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Greetings, friends — I am now available to help a few people in a different way than I’ve done before.
By popular request, I’ve decided to begin a limited consulting service to help those who want personal help. The key phrase for this is limited, because I want to keep my focus on the free writing I do for everyone.
It will not be cheap, and I can only help with specific things – so if this doesn’t apply to you, feel free to skip it. For those who are interested, here’s more info.
First, Why I Don’t Usually Like Consulting
In the UG to Working for Yourself I explained why I don’t think consulting is the best business for most people. I haven’t done any consulting for at least two years, mostly because I want to avoid the trap of creating a job for myself.
If done in the wrong way, being a consultant isn’t that different from working for an employer. If you want a traditional reporting structure, I say, you might as well get a real job so you can at least have benefits and regular hours.
Why I’ve Changed My Mind
My policy is to respond to every email whenever possible. In case you don’t know, this is not the norm in the blogosphere. I’m not really internet famous yet, but I do get a lot of mail and requests, and every week brings more readers. As much as I like to help people on a personal basis for free, it’s obvious that I can’t keep this up in the long-term.
Therefore, I’m trying a different route – I’ll open a limited consulting service, and spend just two hours a week on it. That’s it. I’ll choose the people who I think I can best help. Everyone else will get their money back, and I’ll continue to focus most of my time on content that is free for everyone with no advertising.
This will not be an ongoing service. Each person who signs up gets one hour at first, and the option for another hour as a follow-up 30 or 60 days later if they think it would be helpful. I am interested in helping people move forward with their own plans of independence and nonconformity, not in creating a dependent relationship where I tell people what to do for months or years.
How I Can Help
I specialize in helping people figure out how they can break out of conventional lives. You bring the ideas or the problem, and we’ll find the answer together.
You’ll leave the conversation with actionable items you can take right away to advance your own world domination plans. More specifically, I can help with the following projects:
- Starting a business, especially an online one
- Finding creative ways around obstacles or useless bureaucracies
- Creating a financial independence plan
- Helping non-profits raise money and increase volunteerism
- Expanding or scaling up a small business to increase revenue
- Starting a blog or introducing products and services to your blog
- Round-the-World trips, vagabonding, and other specialized international travel plans
Why Do this Now?
I’ve been inspired by a few friends from around the internet – especially Naomi Dunford, Clay Collins, Jonathan Fields, and Steve Pavlina. Each of these cool people have started their own limited consulting service over the past year, and each of them have a similar worldview about life and work as me. In following their journeys and chatting with them recently, it seems like a natural path to follow.
Also, charging money requires people to take personal help seriously. Perhaps it shouldn’t be that way, but we have yet to arrive in the perfect world. This is true for me as much as anyone. I regularly get free products sent to me, and I regularly pay for other products. Without fail, if I’ve paid for something, I take it much more seriously.
The Usual Disclaimers
1. This is not for everyone.
2. You can learn a lot about unconventional living, working for yourself, or anything else you want to do for free. If the price is too high, then you should not hire me.
3. I’m going to help, but you have to be able to take action.
4. This is a test – I have no idea if it will continue into 2009 or not. (Either way, I promise to let you know how it went.)
Here’s Another Debate – How Much to Charge?
The problem with any kind of pricing is that for some people it will be prohibitively expensive and others would gladly pay more. Steve Pavlina recently went through this process with his readers, considering all the pros and cons and ending up with $500 an hour. Naturally, some people were upset about this. Others pointed out, respectfully, that if you don’t like the price of something, you probably shouldn’t buy it.
As for me, I’m trying to structure my life to spend more time on writing, and I do not want to become a “real” consultant. I’ll accept only two one-hour sessions per week, on the phone via Skype or cell phone, or if you prefer we can do it via Instant Message.
Also, I am going to ask you for a short application when you sign up for this. The reason is because I don’t want to take someone’s money who I can’t help. If I don’t feel this will be a good fit, I will not accept the payment.
This is in contrast to the first-come, first-served approach. Please understand that it is not my intention to be rude about this; it is that I want to make sure I can really help on a personal level. I think that if I decide to stick with this into next year, I’ll probably charge in the $200-250 range. But during the test phase, the price is $150 for the one-hour session.
Scheduling
I’ll do this twice a week, usually on Thursday afternoons (1-2 p.m. and 4-5 p.m. PST). If that time is difficult for you, we can arrange a time on another weekday afternoon.
How to Sign Up
Step 1: Send the payment through PayPal below.
Step 2: Fill out a quick survey to tell me more about you and how I may be able to help. You’ll get the link to the survey after sending the payment.
After you do that, I’ll contact you within one week to arrange for the appointment or refund the payment.
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