I was interviewed on Kerry Lutz's show yesterday and we actually had a great discussion about Asshole Consulting. Not so much the business model, but what it says about a society that there would be an actual market for a consulting company that basically dispenses advice your father, mother, teachers, and elders should have give you.
But that's just it.
What fathers?
What mothers?
What teachers?
What elders?
The sad truth is the "elders" are nothing but spoiled brat children who just happen to be 40+. Inundated with touchy feel-good 60's BS, trillions of debt in stimulus spending, and socialist poppycock, they never grew up. Everybody still gets divorced at the same enviable Baby Boomer levels. The economy has gone to pot. The young have no financial future. And NOBODY has even the faintest clue about the basics in personal financial management.
Throw it all together and you now have two full generations brought up with what can at best be considered an impaired and deficient upbringing.
People may find it despicable that I charge to provide basic "older brother" advice to the young, disadvantaged and destitute, but charging them $30 for a harsh-truth e-mail is better than the free sugar-coated lies they've been told that only destroys their lives, but spares their feeeeeelinnnnngsssss.
Charging money for your advice is the right thing to do. One thing I've learned as a parent is that kids, even when grown, place far more value on things they purchase themselves than anything they get for free.
ReplyDeleteMy company recruits a lot of high school kids from poor and middle-class rural areas in MD, VA and the Carolinas. With rare exception, these kids are hardworking, advance quickly in rank and tend to invest and buy hard assets... most are homeowners at 21 and become licensed engineers or maritime officers soon after. I attribute the near 80% successful advancement rate to an all-male environment, maintaining physical standards for employment, and the fostering of masculine ideals.
ReplyDeleteMost of these kids have intact nuclear families, which is the real metric of predicting male success. I would bet that that one fact places them outside your demographic for Asshole Consultants.
A $30.00 email or a $30,000.00+ worthless college degree. Enough said.
ReplyDeleteAgree with you - too often people tell other people what they WANT to hear, rather than what they NEED to hear.
ReplyDeleteAbout charging, people tend to value things which they, themselves pay for.
I wish I had come up with "Asshole Consulting", although I'm honest without being one.
What Paul's referring to was largely the socio-legal model when I was a kid, before all the progress and special rights and improvements.
ReplyDeleteCultures and 'economies' with a masculine-friendly and masculine-rewarding model succeed. The curent model can only suck blood from the empire for so long bc the creative and intellectual inventory is not being replaced. Purposely.
Cheers.
IRS Scandal Update: Many In The Media Avoid IRS Story As Scandal Heats Up - The Kelly File
ReplyDeletehttp://commoncts.blogspot.com/2014/06/irs-scandal-update.html
You make two mistakes Cap.
ReplyDeleteFirst, your company is not properly named. I remember some old-school teachers back in the 70's trying to teach us old world values and they did so because they loved us and feared for us. These ladies were from the depression era and they disappeared the same year. One was fired and one was retired early. Both were tough as nails and neither were ass holes. Nor are you an ass hole.
Second - you cannot be a father or mother in the traditional sense anymore. If you do you will be seen as an abuser of children.
Personally I am surprised you can sell a commodity like common sense. Fact is I am astonished that you can sell it the WAY you do.
Good luck Aaron, I hope you make a million dollars.
My biggest question for Cappy is:
ReplyDeleteAssuming that you hold a two-way conversation with your clients, how do you stay sane? We are, after all, talking about one of the most spoiled, shallow, and narcissistic generations ever to blight society. Surely that must make for stress levels that are potentially lethal.
A parent has the obligation and therefore owes the child. In your case, the child owes you. You are teaching the young disadvantaged and destitute right from the start that one cannot get something for nothing! A much neglected lesson.
ReplyDeleteAaron, you are absolutely doing the right thing.
People don't value advice unless they pay for it. It's a maxim in this society.
ReplyDeleteIn business it's the same way. Bosses routinely ignore their employees and then go out and pay some asshat six figures to tell him the same thing. But they listen to the consultant because they perceive he has value whereas the employees are just scum.