The real competitive advantage most consultants overlook

From Services to Products: More Similar Than You'd Think

Hi everyone,

I don’t want to step too much on an upcoming newsletter I’m coauthoring with the insightful Maya Kurien, but she asked me a great question recently that I think merits its own piece. Consider this an abbreviated version. I hurt my back last week, and then my toddler came down with hand-foot-and-mouth disease over the weekend. We’re just trying to keep things above water over here, so today’s newsletter will be a little shorter than usual.

Whinging done, now on to Maya’s question: how different is it to go from selling a service, like consulting, to selling a product, like I am with Chorus (the software company I co-founded)? And why did I make the change?

First, I still consult with two clients, splitting my time between that service work and my work with Chorus, where I focus mostly on marketing and business development. I wasn’t looking to start a business two years ago when we founded Chorus. I was very happily consulting and working through various passion projects, as I shared in a previous newsletter:

My Unexpected Journey

Chorus drew me in because of the freedom. In the United States in 2025, I believe the fullest opportunity to experience creative liberty comes when you start a business. I’ll save my critiques of that reality for a future newsletter. However you feel about that claim, I think we have to acknowledge its truth. If you want to stretch your creative brain and experience full agency, starting a company offers a great path. I felt that freedom somewhat while consulting, but nothing like I have at Chorus.

One might think that a software company selling marketing technology is entirely different from an individual consultant selling their services. Obviously, many things are dissimilar. But there’s a huge overlap I wasn’t expecting.

Maya actually clued me into this overlap. She observed that many consultants offer the same services and wondered how one stands out in that environment. As we talked, I reflected on my similar experience. Although I was proud of my track record before consulting and felt I had great expertise to share, I could point to many other qualified people with comparable skills. It’s a big world, and finding a capable consultant is easy.

This is also true at Chorus. Every idea we’ve had for a product or feature, someone else has already built or is building. The rise of vibe coding means the barrier to creation is lower than ever for software products. How can any software company (or consultant) succeed?

Maya and I reached the same conclusion, which is both encouraging and counterintuitive: you win with the soft skills! All the stuff I wrote about in last week’s newsletter is how you do it.

The Relationship Economy: Part 2

You help people feel taken care of. You provide exceptional customer service. You build meaningful and authentic relationships.

I was reminded of something an early Chorus customer, ArtsWave, told me. I was meeting with their team at their Cincinnati office, and they remarked that none of their other software vendors will even get on the phone with them, let alone meet in person. I was happy to hear it, but hadn’t thought much about it before our meeting. Meeting in person is just something you do when you care about a client or a friend. It’s also something you do whether you’re an independent consultant or a software company if you want to stand out in a very crowded field.