How can you avoid common mistakes when developing a Thought Leadership position in start-up consulting?

The ultimate goal of an entrepreneur who creates a startup is to stabilize the business in the market. This happens when you offer a product or service to the market that people need and use. This is where a concept called SMART comes into play.

In my journey, setting a clear Thought Leadership goal was pivotal. Defining the objective be it establishing expertise, attracting the right audience, or measuring success shaped my content strategy. Crafting SMART goals ensured relevance, guiding me to create impactful, purpose-driven content aligned with my brand's ethos and audience needs.

I see this with a lot of entrepreneurs in my space… They want to try to serve everyone without focusing on a niche that is in their own sweet spot. Personally, I’ve realized that a lot of my interests belong better in the personal part of my life rather than in my professional career. So now I make time to volunteer in those areas rather than to try to serve that particular niche because it’s not the best fit for me and my unique approach. For example, I just love working with entrepreneurs. So now, even when I do healing, I want to work with healing entrepreneur minded people.

The central goal of thought leadership is to get new clients that are genuinely interested in your products and can become active fans of your brand.To achieve this goal, you need to define your proposition, set out your goals and objectives which calls for application of SMART. Content creation should align with your goals and objective and be consistent throughout different platforms. Knowing you audience will enable you frame your contents to stimulate their interests.

It's very important to have a clear understanding of what we want to achieve as a Thought Leader, create a SMART goals plan with the timelines and follow the schedule. It will help to track progress, know what's working and change the processes that are not giving desired outcomes. Focusing on the area of interest instead of catering to many areas, helps to work more passionately. It helps to target the right audience and not get drawn into multiple things that may be distractions.

The biggest mistake I see in startup consulting thought leadership is failure to actually provide it. Only market leaders can get away with thought repeatership. They have the power and gravity to make you listen when they're worth hearing or not. Startups don't have that. Nobody cares what you think just because you think it. So you need to be different. You need to offer something new.

It is simply a disaster not to differentiate yourself as startup thought leader. Clients are used to generic models of solving problems and are looking for new entrants with unique perspectives and strategies that can give them higher values. To achieve this you need to carry out alot of research on you niche, develop higher skills and Competencies to build up your profile inorder to distinct yourself from the crowd.

Don't position yourself as a 'startup consultant' - pick 1 pillar and specialise. For example, 'Startup consultant to help you maximise your valuation for a Series A fund-raise. For example, 'Startup consultant to help you create a second rung of leadership' Your differentiation is defined by the problem you solve. Always, remember - you'd never call a plumber to fix a bulb. Experts works with experts, not generalists.

This particular one has taken me well over a decade to figure out. Strangely enough, all of the information was there for me to see it from the beginning, but it’s really easy to listen to other people and watch how they approach a situation of niching. Once one connects the dots, then it’s very easy to know who your ideal audience is. Then it simply a matter of being authentic and communicating, just as you would with a friend or the people in your own local community. Humans have been doing this for thousands of years. We just need to listen to our own internal voice and move in our own direction without getting to overly influenced by outside messages… A daily morning routine to get into our own energy with meditation is a great start.

Your audience isn't just a passive recipient; they're an active part of the conversation. Neglecting their needs, preferences, and feedback creates a gap, hindering the establishment of meaningful connections. It's crucial to actively seek insights, understand their pain points, and deliver valuable content that's not just informative but also relatable and actionable. Building this rapport is the bedrock of influential thought leadership in startup consultancy.

If you want to be a thought leader, it's not enough to engage with your own audience, you have to be part of other thought leaders' audiences and offer your views there. This is a good way to get out of your bubble, validate and build upon your views, and acquire new followers.

The fact is that over time one’s approach and methods change slightly as your viewpoint matures. This maturation can happen when you are interacting and engaging on a regular basis with your audience. In the beginning, your approach might be theoretically correct, but may need to be adjusted so that people can engage with it more easily. The opposite may also be true - a generally good approach that only gets better overtime from interacting with your audience. Beyond the validity of your approach is the idea of trust and generating it with your audience. This just takes time and is easier for some personalities than others. But I think the idea of making it less abstract and more like a friendly conversation is key.

One critical aspect often overlooked in developing a Thought Leadership position in start-up consulting is the balance between expertise and humility. It's crucial to demonstrate your knowledge without coming off as overly authoritative. Embracing a humble approach allows for open dialogue and the acknowledgment that there's always room for growth and learning within the ever-evolving startup landscape. This blend of expertise and humility builds trust and credibility, fostering more meaningful client relationships.

If you have a tendency to overthink or a tendency toward perfectionism, then it is easy to get caught in endless rumination when considering strategies. The key is to put yourself in an experimental mindset - try something (anything!) to showcase your expertise for some period of time (say 3 months), and see if you're attracting your key audience. Learn from it, then pivot as necessary.

A classic approach to developing the positioning and thought-leadership platform is using a "message house". The roof is an umbrella message that describes your area of expertise that you offer to clients. The house itself has 3-5 specific topics that fall under your area of expertise. Every house needs a good foundation. For a message house, these are the proof points for each of the 3-5 specific topics that you have expertise in, which can be tied to specific services you offer. Don't get hung up on how many pillars you need; it can be less or more than 3-5. But keep in mind, the more areas you add your positioning as a thought leader and service provider will become less crisp and tangible.

You may aspire to build your thought leadership, then find that it is very uncomfortable putting yourself out there. Try to reframe your thought leadership to be less about you as the author and more about the needs of your audience. When you make this pivot, you feel less exposed and more helpful. Your content will likely be better, too! It does get easier with time!