The Golden Triangle is the Ultimate Weapon for 1-Man Consultants to Thrive Hustling on the Side
The 1-Man consulting practice has practical constraints. We must understand and use constraints to our advantage.
Consultants on the side love to hustle. Why? Because we choose to do so. We have the freedom to grow our practice the way we want it.
Bosses no longer breathe down our necks. Time does.
Every 1-Man consultant on the side suffers from a lack of time. 3 hours or 4 hours every evening is not a lot of time.
Therefore, we need to figure out how to take on more clients or scale our 1-Man consulting practice given practical constraints. The concept of the Golden Triangle provides clarity.
The Golden Triangle Puts Constraints into Perspective
There are 3 practical constraints every 1-Man consultant on the side experience. They are the following.
- Time
- Quality (Service. Product, Project, Engagement)
- Cost
The Golden Triangle, or what Economists call the Impossible Trinity, explains that we cannot have our cake and eat it. We can only choose to fulfill 2 out of 3 elements above, practically speaking.
Understanding this idea separates consultants suffering from burnout and consultants who thrive in their 1-Man consulting practice.
“Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions.”
3 Data Points = 3 Sets of Choices
Assume that you can only choose one pair of attributes to pursue as a consulting on the side. What would you choose?
- Time — Quality
- Quality — Cost
- Cost — Time
Now, remove the assume word. Your choice shapes your business model. Here’s how. And why.
If You Want to Offer High-Quality Consulting Services and Spend More Time Working With Clients — It Cannot Be Cheap
Consulting is a service-oriented profession. Time is money.
When we choose to orient our 1-Man consulting practice to solving complex problems with the client, that means we must spend time with our clients. That has profound implications for our consulting model.
- More time spent on complex problems means fewer clients can be added to our service portfolio. This is reality, especially when you only have 4 hours per evening to work on client assignments.
- Complex problems mean more time is required to get our clients to the next step. If we price our services on the cheaper end, we end up with a financial loss.
- We may have to consider working with 1 client for the week, instead of different clients every evening.
If you choose the quality–time attribute pair, you need to price up. Otherwise, you will suffer from operational losses. It is guaranteed.
Aggressive client acquisition strategies are irrelevant to you. Client account longevity is your North Star.
If You Choose to Provide Quality Consulting Services at a Specific (or Low) Price Point — You Must Float the Duration of Your Consulting Engagement
Choosing the quality–cost attribute is choosing the fixed price model. Project managers understand this idea very well.
If you choose to provide quality service at a low price point to your consulting clients, your priority to serve them drops when one higher-paying client appears in your inbox. And this phenomenon is like a daily rodeo to the 1-Man consultant on the side.
Why so? Because we want our 1-Man consultant practice to thrive.
And we must accept the constraints the way it is.
If you operate on a fixed price model to attract initial clients, make clear to them that the time duration of the engagement has to be flexible. Cheap = No fixed delivery date.
Give yourself room to take on ideal (paying) clients who see the value of your work.
If You Choose to Provide Low-Cost Consulting Services with Speedy Completion Timelines — Do Not Make Guarantees on Quality
Cheap + Fast = No guarantee on Quality
Now, you may disagree with me on this perspective. Let us think about it this way. How confident are you to deliver high-quality work, given basement contract value and immediate delivery of work?
There is no hurry to answer. Read the question one more time. Be honest.
And if you do, you will arrive at the same conclusion as I did. You must allow the quality of service engagement to float.
One note. Let your clients understand your consulting model before they sign the contract. Inform them that quality will not be guaranteed. And if they insist on assurance on quality, price up your offer. Let them choose.
In Conclusion
Aspiring consultants on the side need to confront 1 thorny issue. And that is their preferred business model to hustle on the side.
And hustling successfully.
I offer one way to bring clarity to this article, using the Golden Triangle concept. Consultants need to choose one of the following, knowing that having all 3 is difficult to attain.
- Time — Quality
- Quality — Cost
- Cost — Time
Our choice determines the ideal client profile, service catalog construction, and business potential as a 1-Man consultant on the side.
“It’s a lack of clarity that creates chaos and frustration.”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure. Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.
