A consultant's real value comes from sharing what they know, not hoarding it. Withholding information keeps clients dependent but breeds resentment. Open knowledge builds the trust that turns one-off projects into lasting partnerships.
Trust is the bridge between a vendor and a partner, between you as a consultant and a customer. A lot of consultants, they worry that teaching clients everything they know will reduce their value. That's how they think about it. But in reality, if you want to establish that trust, you got to share. If you're not doing that, you're really not building loyalty. You're building dependency. And you might be thinking dependency, they'll come back to me when they have a question. Yes, but I think that's short-term thinking.
