success

Pro Serv Blogs

Your Coach Says You Suck – Here’s Why That’s a Good Thing

Business is fast, competitive, and always evolving. Whether you’re managing a small team or running a multimillion-dollar firm, being great at your craft isn’t enough. You’ve got to lead, grow, adapt, and keep up with the speed of change in tech, talent, and expectations. And let’s be real—knowing when to pivot is just as important as knowing how.

Pro Serv Blogs

The First 100 Days: How Professional Services Firms Can Build Trust, Set Direction, and Accelerate Client Impact

For consulting and professional services firms, the first 100 days of a client engagement are make-or-break. This early phase sets the foundation for everything that follows—building connection and credibility, aligning expectations, surfacing hidden risks, and accelerating results. At Empactful Advisors, we approach this critical window not as “ramp-up time,” but as a deliberate opportunity to deliver value, build trust, and shape long-term success.

Pro Serv Blogs

Traveling Collective 54 While on a Budget – A Time Budget

From the start, I want to acknowledge that this blog may not be for everyone in the Collective 54 family.
For some, Collective 54 is as much a part of each day as that second cup of coffee or the trip through the Business section of the Wall Street Journal. You wear your 30% annual EBITDA growth like a finely tailored suit. You have a strong and deep team behind you that lets you focus fully on scaling and your eventual successful exit.

Pro Serv Blogs

The Unburdened Founder: Finding Freedom in Operational Excellence

Every founder experiences the exhilarating rush of building something new. However, this initial energy often gives way to overwhelm as daily operations become overbearing. This article shares the journey of a Collective 54 member who met this juncture and found a path forward. Names and specific details are omitted to focus on universal lessons that echo the struggles many others face.

Pro Serv Blogs

The Apotheosis of the Hero: Tips for getting CEOs to make Buying Decisions

As I’ve spoken with more members of Collective54 about their Go-To-Market strategy, there is a common theme. Their primary Buyers, their Heroes, are typically C-level executives, but rarely the CEO. This is true of professional services generally, as CFOs, COOs, CIOs and CHROs dominate the landscape of Buyers. Proserv firms vary in their capability to engage and stay relevant with CEOs. If you are wondering how effective your team is at engaging CEOs, there are two leading indicators to look for.

Pro Serv Blogs

Screwing Up & What you Learn From It

Growth. It’s the one constant we’re all chasing. More revenue. More Income. Higher valuation. Etc, etc,etc.
However, it doesn’t always go according to plan.
2023 saw a new high for my company as we increased revenues and income by almost 50% over the previous year. It was an exciting time that I – in my infinite wisdom – thought would go on. Because of course it would. Right?