How Simplicity Scales Your L&D Consulting Business

3 Minute Read Time

Most L&D professionals-turned-consultants think more offerings equals more money. It doesn't. It equals more headaches.

Every time you add another niche or service to your "portfolio," you're not expanding—you're fracturing. You're essentially launching a whole new business while trying to keep your first one afloat.

Sound familiar? You're not alone.

After years watching talented professionals burn out trying to be everything to everyone, I've discovered something counterintuitive: simplicity isn't a constraint—it's your competitive advantage.

The Hidden Math of Complexity

Every additional niche or product doesn't just add work—it multiplies it.

Think of it as the Operational Drag Multiplier.

With one niche and one product, you manage:

1 sales script
1 sales pitch
1 contract
1 onboarding process
1 content strategy
1 pricing strategy
1 customer support system
1 set of SOPs
1 funnel
1 website

Your operational drag multiplier:
1×1×1×1×1×1×1×1×1×1 = 1 (beautifully simple)

But add just one more niche? Now you need:

2 sales scripts
2 sales pitches
2 contracts
2 onboarding processes
2 content strategies
2 pricing strategies
2 customer support systems
2 sets of SOPs
2 funnels
2 websites

Your operational drag multiplier:
2×2×2×2×2×2×2×2×2×2 = 1,024 times more complex

That "small tweak" to serve a second audience? It's created operational chaos. And your brain—or your eventual team—now has to context-switch constantly.

You didn't double your business. You accidentally built a second one.

Imagine trying to run three restaurants out of one kitchen:

One serves sushi
One serves pizza
One serves BBQ

Now picture doing that with one chef, one fridge, and one oven.

That's exactly what you're doing when you try to serve multiple niches with multiple products—all under one brand umbrella.

On paper, it's one business. In reality, it's three.

And none of them work well.

The Productized Path

The most successful L&D consultants I've worked with discovered an essential truth:

You don't scale by stacking. You scale by simplifying.

Ever wondered why those "lifestyle business" owners actually look like they're enjoying life while the "multiple-niche hustlers" seem perpetually stressed? There's your answer.

The more you reduce variability, the more your service becomes scalable—like a product. A productized service is:

• Easier to deliver
• More reliable in results
• Infinitely more enjoyable to run

When you solve the same problem, the same way, for the same type of client, you create a repeatable system that finally delivers the freedom and autonomy you're craving—the very things that your corporate L&D role promised but never delivered.

The Bottom Line

Look at your current business ideas.

Which one energizes you? Which aligns with the life you actually want to live?

Now imagine that business stripped down to its simplest form:

• One specific client type who values your expertise
• One clear problem you solve better than anyone
• One elegant solution that works reliably every time

That's not limiting—it's liberating.

The path to a thriving consulting business isn't through diversification—it's through simplification.

One niche. One offer. One system.

Simplicity doesn't just scale. It sets you free.