Build Your Rocket Before You Shoot for the Moon

Everyone knows the Apollo Program, the NASA mission that landed humans on the moon in 1969 and fulfilled President Kennedy’s vision.

But have you heard of Project Gemini? Gemini was the program before Apollo, tasked with figuring out how to do important things in space—perform orbital maneuvers, dock spacecraft, and get in and out of the spaceship without, you know, dying—which are all essential skills to master before you attempt a trip to the moon.

And before Gemini was Project Mercury, which had the much simpler objective of transporting a human being into space and back again.

Everyone remembers Neil Armstrong taking the first step onto the surface of the Moon, but Alan Shepard—the first American in space—isn’t a household name.

But without Shepard, Mercury, or Gemini, Apollo never would’ve happened.

You should operate your consulting business like NASA.

Most consultants who leave corporate start out trying to go to the moon. They introduce themselves as a “speaker, author, coach, and consultant” before they even have clients. They build websites and launch podcasts before they’ve even figured out who they serve.

They’re running the Apollo Program before they’ve started Project Mercury.

Build One Thing First.

Alex Hormozi, entrepreneur and founder of Aquisition.com once said: “Multiple income streams is how you STAY rich not how you GET rich.”

I don’t follow all his advice because I don’t want to scale. But that line really resonated with me.

Five years ago, I was modeling my business after entrepreneurs who were already landing on the Moon, but I didn’t even have a rocket yet. I was consulting on small projects, developing an online leadership course, growing an email newsletter to get sponsors, building a group coaching program, and even hired an agent to book me for keynote speaking gigs. Down payment? $3500. Keynotes booked in 5 years? Zero.

Then, in early 2023, I quit.

I stopped everything I was doing except consulting. If it wasn’t onboarding clients or serving clients, I abandoned it. Leadership course cancelled. Newsletter on hold. Group coaching gone. Keynote speech scrapped.

That’s when everything started to take off.

Once I stopped scattering my energy, I finally had the clarity and momentum I’d been missing.

I discovered who I served, what problems they had, and what I did for them. I developed an “offer” to package my services so they were easy to understand, a process for bringing in new clients, and a proprietary method to differentiate me from everyone else.

I’d completed Project Mercury and now I had my rocket.

Don’t try to land on the Moon before you’ve orbited the Earth. Build one thing first.