(Rant) “Consulting is a bad business”
Stop it! Just STOP tweaking and stop beating your self up! Do you have ANY f****** idea what it means that you’re even here or that you even showed up? First, it’s AMAZING that you made the decision to be an entrepreneur – you stood up and said, “I’m going to do this thing – live this life – according to MY rules. My Rules Mr. Man! Things like safety nets, health insurance and 401k’s are for peasants, not Kings and Queens.”
And it’s a minor MIRACLE that you’ve stuck with it long enough to have ANY success at all. So, I say Pump your first in the air right now and shout “Damn I’m good! I’ve done more for my own legend than 99.9% of the other slobs who just bitch and moan about how awfully unfair life is all while their biggest contribution to changing their stars is showing up with the ice for the tailgate party”.
You’re so damn amazing and you think you’re not. Seriously, what the HELL is wrong with you? You’re AWESOME! You’re 10 TIMES better off than I was and I’ve gotta say, things turned out pretty okay for me.
~ Andy Jenkins RANTING on Stage at Mass Control to “Mass Control” Attendees
In case you missed the significance of that rant – here’s the cliff’s notes:
You’re better than you think you are. You’ve got more skills, more experience, and more instinct about Internet Marketing than you give yourself credit for.
It’s time to start.
First, it’s good for you. Realizing and acknowledging a sense of accomplishment is GOOD for your soul. It keeps the internal chiminea fires burning – it’s GO Juice when you’re down and out of Red-Bull.
Second, there’s money in it. Good Money. BIG Money.
Now you’re listening, ain’t ya? 
Call up your lawyer and ask them what their home page bounce rate is.
Ask your doctor what their best Earnings Per Click landing page is in their current AdWords Campaign.
Ask your accountant what the conversion rate difference between short and long sales copy is.
None of them will know! Not making fun of Doctors, Lawyers, or Accountants, but honestly, we seem to look up to these folks as people with SPECIAL Skills and Knowledge. We pay a premium for their Smarts, don’t we?
What about us? Do we NOT have special skills?
Are we NOT entitled to a premium for that extended knowledge?
Damn RIGHT we are!
DAMN RIGHT WE ARE!
Are we not a more rare breed? Look in the (Gasp) Yellow Pages under Attorney, Accountant, and Medical Doctor…
Then look for “Internet Marketing Consultant”.
Which are there more of?
WARNING: Do NOT misunderstand me – you MIGHT not be qualified to TEACH Internet Marketing to folks that want to LEARN Internet Marketing… (Personally, I am sick of the people showing up to this market after 2 years claiming “Guru” status. Whatever.)
BUT – if you’ve been at this for any reasonable amount of time, do you think you’re qualified to tell your local Pizza Joint that they need to change their title tag, stop using broad match, talk about benefits and not features, or (Heaven help us) put an Opt-In box attached to an AutoResponder on their web site?
You ARE. Yes – you can and SHOULD advise those who can benefit from the knowledge that you’ve spent time and money to acquire.
And you should CHARGE for it.
Let’s not even get started with the argument about Consulting being a non-scalable business. You know why? Because until your LEVERAGED BUSINESS starts paying the bills (And more), there is NO rule written on any blog, social media site, or ancient lost scroll that says you can’t supplement, get started with, or even THRIVE by taking on some Businesses who need your Internet Marketing Skillz and consult for them.
I remember when I had still a Job (shiver) and I was making some serious progress with my ecommerce Stores. And when I say “Serious Progress” I mean that I was making a couple thousand a month from them.
The 50 or so people in the office that I worked quickly picked up that I was the “Web Store” dude. And just from that small group of folks, I set up 5 ecommerce stores for people that I worked with. Mind you, these were $50 a month Old School Yahoo Stores – so again, when I say “Set up”…
You know what? The money I got from those folks let me expand my ecommerce store advertising – my ppc spend, money for article writers, money for back-links (You could buy them back in the day)…
Getting “consultant money” was like adding Nitro-Fuel to my Non-Consulting business. The difference was not a marginal one – it made a difference of galactic significance. So….
Do it. If you’ve got the skills, DO IT.
I can pretty much write my own ticket right now (Thank you, Lord). I’m not saying that to brag – I’m saying it because the ticket I’ve chosen to write at this very moment starts with a “C” has “onsultan” in the middle, and ends with a “t”.
That’s what I’m doing right now. Next week, it will be back to the big picture stuff. But right now, I’m having a fairly ridiculously fun time telling smart people what to do and getting paid for it.
Spend some quiet time tonight thinking about what a few decent paying consulting gigs could do for the bigger picture of your business. Could it buy you some breathing room? A little rainy day cash? Some peace of mind?
Forget conventional wisdom.
