State of the Business - 2026

Deliberate Consulting recently had its 9th birthday.

When I started out, one of my goals was to share the state of the business and lessons learned along the way. So let's jump right in.

HIGHS AND LOWS FROM THE LAST YEAR:

• Revenue sucked. Most of my client accounts were actively laying off, re-organizing, or had spending holds. None of that bodes well for a training and coaching business. Activity has happily increased since the start of 2026, with some clients returning and some new clients.

• Many of my contacts and sponsors in my client companies found themselves out of work. For the ones that found new roles, there is a lag time before they have the ability to bring me in to develop their new teams. Others are still looking for new roles... and I worked with many of them to build skills, improve their personal brand, and prepare for interviews (sometimes through 1:1 coaching, sometimes through free seats in my events). I don't charge those that are out of work... so if YOU need some help, reach out to me.

• The High Stakes Pitch Kit (HSPK) /still/ hasn't launched. I fell significantly behind on supporting video production... which then led to updating physical kit materials... which then changes what needs to go into the videos. But there has been progress. Much of the 'best practice' content (the stuff that will go into the videos) has been leveraged into a stand alone Pitch course (delivered twice so far). The HSPK web page is live. I recognize it has too much detail but it has some really cool features, like a Return on Investment (ROI) and Net Present Value (NPV) calculator as well as a selection guide (HSPK vs Pitch Coaching Event vs Presentation Training).

• Much of my time has been spent working ON the business. I refined existing content/tools, rolled out new courses (like the Pitch Course), started giving monthly webinars, made 1:1 quick coaching slots available on Fridays, published a few new Tip Sheets, updated the website, and read a lot of research.

• I ran some experiments. Black Friday sales and webinar bundles (didn't work). New pricing & delivery models (generated interest that will impact this year). Quarterly webinars on innovation topics (mixed results).

• Continued support for the military members, veterans, and military spouses. I held the second annual Veterans Day / Remembrance Day workshop. I gave free registration (albeit in limited numbers) to open training events and webinars. And I volunteer as a veteran transition coach with the Texas FourBlock group.

THE YEAR AHEAD:

• Client event activity (and revenue!) is trending up. Several new clients started working with me this year. And there are more qualified opportunities in my pipeline compared to last year.

• The first Deliberate Talktoberfest will be October 7 & 8 in Houston. This is a day and a half that mixes latest thinking, advanced skill development, collaborative innovation (to inform & steer Deliberate offerings 2027+), and community building. This isn't for everyone: the target audience is the Deliberate fan (hint: if you've read this far, that's probably YOU). This is the event I am most excited about.

• Continue to offer open enrollment events through the year. Monthly webinars. Two Deliberate Presentation Workshops. Two Deliberate Pitch Workshops. The Veterans Day seminar. Talktoberfest.

• Work on a new offering with a range of options - event team coaching, instructor-led workshop for client teams, and (eventually) recorded content for individuals. Current focus is on researching & validating the market (requirements, pricing, value prop, measuring impact, market size). Some work has been done on adapting existing content & identifying content that needs to be developed. The idea came from an existing client. But I want to hold off on discussing openly until the roadmap is clear. A pilot is targeted for the end of the year with a broad launch in early 2027. If you want details, contact me. Or better yet, come hear about it at Talktoberfest.

• Complete the HSPK offering and officially launch with product in inventory, ready to ship.

• Continue to support the military community.

View of the market:

• New competitors continue to enter the market. Lots are very niche players. Many focus on basic slideware or public speaking or complex storytelling (long narrative structures that lack other elements of influence). While I'm not worried about their offerings, the increasing volume of marketing creates a lot of noise in the market.

• AI is a very, very common discussion topic. Some clients want to know if Deliberate has an AI tool (no). Some clients want content and workflows they can feed their AI toolset (nope). Some workshop participants use GPT to generate their message (with weak, generic results) or build/beautify their slide deck (I'm 100% on board). I see a LOT of AI presentation agents hitting the market - but in general, most are a net negative. That said, there ARE some great ways to use AI to improve presentations and reduce effort/time. This will be a training topic at Talktoberfest.

• Human connection and authenticity are becoming major differentiators as AI-generated content floods the stage, the screen, and social media. Improvement requires training, effort, and application.

Thanks for following the journey. Thanks to everyone that's supported - and continues to support - Deliberate. Contact me to discuss training for your team or coaching for a critically important event. And sign up for Talktoberfest.

Be Amazing. Be Persuasive. Be Deliberate.

Kev

#BeDeliberate #DeliberateTalktoberfest