84. Should you do project management for your advisory clients?

Join the conversation for this episode: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/85-should-you-do-project-management-for-your-advisory-clients

Last episode (I said 84 in the recording, I meant 83), I talked about the various ways some advisory clients can’t or won’t implement your advice, and what to do about it when that happens.

Mark had a follow up question about whether to do project management in cases where the client doesn’t have an in-house person to implement.

The short answer is no. I did it when I first started and I burned out/reached capacity at two clients (and some other smaller work I was doing at the same time).

Project management is stressful and energy consuming. It also puts the owness of speed on you instead of the client.

Personally, I don’t want that stress and it’s not what I do best.

You want to be able to move at the speed of your clients, not the speed of your own internal capability to keep projects moving forward (which you have little control over anyway).

Instead, I’d consider finding someone to recommend to your client who can implement the work you agree to and/or manage projects so things stay on track.

The closest thing I do to project management is keep a record of notes in Google Drive for each of our calls. I write down what we talk about, who is doing what, and when it should be do.

Then, if the client hasn’t completed their end by the next call, it’s in plain black and white who’s responsiblity it was. I don’t babysit.

This has relieved immense amounts of stress and pressure off me. Maybe you can be a good advisor and be the one chasing information and managing projects, but I doubt it. 

It is highly low value and low leverage, which isn’t what you want to be doing as a solo consultant.

Lots more in this one, so give it a listen and tell me what you think.

—kw