Mark: Most people think starting a business is about having a great idea and a solid plan. What if the most important step is getting fired? And what if the secret to success is telling clients not to hire you by the hour? Michelle: Whoa, okay. Getting fired as a business strategy? That sounds like the worst advice I've ever heard. It’s usually the end of the story, not the beginning. Mark: Exactly! But that provocative idea is at the heart of Getting Started in Consulting by Alan Weiss. And Weiss isn't just some theorist; he's a guy who was famously fired from a corporate job in 1985 and then proceeded to build a multi-million-dollar consulting firm from his home office, working with giants like Mercedes-Benz and Merck. Michelle: Wow. So he literally lived it. The book has a reputation for being a classic blueprint for professional independence, right? It's one of those texts that gets passed around in entrepreneurial circles. Mark: It absolutely is. And it all starts with that catastrophic moment. Michelle: Okay, I'm hooked. Getting fired sounds more like a disaster than a launchpad. How does that even connect to building a successful consulting business?

Mark: It connects because Weiss argues the single most important factor for success isn't your business plan or your marketing material. It's your mindset and your financial runway before you even begin. His own story is the perfect example. When he was fired, he didn't panic and look for another job. He and his wife decided this was the moment to become a solo practitioner. He chose to see it as an opportunity, not a failure. Michelle: That’s a powerful reframe, but it also sounds incredibly risky. Most people would be updating their resume, not designing a new life. Mark: And that’s his point. He sees so many aspiring consultants fail for one reason: they enter the field with the wrong expectations. He tells this cautionary tale of the consultants he sees in his mentoring program. They're brilliant people, but they've listened to bad advice. They believe consulting means working 80-hour weeks, barely scraping by, and constantly chasing clients. Michelle: The classic 'starving artist' trope, but for business consultants. Mark: Precisely. And because they expect to struggle, they do. They burn out, they alienate their families, they lose money. Weiss says they successfully met the exact wrong set of expectations. His first rule is to flip that script. You have to expect success, prosperity, and a rewarding life. As he puts it, "You will be what you decide to be, nothing less, nothing more." Michelle: Okay, but 'expecting success' can sound a bit 'woo-woo' or like something from 'The Secret.' How does that actually translate into paying your mortgage? It feels like a huge leap of faith. Mark: It’s not just faith; it's about building the structure to support that faith. This is where the practical side kicks in, and it's brutal. He says one of the main reasons consultants fail is undercapitalization. Before you do anything else, you need to calculate your bare-minimum monthly living expenses. Let's say it's $7,000 a month. Michelle: A very real number for a lot of people. Mark: Then, he says, you need to have a fund to cover that for an entire year. So, in this case, you’d need $84,000 in the bank before you quit your job. Michelle: An entire year? That's… terrifying. That feels like a massive barrier to entry. Isn't that just a privilege for the few who can save that much? Mark: It is a huge barrier, and he acknowledges that. But his logic is that this financial cushion isn't just about paying bills. It’s about buying yourself psychological freedom. When you have that runway, you don't have to take on a bad client out of desperation. You don't have to lower your fees because you're scared. You can make strategic, long-term decisions instead of panicked, short-term ones. That's how 'expecting success' becomes a tangible strategy. You've built a fortress that allows your mindset to thrive. Michelle: I see. The money isn't the goal, it's the tool that protects your mindset. It gives you the power to say 'no,' which is often more important than the power to say 'yes.' Mark: Exactly. It prevents you from becoming that burned-out consultant. You're not just surviving; you're positioned to build something real.

Mark: And that ability to be strategic, not desperate, is exactly what fuels his next big idea: what he calls 'marketing gravity.' Michelle: Marketing gravity. I like the sound of that. It sounds a lot better than 'hustle culture.' Mark: It’s the complete opposite. Weiss argues that consulting services require attraction, not pursuit. You should never be in a position where you're chasing clients. He tells this hilarious, all-too-relatable story to illustrate the wrong way to do it. He calls it the 'Smarmy Securities Salesperson.' Michelle: Oh, I think I know this guy. Mark: We all do. It’s 8:30 at night, the phone rings, and it's 'John Smith from XYZ Investments.' He got your name from a 'mutual friend' he can't quite remember, and he immediately launches into a pitch. The entire dynamic is him trying to prove his worth, and you just wanting to get off the phone. It’s repulsive. Michelle: It's an immediate power imbalance. He's the supplicant, and you hold all the power. You feel hunted. Mark: Right. Now, contrast that with his other story: the 'Bentley Dealer.' No one at a Bentley dealership is cold-calling people to see if they want a car. The prospect walks into the showroom, already interested, already convinced of the value. The conversation isn't "Why should you buy this car?" It's "Which color would you like, and when can we deliver it?" Michelle: The power dynamic is completely flipped. The buyer is pursuing the seller. The sale is already made; it's just a matter of logistics. Mark: That's marketing gravity. It's creating a reputation and a presence so powerful that the right clients are drawn to you. They seek you out. And when they do, the conversation is never about proving your worth or justifying your fees. It's about solving their problem. Michelle: I love that Bentley analogy, but it feels like it only works if you're already Bentley. How does a new consultant, let's call them 'Consultant Corolla,' build that kind of gravity from a standing start? It feels like a classic chicken-and-egg problem. Mark: A great question, and he has very practical, if counter-intuitive, answers. He says you start building gravity the moment you decide to go into business. The first step is a professional press kit. Not just a business card, but a folder with a bio, position papers on your areas of expertise, and testimonials. It’s a tangible mark of professionalism. Michelle: Okay, that makes sense. It’s about looking the part before you’ve fully landed the role. What else? Mark: This is where he gets controversial, especially for today's world. He argues that your website is a credibility site, not a sales site. Its purpose is to validate you for people who have already heard of you. It's the online equivalent of your press kit. Michelle: Hold on. No sales from a website? In 2024? That sounds like business suicide. Everyone is focused on lead generation, funnels, and conversion. Mark: I know, it sounds like heresy. But his point is that no one is surfing the internet looking for a consultant to hire the way they look for a new pair of shoes. They get a recommendation, they hear you speak, they read an article you wrote, and then they go to your site to check you out. If your site is just a big, flashy ad, it breaks the trust. It should offer value—articles, insights, resources. It should be a place that proves you're an expert, not just a vendor. Michelle: So the website is the destination, not the starting point of the customer journey. It confirms the gravity you've built elsewhere. Mark: Precisely. And this connects to another one of his myth-busters: "Blogging comes after a brand, not before it." You don't start a blog to build a brand; you build a brand, and then the blog becomes a platform to express it.

