I’m proud of the results the consultants in my Accelerator Coaching Program have been achieving. Here are just a few of the recent successes… >> Would you like me to personally help you to grow your consulting business? Get in touch now Ready to take action? Want to learn how you can consistently attract your ideal […]
How Consultants Get More Clients and Increase Fees is a post from: Consulting Success
I’m proud of the results the consultants in my Accelerator Coaching Program have been achieving. Here are just a few of the recent successes… >> Would you like me to personally help you to grow your consulting business? Get in touch now Ready to take action? Want to learn how you can consistently attract your ideal […]
How Consultants Get More Clients and Increase Fees is a post from: Consulting Success
>> New Program: Learn how to consistently attract your ideal clients and grow your consulting business
How to Develop Your 3 Month Marketing Calendar: For Consultants is a post from: Consulting Success
I’m pulling back the curtain…here are just a few recent successes from consultants in our Accelerator Coaching Program (I’ve kept client information confidential)… Request to have me personally help you to grow your consulting business. Get in touch now Ready to take action? Want to learn how you can consistently attract your ideal clients, increase […]
Pulling Back the Curtain: Client Results is a post from: Consulting Success
>> New Program: Learn how to consistently attract your ideal clients and grow your consulting business
2 Common Consulting Proposal Mistakes And How to Fix Them is a post from: Consulting Success
April 15 is tax day in the United States for individuals. There are other tax days (e.g., March 15 for corporations), but yesterday was the day most people know – and loathe. People take off work, look for receipts, download bank statements, and answer questions from self-service software like TurboTax.
“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.” – Albert Einstein
The tax code is a mess. When filing out forms – on paper or online – you quickly realize there are loopholes, grants, and handouts everywhere. It’s obvious that the government over-reaches. Democrats and Republicans alike have become too accustomed to spending money – deficit spending – and doling out favors to different interest groups. Unlike corporations, the federal government has no real competitor; it is a monopoly. This could not be more evident than the tax code.
The tax code started out as 27 pages in 1913, and now is more than 9,000 pages. 330x
Complexity breeds complexity. So, I think this is a bit out of control, but ironically, so does the IRS. Yes, saw this report on their own website complaining about the unnecessary complexity of the tax code.
How does that make sense? They appeal to Congress, begging them to stop the madness. They note here:
Self-parody. The most shocking thing I found was the IRS website itself here. In the education section, there are lessons on the politics of taxation where you can role-play being a lobbyist. What? How is this okay?
Look at the multiple-choice below. Here, you match up the tax policy and who would likely support or likely oppose the legislation and change in tax code. Oh, right? “parents” would support deductions for child care, and small business owners would oppose. Got it. There are always proponents and opponents to tax legislation. So. . .
Question: why are my tax dollars being spent to build websites to educate kids on the nuances of politics of tax code? Sheesh.
Tax Decoder. Tonight, while researching this topic, I learned about a US senator by the name of Dr. Coburn. He has since retired from office, but he is a tax reform advocate. His team published a 300+ page manifesto called the Tax Decoder here (12Mb pdf) which takes a consulting-type approach to analyzing the tax code.
While it seems like it would be boring, it is not. Completely worth looking at:
As a few examples of the craziness of the US tax code:
It’s a game for wealthy people. After reading Senator Coburn’s tax decoder, I realize that this is largely a game. A game of special interest groups, educated bankers / lawyers / consultants – who know how to optimize their income, assets, and equity. Read through Dr. Coburn’s work – you will find it well-researched, and persuasive.
We filed an extension. We had our CPA file an extension a month ago for our personal and real estate taxes. That is the reason I had time to blog about taxes on April 15th.
Use the rules to your advantage. Whether you agree with the insanity of these tax breaks, you would be a fool to not take advantage of them. In fact, just researching this blog post – I unwittingly discovered 1-2 tax breaks I will use in the future.
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Many of my friends have school-age children and they worry about their kid’s education. Sadly, they have a lot of reasons to be worried. For all the recent innovation, changing business models, and dedication of some teachers. . .
US public education is a mess. Every few years, more than 470,000 students in 65 countries take the international PISA test to gauge their proficiency in a number of subjects. The Economist summarizes the rankings here and the US was a big fail. We ranked #17 (reading), #31 (math), and #23 (science). Sad state of affairs.
