One membership, many ways to grow
Learn new approaches
Make more money
Grow your network
Is this you?
You’ve got all the gear and a great idea.
You’re serious about working, or planning to work, as an independent consultant.
You’re confident in your ability to see and solve certain problems better than anyone.
You know your discipline, and are positive that there’s an audience for it.
Is this also you?
You might be concerned about sales or pricing, in two minds about a potential partnership, or unsure how to handle certain tricky conversations.
You might be looking for reliable tools or insights that’ll help business run more smoothly.
And you might be tired of trying to find these things through Google, or getting spammed on LinkedIn whenever you ask for a recommendation.
Take the next step
Explore your options
We want to meet you where you’re at, so there are a few different membership options to consider. Pick the one that works best for your business.
Sign up for our resources, or apply to be part of our community
If you’re only interested in courses and templates, you can sign up straight away. We’ll need to approve applications for other types of membership.
Learn from quality educational content
Access members-only videos, podcasts, and downloadable tools and templates. We release new content every month, so there’s always something new to discover.
Connect with our thriving community
Join one of our community plans and within two months you’ll be invited to join a mentoring group (which we call a Community Circle) with a carefully curated mix of other members — whose work is non-competing with your own.
Give back to other independent consultants
Share your knowledge, insight and experience with other community members. Know that your membership is also supporting the professional development of someone in need.
How we helpFounded and led by Phil Lewis
Praise for Phil and the team
"There is simply no one who will help achieve the impact you want and get you where you need to go faster. So stop reading this testimonial and get going."
"I thought it was normal for things to move so fast. I’ve since found out that this is not ‘normal’. Incomparable."
"Phil’s strength is his ability to inspire you to take action that benefits both you and your business. He gets to the root of issues and identifies workable plans of action. Incredible expertise and experience."
"Stronger proposals, a large client win, and improved delivery efficiencies. If that isn’t enough, the working style of each meeting allows for the right conversations to happen."
Frequently asked questions
Who is the community for?
You might already be working as an independent consultant. Maybe you’re about to make the leap from corporate life or running another business.
As an experienced professional (even if you’re not yet an experienced consultant) you want to build a sustainable consultancy business — whether it’s just you and your wits, or with a team behind you.
Whatever your journey up to now — if you’re serious about making it in independent consultancy, our community is for you.
Why do you need to know about me and my business?
It’s important to us that you get the most out of membership once you’re on board. What’s more, we want to create a community space where everyone feels welcome and supported.
Bearing that in mind, we do a bit of light curation around membership. It’s nothing arduous; just a bit of context to check that you and us make a good fit.
Joining is easy and quick. Just tell us a bit about you and your business, and then have a quick informal video chat with one of the team.
By learning more about you, we’re better placed to help you achieve your goals.
How much time do I need to commit?
You’ll get out what you put in. That said, we know that independent consultancy is a busy game. We’ve designed the platform to be focused and helpful, even if you’re someone who doesn’t always have a lot of time.
The suggested minimum engagement is about two hours a month, although most of our members will contribute a bit more than this.
I’m busy. Will this be a distraction?
It shouldn’t be. Our aim is to build a tool that’s as integral to your business as your laptop or phone. Our learning content is direct and efficient, aiming to help you build a better consultancy that sells more, to more clients, faster.
And you never know when something’s going to be helpful — an insight from us or a tip from another member could save you from repeating costly mistakes made by others.
Do I get access to all the course/video content straight away?
When you sign up to any of our plans, you’ll have immediate access to the first module in our 12-part, year-long Advance course.
Subsequent modules will be released at monthly intervals (strictly speaking, you’ll get a new one every 30 days) over the course of the year. We release our content in phases because it is detailed and open-ended, with thought starters, practical suggestions and exercises to complete.
The first module includes a film, detailed course notes, and a downloadable tool/template. Subsequent modules will contain similar content. The intention is that you work on the ideas and concepts covered in each module in depth over the course of the weeks following its release, before moving on to the next module.
Research indicates that big info dumps aren’t helpful for busy independent professionals trying to balance learning alongside day-to-day work, lifestyle and other responsibilities. Working with new concepts in this more structured way creates capacity to explore them sufficiently, and apply them in real-life business situations, before moving on.
This time-staged method also conforms to best-practice adult learning models followed by most higher education institutions.
Do I really need this?
If you’re an independent consultant looking to sell more, grow your business or expand your network, what we’re building is for you. Likewise if you’re not a consultant yet but looking to make the leap.
I’m concerned about competition or conflicts of interest
We understand that you don’t want to give away hard-won knowledge to potential competitors. Our Community Circles are carefully curated with the aim of ensuring that there is no obvious competitive conflict.
What about confidentiality?
We ask all members to sign up to our Community Guidelines, which includes comprehensive confidentiality provisions. We have a zero-tolerance policy for non-compliance.
Why are you doing this?
No one else has the career that you’ve had. Harnessed in the right way, your unique journey and perspective will help you find clients, add huge value to those clients, and prosper.
But time after time, we encounter consultants — both active and prospective — who are brilliant at what they do, but experience stumbling block(s) to success. Some can sell but don’t know how to price. Others can ace new business wins but struggle to develop existing clients organically. A few are new to the whole thing with a brilliant idea, but don’t know where to start.
We know what this feels like. All of it. We’ve been there ourselves. We’ve made the errors, lost the pitches, fallen out with the business partners, and lost sleep fretting about P&Ls.
Every single stumble has been a learning opportunity. Now, we want to pass that experience on. And enable a community where knowledge is pooled for the benefit of all. Not because we’re smug about our track records, or that we think we know better. But because a better resourced and more knowledgeable community is a more effective community. Raising everyone’s game improves the perception and performance of the discipline overall.
And let’s face it… it’s lonely enough out there already.
What are The Consultancy Business’s values?
Integrity. Doing the right thing by other community members, and the wider world.
Creativity. Seeking original answers to difficult questions.
Excellence. Building great things with, and for, great people.
Mutuality. Treating others the way we’d like to be treated ourselves.
Grit. Never giving up, no matter how tough it gets.