You make your own rules. You’re an Entrepreneur.
Just think about it.
Andy
P.S. You want to see the HOTEST Consulting Business going right now? One for the kind of Internet Marketer that I’ve been describing above ( I.e. YOU)…
This might be the best video I’ve seen this year – it’s from Mike Koenigs and it’s flat out GREAT!
http://www.andyjenkinsblog.com/MainStreetMarketing
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Huzzah!
Now if only we can pay the damn bills…
Thanks Andy,
Man, I did the fist pump and yelled “Damn I’m Good” and it felt Great!
I’ve never settled for anything in my life, and even though I’m not wildly successful on the net just yet…it is just a matter of time!!!
Thanks for the reminder that my only real limitations are the ones I put on myself!
Take Good Care Mate!
Bill
I’ve been making my living consulting since I left StomperNet. It’s fun. The trick is to stay away from the ‘consluting’. That’s when you actually do the work you are recommending as a consultant. What do you do when your client agrees that the title tags need changing but he doesn’t have anyone that can do it? “I can do it for $100/hour” doesn’t go over to well.
Mister Jenkins,
What kind of Entrepreneurial Truth Serum are they putting in your Starbucks these days? It’s posts like this that have inspired me to be heading in the direction I am. Keep your projectile verbal vomiting on auto-ship and I’m a customer for life. Cheers.
Thanks a lot for this, REALLY dude! I’ve been working on launching my own consulting for a while now but building the full, “I’m the guy for the job” confidence has been hard to do. It’s just one of those things, mental blocks that you just have to push through, realize you ARE good, and make sh*t happen, ESPECIALLY when fear is most present.
Nonetheless, thanks for the kick in the butt. Weird how these things happen….
Was just thinking about my consulting just a little bit ago and then this digital guy named Andy was sitting in my inbox with some more goodness
Thank you, Andy – thank you. Wow, so needed this. That’s all I can say is – thank you.
“You’re better than you think you are. You’ve got more skills, more experience, and more instinct about Internet Marketing than you give yourself credit for”
So is everyone better than they think they are? I guess that makes us all the same.
Now if the clients would only realize how great we are and pay their bills on time.
Great post Andy the entrepreneur life can get tough sometimes. If you don’t mind me asking if you were starting over today how would you find consulting customers.
Hey Man,
You are absolutely right. Dr’s and Lawyers think they know it all however when you ask them about internet marketing you might as well be speaking chinese to them.The knowledge that I have about the internet is priceless and people in those professions pay dearly for my consulting.
Todd
Hey Andy!
RahRah Right On!
I think it was ninja-master-FrankTM-guy that inspired me (to do exactly what you said) about a year ago.
It is definitly fun and you are right, we know more than we think we do.
Often [ results may vary and the typical person will not realize this] once we learn something we forget that we didn’t know it before. So, in other words, all that IM stuff that we know (regardless of level) can blow people away when you explain even the littlest thing (i.e. opt-box, call to action, etc.) that we take for granted and will likely want to know more…
dundatta duhn…IM consulting begins.
As for “value” of services, I’d rather work with someone how is trying to make it and is willing to give me all they can, than someone how can afford more and wants to pay less…they are pain in @$$ the whole time and it…well, to each their own!
Later ~
Hey Andy,
I didn’t know you were still around.
Bob McGuire
They tried to kill me Bob, but the stake missed my heart, the sliver was not pure and I bounced out of their clutches before sunrise.
Nice rant… and you got a point – even businesses that are doing a lot of business online can have a lot of big gaps in their marketing and opportunities to improve.
I was looking at an ecommerce store the other day, and no joke, they had a whole extra unnecessary click to complete a transaction – and it wasn’t like all the way at the end either. Easy fix, bound to be a big boost in conversion.
How many people reading this post would have spotted the same thing if they were in that store? Way more than half, I’d bet.
That kind of knowledge is worth something, and you can get paid by making a difference – in fact… the best way to get paid is to get a share of the difference you make.
@dan speaking of that, I’ve been wondering…what do you think is fair or, better yet, standard for a “share” or % ?
I typically have quoted 20-50 pending the overall scope…any input?
Superb post. Brilliant – what can I say.
Hey Andy,
I like your style of writing: upfront, to the point, in your face, funny and so on. I didn’t want to say you’re an inspiration to us all because it always looks soooo cheesy and to me it borders on adulation by the masses… but this time I have to hand it to you… your message was pretty darned good and you’re so right. It did the job with me and got me to thinking about actually doing something along these lines.
