Every founder who calls us for the first time is really asking some version of the same handful of questions, long before anything gets scoped or written down anywhere. These are the honest answers, the ones we would actually give on that call, not a version dressed up for a page.
If you are trying to work out whether talking to a consultancy is the right move for your business at all, start here rather than with a proposal.
Do I actually need a consultant, or can I work this out myself?
Not always, and we would rather tell you that early than take on work that does not need us. If you already know the problem and just have not had the time to fix it, you might only need a sounding board, not a full engagement. A consultant earns their place when you cannot see the problem clearly from inside it, or you can see it but nobody in the business has the capacity to act on it. If neither is true yet, wait.
How long does this actually take?
Our flagship engagement runs across one focused quarter, with two formal review points built in to check what is working and change course if it is not. Some work is shorter and specific, solving one commercial question rather than the whole picture. We would rather tell you the real timeline for your situation on the call than quote a generic number that does not hold once we start.
What happens if it doesn't work?
We build in review points deliberately, so that "not working" gets caught midway rather than at the end. If something genuinely is not landing, we say so plainly and change the approach rather than running out the clock on the original plan. What we will not do is quietly keep going and hope the next update reads better. If the fit is wrong from the start, we would rather say so in the first conversation than three weeks in.
Do I need to prepare anything before the first call?
No deck, no polished summary of the problem. Come with the real version of what is slowing you down, even if it is messy or you are not sure which part matters most. We have had that conversation with enough leadership teams to know the tidy version usually leaves out the detail that actually explains it, and that detail is normally where we start.
How is this different from hiring someone in-house?
A hire is a fixed cost and a single set of experience, however good it is. We bring senior people carrying pattern-recognition across many businesses in this sector, for the length of time the problem actually needs solving, then leave the capability behind rather than staying on the payroll. It is not a replacement for a good operator on your team. It is what you use before you know exactly which operator you need, or while you are still growing into needing one full-time.
Can we start with just one thing rather than a full engagement?
Yes, and most founders should. Each part of what we do, brand, commercial, operations, marketing, works on its own if that is the actual gap. A fuller engagement makes sense once more than one of those is broken at the same time and you cannot tell which one is dragging on the others. If you already know it is a single issue, start there.
Can we pause partway through?
Honestly, not well. An engagement is built around a defined stretch of focused work, and stopping it halfway usually costs more than either finishing it or not starting yet. If your timing is genuinely uncertain, say so before we begin. We would rather push the start date back than begin something we both suspect might stall.
Will you tell us what to do, or actually do it?
Both, and the doing is the point. We work alongside your team on the priorities we agree, not from a report handed over at the end. We track what is actually happening in the business as we go, so we find out in week three whether something is working, not in week twelve when it is harder to change.
Do you need access to my whole team, or just me?
It depends what we are solving. A commercial or brand question often runs through you and one or two others. Anything operational usually needs us working alongside whoever owns that part of the business day to day, because that is where the real friction lives, not in the founder's diary. We will tell you upfront who we need in the room.
What if my business is too small or too early for this?
Say so on the call, and we’ll tell you honestly what makes sense. Early doesn’t disqualify you. Often it’s the best time to bring us in. Getting the foundations right at the start (pricing, channel choices, the setup of your site and data) is far cheaper than unpicking them later, and most of the issues we’re asked to fix in growing businesses trace back to decisions made in the first year.
Not every business needs a full engagement. For earlier-stage businesses, we often work in a lighter, ad hoc capacity as strategic counsel, there for the key decisions as you set up and on hand when something needs a second view. If that’s the better fit, we’ll say so.
How can you understand my business well enough to advise on it?
We do not pretend to know your customers better than you do on day one. What we bring is having watched the same structural problems play out across enough beauty, wellness and luxury businesses to recognise the pattern early, and to ask the questions that surface it faster than you would working it out alone. The specifics of your business come from you. The pattern-matching is what we add.
What happens once the engagement ends?
You’ll have everything we built together, along with a full written summary of what we found, what we changed and a clear set of next steps. Before we wrap up, we sit down together and talk through what comes next. Some clients choose to keep us on in an ongoing capacity, because momentum is easier to keep than to rebuild. Others take it forward themselves. Both are good outcomes, and it’s your call.
Either way, we don’t disappear. If something comes up later, a new launch, a difficult decision or a number that doesn’t look right, we’re always happy to jump back in.
If your question was not on this list, the next step is the same as the first one: a conversation, not a proposal. A lot of what we do day to day sits under Strategic Counsel, a sounding board without a full engagement attached, and it exists precisely for the founder who is still at the "do I need a consultant" question above. Get in touch and we will tell you plainly where you stand.
Kirsty Newman is Founder of The Boutique Consultancy. She spent almost two decades at some of the largest corporate powerhouses in beauty and luxury, including YSL Beauty, Giorgio Armani Beauty, Lancôme and Rimmel (L'Oréal Group and Coty). She went on to work with a number of startups as they scaled, before striking out on her own. Across this time, she has run seven-figure P&Ls and teams of 16, with direct engagement in venture capital funding and expansion.