Welcome back to The 2x2 - the ultimate newsletter for executive consultants!
I figured out what it takes to run a $400K consulting business.
And you can make it your goal in 2026 — all you need is a little math and a lot of conversations.
Read on…
⏰ Today in 5 minutes or less:
You need to reach at least 50 people to reach your $400K goal.
It doesn’t take you one phone call to find your final clients. There’s a lot of back-and-forth before moving one lead moves to the next stage.
Before you reach out to anyone, nail down your niche first.
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Take Home $400K in 2026: Reverse Engineering Consulting Business Success
Everyone gets into consulting with different goals.
Some want a balanced lifestyle with consulting as a side income, but others build a practice that replaces (or even surpasses) their executive salary.
And if you're like me, you’re into running a consulting practice that lets you take home mid-six figures a year in the service of others.
Now, before you roll your eyes, this isn’t about “six-figure mindset hacks” or “crushing your niche.”
This is just arithmetic – from someone who runs one of the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America (that’s me!).
Let’s reverse-engineer how this kind of consulting business works in reality.
First, Let’s Set Your Goal
There’s no exact benchmark on what you should make annually, but I think $400K is the first mark of a successful consulting practice.
Why? Because this would be your average base salary plus bonus if you were a first-level executive in any company.
It’s a good income replacement target. If you make this amount of money, then you’re living a healthy and balanced financial life.
With a goal of $400k a year, that means bringing in $36,000 per month (this already bakes in four weeks of unpaid vacation).
Then, look at how that translates to clients:
1 client @ $36K/month. The dream scenario. But unless you’re deeply embedded in a niche where budgets are massive and your work is mission-critical, it’s rare.
2 clients @ $18K/month each. Slightly more achievable but still requires finding organizations with both big budgets and big problems.
3 clients @ $12K/month each. This is the sweet spot. Manageable workload, healthy revenue, and sustainable growth.
4-6 clients with smaller budgets for ongoing problems. Possible, but the risk is you’re buried in delivery and admin instead of strategy.
You can take your chances at either arrangement, but if it was me, I would aim to build strong relationships with three clients at $12K/month each.
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Next, Let’s See How Many Conversations It Takes
Most consultants dramatically underestimate the math of business development.
To land those three clients, you need a predictable process.
Here’s a simple funnel:
Reach out to 50 people on your network.
About 60% might agree to a call, which gives you 30 conversations.
25% of those 30 conversations have a need, which leaves you with eight real prospects.
A third of those have budget, timing, and urgency, which lands you three clients.
The caveat? It doesn’t just take you one phone call to find 3 clients. There will be a lot of back-and-forth meetings before moving one lead to the next stage of the funnel.
To make this chain of outreach happen, you need to follow the referral flywheel -- add more people to the network, find out who the decision makers are, stay visible and in service of them, and invest in people who champion your work.
When you run the math, $400K isn’t an abstract goal — it’s a function of how effectively you identify, engage, and close the right opportunities.
Then, Let’s Find Your Magic 50
The question most consultants stumble on: who do I even reach out to?
This is where strategy matters. Your “Magic 50” isn’t just a random list of people from LinkedIn.
It’s the group most likely to introduce you to, or directly become, your $12K/month clients.
To get there, you need to think through three things:
1. What Problems Do You Help Solve?
You’re not just a consultant who can do a lot of things. You’re probably skilled enough to accomplish different things, but being a generalist won’t get you anywhere.
When presenting yourself to people, you need to pose as someone who helps a very specific type of client solve a very specific type of problem.
You don’t convince people by saying “I do operations consulting.”
Instead, you go straight to the point with “I help mid-market SaaS companies reduce churn by fixing broken onboarding processes.”
Many consultants are experts at multiple niches, but the key is knowing which one to highlight in every conversation.
When you’re clear about who you help and what you fix, your Magic 50 list gets obvious.
Take it from Terry Chevalier – an experienced consultant often dealing with telecommunications and exit planning projects. He keeps the brands separate by reserving one niche in his practice and working with a different team for the other. Read more about his full interview here.
Another highly effective way to position yourself is by showing people your intellectual property – as discussed by Wes Wheless.
