The Costly Mistake Slowing Your Education Consulting Business

Stop Trying to Grow Two Businesses at the Same Time (It’s Slowing You Down)

I’m seeing the same mistake show up over and over again with really capable consultants, and it’s quietly slowing everything down.

One of the biggest mistakes I’m seeing right now?

Trying to grow two businesses at the same time.

Usually it looks like:

• A direct-to-consumer business selling something straight to teachers
• And an education consulting business selling solutions to schools or districts

And I get why it feels logical.

Same topic.
Same expertise.
Same general “work.”

So the thought is:

• “I’ll just do both.”
• “I’ll build this little thing on the side.”
• “At least something is moving.”

But here’s the thing I need you to hear:

These are not the same business.
And trying to grow both at once is one of the fastest ways to stall out completely.

These Are Two Totally Different Business Models

Even if your content overlaps, the business models do not.

One is:

• Direct-to-consumer
• Low ticket
• Different audience
• Different funnel
• Often IG, Facebook, YouTube heavy

The other is:

• High-ticket
• Relationship-based
• Different audience
• Different funnel
• Often LinkedIn, conferences, networking

It’s a different buyer.
A different budget.
A different timeline.
A different decision-making process.

And when your messaging is trying to talk to both at the same time…

No one hears you clearly.

And clarity is everything.

It Takes Way More Bandwidth Than You Think

This is where it really starts to hurt.

Every time you switch between:

• Teacher pain points and administrator priorities
• Product launches and contract conversations
• Low-ticket offers and high-ticket solutions

You drain mental energy.

And the thing you focus on grows.

When your focus is split, nothing gets enough depth to actually gain traction.

You stay busy… but momentum never really kicks in.

A book that helped me realize this in my own journey was Michael Hyatt’s Free to Focus.

He talks about how time is constant, but energy is not.

Meaning:
Just because you work more hours doesn’t mean your energy, focus, and productivity stay the same.

It Quietly Weakens Your Authority

This one is sneaky.

When your positioning is split, your authority gets fuzzy.

Administrators need to see you as:

• A strategic partner
• Someone who understands systems and outcomes
• Someone who operates at their level

When your messaging is also geared toward individual teachers, it doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong…

But it does create confusion.

And confusion is a deal-breaker.

Clear positioning builds authority.
Authority builds trust.
Trust leads to contracts.

You Slow Down Your Learning Curve

From a pure growth perspective, this is huge.

One of our mottos inside ECA is borrowed from Marie Forleo’s book Everything is Figureoutable.

And with that being said…

Every business has a learning curve:

• What messaging actually converts
• What objections come up
• What offers land
• What systems work
• What tech and backend systems are actually needed

When you run two businesses, you split your feedback loop.

Instead of refining one thing quickly, you’re learning two things slowly.

That delays mastery.

And mastery is what creates speed.

Your Data Gets Noisy (and Decisions Get Harder)

Growth depends on clean data:

• What’s working
• What’s not
• Where people are dropping off

Two businesses = messy data.

You can’t clearly tell:

• What to double down on
• What to fix
• What to stop doing

So decisions get slower… or emotional… or reactive.

And strategy without clean data?

That’s just guessing.

You End Up Optimizing the Wrong Thing

Here’s what I see all the time.

When someone is building a direct-to-consumer offer alongside consulting, they start optimizing for:

• Faster wins
• Smaller transactions
• Shorter timelines

Because it feels productive.

But education consulting is a high-leverage model:

• Fewer clients
• Higher contracts
• Bigger impact

Splitting focus often pulls you back into low-leverage work, because it feels safer, even when it’s slowing you down.

You Delay the Compounding Effect

Consulting compounds.

And I’m seeing this with my clients right now, and I’m loving every minute of it.

They start slow.

They build their assets.
They reach out to their warm market.
They get consistent on LinkedIn.
They do a few breakout sessions…

And then they get booked.

And then they get booked again.

And then they get another call… and get booked again.

This is exactly how my business grew as well.

Once you:

• Clarify your positioning
• Build trust with decision-makers
• Get known for a specific outcome

Things get easier.

• Referrals pick up
• Sales cycles shorten
• Conversations change

But compounding requires consistency.

When your focus keeps shifting, it never fully kicks in.

So every contract feels like starting from scratch.

You Stay Busy Instead of Becoming Known

This might be the biggest one.

Two businesses keep you busy.

One business helps you become known.

Known for:

• Solving a specific problem
• Delivering a clear outcome
• Being the go-to person for that work

Busy feels productive.

Being known builds a business.

Let’s Call This What It Is

Most people aren’t doing this because they’re undisciplined.

They’re doing it out of fear.

Selling to schools can take longer.
Contracts are higher tickets.
The timeline feels less predictable.

So the thought is:

“I’ll just build this small thing on the side.”

But more often than not, that “small thing” actually slows the whole process.

It delays:

• Your clarity
• Your confidence
• Your authority
• Your momentum

Let me be very clear:

You can have multiple income streams.

But you can’t grow multiple things at the same time, especially in the early stages.

Focus creates momentum.
Momentum creates confidence.
Confidence creates results.

Want to Go Deeper? Watch The Booked-Out Consultant

If this episode hit a nerve, there’s a reason.

Inside my free evergreen webinar, The Booked-Out Consultant, I break down:

• The most common mistakes that quietly block consultants from getting contracts
• What actually builds authority with decision-makers
• How to structure your business so momentum compounds instead of stalls

We go deeper into this exact issue and a few others that tend to show up right alongside it.

You can register for The Booked-Out Consultant by heading to:

www.jennkleiber.com/bookedout

Watch it on your own time, and then come back for Part II, because the second mistake I’m seeing right now is closely connected to this one.

And fixing them together is where things really start to move.