Charlotte Lloyd

I hired someone who was six months pregnant.
I'd do it again tomorrow.

Some people will think that's a terrible business decision.

I think it was one of the easiest hiring decisions I've made.

For 23 years, I watched brilliant women get overlooked.
(including myself)

Not because they lacked ability.
Because someone worried about what 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 happen.

When Karmen interviewed, she was completely transparent.

She'll be taking four months of maternity leave.

Plus she had a drive, energy and determination which shone through.

Do you know what she did TOO?

She'd already found her replacement.
Problem solved.

That's what exceptional people do.
They don't just identify challenges.
They help solve them.

Karmen has joined my business and is already working alongside me in my LinkedIn DMs.

Sabeeka continues leading our Client Acquisition Club behind the scenes.

(She is fantastic with relationships and an amazing ghostwriter herself)

When Karmen goes on maternity leave, the work won't stop.

We didn't ignore reality.
We planned for it.

Too many businesses make hiring decisions based on short-term inconvenience instead of long-term potential.

I don't want to build that kind of business.
I'd rather hire someone exceptional for years...

...than overlook them because they'll be away for a few months.

Talent doesn't disappear because someone has a baby.

Sometimes it just needs a business willing to plan around it.

Welcome to the team, Karmen.
We're lucky to have you. ❤️

PS. This month is the 3 year anniversary of the biz!

€105,450.
I remember staring at this contract thinking: holy sh*t.

Not because I'd never sold a six-figure deal before.
Because I'd never sold one for ME.

Not for the Financial Times.
Not for PepsiCo.
Not for someone else's company.

For mine.

And that contract changed everything.
At the time, my business was still a side hustle.

I'd spent 23 years selling in corporate.
I knew how to sell when there was a big brand behind me.

But selling me?

My expertise?
My own offer?

That felt very different.

No company reputation opening the door.
No corporate title giving me credibility.
No safety net if I couldn't make it work.

Just me.

Then I saw that contract.

Six figures. My company name.

And something clicked.

Maybe this wasn't a side hustle anymore.

Maybe I really could build a business from everything I'd spent 23 years learning.

So I went all in.

Three years later, I've had:

Posts that bombed.

DMs that went nowhere.

Offers that didn't work.

Months where I've questioned myself.

And plenty of moments when corporate would have been easier.

But I've also built a team.

Helped hundreds of founders.

Built a reputation under my own name.

And created a business I'm incredibly proud of.

That first six-figure contract wasn't just revenue.

It was proof.

Proof that someone would pay serious money for what I could do without a famous company name attached to me.

Sometimes betting on yourself doesn't start with feeling brave.

Sometimes it starts with one person betting on you first.

Three years ago this month, my side hustle became my business.

And it all started with one very bloody exciting signature. 💜

No, you can’t “pick my brain.”
I get this DM a lot.

It usually sounds harmless.
Friendly. Casual. Low effort.

But this is really something else:

“Can you give me the thing you spent years learning…
for FREE… with no context… and no commitment?”

That’s not curiosity.
That’s outsourcing thinking.

What gets me is this:
Advice without context is useless.
And experience without effort doesn’t transfer.

When I help someone, I don’t give opinions.
I look at the full picture.

Their goals.
Their constraints.
Their blind spots.

That’s not a quick voice note. That’s work.
And I don’t resent that. I respect it.

Which is exactly why I don’t give it away casually.

If you want insight, there are three clean paths:

↳ Ask a 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 question you’ve already thought through
↳ Engage publicly and learn from what I share openly
↳ Or pay for structured help where the advice sticks

What I don’t do anymore:

• unpaid consulting disguised as coffee
• vague asks with no follow-through
• “just 15 minutes” that turn into extraction

This isn’t about being unavailable.
It’s about valuing the thing people say they want.

If you’re building something you believe in,
You’ll understand this boundary immediately.

And if this post annoys you?
That’s probably the point.
Respect goes both ways.

Achievement has a hidden tax.
Simon Sinek talks about this in the clip.

The more you achieve, the more your idea of “enough” quietly moves.
Founders feel this all the time.

You sign the client you were desperate to land.

Then immediately think:
“How do I replace them if they leave?”

You hit your first £10k month.
Then £10k becomes the new baseline.
You get booked up.

Then realise the business still depends on referrals, memory, and your energy that week.

That is the hidden cost of achievement.
Every win creates something new to protect.

And that pressure starts leaking into sales.

You chase the wrong clients.
You over-serve good ones.
You hesitate to raise prices.
You feel behind even when the business is growing.

You keep moving the goal before you have built the system to support it.

That is why I care so much about client acquisition systems.
A better sales system is not just about more revenue.
It gives you more choice.

Choice over who you work with.
Choice over how you price.
Choice over when you say no.
Choice over whether growth feels exciting or exhausting.

Because building a successful business should give you more control over your life.

Not just a longer list of things to keep up with.
At some point, the question changes.

It is no longer:

“Can I win more clients?”

It becomes:

“Am I building a business that gives me more choice?”

📌 Save this for your growth.
♻️ Share this with a founder who needs more choice.

🔔 Follow Charlotte for more on high-trust sales, buyer psychology and building a business that gives you more control.

Video credit: Ani Filipova.

You don't want a bigger business.

You want a business that stops taking more than it gives.

A Wednesday afternoon without checking your phone.

A holiday without wondering where the next lead is coming from.

A business that doesn't rely on referrals, luck, or last-minute panic.

You say you want:

→ more revenue
→ more growth
→ more visibility

But most founders are really trying to buy something else.

Control.
Control over your time.
Control over your decisions.
Control over how your week looks.

