14 May 2022 |  From the friendly caves of Pixie Hollow.

 

I've got a new rule and it's "no in-person meetings unless critical to the consultancy".

 

By 'in-person' I mean in the flesh, face-to-face.

 

Here's why:

 

I parent an 18-month-old toddler full time on weekdays. Today is a 'work day'. It means that it's one of the few days in the week in which we don't have a pre-planned activity. So by the time you're reading this, we're already halfway through our day and my husband is probably wrangling a squealing tarantula while trying to change the tarantula's pants. Many weekdays, I debate whether plonking the child in front of Bluey is an appropriate thing to do first up just so I can see whether we're ready to leave the house yet.

 

Last week, I got the date of a meeting wrong.

 

Here's what happened:

 

We were up at  6 am. The meeting was scheduled for 10 am.

 

It took 45+ minutes to drive to the location.

 

It took 20 minutes to find a park, get to the building, and discover that there was no accessible entrance. (And me with a pram and two giant bags!).

 

Prior to this, it took us 3 hours to get ready. That involved the aforementioned tarantula wrangling, breakfast, bag packed to be away from the house, finding toys to take, packing toys, getting out of the house, getting toddler to the car, getting gear to and into the car, 'influencing' the toddler to sit in his seat.

 

So we're at 4 hours so far.

 

The 'meeting' was scheduled for 1 hour. Adventurous for even the most patient not-yet-two-year-old.

 

That hour was to discuss three questions that could have been handled by phone, email, videocall, text message, or even (gasp) async video call.

 

Then after that meeting there's another couple hours of car, drive, etc.

 

Can you say entire day disappeared for someone's vanity?

 

It seems that the 'rona didn't teach people anything.

 

I thought that after two years of:

... that it would persist.

 

I was wrong. People are not smart.

 

Take asynchronous calls, for example: You can be in your comfortable place, at a time that suits, with the time to think and respond intelligently. It doesn't matter about bookings, schedules, rooms, availability.

 

You can just do.

 

It's a bridge too far for some people. (Maybe not you? Check out ZipMessage. That's not an affiliate link.)

 

One person recently even audibly sighed in irritation when I said that a videocall would have been a better option.

 

Nevertheless, the new rule stands:

 

No in-person meetings unless critical to a consultancy.  Anyone who can't handle that isn't my kind of client to start with.

 

I'm telling you this because you can define the rules in your business. It's YOUR business!

 

One of my most successful engagements was a remote engagement with a team I never met (or saw on a videocall) for seven years.

 

Long before the world shifted.

 

Knowing this, if you're the kind of person who absolutely requires in-person, maybe it's time to shift your expectations about the types of suppliers with whom you work.

 

1. It's expensive
2. You have to be willing to get dirty, to think, to feel
3. You have to be willing to bare everything about your life or business or methods or whatever it is
4. You have to remember it's a collaboration, not an abdication.

 

xx Leticia 'giving people their lives back' Mooney

 

Please let me know what I can do for you.
 
Leticia Mooney is a consultant with decades of experience writing with and for people like you. Her company Brutal Pixie casts the kind of spells your customers love. Its services are oracles (communication strategy, CCX, audits, investigations, quality assurance), metamorphoses (training, mentoring, coaching, wargaming), and your stories in magick hands (ghostwriting, content writing, editorial support). Leticia is also the mother of an intelligent, engaging, and curious boy, who is named after a character created by J.R.R Tolkien.

 

Follow the enchanted link tree to discover more. 
 
Brutal Pixie Pty Ltd works worldwide.
PO Box 1190, Pasadena SA 5042, Australia
Phone/Text (Signal/Telegram) +61 421 925 382