The Client noticed the high arches of freeway above and around the MoPac Expressway. In the past, a highway was just a way to get somewhere. But on his drive around North Austin, he noticed the differences between where he had been and where he was going. Heading into the residential area, restaurants and retail shops piqued his curiosity. He noticed that there was a lot of activity on the sidewalks of Austin on this fine midwinter morning. A cool breeze made its way into the SUV.

With his left elbow sticking out of the window, the Client considered how things had changed for him. He had the impulse to explore other job opportunities, but ultimately realized that he valued something other than the stability of the consistent paycheck. Entrepreneurship was his intended destination, and he was hoping to find new ideas to help launch his business. His Coach had encouraged him to explore the unknown. He didn't need a GPS to help him get there.

The Client had begun socializing the idea of starting a consulting business, designed around “M&A activity” (in other words, mergers and acquisitions – buying businesses or acquiring technology that could help expand a company's product portfolio, or their distribution network, or perhaps rounding out their capabilities in other ways). He wasn't exactly sure of the form, but he was clear in the intention. He wanted to become a broker for new ideas and new ventures.

The initiative was a rebranding of his previous work experience, which seemed like the kind of reframing of his goals that aligned with his present values.

“Do the doable,” his Coach had told him. “That's how you create the impossible. You don't need anything hairy or audacious. Just do the doable, and you will move forward, with ease and encouragement, putting one foot in front of the other.”

His next opportunity, the Coach had shared, would probably be one step to the right or left of where he was now. “Don't search for it,” the Coach had said.

“Searching implies that something is missing. It's not. You have skills and talents to offer; they are not missing,” he shared. “Notice where you might like to offer those gifts.”

Easing past the lawns and landscaping of the Coach's neighborhood, the Client reflected on their first conversation. The familiar setting reminded the Client of who he could be.

Today, he wanted to explore new insights into accelerating his consulting business. The Coach met him at the door and greeted him with open arms.

The men returned to the outdoor patio. The space was the same. One of the men was not.

“Tell me how to really launch a consulting business,” the changed man said.

“Is your business a product business, or a service business?” the Coach replied. He liked to start upstream.

“My business is based on service,” the Client responded. “Consulting services to help companies acquire new technology or even acquire other companies. To help fill gaps in their capabilities. I want to know exactly how to leverage LinkedIn, and maybe Facebook advertising, to contact new prospects. And then, once I've created my lead magnet, or funnel, I want to know how to turn names into numbers and hit my million-dollar goals. Do I need a whitepaper, or a video, or maybe even a book before I really get going?”

The Coach chuckled to himself. Old habits die hard.

We have everything we need inside of us, he knew, but we always look outside for the tools and fixes first. Lots of Internet millionaires had made fortunes peddling those lead magnets, and he didn't deny their success.

He knew that those funnels, fixes, and Facebook strategies only make sense when they come from the inside out. Like going on a hike: when it shows up on the journey that you need a drink of water, you reach for the water bottle. Not before, and not after. And not when somebody else tells you to drink. If it makes sense to buy $10,000 worth of Facebook ads, you will know it when you see it – not because somebody else told you to do it.

The sky was gray and filled with clouds. There was a slight chill in the air, and a breeze made its way into the patio as the men spoke.

“When we realize how resourceful we are,” the Coach shared with the Client, “new resources show up. Here's where to start finding your own resources. Because I don't know if LinkedIn or Facebook or a whitepaper is what you need, and maybe you're wondering the same thing,” he said. “I wonder … if you don't know what resources you need, what happens if you start by being a resource?”

The Coach was pouring the tea into the glasses once again.

“A resource?” the Client asked. “What kind of a resource?”

The Coach said, “I don't know.” And he took a long drink of tea.

The Coach looked out at the trees, to make sure no new leaves had fallen to the ground. He noticed the clouds in the sky. He looked at the building cranes in the distant skyline. He cocked his brown suede boot and looked at it. Nope, nothing was stuck to it. What a beautiful day.

The Client looked over at the Coach.

He knew the Coach had built lead magnets, video programs, courses, best-selling books, whitepapers, and more. Why wasn't he doing more to fix what was broken?

The Coach shattered the silence. “Who can you help the most?” he asked.

