A few weeks ago I was sort of offered an opportunity to develop a gluten free bread for a restaurant group’s four current and two upcoming locations. It was kind of a lark, the old me would have probably said to this company : “Hey you know what, baking gluten free bread is a royal pain in the tits and in my opinion your 13$ loaves are less expensive than all the bullshit you will start to face once you take over gluten free bread production in your cramped basement” but the new me is saying ” oh my gosh I will totally do that for you and earn the money that you have agreed to pay me.” Problem was, I wasn’t sure how to much to ask. I figured, how do I get these people to pay me to do this? Isn’t this how people make money consulting?
I ran a manufacturing business for 8 years and never made any money, everyone’s always talking about how great it is. So I called my best friend and asked to speak with her husband Tim, who is a consultant, whatever that means. I asked him if he would send me/I could copy a recent proposal that he had written for one of his prospective customers.
In this proposal he sent me, and that I later copied with his permission, he offered a specific company a complex service in exchange for a very substantial amount of money (all relative- to him it’s fair market value). I couldn’t believe how much money this dude made. Had it been me, I would have blacked out the figure, but I’m certain that’s only because my actual number would have been 1/12 of the the number that was on HIS proposal. The number would be lower because I am a woman or because my services aren’t as specialized or important OR because I was never taught/never properly learned the value of money or how much value I can earn in terms of financial dollars.
His services were being offered to a midwestern multi-unit steel manufacturing business with tens of millions in annual profit. My industry (food and bev/ CPG/ Hospitality? I guess? It’s hard to know your industry after you’ve closed a failing business) is not as liquid, but it made me question my industry further as I realize now that if I want to make the dollaz then maybe this is not the way to do it. As a person with recently diagnosed AdHd, this is dangerous. I could VERY easily find myself saying I NEED TO GO TO BUSINESS SCHOOL! I am such a sponge for learning that I really need to limit my attention to things so I don’t veer off.
Anyway I as I mentioned above, I messed around with Tim’s proposal for about 15 minutes (it was very well written) and turned it into a proposal for bread making. I sent it back, asked for some feedback and he said it was good. I also asked a few people: colleagues, friends and family, how much they thought I should ask the restaurant to pay me. The figure people gave me was very low. Someone said $2K. Someone said $2500. Those were good suggestions and The old me would have put next to the line that says “professional fee” $2225.
But this is the new me. So I added 4K to that and sent it off. A few days later, they came back and asked me to remove 2K from the larger fee, I said “sure” and we were off to the races. And now, I’m working there in the afternoons, trying to develop a gluten free bread for them, one that they can use in their restaurants as opposed to buying from a local vendor. Let me tell you something else– I thought making this bread would take me like 5 days max. I was wrong. Very wrong. Baking gf bread is every bit the pain in the tits that I remember.
And yet, despite the fact that this company has crappy old equipment, it’s in a scary basement, everyone’s freaking about Corona and nobody speaks english, I am 100% more comfortable here, working with people who don’t listen to Rod Stewart.
I QUIT EVERYTHING 