You see, I work full time at the moment and I’ve got a bit of a thing about being a full time employee and then holding myself out to be a “consultant” to business people and entrepreneurs that have had the guts to break out of the J.O.B. mould and work on their own business. I haven’t done this yet (although I want to) as I’m not prepared to risk my families security for the sake of my dreams and ambitions. Why should they suffer IF it were to go horribly wrong? Those in the “guru business IM world” that espouse the ideology of “burning your boats and making it work”, i.e. give up your day job so that if you don’t succeed, you won’t be able to eat or keep a roof over your head or pay the bills etc which literally FORCES you to succeed, are plain wrong. Might work with some people, but not for most. Does that make us bad or poor entrepreneurs or business people. NO! We’re sensible. BUT, as you write so clearly, consult alongside your day job UNTIL the consulting work is more than the day job, THEN give up the day job (if you want to that is!).
So please keep writing posts about this topic and give your readers practical hints and tips on the best way to do it or the best resources from which to learn how to break into this market. Remember here in the UK we are in a deep recession so there is a barrier from the start in terms of winning over small businesses and hiring us for such work.
I would be very interested in knowing how to charge for such work. What’s it worth? How do you strike a deal that’s win-win for both me as a consultant and the business as the client?
Please continue Andy……
Hey Andy,
thanks for the reminder
You told me about how much to believe in myself a couple of years ago now I think and it still feels good to hear that again.
Thanks to your teaching I can take that opportunity on consulting where I want to with total confidence in my ability
Andrew (Australia)
Waaaay back in May of 2002 I used to hang out on newsgroups, one of which was uk.net.web.authoring.
One thread in particular someone called bullshit on me for calling SEO a profession.
The thread is , my post is second last.
7 and half years on I continue to derive my income from the online game, I’ve sold two businesses, employed a ton of people and helped thousands of companies make millions in PPC, SEO and affiliate marketing. I even taught all the channel managers at Yahoo how to do Google Adwords….ironically the Google guys didn’t want reciprocal training.
You are right though Andy, charging a lot of money for something your not “qualified” to do is something most people are uncomfortable with, but over time you get a boat load of anecdotal evidence to point that you know your shit.
Social Media “gurus” are springing up like I’ve never seen. I love of The Social Media Guru.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by SherylLoch, russellbrunson and Jeremy Nicoll, C. P. McKittrick. C. P. McKittrick said: (Rant) “Consulting is a bad business” http://bit.ly/224QsY [...]
Andy,
You are absolutely correct. My wife and I started a web marketing and web design company catering to local businesses in late June of this year and we are almost earning as much as I was as a long time JAVA developer for a major company. It’s a fantastic business and it is scalable if you build systems along the way that you can outsource to capable people.
- George
George, it’s all about building replicable systems! Smart, smart, smart.
Please don’t think of this as a consult, but what link to PLM and what bonus?
not just underlining it…
HTML links start with < a href just as a clue
And it's $10K's worth BTW.
Regarding your rant, of course every one who tries is amazing and well done!
I can only speak for myself, but how good you feel deends on your feedback and success.
I think for many people, things don't show these signs often enough, and it becomes demoralising.
Also when people called A Jenkins don't reply to your emails
I guess if you can consult with local businesses and get their positive feedback, it is also a moral boost as well as money. Also education usually helps your own understanding.
BTW it's thursday, not your usual friday rant. That's affiliateness for you I guess…
Anyway let's celebrate the pink buffalo….
Peace and light.
peter
Peter, Immediately send me a small portion of whatever you’re smoking with instructions for use. Please, thanks!
I want some of that too, please!!!!
Took the words right out of my mouth.
I have seen pink buffalo’s and their no fun at all. Blue one’s are nice though.
Well Said…
Let’s not forget all those folks spent alot of money to learn their trade and they value
the “pain” we all suffer when we are sick –sued–audited.
How do we make those folks runnning a business feel the “pain” like doctors, lawyers and accountants do?
Help me with this and then I’ll say damn right. Otherwise just more fluff in the wind.
Getting them to pay me to do something their “grandkids” can set up for them means I waste more time out of my precious day.
Kenny, we don’t need to do a thing to make them feel the pain. Everyt ime the lose their ass in PPC, get punted out of Google, or spend 3 days trying to figure out how to get that cool little video they made about a new product up online but cant… They FEEL it BAD.
You (with all due respect) are TOO close to the market. You can’t imagine what it’s like for someone that calls themselves a “Business Person” to not understand what a Squeeze Page is. Their grand kids can set up a blog for sure – but do they know why Google Analytics is? Do they know why it should be on the blog? Do they understand the significance of the data?
You’re being too hard on yourself and too cynical about shite – have a pint and a smoke, and tomorrow, as 5 random not-internet-friends who have some sort of business interest if they’d like to be on the first page of Google for one of their local target keywords.
“Yes” is the first response.
