Approach
Some consultants sell a six-week diagnostic before touching anything. Sometimes that's genuinely warranted. Usually a conversation and a couple of hours of looking gets you ninety percent of the way, and you should only pay for the rest if you actually need it.
How it runs
Five steps, and you can stop after any of them.
- 01TalkA phone call
Tell me what's annoying you
No brief required. A rambling description of the thing that keeps going wrong is usually a better starting point than a tidy specification.
- 02LookHourly, or folded into the project
I work out what's actually going on
Sometimes an hour, sometimes a fortnight. You come out with a clearer picture of your own business than you went in with, even if we stop there.
- 03DecideQuoted up front
We pick the shape
Advice, a cleanup, a build, an automation, or nothing for now. Scoped and priced before anything starts.
- 04DoProject or retainer
I do it, or run the people who do
Sometimes that's me building. Sometimes it's me coordinating your existing providers so they stop dropping things between them.
- 05Hand overAlways
You keep the keys
Accounts in your name, documentation written down, no dependency by design. If you never call again it should keep working.
What I hold to
Six rules, and what each costs me.
- 01
Start with what's wrong
Most digital work begins with somebody selling something. This begins with what's actually going on.
What it costs me
Some of these conversations end with you don't need me.
- 02
Look at the whole thing
Your website feeds your enquiries, which feed your CRM, which decides whether anyone follows up. Advice covering one of those is a quote, not advice.
What it costs me
I'm slower to quote than someone who only looks at their own bit.
- 03
I'll tell you not to bother
If the right answer is do less, or wait six months, that's the answer you get.
What it costs me
Easily the most expensive rule on this list.
- 04
Rebuilding is the last option
Usually the third best one too. Most wins come from connecting or quietly improving what's already there.
What it costs me
A rebuild invoices for a great deal more than a tidy up.
- 05
AI only where it pays
A tool, not a strategy. The difference between useful and expensive is whether anyone understood the process first.
What it costs me
I've talked more businesses out of AI projects than into them.
- 06
You keep the keys
Your accounts in your name, your domain in your control, documentation written down as it goes.
What it costs me
Nothing stops you leaving, so I have to stay worth keeping.
Worth a call
- Owner led, roughly five to fifty people
- More tools than anyone can name, none of them talking
- No in house tech lead, and no appetite for hiring one
- Wants a real opinion on AI rather than a demo
Probably not me
- Shopping for the cheapest possible website
- Wants a full agency team and a weekly status deck
- Wants AI added because the board asked about AI
- Wants a strategy document with no work attached
Next
Tell me what's going on.
Ring me, or send a rough description of the problem. You don't need it worked out first. If I'm not the right person for it I'll say so and point you at someone who is.