124. The importance of being candid with your clients

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In order to succeed as a consultant, you will need the confidence to be candid (yet tactful( with your clients.

And that's not always easy—especially when the stakes feel high, or if you're generally a low-key kind of person.

Sometimes, that might mean calling out tensions in the room. Other times, it might mean educating clients on the realities of their expectations and what's possible in a given timeframe. The situations will be varied.

What's important is that you acknowledge things that are going well (or aren't) be willing to say things as they are to create space for open communication.

Your job as a consultant is guaranteed to include sticky situations, unforeseen issues, challenging projects, and other things that make our job as innovators difficult.

And if you want to be able to thrive as a consultant, it means being ready to call out the world as it is, acknowledge the good, bad, and the ugly, and continue advocating for your clients best interest—even when things arent' easy. Especially when things aren't easy.

It also works the same way when things are easy. Sometimes, the work you need to do is done. You've successfully transformed your clients' business and they no longer need your services.

When that happens, you want to be proactive about either setting new targets, reducing the scope of your involvement, or parting ways. Always act in their best interest—which happens to be yours, too.  

This job requires a lot of confidence. I just want to remind and encourage you to embrace the situation you're in at all times to help create better outcomes for you and your clients.

If it were easy, it wouldn't be as fun as it is! Embrace it all.

—k