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My partner and I have been performing consulting for years. We fell into it with a particular client. We enjoy selling things we’ve never provided before, so years ago we discovered a client had a need that we thought an onsite consulting engagement could solve. Though we didn’t know how to do it then, we pitched the onsite consulting engagement and the client bought it (nothing like selling something you don’t know how to deliver to make you quickly become an expert in that service you just sold). So there we were seeking to figure out how to deliver a service we didn’t fully understand.
To figure out how to perform the consulting we just sold, we picked up the book Flawless Consulting, A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used by Peter Block. Peter Block is more a philosopher than a consultant, and he approaches his work from a principled mentality (as we do). That means he teaches foundational principles, or beliefs, and then you perform the detailed work of consulting based upon those beliefs. He’s been very influential in our process of consulting and we’re grateful that Peter Block will be on our Thrivecast podcast soon (sponsored by Intuit and Bill.com).
Why do you own your own firm?
Some people do it because they’re horrible employees. They know it, and their former bosses knew it.
My brother’s like that. He’s kind of the worst employee. He’ll start a new job and love it, but after awhile, he can’t handle the chronic, systemic problems that almost every employer¹ struggles with. But instead of bringing those things up in constructive ways, he bottles up his frustration until one day he busts into his boss’ office, yells, “This place is bullshit!” and flips over a desk. Then the next day, he’ll come back to work, poke his head into his boss’ office and ask, “So I don’t work here anymore, right?”