This post is part of my 5-day free crash course on how to transition from execution to advisory work. (You can enroll in the full email sequence by subscribing here). It’s all about the case for advisory services: why they’re uniquely valuable independent of hands work and deliverables. Let’s get into it… *** There are …
Advisors don’t just sell advice
A lot of people think consultants have no skin in the game. They wave their hands, give advice, and leave the client alone to implement. But when it comes to consulting on marketing, the most effective ones combine advice with other proprietary assets. These assets give you leverage. They’re your relationships, expertise, and materials you’ve …
How to earn more with less stress as a marketing freelancer
Doing execution work is not just an important part of a marketer’s journey—it’s essential. The problem is, it can be stressful and exhausting if you aren’t intentional about how you do it. It’s hard to relax when you’re spinning so many plates under the constant pressure of deadlines and deliverables. Your brain never really turns …
What we can learn from Peloton about leverage
I use the Peloton app almost daily to motivate and guide me through my workouts. Honestly, without the videos, I wouldn’t push nearly as hard. But that’s not the point. The point is, the Peloton app is chock-full of video workouts. Hundreds of them across all kinds of workout genres. Each video is an asset. …
The best advisors are also teachers
Teaching and advising are kindred skills. Advising is all about applying your expertise to your clients’ situations—usually transferring knowledge in the process. Teaching is about transferring knowledge to your students—often with advice mixed in. They’re very similar at the core of it. The best advisors develop a documented methodology. They organize their thinking and create training, …
The risk of overwhelm
As an educator and advisor, the biggest risk you have when working with your clients is overwhelming them. You have to simultaneously paint a picture of the big picture while keeping them focused on what they need to know and apply right now. One way to do that is to have a documented methodology. I …
How to advise from a birds-eye view
Have you ever walked into a consulting call and your client immediately asks you what to do next or why things aren’t working—and you have no idea where to even begin? Yes, it helps to have a documented methodology to reference for ideas. But first, you need to see at a glance what’s going on …
A suite of options
Let’s say your car is having troubles. So, you take it to the nearest mechanic to get it fixed. They have no idea you’re coming, but they’re already equipped with a wide variety of tools, parts, and expertise to fix most common issues. As an advisor, your methodology is like a mechanic’s garage. It’s your …
An operating system for advisors
Giving advice for a living could mean a wide range of things. For you, it could mean coaching, consulting, mentorship. For others, it could apply to a wide range of other professional contexts, such as medicine, therapy, legal, or financial advice. For the sake of clarity, I’m primarily defining advisory work as selling access to …
Admiring your own widgets
We all make the same mistake: we focus all our messaging on what we sell and how it’s better, different, and more efficient than other options. But in doing that, we fail to focus enough on who it’s for and what it helps them achieve. When you’re writing copy, make it abundantly clear what problem …