“How much?” is the second.
Andy,
I can’t seem to resist “hanging out” around a good rant…
Jen, your blog kicks ass. Thanks for hanging around and raising the level of my credibility.
Hey Andy,
I love your rants – you tell it like it should be heard my man!
Take Care,
~Brett
You rock. Plain and simple. In a world of SEO and marketing people constantly telling us that we don’t know enough it’s nice to hear this. I’ve started consulting for a million dollar online store here in the past few months and they are always more than pleased with what I bring to the table. Consulting will never be my full time gig, but I see it as another way to not have to go to work everyday! Thanks for this post Andy. I appreciate it… and you.
Andy, great post.
Kenny, I think you are confusing an internet marketing consultant with a web designer or, more accurately, a player of World of Warcraft (is that still a cool game?). I see plenty of sites in my SEO practice that are put together with very little thought other than “achieving a look” or “company image” and everyone is surprised when the traffic is low and conversions suck. Surprised looks abound when I tell them that, “Yes, you have to market your website, like you would any other vehicle for achieving business goals”. You go ahead and tend to your “precious day” and I’ll happily take on more clients
Hey Gareth, I’ve been reading a daily letter from a guy named Michael Masterson for the last 8 years or so (Early to Rise) and one of the concepts he continually recommends is that of being a “chicken entrepreneur”. This is doing exactly what your instinct is telling you to do, which is work on your own business in off hours and then quit your job when you feel comfortable doing so. This is the path I am taking with my SEO biz….
Cheers,
Jim
Consulting can be a great gig…except that you get to have something that starts with a “c” has “lient” in the middle, and ends with “s”!
Some can be a pain.
Just develop your outsourcing systems for those tasks, so you don’t get sucked into spending too much time doing the work yourself. Then you just created a JOB, not the freedom an entrepreneur’s life can have.
…and don’t UNDERCHARGE!
plz excuse my mini-rant in your sandbox, Andy!
Howard
Howard you have hit the nail right on the head my friend. Consulting can be a nice earner however make sure you choose your clients very very carefully. It will only take one bad client to create a massive time sink in your business day — leaving you dealing with inconsequential crap when you should be out surfing.
Great post.
Thank you very much.
Just wondering how you go on about finding new customers?
Your help is greatly appreciated.
You mean I would actually have to start making some real money and launch my sideline product launch hosting business?
Thanks Andy I needed that!
About time I stopped spending so much energy on the corporate job, (getting me nowhere) and start putting more energy into my own stuff, which has been languishing…
Sweet article blog posty whozawhasit, I have finally found someone who has a voice I like. Why? Cause ya sound like me. Now if I could only get a better handle on the bloggin, I would be in there.
If you get a minute and feel totally bored enough with life today to actually stay on the computer just 1 minute longer than you actually have to before you have to go do some stretches on the old exercise ball to get feeling back in your toes, I would be greatly honored if you would check out this blog I barely have time to work on –
http://philadelphia-investment-property.com/home/
-ONLY to tell me if I’m even heading the right way with my brand of marketing, or, marketing of brand.
If not, c’est la vie, I took a shot. And good luck with all the balloon flying I see going on up in the upper right hand corner of yer delicious rant post, I hear that’s a little dangerous right now, especially for kids. L8R, definitely read you again.
Wow, so you’re the third Guru I’ve heard talk about consulting for small business. Sure glad I started earlier this year. I wonder how fast this opportunity will get saturated. Thanks for newz. Rock on.
Wow – nice going Andy. I get my head in a dark place and think often about punting my consulting work. But really, where can I find a “normal” job that pays me at least $150/hr??
One thought though – I don’t mind the 2 years of experience guys who think their “gurus” – its the guys who just returned from their first seminar, have one PLR ebook that they’ve put out as their own who confuse halloween with the real world by claiming to be IM gurus… (sort of like those who offer me amazing software to build my twitter followers, who on closer inspection have about 40 followers themselves….
Profits are better than wages so don’t spend too much time trading hours for dollars.
Charge based on the value you provide.
I agree with Howard and Dave — becoming an IM consultant sounds great, but there’s a lot to it that’s not apparent when you first think of it. Sitting in your office, building/outsourcing your own sites and affiliate sites can actually be a lot easier than trying to:
do all of this, while also keeping up with your competitors (i.e., outsourcing price-cutters) and the relentless advance of technology
1) fill & manage a sales pipeline with qualified leads
2) figure out how to tell a variety of different prospects why they *need* to have their sites improved (many small-biz companies, for instance, simply don’t want to hear it; bigger companies often are already engaged with IM consultants); there’s a lot of unpaid education you need to do
3) close the sale, which can be an art in itself
4) manage clients, each of whom has their own issues and expectations
5) bill clients, deal with deadbeats, monitor cashflow and pay your subcontractors (first)
6) figure out which services are profitable & which are not – before you go bankrupt
7) figure out how to renew & upsell clients before the end of the contract
I’ve been doing this for 9 years, and look enviously at those who manage their affiliate-site empires and don’t have to deal with the issues listed above. Want to hire me, Andy, to teach on these things?
