Why I stopped offering strategy sessions as an OBM

E31 Why I stopped offering strategy sessions as an OBM

Leanne Woff: ​  Hey, hey, hey, everybody. Welcome to today’s episode of the Audacious OBM. I’m [00:01:00] your host, Leanne Woff, and today I want to talk to you about why I stopped offering strategy sessions as an OBM. Now you might think, hmm, this is a little bit curious, Leanne. How do you run other people’s businesses without a strategy?

I am not saying I operate without a strategy. I’m saying if you’re asking the question, do OBMs need to offer strategy sessions, the answer is no. OBMs don’t need to offer strategy sessions.

And I will explain why. What happens in a strategy session is it’s a chance to workshop with the client. It is a chance to sit down, talk about their big goals or their goals for a project and get the ins and outs of how to achieve those goals, [00:02:00] understand the roadblocks and the hurdles to then be able to come up with a high level strategy to reach the goal and then to be able to then take that strategy and break it down into an actionable plan. In a strategy session, you spend lots of time with the clients trying to get all the information that you need, the full understanding and that includes the understanding of what’s on the playing field.

So what are the different things that we need to consider to pull into this? And, it also, there’s a greater amount of time that gets invested into understanding what the end goal is, and if what the client thinks is the goal is actually the goal. Because sometimes our clients come to us and they say, Hey, I really want to launch this new program.

That’s the goal. So then you talk to them. And then what you find out [00:03:00] is that they don’t really want to launch a new program. They want to have an evergreen funnel, or they want to increase their revenue. And that changes how we’re going to get there. It’s like launching a new program might contribute to that goal, but the goal is actually how do we make more money.

And then the strategy would need to change. So you can see there’s a lot of time and effort that goes into here and there’s a really tight knit relationship that forms.

I stopped offering strategy sessions because I hated having to spend all of this time and getting really invested in this strategy and then having to hand it over and not be part of the execution. I find that if I do that, [00:04:00] my clients are happy, they’ve got this awesome strategy, they go away. And then they try to implement it and they can’t because they’re not ready for the variables of what might happen next.

The other thing that they might do is take the strategy and get someone else to implement it. And then that service provider has to take the interpretation and try and implement it. And they might not have the skills to do that. I hated doing all the upfront investment and then not actually getting to see the thing come to life.

And this, usually when I would do a strategy session, I would do the session and I would do a plan that went with it. Because there is a difference between a strategy and a plan. A strategy is where you take all of the information available [00:05:00] to you. You take your usual process or the way that you would normally approach something.

And you mix them together to come up with a unique strategy to achieve what your client is trying to achieve. So it’s taking all of your knowledge and all of the things you know about the client and how to get there and coming up with something really unique. We’re going to do this. Here’s the big way we’re going to do it.

What we’re trying to achieve. And because you’re in this space, these are the things we’re going to use to do that. These are the tactics we’re going to try. This is the market we’re going to approach. All different things. So all of the information you know, and going, okay, I know available to me to achieve this type of objective, I can do it these seven ways.

For this client, we’re going to do it, number [00:06:00] three. Because that’s what makes sense for where they are and the different things they’re battling with. That’s a strategy. The plan is where you take that strategy and you break it down into actionable, implementable steps. Right? So, OBMs 100 percent need to be able to strategize.

OBMs need to develop strategies. But they do not need to just offer strategy sessions. They don’t need to say, Hey, come to me. I’ll do this strategy session with you. I’ll charge you $2,000 and then you can go and roll it out. You can. And if you like doing this, like hats off to you, go for your life. I did them for a long time.

It’s a great model, [00:07:00] but I found that the level of investment I would put in in brainpower and in creativity, brainstorming, in looking at my different options, in then reporting it or pulling it together, presenting it, then doing the plan for it, the emotional costs because I would get invested, like I’m excited.

All of that adds up and so the investment for me wasn’t worth how much I could charge for that kind of session or how much I felt I could charge. I could put a price of whatever I wanted, but the reality of that being something that is a consistent business model, doesn’t really make sense.

And part of the reason is because I know how invested I get with my clients and I know I want to see the impact. I don’t ever want to do something [00:08:00] for nothing. I want to see the thing play out and I want to see my clients get the results. And so there was always this kind of tension for me internally.

If I just do that front bit. I don’t actually get to be involved anymore and I’m such a people person and I’m so big on connection that it’s hey, I want to be in your corner for the whole time. So that’s when I flipped and I started offering strategy sessions, but only for ongoing clients or set project clients.

So it’s like, come and work with me for 90 days and I’ll do a strategy with you. That’s the first step. But I’m not going to just put in all of that work up front to give you the plan for you to take it away and then for you to either roll with it and it goes amazing or for you to try and implement it [00:09:00] but go, this is a bit hard for me, this is not what I do every day and then not get the result for you to take the strategy and give it to another service provider, a VA, another OBM who isn’t the one that created it, who then tries to implement it and can’t.

And then that is a reflection on my reputation. I don’t want the responsibility of developing this thing. And then someone actually doesn’t get the result from it because I wasn’t involved in it, or they didn’t have the understanding and there’s a disconnect. I don’t like it. It makes me feel icky.

So I thought if I have this ongoing tension, I can either, one, resolve the friction within myself and let go of all my emotional attachment. I tend to be very money and very black and white. Or, [00:10:00] I can change the way I do it. And that’s what I chose to do. I made the decision that feels good for me in the way I operate my business.

And that is okay. Plus, the final reason I stopped offering isolated strategy sessions was for the curiosity factor? I am a curious creature. I love to learn and I want to see how these things play out. And I want to be able to be in the middle and make adjustments, if needed, to be able to make sure our strategy is successful.

I’m excited about this. So that’s why I stopped offering strategy sessions as an OBM. I used to do it as a once off thing. I don’t really do that anymore. Sometimes I might do it in very special circumstances, or if [00:11:00] it is someone that I work really closely with and, for one of my business besties, I’ll do things like that, but not as a business model anymore.

And what I want you to walk away with is the understanding that it is okay. Number one, if you don’t want to offer strategy sessions, even though everybody else tells you to. Number two, it’s okay if you do want to do that, it’s totally fine. And number three, it’s okay to make decisions in your business that aren’t just about money. It’s okay to make decisions that change the way you feel about your business, or keep you feeling excited and happy. And what you’re doing is having an impact. That’s a good thing. So I really hope that that gives you some food for thought. Gives you a little bit [00:12:00] of insight into my brain and the way that I see things and approach things.

If you’re listening to this episode and you’re thinking, yeah, Leanne, this is great. Thanks for sharing. Please leave me a five star review. That’s how other OBMs find out about this podcast. It’s how I know what I’m talking about is making an impact and what to talk about more, or send me a DM. Find me on Instagram at leannewoff and say, Hey, I listened to this episode.

I wanted to drop in and say, hi. I love connecting with my listeners. I love knowing what’s going on in your world. So please, DM me. Talk to you next week. Bye!​ [00:13:00]