S10E221: Scaling a Consultancy: Mindset, Margins and the 30% Rule with Josh Stone
Most consultancy owners can tell you their revenue. Very few can tell you their net profit. That gap is where the money quietly leaks out. In this Australia-only episode, Val sits down with Josh Stone, who grew a civil and structural consultancy from £3m to £30m over a decade, sold out, and now coaches 70+ engineering, surveying, architecture and town planning founders on how to build businesses that actually pay them back. We get into the commercial side we rarely cover on the show: Why 30% net profit should be your benchmark, and what to do if you are sat at 12% How to escape the generalist "red ocean" and charge what you are actually worth Why winning the work is only half the job, and how to stop client relationships living and dying with the founder The four-stage path from technician to conductor to lifestyle or investor A grounded take on AI in engineering, and why the founders experimenting now will outbid the ones who wait If you are stuck being the bottleneck in your own business, this is the practical, no-nonsense conversation to fix it. Guest: Josh Stone More from Project Chatter: www.projectchatter.com Free access, no paywalls. Keep liking, keep sharing, keep paying it forward.