A few years ago, my business was finally working.

I was doing marketing strategy for early-stage startups. Clients loved working with me. Revenue was growing. I'd found my groove.

And then everyone started telling me the same thing:

It was the conventional wisdom. The "proven" path. The thing successful consultants were supposed to do.

So I did it. I built an agency.

And it nearly destroyed me.

Suddenly, I wasn't doing the strategic work I loved. I was managing people. Reviewing other people's work. Trying to systematize services that had been successful precisely because they were customized to me.

I had to change everything - what I delivered, how I spent my days, the entire structure of my business.

I built a business that played to my weaknesses instead of my strengths.

I was drained. Miserable. Making more money on paper but keeping less of it. And hating every minute of my work.

That experience taught me something I now teach every single client:

The conventional path isn't just wrong for some people. It's an awkward, uncomfortable, misaligned fit for MOST people.

And following it is the fastest way to build a business you hate.

Here's what I believe that most of my industry gets wrong:

Most business coaches are obsessed with lead generation. They'll teach you seventeen ways to get more leads without ever stopping to ask whether you have a business worth leading people to.

They push you to scale your team, work more hours, grow bigger grow faster - without ever questioning whether that's what YOU actually want.

They treat "more" as the default definition of success.

I think that's bullshit.

I teach positioning first. Not because it's sexy - it's not. (Selling lead gen is 100x easier than selling strategy) It's foundational, unsexy work that most people want to skip.

But I've watched what happens when people skip it:

They attract clients who drain them. They build offers they don't enjoy delivering. They scale chaos instead of building something sustainable. They hit $20K months and feel more trapped than when they were making $10K.

And I've watched what happens when they get positioning right first:

Everything else gets easier. Marketing becomes clearer. Sales conversations feel natural. Clients are better fits. The work itself is more energizing because they're doing what they're actually great at.

That's my contrarian stance. Positioning before lead gen. Clarity before scale. Building a business you actually want BEFORE you try to really grow it.

You and I have talked before about one of my clients, Dominic, a cybersecurity consultant.

His contrarian stance? Big Four consulting firms charge massive fees and often leave smaller companies worse off than when they started. They send junior people to do senior work. They create dependency instead of capability. They optimize for billable hours, not outcomes.

Dominic has seen this firsthand. He's cleaned up their messes. He knows exactly what happens when companies follow the "safe" choice of hiring a big name.

So when he spoke on two different panel discussions and said exactly that - out loud, on the record - something interesting happened.

He booked multiple sales calls. From people in the audience who thought, "Finally, someone who gets it."

His contrarian stance didn't repel the right clients. It attracted them.

Another client, Paula, is a fractional HR leader.

Her contrarian stance? Most HR is kind of dumb and wastes a lot of money.

Harsh? Maybe. But she's watched HR departments focus on fluffy culture initiatives while ignoring what actually matters to the business. She's seen why CEOs don't trust HR. Why HR rarely gets a seat at the table. Why so many companies see it as a cost center instead of a strategic function.

Paula's not trying to be provocative for attention. She's speaking from years of watching conventional HR fail the very companies it's supposed to serve.

And the CEOs who've been burned by exactly what she's describing? They find her. They trust her immediately. They hire her at premium rates.

Because her contrarian stance signals: She gets it. She's not going to waste my money on bullshit.

Dominic and Paula aren't outliers. Once you start looking for contrarian stances, you see them everywhere - and you see how clearly they separate the people who are known for something from the people who are known for nothing.

Every single one of these people (and I can list out dozens more) has a contrarian stance rooted in real experience. And every single one of them is easier to find, easier to remember, and easier to pay premium rates because of it.

But let’s be super blunt here (you know I’ll always give it to you straight).

Every person I just described? Every single one of them was scared shitless to say their thing out loud.

Meg was terrified to admit she'd built AI tools. Her entire industry won't shut up about how AI is "ruining everything." She was convinced her peers would tear her apart.

Dominic knew his take on the Big Four would ruffle feathers. These are massive firms with massive reputations. Who the hell was he to call them out on a panel?

I know the voice in your head right now. It's the one that says:

"I'll just... notice what I believe. I don't need to say it publicly. I don't want to upset people."

I hear this from clients all the time. They'll do the work. They'll identify their contrarian stance. They'll get crystal clear on what they believe and why.

And then they won't say it.

Because knowing what you believe is uncomfortable. But saying it out loud - in front of people who might disagree, in front of peers who might judge you, in front of an industry that might push back?

That's terrifying.

But here's what happened when Meg and Dominic said the scary thing anyway:

Meg posted about her AI tools. Three potential clients booked calls within days.

Dominic called out the Big Four on two different panels. Multiple sales calls booked from people in the audience.

Amy got written into a VC’s term sheet so she works with every new founder they fund.

Not because they were being provocative. Because they were being honest. And the people who needed to hear it had been waiting for someone to finally say it.

[I wrote about some of their stories in detail right before the holidays - you can read the full breakdown here.]

Your contrarian stance doesn't work if it stays in your head. It only becomes positioning when you say it out loud.

Having a contrarian opinion isn't enough.

Anyone can say "I disagree with the mainstream." That's just being edgy.

What makes a contrarian stance powerful - what makes it positioning instead of just attitude - is the depth behind it.

Here's how to find and articulate yours:

Not just "what do you disagree with" but what do you see people teaching, recommending, or doing that actively fails the people it's supposed to help?

For me: The obsession with lead gen and scaling before the foundation is built.

For Dominic: The assumption that big firms deliver big results.

For Paula: The belief that HR should focus on culture initiatives over business impact.

This is where your contrarian stance becomes credible instead of just contrarian.

What have you seen? What have you lived? What experience - often painful - taught you this?

I built the agency. I followed the conventional advice. It broke me.

Dominic has cleaned up after the Big Four. He's seen the invoices and the damage.

Paula has watched HR departments get ignored because they weren't speaking the language of business.

Be specific. Paint the picture of what goes wrong.

They burn out building businesses they hate. They pay $200K for a report that sits in a drawer. They build HR programs nobody takes seriously.

This is the proof that your contrarian stance isn't just criticism - it's a better path.

They build businesses that play to their strengths. They get cybersecurity that actually protects them. They get HR that earns a seat at the table.

Here's the thing about contrarian stances:

They do your marketing for you.

When you're willing to say what others won't - and back it up with real experience - you become impossible to ignore.

You're not just another consultant. You're the one with a point of view. The one who's seen things. The one who's willing to stake a claim.

The people who disagree with you? They were never going to hire you anyway.

The people who've been burned by exactly what you're calling out? They feel seen. They trust you immediately. They pay premium prices because you get it in a way the conventional players don't.

Blending in means competing on price.

Standing out means commanding a premium.

And the fastest way to stand out is to say the thing you actually believe - the thing your experience has taught you - that most of your industry is afraid to say.

So here's what I want you to think about:

What do you believe that your industry gets wrong?

Not just surface-level disagreements. The thing you've seen. The thing you know because you've watched it play out - in your own career, with your clients, in the patterns you can't unsee.

What's the conventional wisdom that's failing the people you want to serve?

That's your contrarian edge.

That's your positioning.

And once you can articulate it clearly - with the experience behind it and the proof that your way works better - you won't need to compete for attention anymore.

The right people will find you.

In love, growth, and courage,
Kasey