“Who, besides yourself, can you really, really serve? I'm asking you professionally right now – who can you help the most? And who can you help in a way that would make you say, ‘Yes! That is awesome, I love doing that and serving people in that way.’ Because your business is service, right?”

“Right” the Client replied.

“Then serve. Serve people. Be a resource.” He leaned back and siphoned off some more tea.

“When I was starting my career as a speaker,” the Coach said, “I went to a brilliant coach in Dallas. I told him I wanted to be a professional speaker. I'd done lots of speaking in my corporate career. I wanted to branch out on my own. I knew this guy, this coach, he was a Hall of Fame speaker. I thought for sure he had the recipe. I said, ‘Can you help launch my career’?”

“Sounds kinda familiar,” the Client said, trying the tea himself. “What did he say?”

“Speak.”

“What do you mean, ‘Speak’? I don't understand,” the Client said.

“‘Speak anytime. Anywhere. Any fee. Any audience.’ That was what he told me. And from him to me to you, I'm telling you the same thing. Your business is different, you're not trying to be a speaker, I get that. But you are trying to provide a service. So, serve.”

The Client leaned back in his chair. He considered what being a resource meant – and what kind of resource he could be.

“Serve deeply. Serve people in a way that they cannot serve themselves. Serve people so that they say, ‘Wow. This guy!’” the Coach was pointing at him. “Serve generously, and graciously. Serve at the deepest level you possibly can. Consider what that might mean to you. What that might mean to your potential clients. Right now, without any clients, that service means being a resource.”

“Let me share with you a truth that, to me, looks undeniable. The truth I see is this: all around us are people who need help with something.” A flock of birds shot into view, darting over the roofs and rolling hills outside of the patio. The Client followed their movements. The intricate relationship between the birds created a V in the sky. He saw a flock of birds, but he was observing connection. His eyes brought in the image but his mind processed something more than just wings and shapes. The interdependence in a flock of birds wasn't a goal or an expectation. Association was a part of nature. The birds didn't have to go it alone. Together, their journey continued, into the blue sky. Together, a group of individual birds moved as one, shifting into a modified arrow, always pointing toward their destination. A destination they would discover together.

The Coach watched the birds as well, considering how all creatures need each other. “Nothing of any value happens without the help of other people,” he said. The Client looked at him and smiled. The men sat silently for a moment. Then the Coach spoke again, as he shifted his weight in the chair. “When I go to a restaurant, the waiters and the cooks and the bartender all work together to create an amazing service, an amazing meal, an amazing memory. Especially at a top-flight restaurant. The restaurant model is a great place to learn about great service. So what is the service you would love to create?” he asked rhetorically.

“Think of your business like a waiter in a white-tablecloth restaurant. That waiter is a resource for the table – for all the guests at the table, right? That waiter is an expert on the menu. That waiter might even be able to get you some things that aren't on the menu. Maybe even get you a seat at the chef's table back in the kitchen, if you know what you're doing. Am I right?”

The Client knew that he was.

“What does the server at a top-tier restaurant do? First, she's gonna ask you if you have any allergies. Why? So that she won't bring you the pecan-encrusted flounder if you've got a nut allergy. In fact, if you ask for a dish that conflicts with your allergy, she won't bring it. That's not denial of service. Sometimes refusing to do something is service at the highest possible level. Sometimes saying no is the most helpful thing you can say. Because that's a service that helps people get out of their own way. Service that keeps people safe. Do you follow me?” the Coach asked.

Seeing the Client nod, he continued, “Whatever you order is gonna be A-OK with the server. She knows the menu backward and forward, and if you tell her what you like she will make sure you get it. She wants you to be happy, healthy, and satisfied. She knows about wine and she knows how to find a pairing that might be unexpectedly delicious. Even if you are a fabulous connoisseur of great wine, that server has a perspective worth listening to. Because she knows the menu. She knows what wines go best with the food. That's her job.

“Her job is to create an experience for you,” the Coach said, leaning in on the word experience. “So that you never want to eat anywhere else. That unforgettable experience, in my mind, is world-class service. And that server is a resource that deserves whatever tip you give her. Do you see that?

“Service,” the Coach went on, “creates experiences. Experiences create exchange. Be a resource that provides service, in your own way. And be that resource for any audience. Any time. Anywhere. Everywhere you go, there are eight billion people on this planet. They all need help with something. I can't fix somebody's plumbing or heal a sick Chihuahua. Those are not my gifts. Or yours. Your service is unique. Your service is based on your gifts. Your values. Your skills. Your talents. You start your business because you want to serve. So start serving.”

