What Got You Here Won't Get You There

Why You Need More Than AI as Your Consultant

Let's talk about what nobody warns you about when you make the jump.

You spent 15 years climbing the corporate ladder. You know how to lead a team of 50 and managed eight-figure budgets. You ran entire divisions. And then you decide to start your own thing. Suddenly, you're the accountant AND the strategist AND the person who must figure out why the website went down at 2:34am.

The Reality Check Nobody Talks About

Just 13% of people find happiness in their corporate jobs, which is why so many accomplished executives are making the leap to entrepreneurship. But the harsher truth is about 20% of new businesses fail in their first year, nearly 50% fail within five years, and 65% don't make it to their tenth anniversary.

And if those numbers haven't changed your mind, good! You know the odds and you're weighing them anyway because staying put has its own cost. The real question is whether you're ready for how different it actually is.

Different how? You're suddenly running on a completely different operating system.

When Your Playbook Stops Working

In a large corporation, you execute. You have specialized teams, established processes, resources at your fingertips. In entrepreneurship, you create. There's no playbook. What worked at your Fortune 500 company might be completely wrong for a business with five people and a tight budget.

And here's where AI enters the conversation.

AI can analyze data faster than any human ever could. AI can identify patterns, automate tasks, and generate insights at scale. But here's what AI can't do: AI struggles to define the actual problem. It can't hold context the way a human can. It doesn't connect the dots between what you said three months ago and what's happening right now. It doesn't know that your marketing challenge is really a deeper issue with how your team communicates.

Most importantly, AI has never lived through transitioning from corporate executive to small business owner. It hasn't felt the panic when your enterprise software costs more than your quarterly budget, or the loneliness of making decisions without a leadership team.

What Actually Matters Now

Everyone wants consultants who use AI now. But what they really need is someone who knows how to wield AI PLUS understands the human reality of what they're going through.

That's the value proposition that matters. Not someone who read about it in a textbook. Not an AI generating generic plans. But someone who's been in the boardroom, in the bootstrap stage, in the "figure it out or fail" moments and came out with scars and real solutions.

The future of consulting isn't human OR AI. It's humans who collaborate with AI while bringing strategic thinking, discernment, and the ability to read the room. It's advisors who've lived in both worlds and can help you translate your talents into this new context.

The Bottom Line

Because the hard truth is most of us weren't trained for this transition. We learned by surviving it.

And if you're in the middle of it all, feeling like you're supposed to know more? You're not behind. You just need someone who's been through it to say, here's what I wish I'd known.

Ready to talk about making moves? Let's connect.