Chase Problems, Not Contracts: A Smarter Way to Build a Consulting Business

The strongest consulting businesses are not built by chasing every contract. They are built by solving problems that matter. Joanne Frederick, founder of Government Market Strategies, shares lessons on building credibility, leading in complex markets, and creating a mission-driven consulting business.

Key Takeaways

• The strongest consulting businesses are often built around meaningful problems, not just available contracts.
• Joanne Frederick, founder of Government Market Strategies, built GMS around solving complex challenges in government healthcare consulting, TRICARE, and public-sector markets.
• In complex industries, clients need partners who can understand tradeoffs, manage risk, communicate clearly, and deliver results.
• Entrepreneurs do not need to know everything at the beginning, but they must be willing to learn deeply, ask good questions, and build credibility through execution.
• Raising your hand before you feel fully ready can create career-defining and business-defining opportunities.
• Mission-driven businesses can still be disciplined, competitive, and profitable.
• Government contracting, healthcare consulting, public-sector modernization, artificial intelligence, aging services, and veterans’ support offer opportunities for entrepreneurs who want to solve important problems.

For many consultants, service providers, and small business owners, growth begins with a familiar question: Where is the next client going to come from?

That is a practical question. Businesses need revenue, contracts, and customers to survive. But the most enduring consulting businesses are often built around a deeper question: What problem is worth solving?

That distinction matters, especially in complex industries such as healthcare, government contracting, public policy, technology modernization, and regulated markets. In those fields, clients are not simply looking for vendors. They are looking for partners who understand complexity, can manage risk, and can turn strategy into results.

Joanne Frederick, founder of Government Market Strategies (GMS), has built her career around that kind of work. GMS is a woman-owned small business focused on government healthcare consulting, strategic innovation, organizational design, and execution in complex markets. With deep roots in federal healthcare programs, particularly TRICARE and the Military Health System, the GMS team brings more than three decades of experience supporting government healthcare programs and TRICARE beneficiaries.

Frederick’s approach offers an important lesson for entrepreneurs and consultants: do not build a business only around the pursuit of contracts. Build it around problems that matter.

As she puts it, “At GMS, we chase problems. We look for challenges that matter and then work to solve them.”

That mindset can change how a business positions itself, builds credibility, chooses opportunities, and grows over time.

Start With the Problem, Not the Contract

It is easy for consulting businesses to become opportunity-driven. A request for proposal appears. A potential client asks for help. A new market looks profitable. A competitor wins a contract, and suddenly that space looks attractive.

But opportunity-driven growth can quickly become scattered growth. A business may chase work that does not fit its strengths, accept projects outside its mission, or position itself as a general provider in a crowded field.

Frederick’s advice is clear: “Don’t start with the contract. Start with the problem. If you understand the problem deeply enough, the opportunities will follow.”

In government contracting, healthcare consulting, and public-sector work, this mindset is especially important. Contracts are mechanisms. They are not the mission. The real work is improving systems, supporting people, solving operational problems, and helping organizations perform better.

For small businesses, that means the starting point should not be, “How do we win this contract?” It should be:

• What problem are we uniquely positioned to solve?
• Who is affected by this problem?
• Why has it been difficult to solve?
• What insight, experience, or approach can we bring that others may be missing?
• What outcome would actually make a difference?

When a business starts with those questions, it can build a more focused and credible strategy. Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, it becomes known for solving a specific kind of problem.

If you’re exploring how to position your services effectively, see our guide on how to define your consulting niche.. Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, it becomes known for solving a specific kind of problem.

Complex Markets Reward Problem Solvers

Some industries are relatively simple to enter. Others require patience, specialized knowledge, and an ability to understand how decisions ripple through a system.

Healthcare, government contracting, and public-sector consulting fall into the second category. These markets involve multiple stakeholders, regulatory requirements, budget constraints, operational realities, and long-term consequences. A good idea is not enough. Leaders and consultants have to understand how the system works.

Frederick explains, “In healthcare, government, and public policy, the work is rarely about being right. It’s about solving the problem.”

