How to Sell Advice

I was on a fairly long drive today and
I was looking for a good book to read.

And one of the books that I.

Came to came to mind.

One of the books that I
enjoyed reading before that.

Sort of popped in the mind and I kind
of led books choose me when I'm ready

to, to pick a book for whatever reason.

I always know that either a new book
or something I've read before is going

to be calling my name and I should
just sort of pay attention to it.

And that's always worked out well for me.

And I'm sure you've got
that feeling as well.

When you walk into a bookstore,
the books choose you.

And not the other way
around, in most often.

But one of the books.

The book that came to mind
for me was a book called the

passion economy by Adam Davidson.

And I first read it maybe a
year or two ago, and I remember

really kind of stuck with me.

And.

You know, and something about it
was calling me to read it again or

listen to it again on my drive back.

So at about an hour and a half, and I
only got through one or two chapters,

I actually listened to chapter.

I believe it was three,
a few times in a row.

Because it was just chock-full
of these good rules.

I can't remember how many of
them there were, but there was.

I don't know, 10 or 15 kind of
rules for the passion economy

kind of, uh, businesses.

And so I highly recommend reading it.

It's kind of about craftsmanship.

It's about.

Doing work at a small scale at a high
quality versus trying to produce.

In fact, he advocates against doing
any kind of commodity work, but.

It's kind of the anti scale, small
craftsmen sort of work craftsperson.

Uh, sort of work.

And I really enjoy that kind of
mentality about working on something

that you're really interested in.

Long enough.

And you know, I'm reading another book,
um, by Craig mod and he's doing these

walks through Japan and he talks about
the craftsmanship of all these things

and, and, uh, and you know, the Japanese
business culture is often very much the.

You've got these businesses.

That have been around for a
hundred years, doing one thing

and really enjoy kind of that.

So that's the ideal, like idealist
sort of side of me enjoying this sort

of crafts, craftsmen craft person.

I use that interchangeably, I guess
I'm just sort of that way of thinking.

And applying to my business.

And so if you're in that kind of
mode, Uh, definitely check out

the book, the passion economy.

And there was one book that came
up and it was about hourly work on

one quote that came up in the book.

And I'll share that with you.

And then we'll just have a little
quick chat about what that sort

of means and how it relates to.

Uh, hourly and commodity sort of work.

So the quote from the book says, I
recently hired a lawyer who told me that

he would not charge me by the hour, but
he would instead agree to a fixed fee for

the work we were going to do together.

He explained that by charging by the hour.

Uh, he explained that charging by the
hour, contradicted his core values.

Of serving as clients, it would create
an incentive for him to do more time,

even if it wasn't strictly necessary.

Or on the other hand might even choose
to rush some work to save me some money.

He preferred not to think about
time at all, but instead focus on

providing me with the greatest service.

I found this comforting.

I totally agree with this kind
of a mentality and a quote.

I don't want to be once we're
engaged, I'm engaged for an outcome.

Not for hours because I don't want to be
thinking, well, I need to do this well.

But this is going to cost
the client twice as much.

And this other thing could maybe be fine
and good enough, but then I, you know,

But do I charge.

You know, ours screws up in my opinion.

Uh, the hard work that we do.

And I think hourly work is,
is fine in some cases, I think

it's okay when you're doing.

The support level work when
you're doing say website tasks

or the odd sort of design.

You know, iteration on a brochure or
something where there's nothing, you know,

maybe it's ongoing and it's kind of light.

Uh, you know, On demand sort of stuff.

But what I've noticed is that
the stuff that requires hourly,

whether it's those kinds of support
tasks, and again, I have nothing.

I actually have nothing against
doing supportive maintenance level,

hourly work per se, but I think
it should also come with sort of a

red or not a red, an orange flag.

It should kind of tell you that.

Well, when we're in this mode of doing.

Support level or hourly work
where there's no better way.

You're not, it's not a meaty enough
project to scope an outcome and

therefore offer a fixed price, which I
think is just the best experience for

everyone, because it just reduces that.