DL,
makes some very good points. I have been a consultant in the offline world for 15 years – even have the post graduate degrees and the letters after my name that make your parents proud and that girl who dumped you freshmen year think twice, but otherwise don’t do much else.
Consulting is like stripping. Its got the easy money allure but its tougher than it looks. Its a real business with all the hassles and headaches that are a part of it. And what’s worse is business clients are tougher to please than that cocky little frat boy on his 4th Vodka / Red Bull with the dollar bills spilling out of his jeans. Clients want real results – not a show.
But the real danger comes when you can deliver results. Then consulting starts to pay the bills, and you find yourself constantly in danger of your “just make enough to support your real goal” consulting business becoming your “I had a dream but I forgot what it was because I spend 60 hours/ weeks working for my consulting clients.”
Don’t get me wrong. Nearly everyone reading this column has knowledge many business people would pay handsomely for. It can be done.
But if you haven’t yet made it online. (Or offline.) Then don’t think you can spend a couple hours a week on consulting and the money will just roll in.
It will take a committed effort to get the business off the ground and you will most likely have to stop your “real” projects to get that done.
I don’t want to throw cold water on what Andy is saying. He is correct. It is possible – but you will need to put some skin in the game to succeed.
You sir, are a madman.
But you’ve got a point, however you choose to get it across… madness works sometimes.
I like to look at me, my friends, my family as being in the top 1% of the entire planet… in what? Well I add all the things together that we’re good at, or that we experienced during this life and see what it looks like compared to others… My brother for instance…
* BA degree from a good school in NY… he’s better off than 95% of the world right there.
* His IQ is 165 last time tested… Uhm, that’s top third of 1% if I remember correctly.
* He had a decent childhood. No abuse, no life threatening diseases, injuries, birth defects… he’s in top 60th percentile there…
* He’s had good experiences with friends, work, playing sports, exercise, etc… maybe top 70%.
* He is a creative genius… he has taught himself to play 6 string, 12 string, harmonica, and piano.
* He writes songs, sings them, and writes screenplays. He’s in top 1% of world musically, and creatively…
Now – I’ve said nothing about money and so many other factors that go into making an amazing life – a 1%’er, but he’s way up there on everything.
For 1 person to have all these amazing life experiences, talents… he is definitely in the top 1% of the world for life experience.
You probably are TOO but you’re not looking at it like that. Compare yourself with the world in general. With the population of the US in general and see where you stand. I’ll bet you’re in the top 5% of the entire world…
Remind yourself you’re kicking a** on a daily basis and you’ll believe it after a while…
Rock on Andy. Consulting is a great gig. It pays the bills untill that website you are building finally kicks in. The other good thing about consulting is you are helping others and getting well paid for the trouble.
Great post Andy. I just started teaching my brother in law internet marketing. And I have gotten him started with 2 businesses: his own ecommerce store and…wait for it….a consulting business! Glad to read your post and know that my thinking was correct.
He’s only been at it for two months but since I’ve been able to teach him, he already knows enough to help local businesses improve what they are doing online. Most are completely clueless so it’s been fairly easy for him. The hardest part for him has been landing clients and I think that’s a confidence issue more than anything…but he’s doing OK and the consulting biz is a major part of it.
Great post, naturally. Consulting is the shiznit. Been doing it for 4 years now in the real estate industry.
However, when it comes to Internet Marketing I find it easier to license “marketing campaigns” than it is to be a full-on consultant. Allows you to test the relationship for longevity and get a taste of the client’s “high-maintenance” tendencies. Not to mention the built in repeat business (a.k.a. job security for entreprenuers) when a licensing campaign is successful.
In the end, the consulting business can be lead to ultra success, but only if you master the art of pre-qualifying clients in order to find the true gems. In other words, don’t waste your time on shite clients.
Ron Reed
As a static HTML site builder turned WordPress Evangelist turned Social Media bore I know what you say is true. Howie S. does too and has created a product around it as have the Commission Blueprint guys.
My problem is always pricing though – maybe ‘cos I’m a creative kind of guy the money aspect tends to be too flexible. I’ve recently annoyed a blog build client by saying that I’m now charging him $60 for a telephone consult of one hour or less.
