One of my clients was a CFO with 28 years in finance.
He was intelligent and had great credentials, the kind of person who could walk into any boardroom and command the room instantly.
Every time he thought about building his own advisory practice, he stalled.
He spent 14 months planning, saying “I’ll leave after the next board meeting.”
He had more than enough skills but struggled because he kept waiting for the perfect moment.
You’ll recognize the excuses; waiting for a lighter month on the calendar, or hoping for a bigger savings cushion. He was brilliant and highly experienced, but lacked a method to get to the heart of what made him so valuable.
Then he started spending 30 minutes a day focusing on defining his skills. He identified the specific problem he'd been solving for companies his entire career.
The process of building his own vision had begun.
Beyond the title
Most senior leaders know exactly what they're good at.
Separating that expertise from the company they work for is a much bigger challenge.
You’ve spent 20+ years solving complex problems inside large organizations. By now, your identity is tangled up with the logo on your business card. When it’s time to articulate what you actually do, you default to the title and the company name.
It’s all important stuff, but your future buyers don't need your intelligence just for the sake of it. They buy your solution to their problem.
The first exercise I take every client through is a question:
What’s the specific problem you've been solving repeatedly throughout your entire career?
We’re not looking for a list of capabilities or a resume summary here. Find that one problem. An issue that has the power to keep executives up at night.
Choose one that has a real cost if left unsolved, the kind you can fix faster than almost anyone else.
When you can define it clearly, your offer practically writes itself.
What they’re really buying
High-performing execs lead with their intellect.
I see it all the time.
They write detailed breakdowns of their methodology. Listing credentials and explaining frameworks comes easy to them. It’s genuinely impressive, but it doesn't sell.
Why?
Nobody buys how smart you are. People buy because of emotion.
This means that your offer has to answer a certain set of questions that bring out this emotional connection.
- Can you help someone feel confident about a big life decision?
- How do you show you’ve solved expensive, complex problems before?
- What’s your framework for getting results in the shortest time possible?
The outcome on the other side of working with you is what buyers want to see. This is what you're really selling, not your IQ.
When you frame your offer correctly using your answers to these questions, your prospects start imagining what it would feel like to have you in their corner.
Get started
The biggest mistake I see is waiting.
Have you already written the perfect resignation letter? Even though you haven’t built out your offer yet?
My client didn't wait. He began working on it for 30 minutes a day.
He started in January last year, and by April, his offer was built. By July, he had two retainer clients paying him $25K each per month. He gave notice in August with more income than he'd ever earned at a single company.
By the time he left corporate, the bridge was already built beneath him. Leaving was easy because the groundwork was already done.
You don't need to have it all figured out before you start.
You just need to solve one problem, for one type of person.
Spend 30-45 minutes a day and start connecting those two things together.
That's where it begins. Not after the next board meeting, right now.
Difficult question for you:
Is your intelligence holding you back from making your next smart move?
Melina
Find out more. Visit my website here.
113 Cherry St. #92768, Seattle, WA 98104
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