I get to take time out with my kids on a random Tuesday.
I get go to the gym anytime asking for permission.
I get to really unwind when I go away.

I've worked with hundreds of coaches, consultants, and service business owners.

The ones who seem most stressed are not always the ones making the least money.

They're the ones who don't trust where the next client is coming from.
Because uncertainty is exhausting.

It makes you say yes to work you don't want.
It makes every quiet month feel personal.
It makes freedom feel further away than it should.

That's why I spend so much time talking about sales, positioning, and LinkedIn.

More followers are NEVER the goal.
Predictability is.

When you know how to create opportunities consistently, everything changes.

You stop building from fear.
You start building from choice.

And that is usually what founders were looking for all along.

Thanks for the frame Codie A. Sanchez 😊
Thanks for the post idea Melina Panetta

📍 Follow Charlotte Lloyd to build with sales.
♻️ Share this with someone who want's their Wednesdays back

This quote stayed with me all week.

Because it made me think about how most founders experience rejection.

A proposal goes quiet.
A prospect says:
“Not right now.”

A DM gets ignored.
And suddenly it feels personal.

Like the market has judged you.
Like the offer is wrong.
Like you should stop.

But rejection is rarely that final.

Sometimes the timing is off.
Sometimes the buyer is not ready.
Sometimes your message needs work.
Sometimes they were never the right fit.

That is all useful information.
The problem is not hearing no.

It is letting one no change how you show up next.

Because every avoided conversation teaches you nothing.

Every real conversation gives you something:

A better question.
A clearer message.
A stronger offer.
A better understanding of what buyers care about.

The founders who get better at sales are not the ones who avoid rejection.

They are the ones who stop treating it like a verdict.

They learn from it.
Adjust.
And keep going.

The goal is not to avoid rejection.
It is to stop letting it decide what you do next.

How do you handle a no when you were sure the deal would close?


PS. If you're a founder, consultant, coach or fractional leader who wants to build a predictable client acquisition system instead of relying on referrals and hope, I'd love to help.

My clients call me their pocket CRO.

Apply to join the Client Acquisition Club here: 👇

www.thecharlottelloyd.com

My friends sometimes joke that they barely recognise me anymore.

They’re not wrong.

Five years ago, I was climbing the corporate ladder.

Late-night emails. Airport lounges.
Always chasing the next promotion.

I thought success meant being busier, earning more and proving I could handle it all.
Now?

I’m usually in bed by 10.
I train most mornings.
I rarely drink.

I live in Spain.

And I spend my days helping founders sell the expertise they’ve spent years building.

My life changed.
But the bigger change was me.

Building a business didn’t just change how I earned money.
It changed what I valued.

My routines.
My priorities.
The people I wanted around me.

Even the conversations I had the energy for.
That part can feel strange.

You start wondering whether you’ve changed too much.
Whether people still understand you.

Whether the old version of you would even recognise the person you’ve become.

She probably .
And that’s the whole point.

Growth asks you to outgrow identities that once felt safe.

Not everyone will understand that.
Some people will miss the old you.

The people who matter won’t ask you to become smaller so they can feel more comfortable.

They’ll grow with you.
Or cheer you on while you do.

Looking back, leaving corporate wasn’t the biggest change I made.

The biggest change was deciding I was allowed to build a completely different life.

📷 Yes had to sit on my suitcase to close it properly 😅
📸 One of those 100+ business trips in corporate

📌 Have you ever looked back and realised you’re nothing like the person you were five years ago?

"Build a personal brand” is often bad advice.

Because visibility isn't the same thing as demand.

I know founders with:

→ 50k followers
→ strong content
→ strong engagement

…and no predictable pipeline.

Why?

Because they spend their LinkedIn time:
posting, tweaking, scrolling, overthinking.

Not moving buyers.

This is how I spend 1 hour on LinkedIn instead:

✅ 10 min connecting

-5 connection requests a day to my ICP, 5 peers
-Personalised every time.
-No random adding. No lazy outreach.

✅  10 min commenting

-8 to 10 comments on posts in my ICP or peers
-An actual opinion. Not “great post.”
-This gets me in front of the right people first.

✅ 40 min in the DMs doing outreach

-5 to 8 targeted messages to people I identified
-Something specific to them first.
-The ask comes later, or not at all yet.


No “thought leadership strategy.”
No obsessing over the algorithm.

Just:
→ conversations
→ follow-up
→ warm leads
→ pipeline movement

Most founders use LinkedIn like a stage.
The ones closing consistently use it like a sales floor.
That difference changes everything.

How much of your LinkedIn time is actually tied to revenue?

📷 Credit: Fatma Khan

The person who built my business wouldn't recognise the person who started it.

5 years ago, I was climbing the corporate ladder.

Late-night emails.
Airport lounges.
Living for the next promotion.

Today?
I'm usually in bed by 10.
I train most mornings.
I rarely drink.

I built my business from Spain.

And I spend my days helping founders learn how to sell their expertise.
I've changed.

More than once.
That's the part nobody talks about.

Building a business doesn't just change your income.
It changes your routines.

Your priorities.
The conversations you enjoy.

Sometimes even the people you spend time with.
For a while, that can feel uncomfortable.

You wonder if you're becoming a different person.
You are.

Growth asks you to leave behind versions of yourself that no longer fit.

Not everyone will understand that.

They don't need to.

Looking back, leaving corporate wasn't the biggest change I made.

Believing I could build a completely different life was.

Who were you five years ago...
And what would surprise them most about you today?

The most expensive client I fired was worth $120K annually.

It was a sales training and we were about to extend the contract.

I want to share this story to impact others.