The Coach lifted the silver pitcher and poured tea into both glasses.

“Who do you know, right now, who's struggling with an area of their business where you could help them? And if the answer is, ‘I'm not sure,’ I like your style. Because, when you think about it, ‘I'm not sure’ is exactly where your next paycheck is right now. If you're wondering where the money for next year is going to come from, it's going to come from wherever it is right now. And how much of that money shows up will be in proportion to the service – the resource – that you provide.

“Help somebody. Let me say it again: Help somebody. Serve. Create exchange, by exchanging your ideas as a resource for someone who needs your help. In some way, go make life easier for someone else. Serve in the best way you know how. And for anyone who crosses your path, make a simple commitment.”

“What commitment is that?” the Client asked.

The Coach asked a question before he offered an answer. “Can you agree that ‘service’ is one of your values? And that you want to see service demonstrated in your everyday life?”

The Client already had “service” as an important value. He had journaled about it in the notebook, and he was eager to share what he had written with the Coach. He had even discovered more than 60 ways to make things easier. But, for now, he wanted to know where the Coach was headed. Because, inside of the Client, a feeling that some might call “instinct” or even “inner-knowing” was telling him that service was the key to everything he wanted for his business. He just needed to know how to capitalize on that impulse and turn his gut-feel into a scalable and healthy business.

“I love what you're saying about service,” the Client said, “that idea is really resonating with me. I'm thinking about that high-end waiter, the server in the restaurant. Do you have any tips on how to turn service into revenues? I mean, how do I price my services? Do I go hourly, or what exactly?”

The Coach shook his head. “Hourly rates will cheat your client, even though they don't realize it,” he said, “and hourly rates will always mean you are leaving money on the table. Consider that you might be the kind of coach or consultant who can solve issues very quickly, and perhaps even create substantial results in less than an hour. So an hourly contract is a disincentive. The hourly rate points you toward going slow, because the more hours you work, the more you make. You want to maximize your earnings, of course. But what looks like a ‘good hourly rate’ actually cheats the client, because they force you to go slow. They create an incentive for you to do only what is asked so that extending the timeline for results becomes the goal, which isn't a goal that works for anybody.

“If you are offering a service that can be shopped and bid – like video editing, or blog writing – then hourly makes sense because you are entering your services into a preexisting market. You have to charge at or near what the market will bear, if you want to get any work. That's true with consulting, to a certain extent, but there is a lot more flexibility based on the value you create. Even if you can create that value in minutes instead of hours. What I'm saying is that the value is what matters, not how long it takes you to create that value. And guess who determines that value?”

“The client?” the Client said.

“And the consultant or coach,” he replied.

“When you consider your consulting services, you are creating a bespoke and tailored solution. Yes, that service can perhaps be found elsewhere. But never quite exactly the same as what you will provide. Therefore, charging by the hour will undercut your potential earnings – and I'll show you what I mean in a second.” The Coach got up out of his chair and went into the house. Thirty-three seconds later, he emerged carrying a small whiteboard, three markers, and a felt eraser.

On the whiteboard, he wrote the word OUTCOMES on the right and HOURS on the left. “When I go into a company or a conference to deliver a keynote, I'm onstage for one hour. The fees for my keynotes make my hourly rate absolutely outrageous. Many people who charge by the hour, or pay by the hour, find what I earn to be an eye-popping sum considering the amount of time I'm standing on stage.”

“But what people don't realize is the thousands of hours it's taken me to be able to stand on that stage. To share my insights. To craft my delivery and create my impact. Lots of folks don't understand the amount of time I've spent working with speakers’ bureaus – they are like agents for professional speakers. Or talking with the client beforehand, or conducting interviews with people attending the conference. There's a lot of time involved before you step on stage.”

“But still, the fee is never about me. Not my time. Not my experience. The experience that matters is the experience of the audience,” the Coach explained.

