Monday, 2 February 2015

So, what do you do?



Lots of people ask me this. Friends. Family. Even my wife, who’s done paid work with me. None have been so far from the mark as a friend who thought I was a motivational speaker. She was, with good reason, unsure as to how I’d make a go of that.

My standard answer at any event that requires me to “mingle” (and just typing “mingle” gives me hot elbows) is “You know market research? Well I do it for employers, not for products”. That’s usually enough for most people. But the bravest and most persistent will ask “What sort of thing then?” And then it can cover all sorts of things. Recently I have:

  •  Researched an industry to help prepare for a pitch
  • Designed, run and analysed an engagement survey
  • Conducted a comms audit with a survey and follow-up focus groups
  • Proposed a research event to help attract some very niche skills
  • Researched quiz questions to be used at a conference

It’s pretty diverse. I also ended up designing an Excel tool to track and analyse multiple comms projects. That’s at the limits of what I do, but the project started one place and went another. It happens.

But I’ve also had to decline recent work. Not for lack of capacity, but because it was the wrong sort of work. There was plenty of discovery to do, but it also needed:
  1. Me to be the face of the agency, and 
  2. Me to provide specific advice on recruitment channels and process
I’d have been happy(ish) to do one or the other, but both poses too many risks. I can represent you and your business, but if you need me to keep interacting with the client – ad-hoc – then it’s difficult for me to be that available. I can give advice on recruitment channels and process. But I don’t live in that world every day now; you likely need an expert for expert advice.

The risks are that I’ll let down your client, or miss opportunities for you.

All that work I have done has all started with “We need to know more about…” Give me a request like that, and I’m all over it – whatever the topic.

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