Tips

Pro Serv Blogs

Building a Target Operating Model: Begin with the End in Mind

The mission of Collective 54 is to help us founders grow, scale, and exit their boutique professional services firm. We are all on various points in that journey experiencing all of the same elation and frustrations that are part of the territory. I have recently become more focused on the exit that I will, in part, define the culmination of that journey.

Pro Serv Blogs

The Mindset Shift That Unlocks Your First Great #2

There are two conversations happening in your business. The first is public: growth, new clients, visible momentum. The second happens in private, at 11pm, in your office. You are putting out fires your team should have handled, missing another evening with your family while a proposal only you can approve sits unfinished. The thought creeps in: “If I stop, everything stops.” This is the conversation we need to have.

Pro Serv Blogs

Consistent Growth Through Account Strategy

For founders of professional services firms, growth cannot depend solely on chasing new logos. The most sustainable path to scale comes from expanding within your existing accounts. Many founders in Collective54 tell me that Account growth is critical, and has historically been their top growth lever. But it’s not predictable, and seems like it’s very much customer driven – not sales driven. Account growth delivers higher margins, lowers client acquisition cost, and creates fertile ground for referrals and reputation.

Pro Serv Blogs

Embrace the Unknown

Historically, something has always been thought to disrupt companies, from the printing press to machinery to Excel, and now AI. Every day, I log into LinkedIn or other social media and see new content about AI. Some are inspiring, some educational, but there are also warning AI will replace the whole workforce.

Pro Serv Blogs

Managing CEO Stress and Anxiety in Healthy Ways

This quote resonates with me: “Work on the business, not in the business.”. For me, part of working on the business is making myself more resilient, healthy and happy so that I can make the investments in the rest of the business. If I’m not stable, energized and able to bounce back from challenges, then how am I supposed to work on the rest of the business?

Pro Serv Blogs

Let’s Renegotiate

Big Deal Excitement Can Blind Us. Imagine you have a massive deal in the pipeline. This is it, it is your ticket to the big time. You’re excited, as you should be. But is the deal a good deal or not? Sometimes our excitement lends us rose-tinted glasses; glasses that blind us to agree to terms or be overly optimistic for performance. We once experienced a client engagement where our excitement blinded us, which caused us to lose meaningful money, something we didn’t anticipate due to several terms within the deal.

Pro Serv Blogs

Engineer Better Outcomes with Better Data Visibility

Most mid-market companies track the obvious metrics such as revenue, margins, utilization rates. But when we dig into their operations, we consistently find that the data they’re watching isn’t telling them where to actually focus their attention. They’re measuring outcomes instead of the inputs that drive those outcomes. The result is that even strong operators end up reacting to lagging indicators instead of managing the levers that actually move them.But there’s one question that still trips up even seasoned professionals: