Properly Positioned™

Where has the market actually placed you and is it the level you believe you operate at?

Before this module, you are likely frustrated more than analytical.

You are missing out on opportunities you know you could handle. You are still attracting work that feels beneath your capability. You sometimes lower your pricing to stay competitive, then resent the scope that follows. You can feel you are operating at one level internally, but the market keeps responding to you at another.

What you may not yet see is that markets do not reassess you from scratch each time. They form a view of your level and then act consistently with that view. Once that perception settles, it shapes who approaches you, what they expect, how much they are willing to pay, and when they bring you in.

Inside this module, we slow everything down and look at your current placement objectively. We examine the patterns in the work landing in your calendar, the type of enquiries you repeatedly receive, and the moments where authority narrows instead of expands. We identify not just what is happening, but why it keeps happening.

By the end of this module, you will see the system producing your current results. You will understand the difference between your internal capability and your external categorisation, and you will know whether the level you are being hired at matches the level you intend to operate at.

This is where frustration becomes structural clarity.

What are you actually competing against?

Before this module, you may assume your competition is other experts in your field. You tweak your positioning against peers, adjust pricing in relation to industry norms, and measure yourself against people doing similar work.

But you still lose opportunities in ways that feel confusing.

• You lose to internal hires.

• You lose to “we’ll handle it in-house.”

• You lose to delayed decisions.

• You lose to cheaper, broader alternatives that should not logically win.

The reason is simple but often invisible: buyers are not choosing between providers, they are choosing between options. Those options sit inside budget lines, risk categories and internal power dynamics. If your work is framed in the wrong category, it will lose to infrastructure spend, to headcount, or to “good enough.”

Inside this module, we identify what buyers are truly choosing between when they evaluate you. We examine the real alternatives sitting around the decision table and the financial logic that determines which option feels safer, cheaper or easier to justify.

By the end of this module, you will understand your real comparison set and the forces shaping the decision long before your expertise is even evaluated. You will stop competing against peers and start aligning with the level of decision you want to influence.

This is where confusion about competition becomes clarity about power.

What has to change for the market to see you differently?

Before this module, you may believe that stronger messaging or more visibility will fix the issue. You adjust your content. You refine your offers. You consider raising your prices. And yet the response from the market barely shifts.

• You are still attracting the same level of client.

• Still being evaluated in the same bracket.

• Still working harder than the authority suggests you should.

The reason is not effort. It is inconsistency.

Markets draw conclusions from patterns, not promises. Pricing, access, scope, proof and the way you frame your work combine to form a stable impression. Once that impression forms, small changes do not move it. The market assumes you are who you have consistently shown yourself to be.

Inside this module, we examine the full structure of how your business presents itself. We identify where mixed cues are creating ambiguity and where your external standards are reinforcing a lower bracket than you intend.

By the end of this module, you will understand how to create coherence across pricing, proof and access so that your external presence consistently reflects the level you are moving toward. When coherence strengthens, perception shifts with it.

This is where effort stops compensating for structure.

Why are you still being treated as optional when you know your work changes outcomes?

Before this module, you may notice that buyers value your thinking. They respect your background. They acknowledge your insight in conversation. And then, when decisions formalise, you are brought in to execute rather than define direction, or treated as an enhancement rather than a requirement.

The energy shifts when scope or money enters the room. The work becomes something to compare, trim or delay. You are included, but not structurally embedded.

Buyers are constantly sorting providers into mental categories that determine priority, urgency and budget ownership. If you are sorted into support, you will never be funded like infrastructure. If you are sorted into improvement, you will not be protected like risk mitigation. These decisions happen quickly and often without explicit discussion.

Inside this module, we examine how that sorting occurs and how you influence it. You will understand how to move from being perceived as additional to being treated as essential. We look at how consequence shapes authority, how value is articulated without defensiveness, and how boundaries determine the weight your work carries inside a business.

By the end of this module, you will know how to ensure your work is evaluated in the right category so that it is funded, prioritised and protected accordingly.

What happens when your new level is tested in real time?

Before this module, you may understand the shift intellectually. You can see where you have been placed and what has reinforced it. But the real test begins when familiar relationships resurface.

An existing client asks for the same scope at the same rate. A long-standing contact approaches you with work that reflects your previous tier. Someone who has always known you as the fixer, the implementer, the safe pair of hands, now needs something again.

These moments are not neutral. They reveal whether you are still available at the old level.

Inside this module, we examine how to hold the new standard when those situations arise. Participants bring live scenarios from their businesses and we assess them through a structured diagnostic lens. The focus is not on rewriting someone’s contract line by line, but on determining what level the decision reinforces and what response protects the tier you are moving into.

We look at how to communicate increased pricing as a reflection of scope and authority rather than apology. We examine how to reframe your point of entry so that you are brought in earlier in the decision cycle. And we explore how existing networks can either anchor you to the past or validate your evolution, depending on how clearly you lead.

By the end of this module, you will know how to stabilise your new level both with new buyers and with those who knew you before. The shift will not rely on hope. It will be expressed consistently in your terms, your access, and your boundaries.

How do you ensure you never drift back to the wrong level?

Before this module, you may recognise that growth brings new complexity. As your fees increase, as your visibility expands, as your network widens, the market will test you again. New opportunities appear that look impressive but sit below your intended level. Old patterns re-emerge in subtler forms. The risk is no longer obvious misplacement. It’s drift.

Without a way to assess yourself clearly, you rely on instinct. And instinct, under pressure, often defaults to what once felt safe.

Inside this module, we consolidate everything you have built into a repeatable way of thinking. You will learn how to spot early signs that your work is being framed incorrectly, how to identify category drift before it becomes visible in revenue, and how to recalibrate deliberately rather than reactively.

We examine how scaling changes perception, how increased visibility amplifies both strength and weakness, and how to maintain structural clarity as your business evolves.

By the end of this module, you will not just understand how markets place experts. You will know how to assess your own placement, adjust it when necessary, and hold it under scrutiny. You will be steady enough not to flinch under pressure, and sharp enough to see patterns others miss.

This is where insight becomes instinct.