07/23/2025
[ WAIT FOR IT…SURPRISE ENDING! ] We had a deal. I was supposed to do strategic work to precede branding — a sequence that’s critical — with a relatively short-term agreement. Fixed price for a reasonable package of work — as we didn’t quite know where some of this development was headed.
We weren’t strangers. We worked together as consultants for a mutual client, years ago. Two years ago, we worked for 3 months on strategic whiteboarding, to reinvent a series of issues for his mobile service business, to help recover from Covid, and address his evolving market. We also did his Personal Branding on LinkedIn a few months ago.
Both of us thought we’d start soon in earnest with a business makeover — after about 10 months of delays, we got going, with some strategic baby steps. Turns out our deep dive into the membership model — the basis for this regrouping business — was a bigger, more complex step than we thought.
As we chipped away at it — even making good progress across a series of pivotal points of service offering, and complex competitive model — it was obvious this was more than we both bargained for.
Y’know, that friend ScopeCreep, who waits around the corner, and sneaks up on you. I mentioned this “friend” a few times during our work.
So after quite a bit of input from the CEO and his team, we presented the work. We “unraveled” some final issues in our last meeting. Using the “digital thinking” consulting I trained in for a decade+, we turned “beef stew” into beef, potatoes and onions. And in a final two-hour Zoom we sorted out every issue, to the delight of the team and the boss.
That process, mostly from my genius mentor Robert Fritz, is rigorous, and requires concentration to discern how various components interact and affect each other. I was fried. Whenever I do that kind of strategic work, I need a nap. The gym. Maybe a beer or cartoons.
Then it’s 9:15pm. After 3 big meetings just that day, Caller ID on my screen shows it’s the CEO. “Oh, crap, more discussion?,” I think. Shut it off, baby
“I called to say thanks for the good work,” he said. “You’ve done a lot more on this first phase than we (both) thought. You’ve spent so much time, and I appreciate that you suggested the extra meeting today to make it work. So I’m releasing you from any remaining work on the outline.”
Wow! My client is “letting me go” because he sees the high value — we both think the strategic work we ninja’d through is kinda breakthrough for his industry. And he quickly says “Do you have some time on your schedule to move the company ahead, faster?”
“Sure,” I says. It was after recovering from this surprise. Then I went to the gym.
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Joel Alpert is Chief Lightbulb at MarketPower. We specialize in a unique form of integrated strategy, pivotal branding, powerful marketing communication, personal branding, and more. Solopreneurs to Fortune 500. Want to “let us go”?
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