Hey there,

To go solo as a consultant, you've got to help companies solve a problem.

Most people working in tech pick one they hate at work. For a lot of us, that's tech debt. And it makes sense! It's the one we know best.

But nobody funds tech debt.

Here's how a developer usually describes it:

"The checkout service is a mess. We need a couple sprints to clean it up."

And here's how the VP of Product describes the same problem:

"Every pricing change takes us three weeks, and marketing already promised one for Black Friday."

Do you see it? Same code. Same problem. Only one of those gets a budget.

That's the first of five filters I use with the developers I coach to pick a problem clients will pay for. Another one surprises most developers: the best clients have usually already spent money trying to fix it.

In this episode on the YouTube channel, I walk through all five.