We spent 2 hours on a stove. Then this happened to my consulting business.

Let’s be real - at your level, effort and willpower isn’t the issue. Here’s what to fix: Stop the busy work. Start compounding. Here's how a kitchen design changed my business - and it will be yours, too.

My wife, Ann, and I planned to build a house in Ireland a few years ago. It was a lesson in what not to do to make progress.

Here is what happened.

The architect sent us the floor plan and we immediately found the kitchen.

I am a hobby chef. So, how cooking flows in the kitchen was important to me. I'm also German and like it practical.

The Irish, on the other hand, are family-focused.

Ann wanted a kitchen that felt like a warm gathering place. I wanted space to sauté without stepping over someone’s child.

Ann and I needed to reconcile these two different universes.

There was only one problem. 

We hadn’t even filed for a building permit yet.

Had we just spent 30 minutes on that, we’d have made real progress. But instead, we burned two hours on layout decisions that - let’s be honest - didn’t move anything forward.

Instead, we went back and forth for two hours to agree if the stovetop should be next to the sink or have its dedicated place on the island. (The island won.)

If that sounds like your team or client meetings (or your internal dialogues), I’d love to walk you through my core strategy to scale your consulting business (and your life) with more clarity and speed.

If we only focus on the tasks we absolutely MUST do each day, we make more progress with less effort.

Ever since that day, I have spent 60% of my week IFA (Impact-First Actions). The other 40%? Delivering excellence, building trust, and leveling up.

In the High Performance Consultant Academy™, we call these Impact-First Actions (IFAs).

They help high performers like you stay focused on the outputs that actually compound. This way you can scale with precision, not pressure.

Here is what they are not:

• Rewriting the same damn proposal for the same kind of client.
• Chasing down leads who “said they were interested” two weeks ago.
• Redoing half the scope - for free.
• Clicking between tabs - Google Drive, Notion, Slack, CRM….
• Duct-taping together a client deliverable at night with caffeine and regret.

These are the time-wasters keeping you stuck in the “busy but not growing” trap.

So let’s shift that.

Here's what we do instead - HPC Academy-style:

1. Stop rewriting the damn proposal. Create one killer proposal template that does the selling for you. Tweak it in 15 minutes or less.
2. Automate your follow-up, you’re not an intern. Set up a three-step follow-up sequence that runs itself. If they ghost, let the system do the work while you sip something cold and talk to real buyers.
3.  Set the boundaries before the scope creep starts. One clear scope doc. Clear deliverables. And when they say, “Can we just add this one thing?” you say, “Sure - here’s the rate.”
4. Design Your “Brain Hub” Faster. Notion, Drive, ClickUp—whatever. Ask ChatGPT “Help me create a dashboard layout in Notion (or ClickUp, Airtable) that includes: Today’s priorities, quick access to clients, key documents, and an idea drop zone.”
5. Turn your genius into a system. Build custom GPTs or simple chatbots for different workflows (sales, delivery, content, etc.). Use ChatGPT to write client portal copy, weekly review forms, project kickoff questionnaires, and proposal outlines. Share them with your VA or team.

Because here’s the truth:

You didn’t start this business to run you.

You started it for freedom, impact, and income. For income that isn’t chained to your calendar.

So if you’re going to honor that vision - it’s time to start operating like the CEO you actually are.

Now it’s time to honor that vision by working smarter at the level you’ve earned.

IFAs get you there - fast.

And they leave you with enough brain space to take life with a grain of salt, lime, and tequila.

Priorities, right?

In my upcoming Impact-First Actions Clinic, I’ll show you how to pinpoint your IFA.

It's not about doing less.

It’s about finally getting a return on the effort, expertise, and energy you’ve been putting in for years.

You’ve already done the hard part - now it’s time to make it scale.

Register now and start making your time work for YOU.

Secure Your Spot here: https://www.teamlawless.com/ifa-clinic

See you inside,

Andrew

P.S. Hard work built everything you have. Now it’s time to make that effort compound. I’ll show you how to work through systems, not in spite of them.

P.P.S. In our kitchen, I make the big decisions. Ann makes the small decisions. Which ones are big or small, Ann decides. Makes for great IFAs.