This is a low impact website.
         2 August 2025          Danny R.

Pigeons.

It all started with with post πŸ‘‰ Clickbait, pigeons, and big useless buckets where I promised to go deeper on each of those things.

The first was πŸ‘‰ Clickbait.

Now about that pigeon I worked with last week (a marketing consultant).

Short version

Pigeons fly in, flap their wings, shit on everything and leave.

What that looks like in our world is rushing in to start the work you think you’ve been hired for, fuelled by little direction and lots of assumptions.

If it’s not obvious, you don’t want to be a pigeon. And you avoid it by asking questions.

I could leave it there, but I wanna share the story coz it’s a bit funny and a bit (a lot) cringe.

Longer version

First some important points:

  • This person came VERY highly recommended from several people.
  • I had full control of what I did – they didn’t force anything.
  • Either of us could have ended the call at any point.
  • I actually really liked them as a person, we had good banter – but their wayward approach inspired this email.

I wont share personal details I shared with them, or their name – this is intended to help guide us to be more ethical in our businesses and sharper as service providers.

This person was recommended to me because I was looking for guidance with outbound marketing.

On our call, they asked exactly one question: “Are you on Google?” (as in, do I have a Google My Business listing).

I explained that I technically did because another provider set it up for me, but I’ve never used/promoted/updated it, so it was out of date.

For the next 40 minutes, they stepped me through updating that listing.

Add a description here. Upload photos there. Make sure you post a weekly update. Add all of your products here, all of them. Put your mobile phone number in… “Trust me, just do it” (I was very reluctant – I don’t even give most clients my number).

They also seemed to enjoy the much frowned-upon practice of keyword stuffing – one of their first pieces of advice was to change my business name from Impact Labs Australia (you know, the actual business name) to “Business Coach Creative Photography Freelancers Impact Labs” – Don’t worry about the “Australia” bit, they already know that.

Several of these changes lead to Google policy violations and not surprisingly, were rejected.

The ones that weren’t rejected, I’ve reversed or rewritten.

It’s weird – like I said, I had full control over everything here. They came so highly recommended… I stuck with it waiting for the gold to happen, then eventually knowing I’d probably undo all of their advice after the call, but maybe I could walk away with 1 or 2 good nuggets of direction.

In hindsight it’s all clear, but it was quite the mess.

After the call, this is what really struck me – and I was annoyed that I didn’t spot it during the call:

If I called them today and asked what I do, what my business is about, who my ideal customers are… they wouldn’t be able to answer.

Because they didn’t ask about any of this – let alone what sort of capacity I had for outbound marketing in the first place.

I was looking for guidance, but what it felt like was canned “small business” advice I would have ignored otherwise.

Your clients’ business is not a scrapbook for you to scribble on and play with.

How do you not be a pigeon?

Ask questions… as many as you need to understand what their business does; at least enough to know where you slot in; be quiet while they answer; and if you don’t slot in, kindly hand back their time as swiftly as possible.

Which is the opposite of what a pigeon does. So be the opposite – maybe an owl?

An owl is Perceptive; Doesn’t rush around; Sees the bigger picture; Acts with purpose. I like it. Be an owl πŸ˜‰

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