Thomas Friedman talks on the democratization of education – lack of boundaries, rise of MOOCs, and the drive for the best educated global resources – creates pressure for everyone to continually upgrade themselves through education and learning. The World is Flat, and there is not such thing as average; see at 4 min video here.
There is a world-full of hyper-motivated kids out there who have the democratized educational tools to learn, and pull themselves out of ignorance and poverty. Awesome. Democratic. Also, potentially worrying for US kids – if we don’t get our act together.
Generally, I am a libertarian. I believe in markets. Customers do a better job than any government in telling you that a product is good, or the price is right. People vote with their feet. While no system is perfect, the market does a pretty good job of picking winners and losers. So what is so “unfair” about the education crisis?
US Education $$ is unfairly distributed. In the US, a lot of school funding is local, which seems harmless enough on the surface. What happens in reality is a virtuous cycle in rich neighborhoods and downward spiral in poor places. Good schools boost property values, which creates a higher tax base, which funds schools, which boosts property values etc. . The same happens for poor neighborhoods, but in reverse.
All kids deserve a decent education. I am a libertarian and generally don’t believe the government owes you much besides security, private property rights, industrial standards, and a system of laws. I do, however, believe the country owes every single kid a kick-ass education. I mean access to great teachers, holistic curriculum, a safe school/home environment.
Education should be progressive. I actually don’t think we can over-invest here. This is an area where we should be so progressive that it hurts. The poorer the child – the better the education we should give them. We need to give kids the inputs (raw materials, foundation, core education) to be successful. Looking at this list, you can see that the US actually does spend a fair amount of money on education.
The bigger problem is the distribution of those funds. The Economist points out here how fatally flawed the US system is. . .
“According to the OECD, America is one of only three advanced countries which spends less on the education of poorer children than richer ones. And unlike most OECD countries, America does not put better teachers in poorly performing schools, where teachers’ unions often obstruct reform efforts.”
Education is an input, not an output. We provide a great education to ALL kids – the poorer, the more we invest. What they do with that learning, is up to them.
The libertarian logic goes like this: 1) give people the inputs to success 2) do not blindly hand out welfare / outputs / fruits of unearned labor. Inputs, not outputs.
Parents matter. This seems obvious, but my friends who are teachers will tell you that kids whose parents stay involved in their kid’s education make a HUGE difference. Multiple studies show that a parent’s attitude and behavior have a bigger impact on a kid’s education than the school here. BOOM.
My parents were sticklers for education – they never let me miss school, ensured I did my homework, instilled in me a pride for academic achievement, and basically nagged me until I got good grades. While I was not the brightest or most motivated kid, my parents made sure that I got good teachers and personalized attention. Trust me, that was an advantage. As Warren Buffet might say, “I won the ovarian lottery”.
Even Bill Gates is worried about US education. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation focus on the BIGGEST global problems. . .sanitation, malaria, women’s rights. . .and US education. Sheesh. Cannot believe US education made that list.
Some great things from Bill Gate’s Blog here:
By 2025, two-thirds of all jobs in the US will require education beyond high school. At the current rate the US is producing college graduates, however, the country is expected to face a shortfall of 11 million skilled workers to fill those roles over the next 10 years.
The problem is that too many drop out before completing their degrees, especially students from low-income families. In fact, a student from a wealthy family in the U.S. is eight times more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree by age 24 than a student from a low-income family.
America’s historically black colleges and universities still play an outsized role in providing education to underprivileged students. More than 60 percent of the students they enroll come from low-income backgrounds or are the first in their family to attend college.
Teachers matter. Duh. That is obvious, but something that needs emphasis. Look at this video about a teacher who 1) made his geometry classroom entirely experiential and student-centric 2) who cares enough about his students to visit them at home here.
We need to reward this creativity and entrepreneurship. Thank you Bill Gates. We should rage against the machine if there are laws / unions / organizational cultures / bureaucracies which are impeding good change. Innovation is never a straight line and we need some tolerance of failure, re-invention, and progress. Come on.
Education matters. Many of my friends are teachers, professors, mentors, coaches, and have a passion for teaching / learning / sharing. They are doing a great thing.
A couple from my church hold ad-hoc tutoring for non-English speaking kids every Saturday. A high school friend is starting up a charter school in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood. A college friend spent several years with Teach for America in rough, tough part of South Central Los Angles. The burden I need to take, and the question to answer now: How can I make a dent in the US education crisis?
