Joe Quadara - From Fighting Fires to Lighting the Way: How Expertise Creates Leverage in Consulting

Indie game consultant Joe Quadara (aka Joe Q) joined me on Ditching Hourly to share his journey from putting out fires for indie game studios to advising them to accurately scope and fund their projects.Joe's Links:Joe's website: RecurverJoe on LinkedIn AI Summary: In this episode, game developer turned consultant Joe Quidara shares his journey from putting out fires for game studios to helping studios accurately scope and fund their projects. He explains how developing deep expertise about the indie game industry allows him to quickly assess and advise studios, creating leverage in his consulting business. Chapters:[00:00:00] Introductions[00:07:00] The size of the video game market[00:10:00] What is indie game consulting?[00:14:00] The appeal of weird, indie games [00:19:00] What an indie game studio looks like[00:23:00] From firefighting to preventing fires in game studios  [00:28:00] Helping studios accurately scope and fund projects[00:32:00] Creating a sustainable indie game studio model [00:35:00] Leveraging expertise to streamline the consulting process[00:41:00] The benefits of specialization for consultants[00:46:00] Keeping an open mind while leveraging expertise  [00:48:00] Conclusion ----Do you know you need to niche down, but keep hesitating because you're afraid of picking the wrong niche, cutting off good opportunities, or boxing yourself in?You DON'T need more convincing that vague positioning is a problem.You DO need a way to make positioning feel less risky so you can finally choose a direction, test it in the market, and adjust without blowing up your business.On Tuesday, September 8th, 2026, at noon Eastern Time, I'm running a live workshop called Positioning For Soloists Having A Hard Time Niching Down.That's what we'll tackle in this workshop.It's the second session of my Fall 2026 Soloist Growth Workshop series for expertise-based business owners just like you.Live attendance is limited to 20, so don't wait.Learn more at: https://jonathanstark.com/sgsEnroll in Positioning For Soloists now »Hope to see you live in Zoom on Tuesday.