The owner micromanaged the entire project.
Undermined decisions in meetings.

For months, I told myself:
"It's just his style. The revenue matters."

Then one day I turned around and said enough
Not because of the work, because of him.
That's when I realized:

Tolerating a bully doesn't just cost you respect.
It costs you your best people.
I fired him the next week.

And if you don't confront it
You teach everyone watching that your silence is for sale.

4 ways to deal with it in business and personal life:

𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆.
"That's not how we speak to people here."
Don't wait for it to become a pattern.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀.
Private support is kind; public support is culture.
When someone's being undermined, your silence speaks volumes.

𝗥𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲.
Recognize the person who raised their hand
Not the loudest voice in the room.

𝗖𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱.
Standing up can mean addressing it directly, escalating it, or walking away.

This summer, my daughter was called a "gremlin" at camp for her wonky teeth.

The name-calling spread.
Half the parents pulled their kids.

We chose to stay, not to "tough it out,"
But to stand up, speak up, and teach her that her voice works.

I learned (again) that leadership is parenting in public.
How you handle bullies, clients, colleagues, or team members
is your culture.

Not the mission statement on your wall.
Not the values in your deck.

The decisions you make when it's uncomfortable.

PS. On Nov 7, I'm giving a masterclass in the The HoLT (members only) on how to write a cold email that gets replies.

My fee will go to the Autistic Society, in honour of children like my daughter who see the world differently and deserve to be heard.

One uncomfortable topic I chatted with a client on...

Thinking referrals are your safety net. They're your ceiling.

You tell yourself referrals are a good problem to have.

"At least I'm getting clients without spending on ads."
"Word of mouth means I'm doing great work."
"Why fix what isn't broken?"

What you're not admitting:
You're not in control. You're just getting lucky.
You've convinced yourself that luck is a business model.

Think about it:
• Can you predict your revenue 90 days from now?
• Can you decide to grow 50% next quarter?
• Do you know where your next 5 clients are coming from?

1️⃣ You're outsourcing your entire sales function to people who don't work for you and have zero incentive to send you business consistently.

2️⃣ You're capping your income at whatever your network happens to generate. Not what you're capable of earning.

3️⃣ You're one bad month away from desperation mode
scrambling to take clients you don't even want.

65% of businesses depend on referrals
According to The New York Times

The coaches and consultants scaling past $10K–$30K/month?
They stopped waiting and started building.

If you don't own the relationship, you don't own the revenue.

Clip made with OpusClip

You aren't failing.

You're waiting.

And that's much harder to spot.

Because from the outside...

Everything looks fine.

You've got clients.
People tell you you're brilliant.
Your LinkedIn posts get engagement.

You've built a business most people would be proud of.

But privately...

You know it isn't where you want it to be.
Referrals have slowed.
Sales feel unpredictable.

Every month starts back at near zero or
Not where you want it to be.

So you tell yourself:

"It'll pick up."
"I'll post more."
"Maybe after summer."

I know that feeling.

The business wasn't broken.
You were tolerating inconsistency.

That's the hidden cost founders rarely calculate.

Not the money you've made.
The money you've become comfortable leaving on the table.

The opportunities you never followed up.
The buyers who forgot about you.
The conversations that never happened.

Building a business isn't just about working harder.

It's about deciding you're no longer willing to settle for uncertainty.

Because "good enough" can quietly become a trap.

📌 I work with founders who are 1–6 years into business and haven’t yet built a repeatable client acquisition system.

I help them create one across LinkedIn and off LinkedIn, so they can generate more predictable conversations, follow up properly, and rely less on referrals.

If this hit, I write a free weekly newsletter on sales psychology, LinkedIn, and building a business that doesn't rely on luck.

📩 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://lnkd.in/e_Tkkq4E

♻️ Share this with another founder, coach or consultant
📍 Post inspo from the amazing Melina Panetta

Three DMs landed in my inbox last week from founders who had clearly never looked at my profile. I ignored all three. Your buyers are doing the same.

"𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺..."

I don't. Never have.
The problem isn't cold outreach.

And worse.

It's founders treating LinkedIn like a volume game.
50 DMs. 100 DMs. 200 DMs.

Then wondering why nobody replies.
The founders winning on LinkedIn do three things differently:

𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀.
People reply when they recognise themselves.

𝟮. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵.
Not enough to impress. Enough to be relevant.

𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀.
Profile viewers. Repeat engagers. Quiet followers.

The people who never comment but keep watching.
That's where many of the best opportunities live.

LinkedIn isn't a lead generation platform.
It's a trust platform.

The goal isn't more messages.
It's more conversations worth having.

𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗚𝗣𝗧 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜'𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝘆 𝗚𝗣𝗧 + 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. 👇🏻

Most founders treat LinkedIn like a notice board.

The ones closing premium clients treat it like infrastructure.

The difference is not volume.

It is design.

Every part of their presence is built to move the right buyer closer to trust.

Here is what that looks like in 2026:

1. A profile built for one buyer

Not “coaches.”
Not “founders.”

One specific person with one specific problem.

Premium buyers do not dig.

If your value is unclear, they move on.

2. Content that filters

The goal is not more followers.

It is more of the right people recognising themselves.

Post content that:
→ names their exact problem
→ challenges what they believe
→ proves you have solved it before

Authority attracts.
Precision converts.

3. Daily signal management

LinkedIn is not just posting.

It is:
→ warm conversations
→ profile views
→ repeat engagers
→ DMs
→ follow-up

Most founders miss the buyer signals already sitting in front of them.

4. Proof buyers can trust

Premium clients do not convert from hype.

They convert from repeated evidence.

Case studies.
Frameworks.
Specific shifts.
Clear thinking.

