What was once a 'perfect fit' has changed, several times in fact. I was reminded of that when I joined 250 colleagues at our annual get together this week. That's 250 of over 1,000 members of the ProVisors organization of expert business advisors in Los Angeles. As I chatted with people I haven't seen in months, or even a year, we caught up on all the ways we've each grown and changed our own businesses.



Time and again in those conversations we described the business model we're now using, and who we are as professionals and business owners. And for many of us, those models have changed.

Here is some of my own learning. You might find it thought provoking as you consider your own.

When I moved into independent consulting in 1994, it thrilled me. Coming from many years of consulting with corporate giants like Avon, Disney, and clients of mega advisory firm Ernst & Young, I had a treasure chest of planning, management and problem solving tools to use with mid-sized business's challenges.

I trimmed and simplified the systems and processes of those complex large-scale companies down so they'd be perfect for professional services firms, fast growing start-ups, and second-generation family owned businesses.

Having my corporate background has been a tremendous door opener for speaking engagements as well as with clients. (Quite honestly, I loved that professional identity!) It's also been a quick credential with colleagues who provide different services to the same clients. It's enabled me to build a Rolodex of experts to solve my clients' challenges in financing, insurance and legal matters.

That 'credential' has enabled me to build the independent consulting business that brings in a healthy six figures with no additional staff or infrastructure for nearly fourteen years.

However, just as my clients' businesses have changed over the past few years, my business has changed. I've changed.

With each passing year, as my personal expertise grew, my interests and focus shifted - sometimes very naturally and incrementally. And sometimes I could see that I wanted to make huge shifts that required deliberate redesign.

For instance, during the first four years of my independent consulting work, clients asked me to develop business plans for them. I did many plans, and then realized that I was the most expert person about their strategy... and that was not the vision I hold for my clients.

I'm passionate about people being more expert and more capable at their business. So I shifted from 'doing' their plans, to guiding them through the thinking and decision making and planning so that they are continually more expert in their business.

Did that change whom I work with? You bet! Today I work with people who want to become more skilled than they are now, and not those who want to outsource key decision-making to others.

Those big business credentials? They're an interesting talking point, but nowadays prospective clients want to know other things: Can I help them get clear on their business vision and goals? How quickly can I help them build more effective teams? And what should they do about work-arounds they've used to avoid fixing obstacles?

The result? I have clients who realized they had by-passed a profitable niche by doing scattershot marketing. Others saw an unprofitable product could be a powerhouse door opener that always leads to up-sells that are 30-50% profitable. And some clients realize they're devoting resources to a product line that isn't part of their core offering, and holds a higher value if they sell it off.

Each time I think I've got my own business model set, the external world changes my own opportunities dramatically - new technology, changing business models across industries, new customer expectations for response time and so on.

Just as my clients have to stay 'fresh and relevant' for their customers, so do I. So, just as I challenge my clients' thinking about their business, I repeatedly challenge my own.

Here are some questions I ponder: - How long have I been delivering my products or services 'this' way? - What circumstances brought me to this business model? - Have those circumstances changed significantly? - Does my model reflect what the market is seeking now? - Does my message reflect who my clients are now?

What about you? When did you last check whether your own business model is a fit today for your opportunities and the way YOU want to work?

If you are in a growing stage of your business (or want to be), the strongest advice I can give you is: Go for Something That Reflects Your Future, Not Your Past.

Copyright (c) 2008 Linda Feinholz