Building a Pipeline When You're a Solo AI Consultant
The Solo Consultant's Challenge
You're wearing every hat. Technical delivery. Sales. Marketing. Operations. Customer success. Accounting.
And somehow, you're supposed to find time to fill your pipeline too.
Here's the reality most solo AI consultants face: when you're busy with client work, lead gen stops. When client work ends, you scramble to find the next project. Feast or famine. Over and over.
I've been there. I've also helped dozens of solo consultants break this cycle.
The answer isn't "work more hours." It's building systems that run whether you're busy or not.
Time Allocation: The 70/20/10 Rule
When you're solo, here's how to split your working time:
- 70% - Client delivery: The work you're getting paid for
- 20% - Lead generation: Finding your next clients
- 10% - Business operations: Everything else
Most solo consultants do 95% client delivery, 5% scrambling for leads when work dries up.
That's why they struggle.
20% on lead gen means:
- If you work 40 hours/week: 8 hours on pipeline
- If you work 50 hours/week: 10 hours on pipeline
That's not negotiable. It's the difference between a sustainable business and a perpetual hustle.
The Solo Consultant's Pipeline System
You can't do everything. You need to focus on high-leverage activities that actually fill your pipeline.
Focus Area #1: Targeted Outbound (60% of your lead gen time)
This is your highest-leverage activity. Directly reaching people who match your ICP.
Weekly commitment: 5-6 hours
What this looks like:
- Monday (1 hour): Build list of 20-30 ideal prospects
- Tuesday-Thursday (30 min each): Research prospects, personalize outreach
- Daily (15 min): Send 5-10 cold emails or LinkedIn messages
- Friday (1 hour): Follow up on week's outreach, update CRM
That's 25-50 new prospects reached per week. 100-200 per month. 1200-2400 per year.
Even with a 2% conversion rate, that's 24-48 new clients annually. As a solo consultant, you only need 6-12 good clients per year to have a solid business.
Focus Area #2: Strategic Content (25% of your lead gen time)
You don't have time for daily posting. Focus on high-leverage content that works while you sleep.
Weekly commitment: 2 hours
What this looks like:
- 2 LinkedIn posts per week: Tactical insights from client work (30 min each)
- 1 case study per month: Document a client win with results (2 hours)
- 1 resource/tool per quarter: Calculator, template, checklist (4-6 hours)
This content serves two purposes:
- Warm up your outbound prospects (they Google you, see you know your stuff)
- Generate inbound leads over time (compounding effect)
Focus Area #3: Referral System (15% of your lead gen time)
Your best leads come from referrals. But you need to ask for them systematically.
Weekly commitment: 1 hour
What this looks like:
- After every client win: Ask for intro to 2 similar companies
- Monthly: Reach out to 5 past clients with a value add (insight, tool, article) + soft referral ask
- Quarterly: Send case study to your network asking "who else needs this?"
Most solo consultants wait for referrals to happen naturally. Winners engineer them.
Tools to Automate What You Can
As a solo consultant, you can't afford fancy tools. But a few cheap ones make a huge difference:
For Outbound
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator: $80/month - best investment for B2B prospecting
- Apollo.io or Hunter.io: $50-100/month - find email addresses
- Instantly or Lemlist: $30-100/month - send cold emails at scale
For CRM
- Notion or Airtable: Free-$20/month - track prospects and deals
- Or just use: A well-organized Google Sheet (free)
For Content
- Typefully or Buffer: Free-$10/month - schedule LinkedIn posts
- Notion: Free - organize content ideas and drafts
Total tool cost: $150-250/month. That's 1-2 billable hours. Easily worth it.
The Weekly Schedule
Here's what a realistic week looks like with the 70/20/10 split:
Monday
- 9-10am: Build prospect list for the week
- 10am-5pm: Client work
- 5-5:30pm: Write LinkedIn post, schedule for Tuesday
Tuesday-Thursday
- 8:30-9am: Research 3-5 prospects, personalize outreach
- 9am-12pm: Client work
- 12-12:30pm: Send day's cold emails
- 12:30-5pm: Client work
- 5-5:30pm: Respond to leads, update pipeline
Friday
- 9-10am: Follow up on week's outreach
- 10am-3pm: Client work
- 3-4pm: Admin, invoicing, planning next week
- 4-5pm: Write next week's LinkedIn posts
That's 35 hours of client work + 8 hours of lead gen + 2 hours of admin = 45 hour week.
Totally doable. Sustainable long-term. Fills your pipeline consistently.
What to Do When You're Between Projects
When client work dries up, resist the urge to panic and spray cold emails everywhere.
Instead, use the time strategically:
Week 1: Double Down on Outbound
- Reach 100 prospects instead of 25
- Do deeper research and personalization
- Follow up with everyone in your pipeline
Week 2: Create High-Value Content
- Write 3 detailed case studies
- Create that calculator/tool you've been planning
- Record a loom video breaking down your process
Week 3: Referral Blitz
- Reach out to every past client with value-add + referral ask
- Connect with complementary service providers for partnerships
- Attend 1-2 networking events in your target industry
Week 4: Systems Improvement
- Refine your sales process
- Update proposal templates
- Improve your website/portfolio
- Document your delivery process
This is how you turn downtime into pipeline fuel.
Biggest Mistakes Solo Consultants Make
Mistake #1: Only Doing Lead Gen When Desperate
You finish a project. Bank account looks good. You focus 100% on delivery for the next client.
Three months later, that project ends. Now you're scrambling.
Pipeline development takes time. Start reaching out before you need the work.
Mistake #2: Trying to Do Everything
LinkedIn posts daily, Twitter threads, YouTube videos, blog posts, podcast appearances, networking events, cold email, cold calling...
Stop. Pick 2-3 channels max. Do them consistently and well.
Mistake #3: Underpricing to Stay Busy
"I'll just charge less so I always have work."
Terrible strategy. Now you're busy but broke, with no time to find better clients.
Better approach: Price properly, build pipeline during gaps, land better clients.
The Bottom Line
Being solo doesn't mean being helpless. It means being strategic.
You can't outwork your competition. But you can out-system them.
Commit 20% of your time to pipeline. Make it non-negotiable. Build simple systems. Stay consistent.
That's how solo consultants build sustainable businesses instead of perpetual hustles.
