5 Weeks
·Cohort-based Course
Stand up and scale your advisory business: a course for busy execs who want freedom and broader impact
5 Weeks
·Cohort-based Course
Stand up and scale your advisory business: a course for busy execs who want freedom and broader impact
Previously at or currently serving
Course overview
I frequently speak with busy execs -- both from large, publicly traded companies, and from startups -- who would like to start a new chapter of advising and consulting full-time. If you're reading this, you may be one of them.
The thing is, while you recognize this path exists, you also have really good questions:
- How, exactly, do you find clients?
- How many clients can you really serve at once before you burn out or quality degrades?
- How in the heck do you figure out pricing?
- Do you need to be a "thought leader" / influencer to do this?
- Can you really make a decent living with this setup?
Beyond the practical, there are deeper emotional questions as well:
- I'm really uncomfortable with sales -- will that be a problem?
- I'm scared that I'll have a hard time setting and maintaining boundaries around my time. How do you do that?
- How do I spot red flags with potential clients as we're vetting one another? If I'm going to do this, I want to enjoy it.
- I'm comfortable operating within my corporate structure. How can I manage my time and stay motivated?
- Am I really an expert? Aren't there hundreds of better / smarter people doing this?
After 15 years of operating in both startups and large, publicly-traded companies -- and after having three children -- I decided to take control of my time, while staying on the steep learning curve that I've always loved.
In full-time advisory and consulting, I've constructed a work-life that is grounded in variety, diversification, and choice. Everyday, I'm building out my network, my skillset, and my optionality for the future.
This path brings incredible benefits, and it may be available to you.
But it is not for everyone. Constructing a portfolio of engagements is an entrepreneurial pursuit requiring testing, iteration and hustle. The income variability and the ambiguity surrounding many of the engagements can lead to anxiety, fear, and real instability.
This course is for execs who are in a position to navigate these risks, can find joy in the ups, downs and lessons, and are looking for freedom and broad impact in the next chapter of their careers.
I've developed this 301-level course for busy execs that will help you understand the practical and tactical aspects of standing up your own advisory business, and what it looks like to scale it for broader impact.
In this short and meaty course, we will dive into the following:
Defining Your Offering: I will provide you with tools that I've used to draft and refine my offering over the last two years:
- Role Deconstruction: look back on your career to-date and clearly distill the outcomes, expertise and disciplines you've mastered.
- Energy Audit: filter out the things that wipe you of your energy, and focus on things that you can offer with joy.
Building Your Pipeline: I will share my playbook for seeding and expanding your funnel:
- How to start warm and then fill top-of-funnel
- How to convert warm leads into clients
- Pricing: What are the various structures you can utilize and when should you consider each?
Setting Up Your Back-Office: We will cover exactly what you need, and what you don't need, on Day 1, including:
- LLCs, Licenses, Taxes and Accounting: what's necessary to-start, and what can you phase in after revenue?
- Contracts: what are the standard agreements that you'll need for each and every client?
- Finances: we'll walk through my P&L in detail to discuss operating expenses, and margin for different engagement types
Much More :)
- As you start to ramp-up, you'll also encounter opportunities with subcontractors and partners, challenges with time management, wrinkles in how you service clients, and so much more. We'll dive into many of these scenarios and I will share my direct experience with each.
How we'll tackle this together:
This course is specifically designed for seasoned execs who are looking for an on-ramp into full-time consulting and advisory work, and want to go past generalized knowledge and into first-hand experience.
Cohorts will learn the ropes together through the following:
- Three live courses, with Q&A throughout. This is a 301-level course where we will dive into nuance and breeze by things that you could have easily Googled.
- Concrete and productive assignments to help you apply insights and make real progress
- Two open Office Hours for more in-depth Q&A, group coaching and feedback on materials
- A closed Slack group for peer networking and learning (a superpower when pursuing this path!)
Bonus Materials will include:
- All course materials and course recordings
- A suite of tools and templates, including:
--> Role Deconstruction / Capabilities worksheet
--> Engagement Models w/ pros & cons
--> One-Pager Template for Driving Leads
--> Advisory Comp Benchmarks
--> Project Estimate Template
--> Communities to Join for Network Expansion
--> My Tech Stack: with breakdown of expenses each month and year
--> Example P&L: broken out by different engagement types
If you want to take a bet on yourself and create your own path through full-time advisory or consulting -- and you want to avoid 18-months of costly fumbles, this on-ramp is for you.
01
Execs with 15 years+ of experience, in the midst of, or looking to transition into full-time advisory or consulting and need support
02
Seasoned leaders looking for diversification, impact across companies, work/life balance, optionality and who want to hit the ground running
03
This is not for: consultants looking for guarantees of “a seven-figure contract in 6 weeks” or execs unwilling to put in the work.