That is an important distinction for entrepreneurs. In complex markets, clients do not need consultants who simply want to prove their expertise. They need people who can listen, analyze, translate, adapt, and deliver.

A consultant working in a complex industry must often bring together different perspectives. Policymakers may focus on objectives and public outcomes. Businesses may focus on cost, compliance, and execution. Healthcare organizations may focus on patient access, workforce constraints, and operational feasibility. Government agencies may focus on accountability, risk, and procurement rules.

“The real value,” Frederick notes, “is helping those groups understand each other well enough to move forward.”

For more insights, read our article on how to succeed in government contracting.

Credibility Is Built Through Learning and Delivery

Many entrepreneurs hesitate to enter complex markets because they feel they do not know enough yet. That fear is understandable. Government contracting, healthcare consulting, and regulated industries can seem intimidating from the outside.

But Frederick’s career shows that credibility does not require knowing everything at the beginning. It requires the willingness to learn deeply, ask serious questions, build relationships, and deliver results.

Reflecting on her experience co-founding a nonprofit to oppose a proposed transmission line project, she says, “I didn’t start out knowing anything about the energy industry. But I cared about the issue, so I learned. I asked questions. I listened. And over time, I became credible.”

That lesson applies directly to business owners.

You do not have to begin as the leading expert in every aspect of an industry. But you do have to become a serious student of the problem. You need to understand the client’s world, the constraints they operate under, the language they use, and the outcomes they care about.

Credibility comes from several places:

• consistently delivering results;
• understanding the client’s environment;
• asking thoughtful questions;
• admitting what you do not know;
• learning quickly;
• communicating clearly;
• following through on commitments; and
• staying focused on the outcome, not your ego.

“You build credibility by doing the work,” Frederick emphasizes. “There’s no shortcut for that.”

You can also strengthen your authority by building a strong brand—learn more in our guide on how to build business credibility.

Raise Your Hand Before You Feel Ready

One of Frederick’s defining career lessons is simple: raise your hand.

Early in her career, the company she worked for faced a serious threat. The federal government was restructuring Medicare, and the company needed to win a highly competitive effort to survive. When the owners asked for volunteers to lead the project, Frederick was young and relatively inexperienced.

“I wasn’t the obvious choice,” she recalls. “But I raised my hand anyway.”

The company won. The experience helped shape the rest of her career and eventually contributed to her decision to start her own company.

For entrepreneurs, this is one of the most important lessons in the interview. Growth often begins before confidence arrives. Many business owners wait for the perfect moment, the perfect credentials, the perfect plan, or the perfect invitation. But the opportunities that shape a career or business are rarely the ones that feel completely safe.

“At some point,” Frederick says, “you have to decide you’re willing to take responsibility, even if you don’t have all the answers yet.”

Moving from contributor to decision-maker requires a different mindset. Contributors are often rewarded for doing excellent work within a defined role. Decision-makers have to evaluate incomplete information, accept accountability, manage uncertainty, and move forward.

Business ownership requires that same shift. At some point, you stop asking whether you are fully ready and start asking whether the problem is worth solving.

Innovation Often Comes From Fresh Eyes

In many industries, experience matters. But experience can also create blind spots.

Frederick points out a challenge in government contracting: organizations often say they want innovation, but evaluation processes can place heavy emphasis on past performance and prior experience. Those factors are important because the government must manage risk. But they can also make it harder for new ideas to gain traction.

“There’s a tension between innovation and risk,” she explains. “And sometimes that makes it harder for new approaches to break through.”

This is a useful insight for small businesses and new consultants. If you are newer to a market, your lack of legacy assumptions can be an asset. You may ask questions that insiders no longer ask. You may see inefficiencies that established players have learned to tolerate. You may bring ideas from another industry that help solve an old problem in a new way.

“Fresh eyes matter,” Frederick adds. “They help you see things that others have stopped noticing.”

The strongest businesses often combine both: the wisdom of experience and the creativity of fresh eyes.

Mission-Driven Does Not Mean Unprofitable

Some entrepreneurs hear the word “mission” and assume it belongs only to nonprofits or social enterprises. But mission-driven businesses can be highly practical, competitive, and profitable.

