Unconsultancy
As well as my seminars, teaching and writing, I do a fair bit of
consultancy for independent musicians and music businesses. That
involves general music marketing advice, social media strategy,
website advice, brainstorming, online PR and so on.
I have a day rate, a half day rate and an hourly rate. Travel and
accommodation's on top of that. But the number of independent
musicians, bands, record labels, music retailers, promoters,
distributors and producers that can afford proper 'consultancy' is
small to start with - and dwindling in the current economic climate.
So I was thinking of ways to get to more interesting places, do more
interesting things, and work with more interesting musicians and music
industry people. Just generally find more ways to be helpful and see
if I can make things better anywhere for anyone.
I was also thinking about the great unconferences that have been
happening recently - as well as the fabulous Unconvention. Both of
those phenomena really embody that kind of independent, ad hoc,
community and grassroots sort of spirit. I love it to bits.
I also got to thinking about the 'Concerts in Your Home' movement,
which I really like - and, of course, Couchsurfing - of which I am a
real fan.
And I came up with the Unconsultancy.
Here's what I imagine an Unconsultancy would be:
I'd come to you, stay a day or two in your house - maybe just sleep on
the couch - and run workshops, one-on-one consultancies, advice
sessions and a seminar in your living room, church hall, local pub -
whatever.
Just get together a bunch of musicians or creative industry types in
your area, invite them round, and have a whiparound to cover my
airfare, train travel, or ferry - and a bit extra to make the time
extra worthwhile... and in return, I'll pull out all the stops to give
you as much consultancy, advice, guidance, strategy and idea
generation as you can handle.
We can break it up into one-on-one sessions, workshops, group
discussions, seminars, and real nitty-gritty plans of action. In other
words, I'll give you multiple times the value, tailored specifically
for your crowd. And it'd be a lot of fun too.
Feels like it'd probably be a weekend sort of thing - maybe once a
month or so, but I do have some flexibility. I love to travel, so if
you can get a group together in your area, wherever you may be, let's
have a conversation and see if we can make it work.
It'll be an experiment to start with, but hopefully - if it goes as
well as I imagine it might, based on my experience with the other
Un-stuff I'm involved in - I can encourage some of my other social
media / music / creative industries / web / entrepreneurship
consultant mates to give it a try as well.
What do you think? Just crazy enough to work? Or just crazy?
