[Author's Note: A few days after writing this post, I decided to scrap anonymity.]
Can Anonymity and a Pay What You Want approach succeed for expert advising? I looked at my website traffic today and laughed out loud to see I've had 8 Unique Visitors in the last 30 days. Hardly tearing up the internet! I love every one of those 8 visitors and wish I could offer a personal thank you. If that was you, thank you. This site is a humbling experience in just how hard it is to get the right attention of the right few people amidst the deluge of media pouring into everyone's mailboxes and social media feeds. So what is happening?
The StrategyServe idea is simple. You have an important document expressing some vital organizational purpose such as a strategy statement, business plan, grant proposal, or program idea. I have deep expertise across strategy and planning and a particular skill at seeing not only what is there but what is missing. You upload your document, I offer valuable comments and recommendations and send it back. You can fast, confidential, constructive, and honest expert feedback. Then, you pay me what that service is worth to you via a secure payment system like PayPal.
Twitter @StrategyServe has been my only outreach - even knowing the low likelihood of the right eyeballs landing on the fleeting tweet in their stream. I've been testing different types of content - 24 followers. :-)
The plan is organic growth. With each job, I will seek to earn referrals, post testimonials, blog on specific cases, and evolve the focus and practice through success. (Or not.) Hope is not the strategy. The big strategic choices are Anonymity and "Pay What You Want".
I decided not to use my name and my extensive professional connections to get work so as not to distract from my other projects. You will assess my advice without the bias of who is the source. If the recommendations resonate, you'll know. I trust that you'll know. Advice that doesn't line up with your knowledge, instincts, experience, and values won't stick anyway.
Pay What You Want [PWYW] pricing is a business strategy that has been tried in numerous industries (see Wikipedia Pay what you want) and can be applied before or after the purchase. I bear the risk of putting in effort for you and getting zero or little in return for my expertise. However, I trust that my customers know they may have to pay something and will understand the value of the input.
It's an experiment! I've built it and no one has come - yet! But I don't need to win the internet to help you. I just need to help a handful of people enough for each of them to tell a friend. Will you give it a try?
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