For all those business owners who have been burned by one of the larger Small Business Consulting Firms (and you know who they are).
Once upon a time there was a young man who was quite lonely in life and he sought the companionship of a fine woman. One day, this man met a beautiful woman that he soon fell in love with very much. He desperately wanted to find out how to make her fall in love with him. So like any smart, infatuated man does, he consulted her friends and family to discover how to make her fall in love with him.
He learned that she would instantly fall in love with a man who knew could cook delicious home meals. So the man decided he would learn to cook. He bought an expensive training video, dozens of cookbooks, the finest pots and pans, and thousands of dollars worth of spices and ingredients.
Finally the man began cooking one day. He turned on all the burners to begin boiling water. While reading the cookbook, he placed his hand on a live burner, and burned his hand badly. In pain and embarrassed, the man shouted angrily, “I hate cooking. Its painful and I will never cook again”.
And he never cooked again. He lost his true love, and never found a woman like this again.
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I hear this “I’ve been burned by consultants” phrase quite often from small business owners. Almost 75% of my clients have had a bad experience with one of the huge legacy SMB consulting companies out there (You can count them on 1 hand. Hint…they probably start with a “G” or an “I”). I’ve seen the look of anger, defensiveness, and embarrassment that comes across their faces when they revisit these experiences with one of these “Sales-Companies- Disguised-as-Consulting-Firms”.
The bottom line is that small business owners must do their research. Search the Better Business Bureau. Look at Ripoffreport.com. Do a Google search for “[Company] Scam”. The the second you get a high pressure sales person putting you on a guilt trip around your business, run, don’t walk, in the other direction.
And just because you got burned cooking once, it doesn’t mean that cooking is bad. Consider it a learning lesson and move forward to make your culinary masterpiece in life.
There are reputable small business consultanting companies out there. I can think of at least one off the top of my head 
