cruel to be kind

Part of being paid as a consultant is getting “Schmerzensgeld” – money for getting clients to the point they need before the real work can start. Fighting certain fights over and over again, in hope that one day you get through to them. (In my case until the next hype comes along and we start again.)

If you want to have a cake to eat you need to bake it or buy it or pay somebody to bring it to you. Don’t complain that it takes you additional time to learn how to bake and or costs additional money to buy it or have somebody deliver it. Don’t complain that it takes you longer to do so when you are refusing to learn from experience of how it is done, what is working, what not and why not.

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Professionals like myself are paid more than just our time. We are paid for looking at your situation and assessing it quickly. Just like any other professional we only need to see a few things from you to know where you are and how much work you will be. And how much of an effort it will be to get through to you to start building up something working.

My experience is why I can anticipate certain thought processes and thinking – I have been there so many times before. Decades in fact, even though ‘digital’ has not been around for that long. The first time I encountered “This does not work because I do not like / understand it”? 1984, which is nearly three decades ago. “This is not working because you do not know how to use the tools, can I please show you that it is really not that complicated”? I submitted my first seminar concept to the local community college in 1989 at the age of 18. The first time I corrected somebody in power who was supposed to ‘know how it is done?’ 1988, my math teacher on algorithms .

There are many things I really have no clue about, but some I do very much. I have been training thousands of people, professionally since 1998, either in person in workshop and seminars, through documentation on the web and through books, articles and videotraining. Hiring me also means trusting me in this and letting me do my job and go where I tell you to go. And work with me on the parts you need to be working on inside of your organization, change your way of workflows (usually: start establishing them at all).

I don’t consider my clients to be stupid, quite the opposite. My best work is done when I can work with smart people who are open and who challenge me in what I do. I want to learn as much from you as I want to help you achieve your goals. And I am more than happy to start at the basics with you. I love being able to transfer knowledge. As long as you are willing to learn and be guided by experience in the areas I know more than you.

The fact that you don’t like or understand it does not mean that it is not working nor that it is ineffective. And yes, you are usually kindergarden level although you believe yourself to be ready to start university. That is not me being mean. That is just experience. You need to hear that. You need to analyze where you stand and what can be done about that.  And you are paying me to do this quicker and more efficient and to bring you where you need to be without spending years in the learning curve.

Or you can pay somebody “nicer” and “cheaper” to do what you believe is the right way – but don’t complain afterwards that “it is not working” or “it is not delivering results” nor that you are advancing your knowledge. Remember: Part of what you pay professionals like me for is our experience in the topic, how it is done and in dealing with you.

This also means that you will start with basics and getting them right before you move on to the fancy stuff. The reason you are wasting so much time and money now usually is because you don’t know or use the basics, a concept from production. The initial setup costs more, but then production becomes cheaper because of proper planning and tool use. most people never reach production level, and cannot reap the benefits because of it.

Ask yourself which amount of Schmerzensgeld has to be included in proposals for your.
Ask yourself how much money and time you are wasting because you are not implementing what needs to be done.

Tags: consulting, startups, workflows