What the hell is "consulting"?

[thinkandgrowrich]

I always see these affluent a$$ people on the internet who claim they are consultants.

What the hell is consulting? Is it just giving advice to people lol

 

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[Invictus]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consultant

 

[Greg R]

It's called helping people make their business better.

 

[thinkandgrowrich]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consultant

So you essentially get paid just to provide advice? What advice can a consultant give you that other people can't

 

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[thinkandgrowrich]

It's called helping people make their business better.

that's so vague, what does that even mean?

A janitor can be considered as a consultant then

 

[Invictus]

that's so vague, what does that even mean?

A janitor can be considered as a consultant then

You're right. They could be considered a consultant. Except it's very unlikely anyone would hire them.

What about Bill Gates or Elon Musk? How much would their advice be worth?

Of course, most business owners would not be able to afford their advice. So they would opt for someone who is more affordable and has a track record of helping out businesses. These people would have references, case studies, etc.

If you know nothing about marketing, wouldn't it be a good investment to hire someone who does know about marketing? Or if you're losing money and you're not sure what to do, would it be worth it to bring someone on board who has a history of consulting failing companies and making them profitable?

Saying a consultant just provides advice is like saying a dental hygienist just cleans your teeth. It's technically true, but that doesn't mean I could do it without causing a lot of pain.

Or a surgeon just stitches you up. Sure, in a very broad sense, but you wouldn't want a janitor to do it.

Are there people who say they're consultants but aren't worth it? I'd imagine so. But such is a risk with every industry.

 

[Denim Chicken]

Your way of asking and answering questions OP is irritating. Are you just ranting or do you have something specific you want to learn or add?


There is an entire billion dollar industry around "Consulting". Ever heard of Bain & Co, or Goldman Sachs or McKinsey? The idea of charging a company for helping their business run more efficiently so its stops their bleeding neck, or to improve or help their new launch is nothing new.

People, the "affluent a$$ people", are no different. Why do you think they're rich? Probably because they have gone through trials and errors, and have experience and knowledge and education in a particular industry or skill. They're able to charge for it.

Any mentorship program, or 1-on-1 relationship with someone who knows more than you is a consulting relationship. If you know something others dont because it took you years to learn it, then you should charge for it. Advice isn't free.

 

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[Scot]

There's a lesson to be learned here, but not by op.. I'm leaning towards [HASHTAG]#landfill[/HASHTAG]

 

[Greg R]

There's a lesson to be learned here, but not by op.. I'm leaning towards [HASHTAG]#landfill[/HASHTAG]

+ReP

 

[Andy Black]

Consultants are paid to be ignored or blamed.

 

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[thinkandgrowrich]

Your way of asking and answering questions OP is irritating. Are you just ranting or do you have something specific you want to learn or add?


There is an entire billion dollar industry around "Consulting". Ever heard of Bain & Co, or Goldman Sachs or McKinsey? The idea of charging a company for helping their business run more efficiently so its stops their bleeding neck, or to improve or help their new launch is nothing new.

People, the "affluent a$$ people", are no different. Why do you think they're rich? Probably because they have gone through trials and errors, and have experience and knowledge and education in a particular industry or skill. They're able to charge for it.

Any mentorship program, or 1-on-1 relationship with someone who knows more than you is a consulting relationship. If you know something others dont because it took you years to learn it, then you should charge for it. Advice isn't free.

I was just asking a question, relax lol. This is an internet forum, it gives me the freedom of asking stupid questions with instantaneous answers from cool people lol

When I used to work in retail people were given the term "consultant", it just seems like a title that is loosely thrown around

 

[RHL]

What advice can a consultant give you that other people can't?

This is a tautology. If you give advice that improves someones' business and are compensated for it (or, even if you're not) you're a consultant.

 

[EvanOkanagan]

So you essentially get paid just to provide advice? What advice can a consultant give you that other people can't

You have a lot to learn, young grasshopper.

 

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[Jon L]

"consultant" is a very loose term. Someone can lose their job and immediately start calling themselves a 'consultant.' So...consultant can run the gamut from an unemployed business guy that is offering advice to businesses all the way up to Bill Gates who consults with governments about how to solve World Hunger.

 

[thinkandgrowrich]

You have a lot to learn, young grasshopper.

I definitely do, don't we all lol

 

[SprdshtGoddess]

When I worked as a client-faced ROI analyst/economist for a corporate wellness company, our clients often paid consultants huge amounts of money to cross-check our analysis. Here is the thing - the consultants ALWAYS agreed with us and at best posed a few surface-critical questions for which we had a soundbite response. But, I can tell you with absolute certainty that our regression models were so poor that I couldn't in good faith perform the essential duties of my job. They were designed by someone who did not have proper statistical or econometric training (but who had lots of letters trailing his name) to retain business rather than provide an accurate ROI. As a result, I lost all faith in the big consultants' ability to deliver...in this particular industry. But, I work with an amazing consultant in my own venture who provides value that I cannot overstate. I also offer consulting services. My own takeaway is that consultants who have recognizable names and serve big industry need to be vetted. I suppose that's true of anyone, but I would never hire those consultants that my former employer's clients worked with because they just co-signed a load of crap.


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[theag]

I always see these affluent a$$ people on the internet who claim they are consultants.

Thats the key word here.

I tell everyone who asks what I do that I am a consultant. Usually that gets them off my a$$. If they want to dig deeper I just tell them import/export and try to look like an international arms dealer.

Maybe I'm not the only one who thinks that how I make my money is nobodys business and thats why a lot of people claim they are consultants .