Said consult was essentially to teach him some good blogging techniques that, if he wanted to spend a lot of time and no money, he could find on the web. When I asked him whether he minded people he had sold a car to phoning him up and asking for driving tips he couldn’t make the connection.
I am now in the process of creating a complete price list and break down – design/SEO/SEM etc. but then that kind of ties me to a ‘salary’ of my own making as a previous commenter mentioned.
I think outsourcing all but the consulting is probably the way forward and up my price for that significantly.
Great post Andy and very true! Knowledge aquired over years does have value! and Internet Marketing is a total mystery to Millions! of people who could benifit from a little of it applied to their business!
If all you are charging is $100 an hour for your services you still consider the teenage web designer a serious adversary for your clients. You must consider these “action implementers” as hire-able talent in your own mind before you walk in the door. Andy’s message has always been about recognizing the talent you offer and pricing yourself appropriately (and I have been reading him since he tried to sell me the old Yahoo Store Profits years ago).
When I hired a lawyer for some work he found out I charge much more than he does when on an hourly rate (which I rarely do since I prefer percentages).
Hey, thanks for the discussion and memory-jogger, Andy,
It brings me back to the 1970s and 80s when we published the tabloid “Consulting Opportunities Journal” that was physically mailed (old concept I know) to 37,000 consultants (mostly in the USA) from the Consultants National Resource Center in Washington, DC–covering way over 175 niche disciplines (I had to stop posting the different disciplines on our office wall because my receptionist threw a fit).
I trust your readers know the truth of where you’re coming from. Building a practice out of your knowlege and passion is as valid today as it was of the hundreds I personally worked with in the 1970s and 80s and the tens of thousands who bought our ‘how to’ stuff. Talk about inspirational when you have a client reap hundreds of times your (originally thought to be outrageous) fee–and even better when you have a piece-of-the-action agreement with those type of clients!
And that’s why it was even more fun working with individual independent practitioners! Those of my friends who worked with me in their own businesses included my good friends the late Herman Holtz (google the number of books he’s written), Hubert Bermont (wrote the first self-published best seller, “How to Become a Successful Consultant in Your Own Field”) whose office was just two blocks from Herm’s in Washington, DC and Howard Shenson (his last book was his best and Howard pioneered the “Successful Consultant” seminar in the 1970s).
In 1997 I created and co-founded (with the late ‘recovering attorney’ Hal Wright) the National Association of Business Coaches (the first association for business coaches–I sold it in 2002) and coverted quite a number of consultants into business coaches. We each have different personalities in working with clients and therefore best work on either a vertical or horizontal path with clients. It is vital to determine where one’s personality
Your post has me wanting to start another organization again, Andy. (I’m just emerging from my non-compete with NABC). You are so correct–people do not know their own strength of their own passion and purpose in their marketplace. They simply need a little boost with someone to light their fuse and get out of the way!
Maybe you know someone who would want to work with me on it, Andy? I don’t have the spit and vigor I used to have these days, but still have it upstars (usually!).
Keep ‘em flying, Andy
Steve
After a round of golf yesterday (and a rather extended 19th hole) I was going through my 100 or so emails and came across yours. I was a bit confused at your approach and the buzz around me caused me to respond somewhat prematurely and a bit inappropriately.
Andy, I’m glad you got back to me personally and set it straight with a direct: “Read It” response. So after some deliberation I did go back in and am now reading your rant about Consulting.
Turns out you offer some great insight into this new niche and I’m happy to say that this is something I recently started doing with my partners. I agree that others should consider utilizing their skill set in this way.
Right on Brother (and apologies offered – if necessary)
Paul
No Apology Necessary Brother Paul.
Your rant was perfect timing. I just started helping 3 friends this week to get their businesses up on the internet. It’s my first time branching out other than myself. Even though I still consider myself beginning after 2 years, I feel like a pro next to them. I found your rant encouraging as I am trying to come across as very organized and proficient (and I know better) to them. I think we should all scream right now YOU KNOW MORE THAN THEM! DON’T BE SO HARD ON YOURSELF!
“You go Andy, you da man”
Andy:
WOW! What an awesome RANT! You could be more correct! I fell into the Offline Consultant business about a year ago then hooked up with Maria Gudelis and it has been an incredible whirlwind since then.
It is really great to be able to share the Internet Marketing knowledge I have, especially as a Twitter Niche Community Builder, with local businesses and watch the “lightbulbs” go off and the successes bloom!
Thank you for the reminder, “You’re better than you think you are. You’ve got more skills, more experience, and more instinct about Internet Marketing than you give yourself credit for.”
I remind students in Offline Workshops of that all the time and tell them stories of business owner workshop attendees that didn’t know how to cut & paste or didn’t know where the address bar was.