Not one viral post.

5. AI that amplifies, not flattens

Use AI to:
→ stress-test positioning
→ prepare for calls
→ improve DMs
→ diagnose stalled deals

Do not use it to sound like everyone else.
AI should sharpen your edge.
Not sand it down.

LinkedIn is not slow.

Most founders just have not built it to create revenue.

💾 Save this
♻️ Share to inspire other biz owners + coaches
➕ Follow Charlotte for more on sales + AI

Image credit and idea: Fatima Khan

On paper, doing nothing costs $0.

In reality...

It's often the most expensive decision a founder makes.

Last week, I asked two founders the same question.

"If nothing changes over the next six months... what will that cost you?"

Neither had ever worked it out.

The first founder wanted to add:

→ 2 clients a month → worth $3,000 each

That's:

$6,000 a month.

Over six months?

$36,000.

The second founder wanted to fill:

→ 1 place a month → worth $3,000–$6,000

After five months...

The number was already somewhere between:

$15,000–$30,000.

Most founders know their revenue.

Very few know their water leakage number.

Because a leaking roof never costs you what the repair costs.

It costs you the damage while you wait to fix it.

Business works the same way.

Every month you delay improving your offer...

Sharpening your messaging...

Following up...

Or building a repeatable client acquisition system...

The leak gets bigger.

That's why I spend far more time helping founders calculate the cost of staying the same than promising the ROI of changing.

Because once you see the number...

The decision usually becomes obvious.

What's your water leakage number?

----------

If you enjoy practical ideas like this on sales psychology, client acquisition and LinkedIn, I share one every week.

📩 Join my newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/e_Tkkq4E

Agree?

Indecision is the most expensive mistake.

A year from now, you’ll either be ahead, or still thinking about it.

I started my business at 45, so it's never too late.
But the sooner, the better.

Did I feel scared? YES
Did I feel fear investing in myself? YES
Did I make a complete pivot here with my offer? YES

I remember staring at the payment page for
my first big investment, my heart racing.

What if it didn’t work? What if I wasn’t ready?

But staying stuck wasn’t an option.
So I took the leap and it changed everything.

You don’t fail because you lack skill.
You fail because you hesitate.

→ Waiting for the "right time."
→ Overthinking your next move.
→ Saying you need one more thing before you start.

Nothing changes until you do.

My clients who scale past
$10K, $20K, even $50K months?

They aren’t the ones with:
The biggest audience or fanciest offers.

They’re the ones who:
✅ Take messy action before they feel ready.
✅ Show up consistently, even when no one’s watching.
✅ Get help instead of guessing their way forward.

🚫 Perfect offers don’t get results.
🚫 Waiting doesn’t create momentum.
🚫 Fear won’t pay your bills.

Action does.

If you’re serious about building a business that gives you
FREEDOM.

It’s time to move.

♻️ Repost to inspire others to move

AI just killed one of the oldest excuses in business.


"I'd build it if I had a developer."

This week, I tested that theory.
I built a working app using Emergent.

No engineering team. No code.
No months of back-and-forth.
I described what I wanted.

Emergent built it.
But what surprised me was this:
Building the app wasn't the hard part.

Explaining exactly what I wanted was.
Every time I got clearer...
The app got better.

Clearer problem → better solution.
Clearer user → better experience.
Clearer outcome → faster build.
Clearer workflow → fewer mistakes.

And it made me realise something about where AI is taking us.

For years, founders could say:

"I need a developer."
"I don't know how to code."
"It'll take six months to build."

Those barriers are disappearing.
But AI is exposing a new one:

Can you think clearly enough to tell it what to build?
Do you actually know:

→ Who it's for?
→ What problem you're solving?
→ What outcome they want?
→ What needs to happen first?
→ What absolutely doesn't need to exist?

Because AI can execute incredibly quickly.

But speed in the wrong direction is still the wrong direction.

Software is becoming cheaper to build.
Clear thinking is becoming more expensive.

And I think that's going to separate the founders who get extraordinary leverage from AI...

from those who simply use it to produce more stuff.

AI can build the app.
You still need to understand the problem.

PS. This is my entry for Emergent's Builder Fest with Kevin O'Leary.

They're offering up to $100K in prizes with 100 winning spots.
Build it. Publish it. Submit it.

I'm in. Who else is building?

Try Emergent + enter Builder Fest via the link in my first comment.

#BuilderFestEmergent #KevinXEmergent

He spent years being the buyer.
Then he started selling his own expertise.

And suddenly every objection felt like rejection.
He had been a CTO in enterprise companies.

So he knew the lines buyers use:
“Send me some information.”
“Let me think about it.”
“We’re looking at a few options.”
“Now isn’t the right time.”

He had used those lines himself.

So when prospects said them back to him,
He assumed the deal was over.
But it wasn’t.

That was the real sales conversation starting.
Because objections are not always rejection.

Often they are a signal:

→ trust is not built yet
→ timing is unclear
→ priority is not strong enough
→ budget feels risky
→ the cost of inaction is not obvious
→ the buyer is afraid of making the wrong decision

Once he stopped taking objections at face value,
He could hear what was underneath.

That helped him land a $10k client.
And now he has had even bigger wins.

That is the change most experienced operators need when they start selling their own expertise.

Credibility opens the door.
A clear sales system turns that credibility into clients.

No, you can’t “pick my brain.”
You’re asking for paid thinking for free.

It usually sounds harmless.
Friendly. Casual. Low effort.

But this is really something else:

“Can you give me the thing you spent years learning…
for FREE… with no context… and no commitment?”

That’s not curiosity.
That’s outsourcing thinking.