“Let's say that I do a keynote in front of four hundred people. The message helps four salespeople – just four! – to close five million dollars in new business next year. Or maybe it helps the leadership team to reduce turnover among new employees by fifteen percent, saving the company millions of dollars. The end result is improved morale and employee engagement. What's that outcome worth? Well, you can decide for yourself, but the ROI on the conversation is at least a hundred times. A hundred times. Think about that. It's not the hours that matter. It's the outcome.”

The Client considered the business model. He liked it.

“So how exactly do I charge?” he asked the Coach.

“What are you going to have for lunch next Tuesday?” the Coach responded. The Client remembered the lunch question.

The Coach went on. “Look, here's what I know about you, and you do too: when a client with a problem shows up, you will know. When you serve them, and you see that you can serve them more deeply, I know you will figure it out,” he said “Just like lunch next Tuesday.”

“Here's a question that I ask that always helps me. I start off with a couple of questions. First, can I help this person (or this company)? Second, do I want to? Because there are a lot of people I could help. But one of the perks of being an entrepreneur is that I get to choose my clients. Just as they choose me.”

“Cheers,” the Client said, raising his glass while the Coach did the same.

“Then, here's the big kahuna. The question that you want to notice, not look for, not search for, but notice when it shows up in the conversation. Because service always starts with a conversation, right? Here's the question: ‘Do you want some help with that’?

“Do you want some help with that?” the Client repeated. “So you're asking someone if they want some help with something. Something that you've identified where you can be of service, in an area where you want to help them, right?”

Service, for the Client, centered on new business acquisitions. New technology. New sources of revenue. He wondered if he could help people to find and acquire companies. What might happen if he reached out to his network and his contacts, discovered those who wanted to sell their businesses, or their solutions, and asked a simple question? One question, around “wanting some help with that” – what could be easier?

“It's deceptively simple,” the Coach interjected. “Business often is. So that's your homework assignment this time. Commit to have a conversation where naturally and authentically you ask someone if they want some help with something. Something that they value. Something that could result in some sort of outcome that would have a dollar figure attached to it, perhaps. Or some sort of need that, when it's fulfilled, people would pay you for that service. I can't say what they would pay you, exactly, but I can tell you this: your intuition will guide you when the moment appears. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find someone you might be able to help and serve. And ask if they want some help with something. Commit to service. That's all.”

“But first, have conversations. What could be easier than that? Conversations can start online. Or if you can go old-school and get somebody to pick up the phone, even better. Before you build a CRM system and start automating your emails, do the doable. Have conversations. Coffee shop convos, Zoom calls, whatever. The conversation is where it begins. If you are on social media, like LinkedIn or Twitter, go on there. But go there to be a resource.”

“Comment on blogs in a way that's positive. Share content that isn't self-serving or a restatement of your résumé. Find ways to help people. And find ways to create the space that you need to discover what your resourcefulness really is. That space is what I call ‘a conversation.’ Whether you tweet it or tell it, a conversation is what you need. The conversation is still the most powerful tool in business, and I think it always will be.”

“Inside that conversation, serve. Serve deeply and powerfully. Offer what you can to help the person right in front of you. Give your ideas. Do so freely and with generosity. Help without hesitation. ‘You will have a hundred great ideas today,’ a consultant once told me when I was first starting out, ‘and you'll have another hundred tomorrow.’ Creativity is infinite. You'll never run out of ideas. That's not how thought works. You can never run out of ideas. Don’t be precious about your intellectual property or any of that nonsense. Share and serve. And look for an opportunity to say these seven words: ‘Do you want some help with that?’ If somebody says yes, then you've got a decision to make,” the Coach said with a smile.

“What decision is that?” the Client asked.

“Just take the first step. Start a conversation. Ask the first question. The next one will reveal itself. Just like the answers will. And if it looks like you don't know where to turn, you're actually on the right track. Just remember who you are, stay in the game, stay curious. Your inner knowing – your instinct – is on its way.”

“And if you are wondering how to get massive numbers of clients, and which email platform is best, and how to really leverage Instagram, let me ask you a different kind of question. How many clients do you need to launch your business? I'll make it multiple choice. A is seventy-two million, B is twenty-one, C is nine, and D is one.”

“I'm going to go with D,” the Client said.

“Good choice,” the Coach offered. “All it takes is one. You aren't looking for every wave in the sea. You just need one.

“When someone says they would like some help with something, look in the direction of outcomes, not hours. What might that outcome be worth to them? What would it look like if the thing that was missing showed up in their life? In their business?”

