Damn, just had a magnitude 5 insight that explains nearly 100% of my success/failure pattern in consulting. I think I can finally put together my full theory of (indie) consulting.
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See, there are 2 kinds of consulting clients: 1. Confident people who want to pay for systematic doubt 2. Doubtful people who want to pay for systematic confidence. I’m so bad at serving latter, if I could reliably detect them up front, I’d run away every time.
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Here doubt/confidence refers to EXTERNAL world (what’s going on outside your head, how to think about it, etc). INNER world doubt/confidence is a job for life coaches, therapists, philosophers, and spiritual advisors. I lack the empathy/interest/compassion to operate in this zone
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(Nuance: it’s not that I’m uninterested in others’ inner lives; I’m just uninterested/ill-equipped to help with the doubt/confidence dimension of inner life, which is where most people need the help, dealing with too much or too little confidence)
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Putting it all together, here is a 2x2 of who you should hire in what situation (and/or type of books you should read if your budget is limited). My market is the smallest and therefore obviously the most interesting and elite one. So elite, some months I have *no* client work
pic.twitter.com/lcRrFE7AA2
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Replying to @vgr
I know this thread is tailored more to your indie consulting work, but where do you see organizations generally hiring consultants fitting? Would they be on a different 2x2? Or a split between upper left (for expertise) and upper right (for doubt)?
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I wouldn't know. Organizations buy consulting from organizations (consulting firms) which obviously are a different beast. Indie consultants are mostly hired by individuals unless they are super big-name. This is mainly a function of high selling costs to orgs. I don't even try.
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