The New Business of Consulting

8Growing Pains

A goal is a dream with its feet on the ground.

Anonymous

Kyle sat on the park bench, looking out at the lake. How had things gone so wrong? He had been excited about starting his business five years ago. Corte Consulting grew quickly—well, at least according to his standards—$2.4 million and seven employees. It had started with a $20,000 savings withdrawal and a six-month contract with the new glass manufacturer in town. Things had been humming along and growing in spurts. He had a client list from coast to coast that would make many consulting firms jealous. The travel was a bear, but every job had its drawbacks.

Growth had been stagnant for more than a year. Kyle was the sole marketer for the company. He knew he had no one to blame but himself: he was a big part of the problem. Now he had to make a decision. To grow or not to grow—that was the question. Did he want to grow a business with real equity value so that he could sell it at some future date? Or did he want to remain the small company that “worked harder”? He knew this tagline would have to go, no matter what. Everyone at Corte Consulting was working long hours. And while Kyle claimed to like it, he had to admit that working weekends was getting old.

Did he want to grow his business? It would require huge changes to crack through the $2.5 million glass ceiling he was bumping up against. According to Pat, from Equiteq—an M&A advisory firm—Kyle would need to maximize his firm’s growth and scale the ...