In this solo monologue, Nicolas Cole highlights a universal challenge faced by anyone who offers a service: dealing with a spectrum of clients ranging from the effortlessly easy to the constantly demanding. He illustrates the issue with a gardener analogy, noting that while some customers are quick, tip generously, and require minimal interaction, others constantly haggle and create conflict. Cole emphasizes that while service providers cannot change a client’s personality, they can control the inputs to their business. By deliberately creating optionality—building a larger pool of potential clients through proactive networking, relationship building, and offering free consulting—they gain the power to select the clients they prefer to work with, thereby reducing friction and improving business satisfaction.
Chapters
Every person who provides a service has this problem. We have this gardener, he comes maybe once a month. Him and his crew, they do a great job. And I think about me as a customer. I'll talk to you for 30 seconds. I'm busy. I got other stuff going on. How much do you charge? Great. I'll give you a 30% tip. Do your thing and I'm out. I am like the easiest client you could ever have. And then I think about other clients that they probably have, and there's probably some guy or gal, they go cut their lawn 2 times a month, and I bet every time they go, they nickel and dime them on the price. They're probably assholes about it. Every vendor has this problem. Every person who provides a service has the this problem. You have some people who are really easy to work with and they pay on time or they tip you a little extra. And then you have other people that are like, why do you have to make every single conversation a conflict? This is true for writing services. This is true for gardeners. This is true for pool cleaners. This is true for car wash places. Every single service has this problem. You can't control people's personalities. If someone's an asshole, they're an asshole. What I do have control over are the inputs of my business. What I do have control over is creating optionality for myself, going through many different clients and then picking and choosing which ones I you want to work with. And the only way that you get to that place where you decide who you want to work with is you have to have options. I'm going to reach out to more people. I'm going to build more relationships. I'm going to do more quote unquote networking. I'm going to do more free consulting. That is fundamentally the action that leads to more optionality.
