Our cash fee schedule: The cash portion is kept low for several reasons, none of which you'd expect. In a business where the perception is that one gets what one pays for, our strategy is to have our fees low so that we are forced to have many clients in order to survive. The benefit to you, our client, is that we are held to you by a weak financial link. This enables us to tell you the unshaded truth at all times. (If you are paying me a fat fee, and I fear you will be unhappy with my advice, I may be tempted to tell you what you want to hear, because that fat fee will be lost if you fire me.)
Our stock fee schedule:
It is human nature to work harder for a company in which one has a financial interest in the future of the company. It also gives the consultant a widened scope of observation. The fact that we accept restricted stock sends you two powerful messages: we are in this for the long haul and we are confident that our services will improve your stock value.
No retainer:
Our up front fee is a one month advance payment, not a retainer. A retainer would be a much larger amount, and would inhibit you from firing us if you were dissatisfied with our services.
No contract:
Contracts are written by attorneys, and, in the end, benefit only attorneys. If we required a contract from you, we could never afford to litigate it, nor could you. Above that, if I cannot trust you, I don't want you for a client, and vice versa. With this payment schedule, if you become dissatisfied, just stop paying us.
No big up-front stock payment:
Once one "lands" that big up-front payment, the tendency of human nature is to "let down": "well, that's done!" Our pricing strategy is designed to keep us running lean and mean, giving you our best service day after day.
We have actually achieved times when our best advice was that the client no longer needed our services. This fee pricing strategy better enabled us to "fire" ourselves.
This schedule only makes sense when you understand that Creative Solutions is inhabited by people who love to create: who would rather create than go drinking, or watch a ball game. These are people who are "the most alive" when their creative juices are flowing. Most of us would rather create than eat. Most of us would do our jobs here for nothing-and most of us have. Unless we are successful in adding value to your company, most of us will have again.