Kai Davis has been working as a full-time consultant for roughly three years. He realized he wasn’t happy working a “day job” in the marketing industry and wanted to be his own boss and set his own course. He really enjoys this experience because he can change the direction of his business as he sees fit. He can focus his business on what’s most interesting for him.
Concentrating on relationships with past clients during productive work periods is one way that Kai aims to avoid the “feast or famine” way of life that is often associated with consultants working for themselves. He makes sure he has time to market even when he’s extremely busy doing other things.
“The end goal of every client engagement is to move them up to a recurring, ongoing month-to-month relationship.”
Kai defines a consultant as anybody who offers advice to a client to help them reach their goals. He believes prospective clients should work with him because he’s done enormous research sifting through information to determine best practices in assisting his clients.
Kai feels that he’s best-known for content promotion. He helps his clients position their products correctly and focus in on the proper audience and get their products in front of the ideal buyer.
Two resources that Kai values for learning are Merlin Mann’s podcast Back to Work and the book Getting Things Done by David Allen.
He also enjoys participating in podcasts and helping teach others some of the things he’s learned. Kai thinks that podcasting is currently the best method for promoting his business and it has been his primary focus in recent months. Podcasting helps him build a network and share his expertise with people who may need it. Initially Kai didn’t think he would enjoy podcasting as much as he does. He feels that he has a knack for it that may come naturally more than it being a skill that he’s learned. He still feels that it’s important to learn things and improve his knowledge.
Three ways that Kai learns are by reading books written by people in marketing, public relations, and business; talking with colleagues informally; and joining mastermind groups. A mastermind group is a group of people around the same skill level in the same industry who get together 2-4 times a month to share ideas in a confidential setting.
One daily habit that Kai practices that he thinks makes him better at his work is being okay with stopping his work for the day at a reasonable hour. He is still trying to get better at ending his work day around 5pm and pursuing hobbies or other activities outside of work.
One of Kai’s goals in the near future is to get his business to the point where 75% of his income comes from highly-leveraged projects that are his own and he’s solely responsible for instead of spending as much time on consulting work. He struggles with this since he sees the immediate income potential in consulting work.
“I am going to treat myself as a client…if I don’t treat myself with the respect that I would a client, I’m doing myself a disservice.”
He typically works between six and eight hours each work day. About half of that is work for clients; the rest is work on his own projects and performing administrative tasks.
Kai cautions that trying to learn more information about a new product launch or project can create bigger delays than is often necessary to take action. He doesn’t want to get caught up in “analysis paralysis.”
He is always interested in exploring new things and pursuing interesting experiences. He doesn’t want to limit his worth by undercharging for his services. He wants to accurately value the work he does for clients.
“People are so excited to work together, it’s almost scary…if you take the moment to put yourself out there, amazing things are going to happen.”
Contact information:
Kai’s Newsletter
Ask Kai Anything
Kai’s Traffic Manual
Credits:
Hosted by Jeff Large | JeffLarge.com
Produced and Powered by Come Alive Creative | ComeAliveCreative.com
Music provided by Birocratic | SoundCloud.com/Birocratic
