What I Learned from Free Consulting Sessions
As some of you may recall, about 8 months ago I offered free consulting sessions for three months with the goal of helping as many people as possible and cultivate some new relationships with many of you interested in enhancing and expanding your business endeavors.
I feel confident that I helped quite a few people, and that’s what is most important to me. But, in the midst of helping others I also learned quite a bit from the experience. What follows are some of the most important lessons I learned:
1.) Taking action is imperative. Last week I discussed the importance of taking action, but honestly it’s always been something I’ve struggled with. I worry entirely too much about how something will be received and have been reluctant to try out new initiatives for fear that they’ll adversely affect my personal brand.
Besides, you won’t remember if it didn’t benefit you anyway. With the free consulting sessions, I took action. It wasn’t the most successful venture ever, but no animals were harmed during any of the sessions.
2.) It’s important to qualify consumer perceptions; which is to say that when something is free some people will take advantage, and you will always be surprised by how many people are looking for a silver bullet solution. Often the two work hand in hand.
A handful of people got on the phone expecting me to tell them the secret to making millions overnight. After I evaluated their business model, and offered a few suggestions to help move the needle, they often discovered ‘hard work’ was part of the equation, and stopped listening. I’ll be careful to screen these people out in the future.
3.) It’s okay, no extremely important to say no sometimes. To my surprise quite a few people shared the offer with their networks and the response was honestly overwhelming. I was both flattered and determined to help all of these people. This was the same time I was working 50+ hours a week at a new job in a new state.
I ended up getting to everyone (with the exception of one who had a tumultuous schedule), but I got severely burned out in the process. Moving forward, I’ll be more selective and ensure that I’m only taking time to work on projects I’m passionate about and people I’m particularly fond of.
4.) Make sure you a lot excess time for research. This is my “no duh,” moment, but when I originally launched the idea I was thinking a half hour every night on the phone. What I didn’t take into account was my propensity to want to over deliver. Yes, I know what I’m talking about, but I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the entrepreneurs and small business that approached me.
I ended up researching companies for at least an hour prior to the calls to ensure that I could make some really strategic recommendations tailored specifically for their company, as opposed to generic advice. I also typically spent another half hour going over notes, and sending them a follow up document outlining the key takeaways and actionable items. 30 minutes after a 10 hour work day is reasonable, 2 hours was a stretch some nights, and ultimately the reason I ended up only doing 2 sessions a week.
5.) You know what you’re doing, trust yourself and get it done. When I started the offer I honestly thought it would be mostly new people just looking to acquire some momentum. I was extremely surprised and flattered when a bestselling author, and a CEO of billion (not million) dollar companies approached me. Admittedly I was a bit intimidated and asked myself (particularly with the author) what they could possibly learn from me.
The thing is I’m a voracious reader of all things business/marketing, and I build strategy and execute for big brands all the time in my day job. Then I go home and help small businesses and personal brands. I have more tangible experience in this sandbox then the vast majority of people online. Even if someone more experienced comes along it’s important to remember that sometimes people just need a different perspective, or are looking for one small piece of advice to really transform their efforts. That’s all it takes, and guess what? If they’re more experience, already know what you’re capable of so be confident and deliver value.
So why the lessons learned now, instead of 4 months ago when I concluded the offer? It’s because it’s time that I take all this advice and put it to good use. The middle of this week I’ll be launching some new consulting services. I won’t get into it now, but once they’re live I’d greatly appreciate your opinions and help to refine my offerings into something that potential clients will get great value from.
What do you think of these lessons? What have you learned from consulting? What would you look for in a potential consultant? Would you hire me to consult you on how to be awesome if Stuart Foster wasn’t available?
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Ryan, Just guessing here, but I’d say you haven’t yet seen all the fruit from your free consulting sessions. It’s obvious you have a passion for what you’re doing, and you are good at it. Experts are who we like to talk to, and that’s what you appeared to be from my experience.
I hope to talk more with you soon.
ALH
Alan Hammond´s last blog ..Golf Swing Stance Positions Photo – Golf Tips
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admin Reply:
September 21st, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Alan,
While you’re absolutely right, it isn’t even about the proverbial fruit. It was a way for me to give back to the people that read this blog and invest in this community while continuing to sharpen my skills and experience.
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I think the overdelivering comes from naturally wanting to see people succeed. You want to over deliver not only to give the most of yourself and build your brand, but deep down you want the people to be a success. I work the same way and while it is taxing to some respects, seeing people take action on the plan you helped establish gives you that feeling of accomplishment, something that no amount of money can replace.
Good work man and good luck with the next adventure.
Greg Rollett´s last blog ..Best Way to Brand Yourself? Deliver Like Matt Barkley
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admin Reply:
September 21st, 2009 at 1:37 pm
G-Ro,
Great point. You definitely want to build and cultivate your own brand, but if you don’t care about seeing the client receive, you’re definitely in the wrong profession. Hopefully as I take the next step I can be as successful as you’ve been in your transition.
Thanks for the insight!
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Ryan,
I think the “overdelivering” about sums you up. You have never been one to not work, or not try. I would hire you because I know first hand how hard you work.
Brian Wallace´s last blog ..More Accurate, Not More Velocity
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admin Reply:
September 21st, 2009 at 9:33 am
Damn BWal, what an awesome comment! I genuinely appreciate that and could candidly say the same thing about you. I’ve always respected how you re-defined your career and impacted our team post-injury.
Baseball is the perfect example of hard work. Guys like Ryan Beaudoin and Brian Stock aren’t supposed to be impact players, but the notion of the harder you work the luckier you get is very true, and obviously evident with TLU baseball.
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What a great list and learning experience, Ryan. I think it’s pretty amazing that you offered your resources and knowledge and really, you were surprised in the outcome!
Grace Boyle´s last blog ..Entrepreneurship Classes Are On the Rise
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September 21st, 2009 at 10:27 amGood stuff, dude. Glad you were able to learn so much. I think my hesitancy with doing something like you did would be worrying that somewhere along the way I’d just be outmatched and not have any genius advice for them. Did you struggle with this any? I guess the only way to get used to doing something like that is getting out there and actually doing it (as you said).
Jackie Adkins´s last blog ..Home Sweet Home
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September 21st, 2009 at 2:28 pmI really liked your second observation, about qualifying clients. I think that especially in any sort of consulting/coaching services it is just as important to make sure that you have as good a relationship with them as it is that they have one with you. If that makes any sense?
I’ve found that when people are starting businesses (at least in my industry) they are sometimes desperate to gather as many clients as they can. And they end up “stuck” with some clients that if they had a “do-over” they never would have taken on in the first place.
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September 21st, 2009 at 5:25 pmOverdelivering=key.
Lessons by promising to much? A nice learning curve…but not the best professionally.
Glad it worked out for you dude. Refer all awesomeness my way though.
Stuart Foster´s last blog ..Imagination
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September 22nd, 2009 at 8:10 am[...] please keep in mind I will be taking my own advice. It’s very likely that depending on the scope of the work I will only take on one project at a [...]
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:59 am