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How to Achieve Consistent Growth In Your Consulting Business is a post from: Consulting Success
This blog, The Bearing Wave has been around since 2009 and has reached a sizeable regular readership. Every day, several hundred people navigate to The Bearing Wave to read from the about 900 articles on the site. About half the readers come through Google and other search engines. About half from links on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, or are regular, returning readers.
Most articles we publish are original content, written in inspiration from our consulting work and research. Some articles are references to reports, research or news which we think our readers will appreciate to know about.
Writing original content is hard, but as strategy and innovation consultants it is our job to be analytical, to see patterns and make conclusions from data, and in our consulting assignments we train ourselves to be good at this.
Sometimes other sites ask to republish or have articles written by Bearing. However it is rare to be asked by printed media if they can republish.
Last month we got such a request, from The Mt. Kenya Times in Nairobi. It is a monthly print and digital publication that identifies and promotes innovation, entrepreneurship, technology and creativity in prominent Kenyan industries. Mt Kenya Times claims to be the industry leader in creating high-value content for engaging targeted audiences, and by the look of their content they are doing well.
From April 2016, The Mt. Kenya Times have asked to republish Bearing Wave articles for their readers, and in the April issue they have done so with two recent articles. We are proud to see that content we write can be useful also for a publication in Kenya and we think it makes sense, as we regularly work with projects for United Nations Habitat, the business sector and Government authorities in the country. Below is a link to a PDF of the April issue of the publication.
The post The Bearing Wave in Kenya appeared first on Bearing Consulting.
I want to share with you how you can package and position your services to increase your fees and earn more with every project you take on. Just throwing it out there I was recently speaking with several international tax consultants to look at getting some help in certain areas of our business. One thing […]
Package and Position Your Consulting Services to Earn Higher Fees is a post from: Consulting Success
Last week was brutal. Was glad to just make it through the days without disappointing people or making too many mistakes. I had 32 different conference calls, a boat-load of work, a dentist appointment and planning for my mom’s 70th birthday. Apparently, the military uses an expression which was entirely appropriate last week: “Embrace the suck“, which simply means that situations go bad. . .and you need to deal with it.
It’s been a while since I was up that late. Two nights of 2am or later. Honestly, some of that was dozing on/off on the couch. Yikes. As I told my friend – “I must be a really inefficient and slow worker”. These photos are from different nights, not pretty.
Consulting workload is lumpy. It is not linear. There is no “average” workday. Times of madness followed by stretches of ennui. When people I interview ask me about work-life balance, I have to bite my tongue a little bit. What is balanced? Rather it’s a question of where are you in the S-curve of your career, and life.
Sheryl Sandberg talks about the fallacy of work-life balance for driven people in grueling, innovative, and client-service roles. There is no punch-clock. There is no union telling you to not work past 37.5 hours a week. We are engineering our own work schedule and expectations. We are molding the work around our lives.
Last week, I was the most productive I have been in a long time. Forced between 4-5 “must do” proposals and work-streams, I just triage the situation. There is a witty expression which I believe is very true. . . “if you need to get something done, give it to someone who is busy.”
Doling out the truth. One of my gifts is to give direct feedback to people, project manage a situation, without offending people (too much). In other words, I am a friendly truth-speaker. A few of the direct things I said last week:
Don’t let me get in your way. You do not need another manager on this. You tell me where to plug into your work?
No, I don’t really need to know. Unless you want me to take action on it, I don’t want to know.
Seems like you are in good hands with A & B, I am rolling myself off of this assignment. They have the passion, content, and logistics covered. Giving control up to them.
Cover me on the call – you know my opinion. The client has had the data request for 3 weeks, so there is not really any apologizing we need to do on our part.
Okay – I am getting off the phone to get back to work.
I agree – but in the list of things to worry about . . .that is #10 on my list. It’s not under our control, and out of scope.
I just don’t think the presentation is actually any better than it was 2 days ago. Happiness level is low.
You need to do me a solid and speak with B. You are pretty far apart – She does not have any clue that is how you feel.
My bad for being late on this call. I owe you a beer.
Have a great week consultants. Do great work this week. Traveling this week, facilitating a workshop, several proposals due to clients. In the hunt to win business. This week will be WAY more fun, less crazy, and honestly. . . I had a restful weekend.
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