What gets me is this:
Advice without context is useless.
And experience without effort doesn’t transfer.

When I help someone, I don’t give opinions.
I look at the full picture.

Their goals.
Their constraints.
Their blind spots.

That’s not a quick voice note. That’s work.
And I don’t resent that. I respect it.

Which is exactly why I don’t give it away casually.

If you want insight, there are three clean paths:

↳ Ask a 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 question you’ve already thought through
↳ Engage publicly and learn from what I share openly
↳ Or pay for structured help where the advice sticks

What I don’t do anymore:

• unpaid consulting disguised as coffee
• vague asks with no follow-through
• “just 15 minutes” that turn into extraction

This isn’t about being unavailable.
It’s about valuing the thing people say they want.

If you’re building something you believe in,
You’ll understand this boundary immediately.

And if this post annoys you?
That’s probably the point.
Respect goes both ways.

The buyer understood my offer.

They just couldn't explain why they should choose me.

That was the problem.

In my first year working for myself, I lost deals I should have won.

Now it wasn't down to someone else being better.
It was simply they were easier to buy from.

I'd spent more than 20 years in corporate sales.
I knew how to sell.
Or so I thought.

On calls, I'd explain everything.

My process.
My frameworks.
My methodology.

Everything was accurate.

None of it answered the only question the buyer cared about.

"What changes if we work together?"

The feedback was always polite.

"We'll think about it."
"We're speaking to a few people."
"Maybe next quarter."

The problem wasn't my offer.
The buyer couldn't explain my value after the call.

So I changed.

I stopped talking about my process.
I started talking about their problem.

AND in their words.

Before I said anything about me.

Everything changed.

Sales calls became shorter.
Decisions became faster.

Premium buyers don't choose the smartest founder.
They choose the founder whose value is easiest to explain.

10 mistakes costing founders clients

1. Leading with your process
❌ "Let me walk you through how I work."

Why?
Buyers don't buy your process.
They buy the outcome.

✅ "Before I explain anything, tell me what made you book this call."


2. Leading with experience
❌ "I've got 20 years of experience."

Why?
Experience doesn't create urgency.
Problems do.

✅ "Most founders come to me when..."


3. Asking permission
❌ "Would it be okay if I told you..."

Why?
Experts don't ask permission to help.

✅ "Based on what you've shared, here's what I'd do."


4. Apologising after the price
❌ "It's £X... I know it's a big investment."

Why?
You negotiate against yourself.

✅ "It's £X. What's your reaction?"


5. Turning discovery into an interview
❌ "I've just got a few questions."

Why?
Questionnaires collect information.
Great conversations sell.

✅ "What's this costing you today?"


6. Checking in
❌ "Just checking in..."

Why?
It adds nothing.

✅ "You mentioned X. I've been thinking about it..."


7. Accepting "I'll think about it"
❌ "No problem."

Why?
Thinking time usually hides uncertainty.

✅ "What specifically do you want to think through?"


8. Discounting
❌ "I can do it cheaper."

Why?
You reduce confidence before you increase value.

✅ "I can reduce the scope if we need to hit that budget."


9. Sounding automated
❌ "Hope this finds you well..."

Why?
Buyers stop reading.

✅ Lead with something only you could have noticed.


10. Trying to help everyone
❌ "I work with any business."

Why?
When everyone is your market...

Nobody feels understood.

✅ "I help founders who..."

Join 10,000+ founders, consultants and fractional leaders who read my newsletter every week: https://lnkd.in/e_Tkkq4E

♻️ Share this with a founder who's ace at what they do
but still losing deals they should be winning.

I left corporate to have more freedom.

Then I built myself another job.

Nobody warns you about that bit.

When I left a 23-year career in sales, I knew building my own business would mean working hard.

And it did.

Nights.

Weekends.

Early mornings.

But Simon Sinek makes an interesting point in this clip:

We often confuse workload with burnout.

And it made me think about the last three years.

Some Sunday evenings, I'll open my laptop because I genuinely can't wait to work on an idea.

That doesn't drain me.

It gives me energy.

But there have also been weeks where every hour felt heavy.

Too many calls.

Too much delivery.

Too many things that only I could do.

Same hours. Completely different feeling.

I see this with founders, consultants, coaches and fractional leaders all the time.

They leave corporate wanting:

More freedom.
More control.
More choice.

Then build a business where they're responsible for finding every client, creating every opportunity, running every sales call and delivering all the work.

Suddenly, the boss they escaped has been replaced by their own business.

Except this boss follows them home 😂

I don't think freedom means never working an evening again.

Sometimes I work late because I want to.

The problem is when you're working late because you can't afford not to.

There's a huge difference between:

“I want to keep going.”

and

“I can't afford to stop.”

That's one reason I care so much about client acquisition.

When you know how to consistently win clients, charge properly and say no to the wrong work...

You create something more valuable than a full calendar.

Choice.

And these days, that's one of my measures of success.

Not how little I work.

How much of the work I do is work I actually chose.

PS. Want more choice over your clients, revenue and time?

That’s what I write about every week in Authority Business.

Join 3,000+ founders, consultants, coaches and fractional leaders

→ https://lnkd.in/e_Tkkq4E

You lose the sale the moment you think the call went well.

“Send me some info” is usually that moment.

It is a polite way to avoid making a decision.

Especially in high-ticket sales.

The call felt good.
There was rapport.
They asked smart questions.
They said the work sounded strong.

And then:
“Great call. Send me some info.”
That is where most senior consultants lose the sale.

Not because they are bad at selling.
Because they stopped leading the decision.

That is where the 3D framework comes in:

Decision. Date. Direction.