Great post! Being part of the Offline Consulting market is incredible and an awesome way to help people grow their businesses just teaching them what you know!
Tina
This was just what I needed to hear! I live in a small community south of Dallas, Texas and the websites suck here! I was just thinking the other day I should take all this information I use to help these local merchants with their very unproductive websites. Of course it would be a for hire or for barter situation. Just a couple of tweaks and they could be getting so much more organic traffic!
Blessings,
Wendy
P.S. My favorite barter was for building a simple WordPress blog in exchange for 2 show quality miniature donkeys! I loved it…and them!!
Wendy – Such a true story. I live in East Texas and know exactly what you mean about websites sucking. I have toyed around with consulting for a while, but have been putting all my efforts into my business. Maybe I need to make time.
P.S. I almost bought a miniature donkey once. Never thought about bartering for a website.
Dave
Paid consulting – a cornerstone of capitalism.
Capitalism – love it! It’s even older than the oldest profession. Why? Because one had to think about the value of what is being traded (you know – REAL SKIN in the game so to speak). They call it a profession because it wasn’t given away for free. In fact, there ain’t nothin’ in this universe that’s free. everything comes with a cost, price and/or an obligation.
It, capitalism, is inherent in the human fabric regardless of the gov’ment ism’s.
Here’s another twist on the definition of consulting – it’s a joke –
What is consulting? It’s a man that knows fifty different ways to make love but doesn’t have a woman. That refers to those that have finished their work-a-day career and pass their knowldge on – a demographic of a well experienced consultant.
But, to keep current with one’s “consulting” – one needs a “woman.”
Andy,
Thank you for this much appreciated piece of inspiration. And thank you for the valuable content you provide on a daily basis. I am consulting now and LOVING it!
Dude, you f****** ROCK!
Craig
Thanks Andy!
I can just see you standing on that stage and getting that audience all charged up.
(Did I mention how much I missed you at the last Stomper Live… nobody can match your energy!)
Good post Andy,
I have just been on the phone this week with 6 lawyers who ALL knew thier keywords, bunce rates and SEO stats, and every single one of them mentioned they are propositioned at least once a week with offers for “expertise and help” AKA consulting, the problem I ran into is that they want my services and my consulting rolled into one – however the value they assign to each part is vastly different. They want to pay service $10 an hour and an expert $200 – and were unwilling to pay either without promised guaranteed results. ( at a very low cost I might add $400 -$ 500 mo)
they are in a high competition SEO area where nearly ALL of the lawyers have optimized sites, PPC campaigns and blogs etc.
I know I know more than most businesses and I genuinely want to help them, how would you ( or anyone else reading) navigate this path? Skip this niche or offer something else?
YEAH BUT what I really wanna know is where are you getting any good greens & fried okra in CA?
Find new clients, don’t let them take your hard earned knowledge for granted.
Andy,
I joined Stompernet – 1 because of your insanely interesting emails. I once again joined Stompernet 2. Then I signed up for F5.
I’m a big fan of your writing, and your energy and your personality. Stompernet’s email starting sucking like hell the moment “someone else” started writing them. Sad, very sad indeed.
Anyway, when you launch your next product, you’ll probably get money from me. Stompernet? Uh, don’t think so!
God speed ahead, my man!
- Ravi Jayagopal
As someone who’s been a consultant a lot longer than I’ve been visible on the web (16yrs vs 2yrs) I was pleased to see this rant redress the balance a bit.
It’s almost become dogma that consultants should find some way of “making money while they sleep” in preference to earning it the hard way by the hour. Yet there are very many consultant millionaires out there who bight beg to differ; and many people slaving away for 16 yours a day to make a pittance while they sleep. (Of course, there are counter examples: my point is just that it isn’t simply black & white).
Jan, I hope you don’t mind me commenting on your challenge with the lawyers – hopefully it might be helpful.
I think you need to focus a bit more on the end value those lawyers are getting. Your rate is determined by two primary factors: The value your clients get from your work, and the rate charged to achieve the same result by your competitors or other methods (of course, you know that already).
The first question to ask yourself is “can I get a better result for these clients than my competitors?”. The end result may be determined by more than just your technical skills too – it may be dependent on how well you can work with lawyer-types, how flexible you are, etc. And competitors doesn’t mean every SEO person in the world – just the ones you’re competing with for this work.
But at the end of the day, if you can’t get a better result for these specific clients than your competitors then the chances are that you’re going to have to accept the market rate for the work. And long term you ought to think about finding a niche or speciality or beefing up your skills so you can get a better result.
If you can do better, then value comes into play. How much is it worth to these law firms to get higher up the organic rankings or get better click through rates on PPC? How many extra clients could they get, and what’s the lifetime value of that client?
