g Greenhat Insights
Building a consulting firm worth owning
Practical thinking for environmental consulting firm owners: how to find the right clients, convert more work, and run an operation that is profitable, retains great people, and is worth something when you want to exit.
1 Finding Opportunities
Identifying and targeting the right clients
Most environmental firms grow on relationships and reputation. This stage is about turning that into a deliberate, repeatable approach: knowing exactly who you’re built for and how to find more of them.
2 Converting Opportunities
Turning proposals into profitable projects
Winning is not about writing more thorough documents. It is about pricing confidently, qualifying ruthlessly, and positioning your firm so that the right buyers choose you on something other than price.
The billable hour was always a proxy for value. AI just broke it.
The hour was always a proxy for value, and AI has pulled the two apart. Why environmental firms will have to price on worth, and how to get there without betting the firm.
3 Operational
Running a firm that stays profitable
Winning work is only half the problem. This stage covers what happens after the contract is signed: margin, utilisation, the founder ceiling, and building the kind of operation that a buyer will pay a real multiple for.
75%Billable
20%Future work
5%Overhead
The productivity target is dead. Long live the productivity target.
One number is asked to do two jobs at once. Here’s where it starts to creak, and the first two things you can do about it.