If I am discussing a high-value contract,
those 3 things need to be clear before the call ends.

Not: “We’ll see.” “Let’s circle back.” “I’ll send something over.”
Clear.

✅ Decision:
What decision is being made from this conversation?

✅ Date:
By when will that decision happen?

✅ Direction:
Are we moving to yes, bringing in another decision-maker, or stopping here?

I set that up at the start of the call.
Something like:

“Today we’ll talk through the priorities and pain points you mentioned. If I believe I can help, I’ll make a recommendation.

From there, we’ll either make a decision on this call or agree the next step, including who needs to be involved and by when.”

That changes the entire conversation.
Because now the call has a frame.

You aren't just having an interesting discussion.
You're leading a commercial decision.

And that's the part many experienced founders miss.
They're strong in delivery.

Strong in credibility. Strong in diagnosis
But leave the decision floating.

Then they call it a good call when the buyer goes quiet.
A good call does not end with:
“Send me some info.”

A good call ends with:

→ a yes
→ a clear no
→ or a defined next step with a date and direction

That is what keeps momentum alive.

If your calls keep ending in
“send me something,” the issue isnot the follow-up.

It's that the decision was never led on the call.

How often are you setting

Decision, Date, and Direction before the call ends?

♻️ Share for other business owners to level up.

The most expensive LinkedIn DM is the one you don't know how to reply to.

You know the one.
A potential client replies.

They're interested.
The conversation feels promising.

Then you stare at the message thinking:

“What the hell do I say now?”

Go for the meeting too quickly and you feel salesy.
Keep chatting and the conversation dies.

Follow up three days later and now you're “𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯...”

So I built something to fix this.

My DM Meeting Booker.

I took the sales thinking I've built over 23 years and turned it into a Claude Project that helps you decide what to say next.

And I'm giving you the full setup for free 👇

You build it once inside Claude

Then use it whenever you're stuck in a LinkedIn conversation.

Here's how:

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁

Go to Claude.ai
→ Projects → create a new project> DM Meeting Booker.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: 𝗔𝗱𝗱 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁

This teaches Claude my Sell method:

How to read where the conversation actually is.
What you still need to uncover.
What your next message needs to achieve.

And how to move things forward without forcing the meeting.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯: 𝗔𝗱𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀

I've included DM conversations that booked meetings.

This matters.

Because without examples, AI tends to give you the same generic sales messages everyone else is sending.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰: 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Claude reads the thread and gives you:

→ The strongest next move
→ A suggested message you can adapt and send
→ Buying signals you may have missed
→ What you still need to understand
→ Whether it's actually time to suggest a call
→ Why it's recommending that response

So you're not just getting another DM script.
You're getting help reading the sale.
That's the important distinction.

AI has made it ridiculously easy to send more messages.

More automation.
More fake personalisation.
More “𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘣𝘰𝘹.”

And buyers have noticed.

I don't think the answer is using AI to send more DMs.

I think it's using AI to make better decisions inside the conversations you're already having.

Because the DM isn't where you close the deal.

It's where you earn the next conversation.

I want it helping you make better decisions inside it.
Full setup below 👇

♻️ Repost to share it with someone whose LinkedIn inbox could be working harder.

Most fractionals don't build a business.
They build themselves another job.

And many don't realise it until they're 2–3 years in.
I see the same five walls over and over:

📌 Year one: The identity crisis

You go from:

"I was VP of X at Y."

To:

"I'm... available."

Pricing is guesswork.
Positioning is vague.

So you default to selling your time because it's the model you know.

And immediately put a ceiling on your income.

📌 Year two: Referral dependency

Work comes in.
But almost entirely through warm introductions.

There's no repeatable way to find clients.
And every quarter feels like starting again.

A good month creates next month's pipeline problem.

📌 Year three: The capacity trap

When you're selling, you're not delivering.
When you're delivering, you're not selling.

So the moment you get busy...
Your pipeline disappears.

And because you're still selling time, there's a hard limit on what "full" can earn you.

📌 Year four: The generalist trap

You've spent too long being everything to everyone.
Your positioning sounds like every other fractional.

Marketing hasn't stuck.
And that thought starts creeping in:

"𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯-𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦."

📌 Year five: Scale or stall

You build a real business:
Premium pricing.

Authority.
Systems.

Predictable client acquisition.
Or you accept that you've built yourself...

a slightly more flexible job that might pay less than the one you left.

Most fractionals think these are five different problems.
They're not.

Fix client acquisition early and everything gets easier.
Because the goal wasn't to leave corporate...
just to build yourself another job.

Which wall are you at: 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5?

I help fractionals, coaches + consultants build the client acquisition system that stops this cycle.

So you're not relying on referrals.
Not panicking when delivery gets busy.

And not wondering where next month's clients are coming from.

Predictable pipeline doesn't just create revenue.
It creates choice.

PS. Every week I break down what I'm seeing work in client acquisition, sales and buyer psychology for experts building their own business.

Join 3,000+ readers here → https://lnkd.in/e_Tkkq4E

Hustling wasn't what built Canva, discipline did.
I want to talk about why this is important.

Canva's $26B valuation is excpetional.
But let's talk about what they're missing.

Melanie Perkins didn't just build design software.
She mastered the art of elegant business building.

At 19, she was teaching design basics.
At 22, working from her mom's living room.
By 25, she'd faced 100+ VC rejections.

Her turning point?
Meeting Bill Tai - who saw beyond the "girl from Perth" label.