A mission gives a business focus. It helps determine which opportunities to pursue and which ones to decline. It clarifies the company’s value proposition. It gives employees and partners a reason to care about the work beyond revenue.

For GMS, the mission is tied to solving complex challenges across healthcare, government, and complex markets. That mission does not replace business discipline. It guides it.

“Mission doesn’t replace strategy,” Frederick says. “It sharpens it.”

Instead of chasing every opportunity, the business can ask:

• Does this work fit our mission?
• Can we deliver meaningful value here?
• Do we understand the problem well enough to help?
• Will this project strengthen or dilute our positioning?
• Are we pursuing this because it matters, or only because it is available?

Those questions help a business grow with intention.

Communication Turns Expertise Into Influence

Expertise alone does not build a consulting business. Clients also need to understand what you do, why it matters, and how your work helps them make better decisions.

Frederick emphasizes the importance of communication, especially in complex environments. Much of the work, she explains, comes down to translation.

“A lot of what we do is translate,” she says. “We help policymakers understand operations, and we help organizations understand policy.”

That is a powerful lesson for small business owners.

Many consultants struggle not because they lack expertise, but because they explain their expertise in ways that are too technical, too vague, or too disconnected from the client’s priorities. Good communication makes expertise usable.

“Clarity is part of the value,” Frederick notes. “If people can’t understand what you’re saying, they can’t act on it.”

For entrepreneurs, this means learning to communicate at several levels:

• the strategic issue;
• the operational problem;
• the financial impact;
• the human impact;
• the risks involved;
• the tradeoffs; and
• The recommended path forward.

The more complex the market, the more important communication becomes.

Business Ideas Start With Paying Attention

Frederick also offers a broader lesson about entrepreneurship: ideas often begin when someone notices a problem and asks whether there is a better way.

“I keep a notebook of ideas,” she says. “Some of them turn into businesses. Some don’t. But the habit of paying attention matters.”

One example came in 2005, when she started a company designed to deliver exercise videos over the internet. The idea came from her own experience traveling for work and wanting guided fitness or stretching content she could access from a hotel room.

“I just wanted something I could use when I was on the road,” she explains. “So I built it.”

That is often how innovation begins. A person experiences a frustration, notices an unmet need, and imagines a different way of doing things.

For entrepreneurs, the lesson is simple: pay attention to the problems that bother you.

If you’re looking for inspiration, explore our list of profitable business ideas.

The Opportunity Ahead

Frederick sees significant opportunity ahead for entrepreneurs and business leaders, especially in areas where systems are under pressure.

“There are so many challenges right now,” she says. “Healthcare, technology, aging populations—these are big, complex issues. But they’re also opportunities to make a real difference.”

Healthcare organizations face workforce shortages. Government agencies are modernizing older technology. Artificial intelligence is changing how work gets done. The population is aging. Systems that support veterans, military families, seniors, and vulnerable populations face growing demands.

“These aren’t easy problems,” Frederick adds. “But they’re important ones.”

For entrepreneurs who want to build businesses with purpose, that complexity can be a strength. It creates space for companies that understand the mission, respect the system, and bring practical solutions to the table.

Build Around the Problem Worth Solving

The most important takeaway from Frederick’s experience is that business growth and meaningful work do not have to be separate goals.

A consulting business can pursue revenue while staying mission-focused. A small business can compete for contracts while still caring deeply about outcomes. An entrepreneur can build credibility in a complex field by learning, listening, and delivering results.

The key is to start with the problem.

“Find something that matters,” Frederick says. “Then commit to solving it.”

Find a challenge that matters. Study it. Understand who is affected. Learn the system around it. Build relationships with people who understand the work. Develop the skills and credibility to help. Then create a business that is capable of delivering results.

Contracts matter. Clients matter. Revenue matters. But the strongest businesses are often built when those things follow a clear mission.

As Frederick’s career shows, leadership is not about waiting until you have every answer. Entrepreneurship works much the same way.

“Sometimes,” she says, “you just have to raise your hand and get started.”

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