Advisory
An hour of straight answers
£175. Sixty minutes. A written summary afterwards.
What this is
Somebody's quoted you £14,000 for a website. Your IT company says you need to migrate. A salesman has told you your hosting isn't secure and he can fix it.
Book an hour and I'll tell you honestly whether they're right, including when the answer is that the quote's fine, take it, or that you should do nothing because you don't need this.
Almost all the technical advice a small business gets comes from the person selling the thing they're advising you to buy.
I do sell hosting, integration work and small websites, so I'm not going to claim I've got nothing in the room. What I will do is tell you when the answer is to do nothing, or when somebody else's quote is reasonable, or when what you need isn't something I sell. That reputation is worth considerably more to me than any single job.
How it works
- Sixty minutes on a video call, booked from the slots I've published. You pick a time that exists, because nobody needs me at a time I haven't offered. If you'd rather do it on the phone, say so when you book.
- A written summary afterwards. What we discussed, what I'd do, what it should cost. That's what makes this a thing you bought rather than a chat you had.
- Come with the actual question. A quote you want a second opinion on, an email from a supplier, a decision you're stuck on. The more specific, the more useful.
What it costs
| Shape | Price |
|---|---|
| One session | £175 |
| Three sessions, for working through a bigger decision | £450 |
| Retained, one scheduled hour a month plus email questions answered within three working days | £175 a month |
Advisory prices exclude VAT.
The retained version is the only ongoing arrangement I offer at this level, and it works because the hour is booked in advance from slots I chose and three working days is a promise I can keep on a bad week.
What this isn't
It isn't IT support. I'm not going to fix your printer, reset your password or troubleshoot your laptop, and there are people who'll do that better and cheaper.
It's judgement, built on thirty years of doing this. If your question is what should we do, this is the right hour. If your question is something is broken, that's support or a project.
Typical
Things people book this for
- A website or system quote they want checked before signing
- Our IT company says we need to migrate to X. Do we?
- Choosing between two suppliers, or deciding whether to build or buy
- Working out what an AI proposal would actually cost and whether it'd work
- Whether their hosting and backups are as good as they've been told
- What to do about a system nobody in the business understands any more