Building a Practice That Doesn't Drain You
Why working with your personality instead of against it leads to better results, happier clients, and sustainable success
Most consultants build their practices backwards. They look at what successful consultants do, try to copy their approach, and wonder why they're exhausted all the time.
Here's the problem: you're designing your business around someone else's strengths instead of your own. You're forcing yourself into activities that drain your energy because that's what you think professional success looks like.
The result is predictable. You're constantly tired, your work quality suffers, and you resent the very practice you worked so hard to build. Meanwhile, your energy-giving activities, the work that makes you feel alive and productive, get pushed aside as "not important enough."
But what if sustainable success comes from the opposite approach? What if the key to building a thriving consulting practice is understanding exactly what energises you and designing everything around that?
This isn't about avoiding hard work or only doing what you love. Every consultant has to handle tasks they don't enjoy. But there's a difference between strategically managing necessary but draining activities and building your entire practice around them.
The Energy Audit: Understanding Your Professional Profile
Before you can design a practice that sustains you, you need to understand what actually energises versus drains you in professional settings. This isn't about personality tests or theoretical frameworks, it's about honest self-assessment based on your actual experience.
Energy-Giving Activities
Think about the last time you finished a work session feeling energised rather than depleted. What were you doing? Common energy-giving activities for consultants include:
- Deep analytical work on complex problems
- One-on-one conversations with clients about their challenges
- Writing and structuring ideas
- Teaching or mentoring others
- Strategic planning and framework development
- Leading small group discussions
- Presenting to interested audiences
Notice these aren't personality-specific. Some introverts love presenting to engaged audiences. Some extroverts find their flow in solitary analytical work. The key is identifying your actual experience, not what you think should energise you.
Energy-Draining Activities
Similarly, consider when you finish work feeling completely depleted. What activities consistently drain your energy? Common energy drains include:
- Large group brainstorming sessions
- Repetitive administrative tasks
- Aggressive sales activities
- Conflict resolution meetings
- Networking events with strangers
- Detailed project management
- Back-to-back client calls
Again, this varies by individual. Some consultants love networking events but hate administrative work. Others find detailed project management satisfying but struggle with large group facilitation.
The Business Context Factor
Your energy response to activities can also depend on context. You might love presenting your ideas to an interested audience but hate pitching services to reluctant prospects. You might enjoy detailed analysis when solving interesting problems but find it draining when doing compliance work.
Consider:
- What types of clients energise versus drain you?
- Which industries or business problems feel exciting versus tedious?
- What meeting formats work best for your thinking style?
- Which service delivery methods feel natural versus forced?
Practice Design Principles: Building Around Your Profile
Once you understand your energy profile, you can start designing a practice that works with your nature rather than against it.
Structure Your Services Around Your Strengths
If you're energised by deep analytical work, design services that require thorough research and complex problem-solving. If you thrive in one-on-one coaching conversations, build mentoring and advisory services. If you love teaching, create workshops and training programmes.
This doesn't mean avoiding everything else, but it means making your energy-giving activities the core of your value proposition. When 70% of your work energises you, you can handle the 30% that doesn't.
Choose Your Client Types Strategically
Different clients will drain or energise you in different ways. Some consultants thrive working with fast-paced startups. Others prefer the complexity and resources of large organisations. Some love working with visionary leaders. Others prefer detail-oriented operational managers.
You can't please everyone, and you shouldn't try. When you work with clients who appreciate your natural working style, both the relationship and the results improve.
Design Your Delivery Methods
How you deliver your expertise matters as much as what you deliver. If you're energised by writing, create detailed reports and frameworks. If you prefer speaking, focus on presentations and workshops. If you think best in dialogue, design your process around collaborative sessions.
The same expertise can be delivered many different ways. Choose the methods that energise you rather than drain you.
Set Boundaries Around Draining Activities
You can't eliminate all energy-draining activities, but you can be strategic about how you handle them. Options include:
- Batching similar tasks together rather than spreading them throughout the week
- Scheduling draining activities when your energy is highest
- Building recovery time after particularly depleting work
- Delegating or outsourcing tasks that consistently drain you
- Charging premium rates for work that requires you to operate outside your strengths
Managing Your Development Areas
Working with your strengths doesn't mean ignoring your weaknesses. It means being strategic about how you develop areas where you're less naturally gifted.
Improve Without Making Weaknesses Central
If you're not naturally good at networking but recognise its importance, develop those skills without making networking the foundation of your business development strategy. Practice enough to be competent, then focus your energy on content creation or referral building where you have natural advantages.
If you struggle with detailed project management but recognise its necessity, develop systems and templates that make it easier, or partner with someone who excels in that area.
Partner Strategically
Consider partnerships that complement your strengths. If you're excellent at strategy but weak at implementation, partner with someone who loves execution. If you're great with individual clients but struggle with large groups, team with someone who thrives in group facilitation.
This isn't about avoiding growth, it's about creating sustainable practices where everyone can operate from their strengths most of the time.
Invest in Systems and Tools
Use technology and processes to handle areas where you're less naturally strong. If administrative work drains you, invest in systems that automate routine tasks. If you struggle with follow-up, create templates and reminders that make it easier.
The goal isn't to become someone you're not, it's to become more effective at being who you are.
The Client Benefit: Why Authentic Practices Work Better
When you design your practice around your strengths, everyone benefits. You deliver better work because you're operating from your areas of natural ability. You have more energy to invest in client success because you're not constantly fighting your own nature.
Clients can sense when you're energised by the work versus when you're going through the motions. They get better insights, more creative solutions, and higher levels of engagement when you're working from your strengths.
This creates a positive cycle. Better client results lead to stronger relationships, more referrals, and the ability to be more selective about the work you take on. Over time, your practice evolves to focus more and more on activities that energise you.
The Long-Term Sustainability Factor
The consultants who build practices that last decades are usually those who found ways to align their work with their natural strengths and working preferences. They're not trying to be someone else, they're being excellent versions of themselves.
This doesn't mean they never face challenges or do difficult work. It means they've structured their practices so that the majority of their time is spent on activities that energise rather than drain them.
The Energy Audit Framework
Sustainable success comes from working with your nature, not against it. When you stop trying to fit into someone else's template for success and start building around your actual strengths, work becomes something that energises you rather than depletes you.
The result isn't just a more enjoyable practice, it's a more successful one. When you're working from your strengths, you deliver better results, attract better clients, and build a practice that can sustain itself over the long term.
This is what it means to build a practice that doesn't drain you. It's not about avoiding hard work, it's about doing hard work that aligns with who you actually are.