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Postpone Phone Call For 90 Days
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Gwyneth contacted me to arrange a telephone appointment for her employer, a potential vendor or strategic partner. She wrote an excellent letter, shown below, and I would gladly have arranged to talk if time permitted. My reply follows her letter: this is one way to say no, without actually saying no, because few people ever follow up after 90 days. They should, but they don't. 


From: Gwyneth Rogers
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 20— 1:02 PM
To:  Willilam S. Frank
Subject: 15-minute phone call with Wayland Keppel

Dear Bill:

My name is Gwyneth Rogers. I work for Wayland Keppel at eCareer Publishing. As you know, we've been trying to reach you to determine a good time for you and Wayland to speak.

So that we don't play phone tag, Wayland asked me to follow up on his email to you and to schedule a 15-minute phone conversation between the two of you.

I will be contacting your office in the next day or so to confirm a convenient time for a scheduled call. However, if you have your calendar handy it may be easier to simply reply to this message with a couple of time slots that would work for you.

Wayland is on Eastern Standard Time and will try to make himself available at your convenience. I will in turn reply with a final confirmation.

Feel free to call me or reply to this email, whichever is most convenient. I may also try to reach you by phone in the next day or so to firm up a time.

Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Gwyneth Rogers
Administrative Assistant
eCareer Publishing

Thanks, Gwyneth,
I am overcommitted right now and can't talk to Wayland. If you'll put me on your calendar and check with me in 90 days, things may have improved.  

Thanks for contacting me.
Best wishes,
:B

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William S. Frank, M.A., President/CEO
25 Reasons I love consulting.
by William S. Frank
  1. Brand. You are your own brand, and you can define it any way you want. For many years, I provided outplacement to the ex-employees of Schlumberger, the world's largest oilfield service corporation. When departing employees left the company, they didn't request outplacement in their severance package. They said, "I want Bill Frank."
  2. Demand. The world will always be full of terrible problems that need solving.
  3. White Hat. I can be a helper and get paid for it.
  4. Pay. I can be paid to do things I'd gladly do for nothing.
  5. Variety. Every day is different.
  6. Happiness. At this stage of my career, I only work for people I respect and care about. If a client micromanages me or is otherwise no fun, I complete the assignment and replace them.
  7. Talent. I'm using 110% of my talents and stretching myself to the max.
  8. Change. I can change my focus any day I want. If you're a McDonald's franchisee, you don't say, "Hey, I've got this great idea for a meatball sandwich—let's try it out today." In consulting you can adjust your focus hour-by-hour, as long as your clients still understand and appreciate what you do.
  9. Income. No one else would pay me as much as I pay myself.
  10. FUN. I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing.
  11. Retirement. I can write and consult as long as I am physically and mentally capable. Peter Drucker worked into his 90s, and when asked which book was his best, he said: "My next one."
  12. Job Security. Although clients come and go, no one can come into my office and say, "Pack up your stuff . . . You don't work here anymore." In 29 years, I've only had one employer: ME.
  13. Travel. I don't have to travel unless I decide to. I travel if it's both FUN and profitable—or at least FUN.
  14. Commute. I live five minutes from my office, a corner office in an upscale six-story tower. In winter, I leave a heated garage at home and drive to an underground heated garage at work. There's seldom time to hear even one song on the radio.
  15. Vacation. Consulting is more fun than vacation (except on Wailea Beach in Maui).
  16. Friends. I have developed hundreds of close acquaintances and several lifetime friends.
  17. Time. I can work as much or as little as I like: four-hour days or 18-hour days. (Of course, my income will reflect that.)
  18. Employees. I can work with employees, subcontractors, partners, or alone—I've done it all.
  19. Passive Income. I've developed several products that provide "mailbox money." I earn while I'm sleeping.
  20. Ethics. I've never had to violate my values or personal code of ethics. I've never had to lie, purposely deceive or harm others, or promise things I can't deliver. I go to bed with a clear conscience. That doesn't mean there's never any conflict. But the conflict is conducted according to generally accepted business practices.
  21. Virtual. My career is fairly portable. With the Internet, e-mail, cell phone, and FedEx, I can work nationally, even internationally from my office—or anywhere in the world.
  22. Purpose. I make a difference in peoples' lives every day. I see it in their faces, hear it in their voices, and read it in their thank-yous.
  23. Experience. Every painful or joyful life experience makes me a better consultant. So does every person I meet or book I read. Grey hair can be good in consulting.
  24. Structure. I have to work very hard, and the clients expect superb results—but I get to structure my days, weeks, months, and years.
  25. Boss. Most of the time, I love my boss.
As I was posting these letters online, I realized I want to communicate my love for consulting. It's just a great business. The single letters, taken together, may create a picture of enjoyment, but in a burst of creativity I listed some of the reasons consulting is such a good fit for me—and perhaps for you, too. They are not prioritized; this is just how they came out.