Develop a clear sense of the unique capabilities that you will offer to companies at various stages.
Utilize tools that will help you view your career experience and track record in a new light.
Lean on a community of peers, and your instructor, to pressure-test and hone your pitch.
Build a pipeline of initial opportunities and a clear understanding of selling and client management.
Identify blindspots and dig deeply into the realities of selling, pricing, servicing and growing a portfolio of clients. Work directly with someone who has "done it" and go deep into the nuance of day-to-day interactions.
Accelerate your transition by utilizing ready-made tools and guides that will save you time and give you meaningful focus.
Avoid fumbling around for 18-months, and gain the focus and confidence to capture real opportunities.
Gain lifetime access to tools and frameworks that I've used to generate and close initial clients, manage my back-office and focus productively.
Bootstrap your peer advisor network as you work alongside a curated group of other experts.
Learn and build alongside a curated cohort of fellow Execs in transition. You will share feedback, exchange ideas and opportunities, and hold each other accountable along the way.
Analyze whether this path is right for you, working directly with an experienced advisor who has your back.
Gain in-depth feedback and space for group coaching in open Office Hours sessions.
All students will also receive a lifetime discount to 1:1 coaching with instructor following the course.
5 interactive live sessions
Lifetime access to course materials
4 in-depth lessons
Direct access to instructor
5 projects to apply learnings
Guided feedback & reflection
Private community of peers
Course certificate upon completion
Maven Satisfaction Guarantee
This course is backed by Maven’s guarantee. You can receive a full refund within 14 days after the course ends, provided you meet the completion criteria in our refund policy.
On-Ramp to Full-Time Advising and Consulting for Busy Execs
Week 1
Sep 19—Sep 22
Events
Thu, Sep 19, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM UTC
Modules
Week 2
Sep 23—Sep 29
Events
Wed, Sep 25, 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM UTC
Modules
Week 3
Sep 30—Oct 6
Events
Thu, Oct 3, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM UTC
Week 4
Oct 7—Oct 13
Events
Wed, Oct 9, 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM UTC
Modules
Week 5
Oct 14—Oct 18
Events
Thu, Oct 17, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM UTC
Post-Course
Modules
Shira Stember
Lexie Comstock
Sofiat Abdulrazaaq
Kurt Hemecker
Samantha Mullett
Clam Lorenz
Hi! I'm Amanda Schwartz Ramirez, a strategy and operations executive, advisor and board member. Over the last 15 years, I've built and scaled high-performing organizations at their earliest stages, during hyper-growth, and at Fortune 500 scale.
Currently, as an advisor and founder of Garden Labs, I help venture-backed CEOs and COOs hone a more focused strategy and scale more intentionally. I also work closely with publicly-traded companies to advise on emerging tech.
I built this comprehensive course to help other execs make an informed leap into this meaningful, yet poorly defined, ride.
My hope is that all students come out of this course smarter about the journey, more prepared to take (and mitigate) its risks, and ready to benefit from the freedom and broad impact that I've enjoyed over the last two years.
For more insight into my career journey, find me on Linkedin.
Click here for more info on Garden Labs.
Find me on Substack, where I sporadically write about ops and strategy.
Join an upcoming cohort
Cohort 1
$1,999
Dates
Application Deadline
Don't miss out! Applications close in 8 days
2-4 hours per week
Live Sessions
Every other Thursday
We will meet bi-weekly on Thursdays, from 8 - 9:30am PT, for 5 weeks. There will be 3 live sessions, with 1 async kick-off leading in.
Recordings will be made available after sessions.
Actionable Steps
2 hours per week
Every session will have a clear next-step, allowing you to take action and make progress in your transition.
Tools and templates will be provided.
Office Hours (Optional)
Twice During Course Period
I will host two one-hour Office Hours, for any student to join with questions or materials to review.
Active hands-on learning
This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects
Interactive and project-based
You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams
Learn with a cohort of peers
Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you
What happens if I can’t make a live session?
I work full-time. What is the expected time commitment?
Will I get my first seven figure contract from this course?
Why is this course live vs fully virtual?
How much interaction will I get?
Why is there an application for enrollment?
What deliverables/outcomes can I expect to walk away with?
Who is this course NOT for?
How much access to the instructor will I get?
What’s the refund policy?
What if I have more questions about the course?
Sign up to be the first to know about course updates.
Join an upcoming cohort
Cohort 1
$1,999
Dates
Application Deadline
Don't miss out! Applications close in 8 days