Ways to navigate work as a solo strategist

I've written twice before about lessons learned since going independent. But there's always new ideas to absorb. Or old ideas to re-absorb. So below are some more pithy notes I've taken from conversations with people wiser than me. They will not all apply to you. But some might.

Be buyable in different amounts

What's the £500 version of your expertise? What's the £5,000 version? Is there a £50,000 version? This is one of the reasons I consult, but then also have a paid membership. Solos need product and pricing strategy too.

Your bank account is a dam

You can't always monetise every week of your year. The real question is if you have enough run rate and cash reserves as a backup plan. Like a dam, those reserves become a source of energy which you manage over time.

Forget 'thought leadership'

Sure, it helps. But it also creates huge pressure to pump out long articles or perfect theses. An alternative? Share notes from the frontlines. Short stories. Things you're hearing. It's more raw, real, and hard for an AI to replicate. A good personal story will beat a bunch of vague ‘life lessons’.

Find a gang

There's a sense of community I find among solos which gives me hope for humanity. Find younger people who you want to level up. Find older people from whom you can learn things. Speak with peers whose skills complement yours. It all adds up.

Explore pricing models

The old school narrative is that you charge for time. The emergent narrative is your charge for project outcomes. It's ok to have a mixed offering. I charge day rates with agencies, and project rates for clients. Value based pricing works when you can have full control of the process (and even then, not always), so mix and match in a way that works for you.

Practise operator skills

You're no longer just a strategist, you're a business operator. And when you show up with clients, it matters that you can run the work, as well as do the work. My hunch: showing up as a thinker who can do operations is only going to go up in value. Clients need someone who can make stuff happen.

Move fast but deliberately

By necessity, your job is now faster. You can't offer scale, but you can offer velocity. And velocity isn't just speed, it's speed plus direction. Helping clients find a way to work like that as well is another thing that is only going to go up in value. Being really smart but too slow is not effective.

It's a coverage game

Sure, it's a relationships game, but it's also a statistical game. We're always in lite networking mode. The more people you know, the greater the chances of one of those converting into a gig. Coverage plus chemistry plus commercial timing. Which means control is less important than influence.

Mind the fame game

Not for your own profile, but for the work you do. Most of your work will not result in a famous ad, or an external facing communications at all. Not for a while, anyway. This is ok. You're not selling fame. You're helping businesses move better, faster, more efficiently, more effectively. A lot of that work is hidden and doesn’t result in a fancy LinkedIn post. That’s ok.

Unlock residual value

It's useful to think of strategy products as either margin makers or foots in the door. Take a workshop. Do I charge £5,000 for it? I often do. But I could also lower the price to grow penetration. And then do biz dev from within. Both are valid. As you do more of this stuff, your instincts will improve on which is the best choice for the prospective client in front of you.

Don't cut costs

If you're pricing a project and clients ask if you can do it for cheaper, you now have an option. You can reduce the price by cutting your margin. But you can also reduce your price by cutting down deliverables. One of them is a more sustainable practice. And also helps you keep your reputation for delivering quality, not just delivering the cheaper version of something ok.

Help the connectors

I've gotten at least two gigs now from intros by someone who I consider a 'connector'. People who intro a lot of people. There's immense value in helping those individuals. They can help expand your coverage area quite significantly. Find your connectors, then find ways to help them. It works.

Pick your ways of working

It's not always about the work. Sometimes it's about the ways of working. Is your strategy offering 'done for you'? Or 'done with you'? You don't need to have a fixed choice. But I find clients like to have options to choose from.

Strategy is negotiation

For some reason, strategists hate the idea of compromise. It feels impure. Tainted. Well... yeah, bullshit. All strategy is negotiation because you're dealing with human systems. The sell-in is as important (if not more) than the strategy itself. If you want to unlock a workshop on this, my dear pal Rachel did a great one for the Salmon Crew. Access it by upgrading here.

Be less theatrical

I've not met a single CMO who loves the idea of 'the big reveal'. We focus so much on making a big theatrical release of our thinking. It tends to be more effective to treat it like a series of gigs. Bring things to discuss, not just answers to sell. It really matters. Also helps with selling the work as you go.

Strategy dysmorphia is real

We always think other people are onto a secret we're not. This often happens when we see a finished deck. It's great. And we go, oh man my existing project isn't like that. Remember: that's because you're comparing your backend operations with everyone else’s frontend UX. Your rehearsal with their premiere. Focus on being better than your past gig. It’s enough.

Pick your trade-off

Independent life isn't perfect. Employed life isn't perfect. What matters is which trade-offs you're ok with. You can't always have personal growth and meaning and profit and stability at the same time. Pick 2-3 things and rest your conscience. If you know the trade-offs, it helps you feel content.

One thing that feels clear? Self-employment is as much about the soul as it is about skills. You can learn skills, but it takes soul to apply them and feel ok with them. Never forget this duality. It's the difference between intentions (the interesting part) and actions (the important part).