For the Client, this business model was the exact way his conversation had started with the Coach. The Coach had provided him with a soft place to land, he realized. A space to be heard. The coaching conversations were a sandbox. A sandbox of service, where they could experiment. He could try out new ideas and experience new ways of looking at his life and his business.

The Coach wasn't another manager, holding him accountable for things he didn't want to do. In fact, their relationship was exactly the opposite. Inside of the Client, his relationship with obligations had changed. He still had things that he needed to do, but he did them with grace instead of grit – and it wasn't just because he was working from home. He'd done that dance before, during Covid. That choreography felt a lot more difficult when he was in his previous job.

He wasn't sure if his productivity was going up. But his stress was going down. He felt like he was living life more fully. Living his values. He still had a mortgage to pay, and the lease on the car, school tuition, and everything else. But he saw his finances differently now.

While it was true that he wasn't sure how he was going to launch his business or how it would do or even if he was cut out for entrepreneurship, none of those questions mattered right now. Come what may, he was okay. In this moment. Right now. He could lose it all. Make a fortune. God knows what. But he was not in the business of trying to know the mind of God. Or trying to predict the future.

“What would you do,” his Coach asked, “if you knew you had everything you need?”

From somewhere in the neighborhood, an unseen lawnmower started. The sound of the engine wasn't loud or distracting, just a steady hum. On the coffee table that separated the two men, a small cactus plant – no bigger than a deck of playing cards – was sitting inside a tiny white pot. Small white blooms dotted the head of the cactus. The men couldn't see it, but the cactus was growing. The cactus was whole and complete and had everything it needed inside of that little white pot. Human nature, the Client surmised, was part of nature. Growth wasn't always obvious, or within your field of vision, but it was always happening, nevertheless. The Client was much more than a cactus, but he was no less complete or whole. He couldn't see the yard being mowed, he couldn't see the grass growing, but he understood that completeness was all around him. Was it within him as well?

The Client knew, and it wasn't a question of belief, that he had everything he needed. He was resourceful and adaptable and creative and innovative and courageous, in this moment, right now. He saw those characteristics as a part of himself – much the same way that he saw the four fingers and a thumb on his left hand.

True nature was apparent to him. And human nature was who he was. It was “both, and.”

He came to understand, at an instinctual level, that he was a spiritual being having a human experience. Meanwhile, he was also a human being having a spiritual experience. That wasn't some pile of Zen woo-woo; it was the way things worked. And who he was.

His was not a fictional identity of his own creation. Not anymore. The identity he possessed was his place in the universe, a universe that had his back.

The universe had brought him back. Back to his wife. Back from his horrible job. Back from his old frustrations and, yes, back to some new ones. Some frustrations even showed up back-to-back. Life was messy, not clean and tidy. And he was here for all of it. Good, bad, or indifferent, he wanted to play a new game.

His newfound identity wasn't without its challenges and uncertainties. But the way he faced those uncertainties wasn't with fear or foreboding. He had found another “f” word for the future he couldn't see.

Fun.

The universe had given him the chance to explore new ideas between Dallas and Austin and anywhere else creativity might take him. His instincts were stronger, he felt. Or maybe he just trusted them more?

No offense to Billy Joel, but it really wasn't a matter of trust. He was listening to himself more. Or was it even himself – who was doing the listening? Whoa. That idea was new.

Where did these new ideas and this new identity come from, he wondered? The same place that makes the acorns turn into oak trees, he guessed. Source? Universal mind? God? He didn't want to go further and try to explain it. Because he didn't need to. He didn't need to figure everything out. That wasn't his job. It wasn't up to him.

He didn't need to find a reason or craft an explanation. Instead, he saw life as a game. And he wanted to play full-out. Why not?

He recalled a quote from Hamlet that the Coach had shared with him: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” How true. The universe was bigger, broader, and fuller of possibility than his mind could calculate. That fact didn't make him feel insignificant, incomplete, or stupid; it energized him. He was a part of this ever-expanding universe, and it had his back.

The Client looked out at the trees. The gray clouds were breaking up, and sunlight was reentering pockets of sky. In the distance, a single hawk circled above the tailored backyards of the neighborhood, as the lawnmower continued to hum.

“Let me show you what I've got in my notebook,” the Client said to the Coach.