take on and what you don’t.
Put This Into Action
Pause and answer for yourself: what would shift in the way you think about and approach business development if your job was to create demand rather than find your next project?
Then look at the activities you’d want to do to build that reputation and those relationships. What’s the simplest version of that system? What does it look like when it fits into your busiest weeks, not just your slow ones?
The Lead Gen Sprint is designed to help you build and execute exactly this system. The fall cohort starts September 22nd. Enroll now at www.ConsultantSprint.com so you can get access to the Lead Gen Sprint method and start putting the foundational pieces in place before we begin.
Resources Mentioned
Companion Resource: The Consultant’s Lead Gen Sprint — The fall cohort starts September 22nd. Enroll at consultantsprint.com.
More Resources for Independent Consultants
- Coaching for Consultants: Click here to apply for your Coaching Fit Call.
- Book: Grow Your Consulting Business: The 14-Step Roadmap to Make Your Independent Consulting Goals a Reality
- YouTube Podcast Channel
- Melisa’s Free Resources, Books, Planners & Journals: https://linktr.ee/melisaliberman
- Website
