Part 4: A bit about my journey for Young Change-makers

Part 4 of a series of posts aimed at young professionals. The world is getting increasingly confusing. Here are some of my learnings.

In the last post (here), I mentioned the need for taking bold/ tough decisions. And the benefits they bring. And that you can’t usually create your best work from a place of scarcity or under-appreciation. How do some underdogs do it then, you might ask? Same answer, though that would involve a bit of philosophy and behaviour mindsets.

Anyway, so for a few years, I stuck with helping companies improve their business model to be more able to raise investments. My list of services still had about 6-7 different consulting offerings.

Consulting at least used to be notorious for their grey fees. From broad estimates to unending add-ons, clients outside of the Fortune 500s might usually be a bit nervous about what the final bill might be.

In an effort to keep my practice as transparent as possible, in a moment of creativity (and after seeing some interesting restaurant menus that crisply explained each dish), I decided the practice needed just that.

I then designed a services menu. An actual digital menu that looked like a cafe menu. One that I would share with prospects, and I think I had it on my old website too. It mentioned the service, what it included, what it didn’t. It had estimated timelines, and a fee.

Then, as shopping online was picking up, I went a step further and created (don’t laugh!) a consulting e-store. Same deal, list and description of services, fees, and linked to a payment gateway, all for client convenience.

While I did interesting projects at the time, there weren’t too many takers for the e-store way of booking. They went through the store but still preferred cheque payments. Guess credit card limits might have been a deterrent. However, the consulting menu worked. Even a few years after I had discontinued it, prospects who were referred to me, would ask me to share the menu.

Client and customer needs in a given sector are sometimes obvious. And when they aren’t, all it takes is a little asking around to find out.

As independent consultants or service companies, once we know what they need, it is best to start disrupting our current practices towards bridging the gap to those needs, because sooner or later, some new business model will. Might as well be us.

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