2013: Canva launches
2019: Unicorn status
2021: $40B valuation

Something else makes her different:

1. She ignored the "hustle harder" playbook
Instead, she stayed bootstrapped
until the product was perfect.

2. She built real culture
92% employee satisfaction isn't an accident.
It's intentional leadership.

3. She focused on impact over ego
30% of Canva's equity? Pledged to charity.

The numbers back this up:

• 135M+ monthly users
• 190 countries
• $1.5B annual revenue

Why I like her story and what it really means...

Success isn't about perfect timing.
It's about persistence + purpose.

Melanie proves what I tell my clients:

The best businesses are built on conviction, not convenience.

♻️ Share with someone building something meaningful

PS. Do you like this type of post? First time I put together this type of content.
Share with someone else to give them a boost and repost if you want to see more of this content.

My old boss would probably hate my business.
He had a rule for everything.

“Don’t share your process. Protect your edge.”
“Cold outreach is the only pipeline you control.”
“Your emotions have no place in sales.”
“LinkedIn is for job seekers. Get back on the phone.”

I heard versions of those lines for years.
Then I left corporate. Built my own business.
And did almost the opposite.

I share my sales frameworks publicly every week.
I tell prospects when the timing is wrong.
My pipeline is inbound 𝘢𝘯𝘥 outbound.

And LinkedIn built most of it.
The strange part?

He wasn’t wrong.
His rules worked in the world he came from.

But founder-led businesses work differently now.

Trust compounds. Authority compounds.
Relationships compound.

And buyers want to trust you before they want to buy from you.

That took me years to unlearn.

A lot of experienced founders are still trying to build a modern business using rules from a completely different era of selling.

That creates friction everywhere.
Especially on LinkedIn.

Because this platform does not reward:

→ guarded energy
→ scripted conversations
→ hyper-controlled sales behaviour

It rewards trust.

And trust is built by people willing to:

→ teach publicly
→ share how they think
→ say the honest thing
→ become known before the buyer is ready

His rules built my career.
Breaking them built my business.

📷 Keynote in Berlin.

If you want me to speak on LinkedIn, sales, AI and modern client acquisition:

DM me “TALK”.

I am the opposite of what success is 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 to look like in my industry.

I didn’t start young. I started at 43.

I didn’t go to Oxford or Cambridge. (Leeds uni in fact)
I don’t have an MBA.
I didn’t follow a neat, linear path.

And I still built an internationally recognised business.
People were generous with their advice:

“You’re too late for this.”
“This industry doesn’t work online.”
I even tried to do it the “right” way.

I tried building a fashion business on Instagram.
It failed. (Yes you can laugh!)
I've rebuilt it now though. (after growing here)

I didn't lack effort or want of trying.
The platform rewarded aesthetics over substance.

It pushed me to perform instead of think.
To simplify instead of explain.
To sell a vibe instead of value.

So I stopped forcing it and moved to LinkedIn instead.
With zero expectations on how it would go.
That’s where things changed.

Nope, I didn't crack the algorithm
My experience finally counted for something.

I stopped borrowing other people’s narratives and wrote my own.

I used age as leverage, not a liability.
I trusted lived experience over credentials.

I built in public where clarity mattered more than charisma.

I modernised an industry that preferred tradition over progress.

Most limits aren’t real. They’re inherited.

You can wait for people to buy into your vision.

Or you can build it so clearly that opting out feels irrational.

I chose the second.

What’s the rule you’ve been following that no longer deserves your loyalty?

PS. If you want to follow me on instagram for more behind the scenes,

Here you go
https://lnkd.in/eBpBrsBG

📸 From IG days pre LinkedIn in Guatemala on a biz trip.

The biggest pricing mistake?

Thinking it's about finding what the market will bear.

Premium pricing isn't about charging more.
It's about architecting scarcity in a world of abundance.

When you're scaling past your first million, the rules change completely.

Your competition isn't other service providers.

It's the client's internal option to "figure it out themselves."

And that changes everything about how you position value.

The premium market psychology is counterintuitive:

→ Higher prices signal exclusivity, not expense
→ Scarcity creates urgency faster than discounts
→ Premium buyers purchase certainty, not solutions
→ Market leadership comes from pricing confidence

The sophisticated buyers in your market aren't
Price shopping. They're risk shopping.

They want to know:

Will this solve the problem completely?
Can I trust this person with my biggest challenges?
What happens if this goes wrong?

Your pricing architecture should answer those questions before they ask them.

Value architecture at the premium level:

Layer 1: Core transformation (what they came for)
Layer 2: Risk mitigation (what they actually buy)
Layer 3: Status elevation (what they tell others about)

The price isn't the product.
The exclusivity is the product.

When you position yourself at the top of the market,
You're not competing on deliverables.
You're competing on confidence.

Premium clients pay for certainty in an uncertain world.

Your job isn't to be affordable.
Your job is to be irreplaceable.

The moment you can walk away from any deal without hesitation?

That's when premium pricing becomes automatic.

♻️ Repost if premium positioning changed your business trajectory

The three most expensive words in business are:



"For now, I'll wait."

It sounds responsible. It usually isn't.

I've heard the same three versions of it hundreds of times from founders.

Almost always from founders who know their business should be growing faster.

The first:

"Let me try it on my own first."

Usually means:

"I'll spend the next few months using the same approach, with the same blind spots, hoping the outcome changes."

The second:

"I've already invested elsewhere."

Usually means:

"I'm still attached to the money I spent, even though the business still has the same problem."

The third:

"Referrals have always worked."

Usually means:

"People want what I sell. I just don't control when the next opportunity appears."

Different founders with different offers and at different stages.

The business works.
The founder can sell.

But growth depends too much on:

→ timing → referrals → memory
→ following up when they remember

That gets expensive surprisingly quickly.

