The 3 stages of building a consulting business (years 0 to 5+)

Every consulting business moves through the same three stages, and knowing which one you’re in changes what you should be working on. Here’s the arc from the scrappy first years to a business that runs without you.

I knew five years before I actually left that it was time to go.

After selling my business to a publicly traded company, I spent the next four years fulfilling a five-year non-compete — trying everything I could to reignite my passion.

I created a new role for myself inside the company. Built a house and moved to a new state. Landed dream clients I’d been chasing for years. Mentored high-potential leaders I truly believed in.

But no matter what I changed on the outside, I couldn’t shake the dull ache of knowing I had outgrown this chapter.

I was burned out. Uninspired. And painfully aware I was staying somewhere I no longer belonged.

My husband Jeff and I agonized over the decision for me to leave.

It became our regular after-dinner conversation — week after week — wrestling with what our future might look like if I finally walked away from corporate.

Then someone recommended a book: Necessary Endings by Dr. Henry Cloud.

I devoured it in a weekend. That book gave me the clarity — and the courage — to admit what I already knew.

I was at a necessary ending.

Eventually, I said yes.

And in the five years that followed, I built ThriveHive into a company helping women leave corporate and launch thriving consulting businesses of their own.

The last five years have been the most high-growth, rewarding, and challenging chapter of my life.

And they reawakened a part of me I thought I’d lost — or was simply too old to rediscover.

It wasn’t always smooth. It definitely wasn’t always clear. But it was worth every messy, brave, exhausting, exhilarating step.

What are the stages of building a consulting business?

Over the next three issues, I’m pulling back the curtain on ThriveHive’s first five years — a journey I believe will closely mirror the early stages of your business, too.

Because while every path is unique, most women building consulting businesses move through three powerful phases:

Part 1: Solopreneurship (years 0-2)

The messy, scrappy beginning — when you’re doing everything yourself and learning how to actually get paid for what you know.

Part 2: Entrepreneurship (years 3-5)

The shift from trading time for money to building real structure, support, and systems that can scale beyond just you.

Part 3: Lifestyle & legacy (years 5+)

The stage where you finally design your business around your life — and begin laying the foundation for long-term freedom, wealth, and impact.

How long does it take to build a consulting business?

Too often, we only hear the highlight reel — the polished success story, the revenue milestones, the “overnight” growth that actually took years to achieve.

But real businesses aren’t built in perfect arcs. They’re built in seasons.

Some seasons are scrappy and uncertain. Others are strategic and structured. And eventually, if you stay the course, they become spacious and legacy-building.

In this series, I’m taking you behind the scenes of ThriveHive’s evolution — what I got right, what I’d do differently, and what I wish someone had told me before I ever launched my first offer.

Because no matter where you are right now, one thing is true: you’re building more than a business. You’re building a new version of yourself.

Maybe you’re just starting out, trying to prove this idea is even possible. Gaining momentum, but still doing too much yourself. Or craving more freedom — ready to stop hustling and start designing.

But wherever you are on the journey, there’s a version of this path that’s meant for you.

You don’t have to guess your way through it. You don’t have to burn out proving you can do it all. And you definitely don’t have to settle for a business that doesn’t reflect the life you really want.

Because the first five years matter more than you think. And what you build now becomes the foundation for everything that follows.

And remember — you were made to thrive.