Michelle: Okay, so you've built the mindset, you've created some gravity... but you still have to get paid. And this is where Weiss gets really radical, right? This is the part that probably gets the most pushback. Mark: This is his most transformative idea, and it's the key to everything: you must stop billing by the hour. He argues that charging for your time is the single biggest mistake a consultant can make. It commoditizes you. It puts you in a position where you're punished for being efficient. If you solve a problem in one hour that would take someone else ten, you get paid less. It's absurd. Michelle: That makes so much sense when you put it that way. It incentivizes inefficiency. So what's the alternative? Mark: Value-based fees. You charge based on the value of the outcome you provide to the client, not the time it takes you to get there. He uses an analogy he calls the 'Mercedes-Benz Syndrome.' Michelle: I'm intrigued. Tell me more. Mark: When you buy a Mercedes, you don't ask how many hours it took to assemble the engine. You don't care. You are buying the outcome: the performance, the reliability, the status. You expect to get what you pay for. Weiss says consulting should be the same. The client shouldn't care if you work 2 hours or 200 hours. They care about the result: "Will our sales increase by 20%?" "Will our team's turnover rate decrease?" Michelle: So you're selling the destination, not the flight time. Mark: A perfect way to put it. And the way you do this is by shifting the proposal process. Instead of listing tasks—so many interviews, so many focus groups—you define objectives. And you present the client with what he calls a 'choice of yeses.' You offer three options, each with a different level of engagement and a different fixed fee. Option A might be a diagnostic, Option B is the diagnostic plus a strategy session, and Option C is the full implementation. The client is no longer deciding if they should hire you, but how they should hire you. Michelle: That's brilliant. It reframes the entire negotiation. But this is the holy grail, and it also sounds terrifying. How do you even start that conversation? What happens when a client, especially a big corporate one, just says, 'That's nice, but our policy is to pay hourly. Just give me your rate.'? Mark: That's the ultimate test, and Weiss says you should use that as an opportunity to differentiate yourself. You say, "I understand that's your policy, but my approach is actually in your best interest. With an hourly rate, the meter is always running. Your team might hesitate to call me for fear of running up the bill. With a single project fee, you have a cap on your investment, and your team has unlimited access to me to ensure we achieve the outcome we agreed upon. This removes all the risk for you." Michelle: You turn their objection into a benefit for them. You're not just being difficult; you're being a better partner. Mark: Exactly. And this ties into the deepest level of value. He tells a story about Sony and the Walkman. No focus group ever asked for a personal, portable cassette player. People didn't know they wanted it. Sony identified a need that was unrecognized. Weiss says the greatest consultants do the same. They listen to what the client wants, but they dig deeper to uncover what the client truly needs. The gap between those two is what he calls the 'value distance.' And the bigger that distance, the more you're worth.

Michelle: Wow. When you lay it all out like that, it's not just a collection of tips. It's a complete, integrated system. Mark: It all connects. The financial runway from the first idea gives you the confidence to build marketing gravity in the second idea. And that gravity gives you the leverage to command value-based fees in the third. It’s a system for building a practice based on peer-level respect, not servitude. You're not a hired hand; you're a strategic partner. Michelle: So the big takeaway for me isn't just a list of to-dos. It's a fundamental shift in how you see your own worth and how you communicate that worth to the world. It’s about moving from "please hire me" to "here is how I can create extraordinary value for you." Mark: That's the entire philosophy in a nutshell. It’s about giving yourself permission to succeed on your own terms. Michelle: I love that. For anyone listening who's ever dreamed of going independent, or even just wants to be valued more in their current role, this feels essential. It makes me wonder, what's the one thing holding people back from making that leap? Is it the money? The fear? The marketing? We'd love to hear your thoughts. Find us on our socials and join the conversation. Mark: This is Aibrary, signing off.