On the other hand, many of them will be posers and earn 0 because they consult 0 people.

 

[TonyStark]

I just tell them import/export and try to look like an international arms dealer.

On a side note, I just saw War Dogs. It was pretty good.

 

[Raoul Duke]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consultant

Fits in the categories of: Rap Videos & Pending Bugatti Pictures.

 

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[Andy Black]

I was a contract Oracle DBA. There were two of us in long running contracts on a client site. We were both on €600/day.

There were performance issues with the databases. We were asked to explain why, and come up with a plan to improve performance. We did so (again I might add).

A few weeks later a consultant came in from Oracle at €2,000/day. He sat with us and asked us questions, wrote up a report a week later, and handed it in.

€10,000 for the same report.

But this time they did something with it and finally implemented the suggestions we'd raised months ago.

Maybe we weren't expensive enough?


What tickled me was that I knew the consultant who came in. He came in under the official Oracle badge, but was another contract Oracle DBA like myself. He might have been getting less than me per day.



Maybe I'm overly cynical?

From the business viewpoint, they paid €10,000 to Oracle so they could blame them if things didn't improve when they followed the advice and dropped waaay more money on servers, tools, and man-hours recoding long running queries.

 

[Vigilante]

I always see these affluent a$$ people on the internet who claim they are consultants.

What the hell is consulting? Is it just giving advice to people lol

Question everything.

 

[MidwestLandlord]

So you essentially get paid just to provide advice? What advice can a consultant give you that other people can't

A roadmap based off experience. That's what a consultant gives that others can't. We all know how people love to have a "map to success" handed to them.

When I got out of the Sonic Drive-in business, I worked independently for a short time (6 months) as a "Franchise Business Consultant" for new Sonic Franchisee's.

"What do you think of this corner for a new location?"
"Will Sonic allow me to buy at Sam's Club since tomato are cheaper there?"
"How long should my soft open be?"
"What's the best way to manage traffic jams at open?"
"My municipality won't let me fly the Sonic flag, is there a way around that?"
"The Sonic I've owned for years doesn't have a drive thru. They are forcing me into having one. Is it worth it? How much will I make?"

Anything from easy answers by text, call, or email, all the way to flying out to their location and providing specific on-site advice.

It paid well for a slowlane gig. Consultant's have their place for sure. But really it's "paid mentoring" and I got tired of baby sitting fools that ignored my advice anyway.

 

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[Andy Black]

But really it's "paid mentoring" and I got tired of baby sitting fools that ignored my advice anyway.

Nah... they never ignored you did they?

Consultants are paid to be ignored or blamed.

Who'd have thought people would buy a dog and still bark themselves (or kick the dog for barking)?


...


It reminds me of the scale of perceived value:

1) I'll teach you how to do it.
2) I'll help you do it.
3) I'll do it for you.​

with the hidden levels you only unlock after going through the painful 3:

4) I'm doing it anyway
5) I've already done it​

Personally, I'm tired of 1-3. I'm going to 4-5.

 

[Invictus]

It reminds me of the scale of perceived value:

1) I'll teach you how to do it.
2) I'll help you do it.
3) I'll do it for you.​

That's also the process I had when I was a student manager. Didn't come with a pay raise

 

[Tilos]

Generalist vs specialist. Boils down to that.

Consult -- to counsel and provide sound advice. You're basically giving them your experience and saving them time.


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[GMSI7D]

Consultants are paid to be ignored or blamed.

yes, psychologist Robert Cialdini says that people need a scapegoat

if something works, people think this is because of them

if something fails, people accuse someone else : the consultant

I was just asking a question, relax lol. This is an internet forum, it gives me the freedom of asking stupid questions with instantaneous answers from cool people lol

yes

being stupid is very important to go forward

by definition, we can only improve when doing stupid things and adjusting behaviours

we don't learn anything when we do the right thing.

when people approve what we do, we don't learn anything by definition to go forward

we only learn when they point at flaws

people are then the free cybernetics mechanism that is described in this book










.

 

[Alexlewter]

Consulting is an overused term, although I generally like to describe it as facilitating or solving a client's problem as an outsider. On one end of the spectrum is providing simple answers. On the other end of the spectrum is getting the organization to results, which is more complicated aspiration and requires a different skill set to deliver.

Another way to describe consulting would be to portray the types of purposes as a hierarchy. I was introduced to the picture at this link many years ago as I was trying to figure out how to describe consulting and determine what skills are needed

 

[Sean Kaye]

In my day job, my title is "Principal Consultant".

I deal with large businesses, governments and banks/financial services companies predominantly.

I provide advice and strategic guidance on their cloud and data centre strategies.

In my previous work experiences I was a CIO and before that a GM of Tech Strategy for one of the largest engineering companies in the world.

So, as a consultant, what I'm offering is perspective and experience. I can talk to CIOs and CTOs from a place of experience - I've done their jobs and I understand the pressures and politics. I also bridge the gap between the technical resources looking at "solutions" and the management layer who are looking for outcomes.

Essentially, I'm paid to be a "trusted advisor" and a "mediator".

In truth, my job is to rubber stamp or call bullshit - this suits my personality because I don't suffer fools, so when something is stupid, I'm pretty good at letting people know and telling them the better way to get things done.

Ultimately, if something succeeds, CIO or CTO that I'm consulting to gets kudos and accolades and if it fails, they usually lose their job.

 

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[AndrewNC]

Question everything.

Why?

 

[jon.a]

Why?

why not?