Big strategies are simple to execute when you break them down into bullets.
When detailing the mutual parting of ways with my (last ever) retainer client this past week I used the subject line ‘Stepping Into Uncertainty‘ which I now realize may have been a bit misleading. While I was separating myself from a consistent (and livable) source of income, I had established other sources of income before the split.
The arrangement—established verbally and without contract—before starting in November was such that I would work a full 40 hour week with them while building the brand and membership of Ghost Influence separately. Holding true to that commitment, I worked nine to six… but invested a great deal of that energy into establishing a menagerie of processes and automation to do more with less.
If you’re going to be lazy, do it strategically (personal mantra)
After two months, now working remotely the majority of the week, I was struggling to find things to occupy my time and saw my nagging for progress becoming intrusive.
This was about the time this email series was born. I had an underutilized email list and figured I had nothing to lose by demanding they ‘Unsubscribe Now‘ and pushing those brave enough to stay to the brink of insanity with a daily email.
If it’s not a good time, it’s a great story (or case study).
By writing every day, with no objective saved for fostering writing prompts to share things I’ve learned — people took interest. Not just you people, other people too. Almost immediately, I saw the need to optimize my time (and availability) so I setup Calendly, a scheduling tool that integrates with Google Calendar and also happens to have a user interface that’s sexy as fuck (relevant). For phone calls, I added details for a Free Conference Call number and dialed in on my end with a single click using the Mobile Day app. This fostered an increase in productivity and presence.
The more flushed out your systems are, the more people see you as having your shit together. The more they value your time (and expertise), the more you can charge.
That part was strategic and I highly recommend any consultant invest the (minimal) time needed to create systems like this as it greatly elevates how people see you.
Here’s a snapshot of my calendar, let me know if you want more details on the setup.
Recognizing (perhaps overconfidently) that the work I was doing with my retainer client could have been completed in half the time with objectives established before the work commenced — I started thinking. Was there a way I could force new clients to be prepared? I remembered something Courtney, Co-Founder of Delicate Estates (launching tonight), had told me. As a designer working for advertising agencies, she billed them using a “day rate” model. They would book her for a day and she would go to their offices to do whatever they needed for that day. In anticipation for her arrival, agencies would have a list of tasks and all assets needed at the ready.
“Blocking” time, rather than hourly billing, subtly forces preparation.
About the time this was happening, an introduction made months prior came to bare fruit. It was a publishing company dubbed ‘The New Yorker for the VICE generation’ featuring exploratory journalism for millennials by millennials. They were preparing for launch and needed a user acquisition strategy. In our third meeting when they asked me how I charge for consulting I mustered with all the confidence I could fake and said, “I bill through a daily rate” and did my best to explain. They accepted.
If you want something you have never had, you must be willing to do something you have never done.
Tonight I arrived home from my sixth day with them and we’re prepping for launch Monday of next week (which you’ll be hearing about in real time). What prompted this email was actually a colorful conversation with my Uber driver on the ride home.
While we were talking about dating (as one does with an Uber driver), I realized how aggressively people have been coming at me with offers and started to see why.
Between the launches of Delicate Estates and PrimeMind along with the relaunch of Ghost Influence, I figured it might be smart to block out 3/7 to 3/21 in my calendar. I started telling people “I’m booked between 3/7 and 3/21, but drop something in my calendar for anytime after.” What I thought was a simple, and completely benign, solution to staying focused had a menagerie of interesting outcomes. Even without telling people why I was booked, they fought to get in my calendar before 3/7 or immediately after 3/21. Feeling pressed for time, many opportunities that I thought would take weeks or months to come to fruition were suddenly ripe for the picking.
The more unavailable I was, the more people wanted me.
What I realized in talking to my Uber driver was that no one actually knew why I was booked yet the effect was all the same. The whole thing could have been staged. It wasn’t… but it certainly could have been. It’s like a hot chick at a bar telling a guy “I’m not interested” versus “I have a boyfriend” as he’s more likely to bypass the former and attempt to convincing her… while buying her drinks in the process.
I learned this by accident, but now I plan to use it on purpose.
Taking things to the extreme (as one does), a consultant could theoretically book a random week each month in their calendar and use that as leverage to force a scarcity mindset on all those who might be interested in their services. If someone were to do that (theoretically), they could spend that time working on their own projects and be more productive in the process. I’m no longer sober, but it’s an idea.
Even if you don’t plan to take things to that extreme, here are the simple steps any consultant can take in the next hour to radically elevate their perception of value:
- create systems for scheduling (the more seamless and sexy the better)
- when someone approaches you, be direct and to the point (as if time matters)
- don’t make yourself too available (avoid “I’m free all next week” responses)
- use billing models that deliver maximum value in the shortest time
- always talk to your Uber drivers as they inspire rather magnificent ideas
To the consultants and contractors, what’s your greatest hurdle in landing new work?