Tug and pull of well.

You know, Maximizing your income
versus, or saving the client money.

And really it's about doing
the job right for a fixed fee.

So the type of work that typically
is best on hourly is commodity work.

It's task oriented it's instruction.

And reaction it's that kind of thing.

And I think that's, it should come with
an orange flag so that if it's a big part

of your business, Uh, I would consider
whether you want to be doing that.

Long-term.

And it doesn't mean you shouldn't do it.

I have an, in some cases
still do some light.

Maintenance work.

I have a team.

I have an assistant who handles
correspondence from a few legacy

clients from when I ran my agency.

And they was, they still
send my assistant emails.

And who've passes it onto my
developer who gets the job done.

And then she corresponds then with
the client and that can produce.

Between, I don't know,
seven to 15,000 a year.

In profit and that's a good
little kind of something.

So it's not nothing.

And it doesn't take any of
my time or very rarely does.

So, I'm not saying don't do that.

These are things that you
have the option to do.

It should just come with an orange flag.

You know, if it required my personal
time, it would be gone off my plate, but

because I'm able to leverage their time.

And the infrastructure that I've had
built up from a long time ago and these

old clients that I don't take on any new
clients in that sphere, in that sphere,

but it's still, you know, A few thousand
here, a few thousand there kind of adds up

and I don't have to touch it most times.

So, I'm not saying don't do that.

That would be hypocritical of me.

And, but I, I will say that my time is
not, I never, I don't have an hourly rate.

At best, I've got a strategy call, which
is anywhere between, you know, an hour to

90 minutes, more or less than a little bit
of preparation, a little bit of aftercare.

And that's the closest thing
I have to an hourly rate.

Otherwise, everything is
fixed fee, fixed scope.

And that's why I like it.

And that way, I'm not thinking
about hours of my clients.

Aren't thinking about hours.

Or as Alan Weiss would say.

When talking about his fixed fees.

Uh, two clients and selling them.

He would say, you know, I don't want your
staff to be making value decisions every

time they pick up the phone and call me.

Which is another thing.

I don't want my client to get off
a call with me and be like, wow.

Was that worth?

Into my effective hourly rate
is around 500, 500 bucks.

Give or take.

And so does that, like, I don't, you
know, I don't want to be like, well, How

much, how much is that guy getting paid?

Was it worth it for me to pay 500
bucks or whatever the thing is.

Uh, I don't want them thinking that
because that's, that's then focused on

widgets and not non values and outcomes.

So, uh, I really like this, this quote
and that the book is chock-full of them.

I could effect I could have.

Frankly, thrown a dart at the
least the first few chapters.

And then the rest are all stories,
but definitely pick it up.

And consider yourself if you're
doing much hourly work, if that

represents much in your business.

Uh, I'm not saying don't do it,
but I would definitely try to steer

away and work on projects that are
meaningful and meeting media enough.

Have enough.

Enough value and enough tangible.

Enough quantity of it that you can
price the outcome, not the individual

tasks and do hourly and stuff.

Cause it's, it is really a conflict
of incentives and, uh, not a great

experience, which is the main thing.

So nothing wrong with it.

Just not the best way to live.

And you know, this book would argue, not
doing any kind of commodity level work.

And I think anything that
requires that hourly.

Hourly billing.

Is close to commodity work.

It's just an observation that I've,
that I've noticed in the past.

So.

Uh, just want to share that with you.

And this is going to be a blog
post, and then the longer version.

Comes in the audio and that's
for people who like the audio.

And I don't know how often I'll
do both audio and text, but

today I was going to do an audio.

So I wrote the outline and
then I made it into an article.

Here we are.

We're doing both so hope you enjoyed this.

Let me know.

Email me, kevin@kevin.me and just say
hello and tell me what you're thinking.

And tell me if you prefer audio
or you prefer these, these, uh,

in written, in written format.

Um, and we'll, we'll take it from there.