This might be the most helpful and direct comment I have ever received in over two years of regular blogging. Thank you so much. It will take a lot of thought and work to reorient myself towards the kind of education that you are talking about, seminars, online classes, web education etc…But for now I fear doing something like this. It feels so impersonal. It feels antiseptic. That being said, I am committed to figuring out how to make things work.
Also, the idea of doing a strategic partnership with more traditional agencies is starting to appeal to me.

Thanks for this and I hope you’ll continue to come by and check out the evolution..are you on Twitter? would love to follow you if so…
Z

You’re addressing the conundrum that affects all small business consultants. Here’s my suggestion to you…first of all, if you are trading your talent for fees, then you can’t scale your business. Think about how you can offer education to small businesses who want to do it themselves to save money. The internet is a great medium.

Scalability can also be achieved through strategic joint ventures with other firms, and with offering one on many services. It’s the fastest route to leveraging your time.

I was an interior designer (don’t hold that against me) for over 20 years and found a way to educate our industry online. It’s not easy, and our market has been extremely hard hit like the restaurants. It isn’t a necessity, so I do understand your pain.

We’ve been working for two years…massive hours…to learn how to do business this way. It’s not a slam dunk, but it has great potential even in struggling markets.

Think about how you can offer a package of repeatable services. Here’s one of the challenges I see for most of us that consult…we love to do that one-off project because it is mentally stimulating and it makes us feel good. There are plenty of companies that could use our services, and if we could provide a simple entry level product and training, then we could expand our offering to more people at the same time.

Could you offer a $500 per person class and offer it to 20 people with a monthly membership for training? You’d work much less and have more ability to deliver to a broader audience. Keep increasing the product benefits and sell higher-priced programs.

I hope that helps.
Gail Doby´s last blog ..WOW! Had Almost 500 Interior Designers Sign Up…