Your IP is the amalgamation of your experiences and insights, which you can easily show prospects during conversations. It can look like a framework, process, tool, or playbook that you readily apply to their problem.
2. How Can People Find You?
Your Magic 50 may already know you – or they may need to be reminded. Either way, you need ways to show up in their world by:
Showing up on LinkedIn. We’ve written plenty of pieces about LinkedIn, but the bottom line is that it works – either for you or your competitors.
What I like to do is put on a little character on LinkedIn, as someone who knows her audience and what they like to see. When you have that character down, you’ll have a vision of how your profile should look like, how you engage with others, and what you should be writing about.
You can check out our full archive in The2x2, but this one sums it all up.
Proactively sharing value. Thought leadership content is crucial in two ways: they help you keep top of mind with your network, and it shows people how you approach and solve a problem.
There are different ways to share these pieces – you can post about them on LinkedIn, write blogs and newsletters, or talk about it in a video. Personally, I do a little bit of all three.
I especially pay attention to videos because the algorithm loves it, and people are more likely to remember a familiar face. It’s just psychology.
Asking for introductions. A lot of consultants are afraid to ask for referrals or introductions, even if their entire business depended on it. But here’s the thing: if you ask people to put in a good word to others, they would almost always be happy to do it.
If it doesn’t work out with one of your contacts, ask them if they know someone else who faces the problems you help solve.
This is also where the partnerships you’ve built come in handy. Referrals and introductions from your partners allow you to cast a wider net – and start further into the funnel that you would with cold outreach. For an extensive take on partnerships as the accelerant to your growth, read the full article here.
Volume is great, but the bigger goal is to build enough visibility that when you reach out, you’re seen as credible and relevant.
3. How Do You Close a Deal?
A surprising number of consultants get to “great conversation” but never to “signed contract.”
Every consulting engagement more or less follows the same rhythm. Here’s what a typical pitch process looks like:
In the $400K business perspective, steps one to four will be about landing your three clients. Here’s how that might go:
Introduce yourself to 50 people – and pitch to 30 of them. The goal here is to secure conversation. The benchmark we’ve set is that 60% or 30 people agree to meet you.
Write a proposal to eight people. Out of the 30 conversations you had, 25% or eight people have a need for your services. It’s time to show them you understand the problem and make them see why your approach is the best one.
Send and follow up, until you narrow down the active deals. The reality is that you won’t get the yes from all those eight proposals (and even if you did, you can’t do all that work without a team). Some of them might say ‘no’ or even ghost you. Either way, the goal is to have about three active deals (or more, just to keep options open).
Formalize the deal with three clients. If you’re lucky enough to get more than three active deals, you still need to narrow them down to three, so you don’t burn out working.
Once you get all three clients signed, you’re ready for work. Make sure to document everything because it will make for a good case study later on.
How the Math Plays Out With Other Goals
Building a $400K practice isn’t the only worthy path.
You may decide $150K, part-time, is your perfect lifestyle. Or $250K with more balance. Or maybe you want to aim higher.
To give you a vision, here’s what the math looks like with either of those goals:
$150K ($14K/month) – one solid client paying $13.7K or two at ~$7K. This is great for side income or semi-retirement.
$250K ($23K/month) – two clients at ~$12K. It’s doable if you’re solo and only working around 30 hours a week.
Regardless of your goals, the principle stays the same: choose your target revenue, convert it to a monthly target, and line up a client mix that makes your time split realistic.
What if you’re aiming for $600K+? This is when you bring in a team. But it’s also the best time to reevaluate who you serve, not how you do it. (We’ll discuss how you can make this jump in another issue, so stay tuned.)
Got Your List of Fifty Yet?
If you’re also targeting to take home $400K a year, here’s the question to take with you: Who are your Magic 50?
If you had to write down the 50 people most likely to help you land your three anchor clients, who would they be? And what’s your plan to reach out to them this month?
That’s the success of your consulting practice, reverse engineered.
Remember, the path to success is paved with continuous learning and embracing fresh perspectives.
Let's stay connected, share ideas, and elevate your consulting business.
Stay curious, friends.
The 2×2 is brought to you by Keenan Reid Strategies
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