Leads go cold.
Conversations drift.
Good offers become easy to forget.

And when you're a solo founder, there isn't a sales team creating opportunities behind the scenes.

It's just you.

Which is why client acquisition has to become a system.

Not a hope.

Growth doesn't mean being better at what you do.

It means building a system for the right buyers to remember you when the problem becomes urgent.

Because buyers rarely choose the first person they see.

They choose the person they remember.

Am so proud of all my clients and the client wins, Muriel, Michael, Robert, to name a few, who don't settle for second best and excuses

“Just checking in” is how founders lose deals without realising it.

Most follow-up does not create movement.
It creates reminders.

The email gets sent.
The buyer sees it.
Nothing changes.

It's not that they're not interested.
It's the message gave them no reason to move.

Most founders follow up from:

→ their urgency
not
→ the buyer’s hesitation

That is why the conversation stalls.
The fix is not a better subject line.

It is understanding:

→ what is still blocking the decision
→ then writing directly to that

Claude helps with both.

Here are 8 AI prompts I use to write follow-ups that actually move deals forward:

✅ Diagnose why the buyer stopped responding
→ Find the real hesitation before sending another message

✅ Address the unspoken hesitation
→ Stop nudging. Start resolving uncertainty.

✅ Add new value instead of repeating old value
→ Give the buyer a reason to re-engage

✅ Rewrite weak subject lines
→ If they do not open the email, the message never gets a chance

✅ Follow up after a verbal yes goes quiet
→ One of the most expensive moments in sales

✅ Write a breakup email that keeps the door open
→ Some of the best deals come back later

✅ Build a 3-touch follow-up sequence
→ One message is rarely enough

✅ Audit your last 5 follow-ups
→ Spot where seller urgency is killing buyer momentum

Revenue doesn't always go to the best offer.

It often goes to the founder who stays relevant the longest without becoming annoying.


📌 Save this before your next follow-up.

♻️ Share to retire “just checking in.”

PS. Most founders have warm buyers sitting in old DMs right now.

I’m showing people how to find them, revive them, and close them inside next Thursday’s Invisible Pipeline AI Workshop.

Join here: https://lnkd.in/emNz_zm2

Everyone keeps saying: “You need to be in the room.”
Fine. Go to the room.
But be honest with yourself, is it actually producing what you think it is?

I’ve done the rooms. In person events.
Hundreds of them. Cannes alone, 13 times.
Corporate life was events, dinners, panels, repeat.

And for years, LinkedIn wasn’t even a priority.
I learned the hard way:

Most networking is motion without leverage.

You meet people.
You have good conversations.
You exchange cards.

You promise to “catch up.”
And then… nothing compounds.

What changed everything for me wasn’t another room.
It was building signal instead of relying on proximity.

That shift is what helped me grow an almost 7-figure business.
It’s what gave me freedom over my time.

Options over my work.
And the ability to show up, actually show up — with my family.

Not because I stopped networking.
But because I stopped pretending it was a growth strategy.

If progress only happens when you’re physically present,
you don’t have leverage. You have a dependency.

Networking still has its place.
It’s just wildly overrated as a primary engine.

Rooms give you access.
Clear thinking gives you pull.
Go to events. Shake hands. Have dinners.

Just don’t confuse being busy networking
with building something that works when you’re not there.

That difference is everything.

📸 Photo from one of those 13 events in Cannes.

For serious business + selling tips, apply here: https://lnkd.in/e_Tkkq4E

Some days I don’t feel inspired.
I feel tired. Distracted. Avoidant.
And the work still needs to get done.

Motivation is a terrible partner.
It shows up late. Leaves early.
And disappears completely on the hard days.

What moves things forward is the boring work you do whether you feel like it or not.

The follow up you send when scrolling would be easier.
The conversation you have when avoidance feels safer.
The work you do when no one’s watching.

That’s not inspiration. That’s habit.
And habits beat motivation every time.

Study after study shows the same thing:
consistent behaviors outperform big bursts of effort.

Because outcomes are a side effect.
Habits are the work.

A year from now, you won’t remember the days you felt inspired.

You’ll remember the days you didn’t and showed up anyway.

Post inspo and image from Adam Grant

➕ Follow Charlotte for more on habits + high trust deals
♻️ Repost to give others kick into discipline.

1 "painful" thing with 66 days left this year:

Getting a big fat no is a good thing.

A no brings clarity.
It sets boundaries.
It clears space for the right clients.

What’s worse than hearing no?
Clients who don't take responsibility for their progress.

It’s NOT your job to do the work for them.

Your role is to guide.
Not to carry them every step of the way.

Before shifting blame..
clients should be asking themselves:

→ Did I follow the process laid out for me?
→ Did I seek solutions beyond what my coach gave me?
→ Did I ask for clarification or just wait for answers?

If they didn’t, that’s on them, not you.

As a coach, your time is best spent with clients who:

Are COMMITTED.

Your focus on creating impact,
Not chasing accountability.

Your energy is for guiding action,
Not fixing excuses.

I know how:

Frustrating it is when a client won’t follow through.
One offhand comment can throw you off balance
Especially when you’ve invested in their success.

→ A no isn’t rejection—it’s redirection.
→ My role is to challenge hesitations, not own outcomes.

The best clients? They take ownership:

→ They follow through.
→ They learn from mistakes.
→ They act, even when it’s hard.

And a no isn’t failure. It’s a filter.
It frees you to focus on clients ready to do the work.

So challenge them to decide.

Build a business where no becomes an opportunity
And your focus stays on the right clients.

Thanks to those who attended yesterday's event
If you want to get the AI prompts and GPTs
Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/e_Tkkq4E