That sets an upper limit on your rate. But usually one a damn sight higher than you’re thinking of charging. Often by an order of magnitude.
The rate you can negotiate with these guys will be somewhere in between. And it will be mitigated by any risk they perceive in whether you’ll be able to get the results or not (so some form of guarantee and your track record will help).
You can try to calculate the value for yourself – or you can discuss it with your potential clients.
The good news is that since these guys know all their stats, bounce rates and clickthrough rates – they’ll also know the value of improved performance to them.
Get it on the table and and put your fees (preferably fixed in some way) in terms of the ROI they’ll be getting. Normally in “offline” consulting (I don’t have experience of internet/SEO consulting) single year cost saving ROIs of 2:1 – 5:1 or revenue growth ROIs of 5:1 – 10:1 feel like good value to the client.
Ian
I can’t remember who it was (maybe Carnegie or Ford) but recall a story about one of their machines going down and work ground to a halt. They called in a technician specialist to fix the system and get them back up and running.
The technician came in, listened to the problem they had, took a quick look inside the machine, then took out a screwdriver and turned a single screw a quarter of a turn. Pressed the button and WHAM-MO! All systems were up an running once again.
Thrilled that his operation was up and running – he asked to have him send him a bill.
A week later, (again Carnegie or Ford) got an invoice for $10,000! Appalled at the amount on the invoice they demanded the invoice be re-adjusted more accordingly to the work they performed.
A week later, he did get a readjusted invoice. This time it was itemized.
Time and effort was calculated at $1.00.
Knowing which screw to turn – $9,999.
Believe it or not – that invoice was paid!
LOVE that story!
Completely Awesome.
I don’t know if this is an urban legend or not but the message is the same – you are paid based on the value you deliver to a company. If you can save a company 1mm per hour, you will have an early retirement.
Thanks! How did you know that’s exactly what I needed today?
I’m stalking you on Facebook.
Master Andy strikes again, keep them post a coming, they really are an eye opener.
Damn I needed that. Sometime I honestly believe there’s someone out there looking out for me and knows exactly what I need when I need it.
My fist is in the air.
Forget the content for second.
I would have liked to have read this, but the ridiculously large bar at the bottom of the screen kept distracting me.
And it refuses to close in Firefox, even if you click the ‘X’.
It is incredibly distracting. At least fix it so it can be closed at the very least; because it won’t close at the moment.
Hey Andy.
Thanks for the awesome blog post.
I like that even when you are promoting someone else’s product – you always provide a good quality email or blog post with valuable (even inspirational) content along with it as compared to some of the other guys who’re promoting ( No offense intended to them – they’re all great marketers as well) but you stand out that little bit more – because you put in that little bit more effort.
I definitely have to start doing more of that.
Thanks again. The post inspired me once more – where i had been doubting myself as truely being worthy of calling myself an expert despite what i know and then charging for it.
Sweet rant, feels good to go crazy once and a while (shows your human).
Side note: My friend and I were re-watching Video Boss (LIKE A BOSSSSSSSS) and he said that he would love to treat you at no cost (he owns some super guru spa/doctors clinic from Germany). Just e-mail me if you’d like to meet him before he goes back to Germany (we are in San Clemente)
Bloody brilliant post Andy, thanks! I always had this quandry with consulting and services when I first started out: “But I’m creating another JOB for myself”.
But it was paying good money and I was in demand. So I recently resurrected my online branding business and now outsource most of it, nice little earner, plus adds credo to talking about my products – e.g. “My clients pay me $5k per month to implement this in their business…”
Very well said and nice encouragement
Laura
Great rant!
Thanks for the reminder. I have submitted a couple of full proposals to local businesses and haven’t been accepted yet, so I’m still in “the career” job.
I have to double down and sign one local business up… Like the proverbial hole in the damn, the first one will open the flood gates.
Thanks again for the pep talk!
great post Andy – meeting a National Company marketing director tomorrow eager to buy me coffee.
You know one of the great things i have found with “consulting” to a few companies now is that once i have a fan in one company they tend to tell others about me.
I made one change in a email for a company and they had a better response in that one email than they had for the last four years.
Do i know stuff? well yeah i’ve been doing it for 5 years and making a great living selling my own products so i hope so =0 and then i kind of fell into “advising” some companies on simple marketing strategies.
It wasn’t really my plan but it seems to be a good way to go. planning on tripling my fee next time =)
P.S. Andy – when can i get video boss ?
I do tons of video for clients and doing a launch for a new product soon – I want to blow them away with my “video bossiness” not sure if that is real english !
You can definitely see your enthusiasm within the paintings you write. The world hopes for more passionate writers such as you who aren’t afraid to mention how they believe. At all times follow your heart.