The Master Your Business Podcast

You know your turnover down to the nearest thousand, but if a buyer called tomorrow wanting to buy your cybersecurity consultancy, would you know what they'd actually be paying for? In this episode, Deirdre Martin explains why revenue answers the wrong question, using 64 real cybersecurity acquisitions where the price ranged from 8 times profit to 23 times profit for firms of a similar size.

Before she coached cybersecurity business owners, Deirdre spent years assessing lending inside a bank, and she brings that exact lens to your business here: the four numbers a buyer actually prices, from client concentration to how many days you could take off without anything breaking. You'll leave this episode knowing exactly what to count tonight, on the back of an envelope, to find out what your business is really worth. For the full list of timestamps, key takeaways, and all resources mentioned, visit the full episode page here: https://youtu.be/tohu9g9AV88

There's a gap between what cybersecurity founders say about AI publicly and what they ask about it privately.

On panels and posts, it's agent governance and shadow AI.
On client calls, Deirdre Martin keeps hearing one question: will my business still exist in 12 months?

In this episode, Deirdre explains why relevance gets decided inside your own business, and why AI in most consultancies ends up like the kitchen drawer full of batteries, takeaway menus and a phone charger from 2019.

You'll hear what Peter Gollwitzer's research on implementation intentions says about giving AI a job tied to a day of the week, the difference between a skill and an agent in plain English.

Deirdre works with cybersecurity consultancy founders guiding them to strategically grow their businesses.

Download her 21 free Claude skills, 3 for each of the 7 departments in your business, here: https://www.deirdremartin.ie/skills.

For the full list of timestamps, key takeaways, and all resources mentioned, visit the full episode page here: https://www.deirdremartin.ie/blog/cybersecurity-founders-using-ai

You handed the client over on Monday, and by Wednesday you'd taken the work back, even though the client never said a word. In this episode, Deirdre Martin breaks down why the decision to hand client work over gets made logically while the decision to take it back gets made emotionally, and why that habit keeps a cybersecurity consultancy the same size no matter how many names are on the payroll. Deirdre works with cybersecurity consultancy founders on positioning, messaging and scaling. You'll hear the SALE method for testing the story you're telling yourself before you act on it (Story, Audit, Likelihood, Execute, Emerge), how a founder who swore she was rubbish at sales found an 83% conversion rate once she audited her numbers, and the silent handover mistake Deirdre watched infuriate clients across 20 years in retail banking.
If the delivery and the difficult decisions still come back to you, apply to work with Deirdre here: https://calendly.com/deirdremartincx/growthcall.

For the full list of timestamps, key takeaways, and all resources mentioned, visit the full episode page here: https://www.deirdremartin.ie/blog

Use the free CyberScale Diagnostic to see where your business is still too dependent on you: https://www.deirdremartin.ie/cyberscalediagnostic.

You hired someone so the business would stop running through you, and somehow you're working longer hours than you were before the hire.

In this episode, Deirdre Martin breaks down why "trust your team more" is advice a cybersecurity consultancy founder can't act on, and the loop that keeps the important work sitting on your desk six months later.

Deirdre works with cybersecurity consultancy founders on positioning, messaging and scaling. You'll hear what "they're still not ready" often means when you look at it honestly, how one founder's hiring shortlist had a ceiling built into it, and why you already run graduated trust every single day without calling it that.

For the full list of timestamps, key takeaways, and all resources mentioned, visit the full episode page here: https://www.deirdremartin.ie/blog

Your LinkedIn posts, podcast appearances, website rebuild and speaking slots are turning up the volume on the message your cybersecurity consultancy already has. If that message is unsettled, buyers see you more often and still can't tell exactly what they should hire you for. In this episode, StoryBrand Certified Guide Deirdre Martin explains why brand strategy comes before marketing and walks through the buyer psychographics, brand archetype, tone of voice, offer and 5 soundbites that shape a clear message. You'll learn how to calculate the real cost of your marketing in cash and founder time, then use the free Cyber Brand Story Builder to test the message you're already putting into the market: https://www.deirdremartin.ie/cyber-brand-story-builder.

For the full list of timestamps, key takeaways, and all resources mentioned, visit the full episode page here: https://www.deirdremartin.ie/blog