My approach to helping your business is simple. Focus on the given problem and work for solving it. I charge by the hour and agree on the scope of the work always upfront. In order to efficiently and systematically manage each customer assignment, I have developed a three phase approach for going through a solution cycle. On top of running through these cycles I work as an advisor on continuous basis.
DISCOVERY - First we'll sit down and have a chat about what is going on. I'll ask a lot of questions and hear what you have to say. Sometimes this is all I need to pinpoint the issues and that's it. Discovery takes usually some hours.
ANALYSIS - Other times I need more information so I'll ask more data: documents, reports, access to talk to personnel. I will do the analysis and after drawing my conclusions I will share the insights on what the problem is and high level input on how to solve it. Sometimes having the diagnosis allows customer to tackle the issue themselves. Analysis takes anywhere between few hours to few days, depending on the size and scope of the problem.
SOLUTION - Sometimes customers are facing something totally new to them and they lack the competence to even come up with a detailed plan for solving the problem, and solving it is totally out of their reach. In these cases I can help customer to put together a detailed plan that takes into account required resources. This help will give the customer a detailed roadmap on what to do, how to do, and who should be doing it. If customer lacks resources, I can offer some hands on work or provide contacts to trusted professionals. Solution plans take usually a couple of days to complete, depending on the size and the scope of the problem.
CONTINUOUS ADVISORY - Most business leaders need a trusted advisor to spitball ideas with and hear second opinion. This is a specialty of mine and provide continuous advisory flexibly as needed, as well as being a board member.
I once had coffee with a startup company's COO who wanted advice on how to solve their production scheduling problem. After 15 minutes it turned out it was a materials management problem that could be solved very easily. We stopped after 45 minutes and he had a clear action plan for next steps.
Quikcly growing industrial management company was struggling with growing pains and they had problems with sourcing cost and replenishment. After a round of interviews and overview of their IT system I concluded they needed more structure in the way they shared responsibilities together with established category management process. Getting a proper diagnosis allowed them to make the required changes.
Hi-tech Startup was struggling with how to commercialize their technology. They had world class tech skills but lacked experience from the business side of things. I helped them to figure out their product strategy, brand identity, product offering and contractual framework. Some of the work I did myself, for some work I crafted a plan for others to complete.
Young entrepreneur was trying to figure out a business model. Over a period of few months I helped him verify and validate some of his ideas and walked him through the hoops and loops of starting a business. He ended up running a very successful food truck business before expanding to owning his own bar.
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