10K for one tap of a hammer...

Turn your decades of expertise into a premium consulting practice built around the life you want.

_{Issue #13 — March 31, 2026}

I was on a call last week with a guy who’s been in his industry for 30 years.

I asked him to walk me through how he sizes up a new client’s situation. He did it in about four minutes. No hesitation. No notes. Just... talked through it like he was reading a map he’d drawn from memory.

When he finished, I said, “You know that thing you just did? That’s worth more than anything on your website.”

Long pause.

“What thing?”

That’s the problem. Not that he lacked something. He couldn’t see what he already had.

And here’s where it gets interesting... he’s not unusual. Every experienced consultant I work with does some version of this. They diagnose faster than mere mortals should be able to. They make calls in minutes that would take someone else weeks.

And they all shrug when you point it out. “That’s just how I think.”

No. That’s not just how you think. That’s a tool...a skill, really...that you built over 30 years, and you’ve never named it.

You’ve been doing this too. Every time you size up a client’s problem before they can truly understand it themselves.

Every time you ask three questions in a specific order because you’ve learned that sequence gets to the truth fastest.

Every time someone says “how did you know that?” and you can’t explain it...

You’re using something valuable. And you’re giving it away. Not because you’re generous. Because it feels like breathing, and you don’t charge for breathing.

But here’s what I know to be true...

The thing that makes you worth a premium isn’t your knowledge. Anybody can Google your knowledge. The thing that makes you worth a premium is the shortcuts your knowledge created. The pattern recognition. The diagnostic instinct. The ability to see in four minutes what takes someone else four weeks.

Last week I called those shortcuts “jigs”... the custom-built tools a woodworker makes to guarantee a perfect cut every time. You’ve been building the mental version of those for your entire career.

You know what they are now. The question is what to do with them.

Every framework you run on a call. Every diagnostic question you ask in a specific order. Every mental checklist you work through before giving advice... those are jigs. Proprietary tools that took decades to build. And they live inside your head where nobody can see them.

Which means nobody can value them.

Including you.

But here’s what happens when you pull them out and give them names.

I’ve been doing a simple exercise with the consultants I work with. Takes about 30 minutes. Three steps.

• Step one: Record your next three client conversations. Not with a camera. Grab a notebook afterward and write down the moments where you made a call. Where you gave a diagnosis. Where you skipped ahead because you already knew. Those moments are jigs in action. You’re looking for the places where your experience did the thinking for you.
   
• Step two: Name them. Not a clever marketing name. A working name. “The Four-Minute Diagnostic.” “The Three-Question Filter.” “The Revenue Leak Checklist.” Whatever fits. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It has to be real. Because the moment you name something, it becomes visible. And visible things can be valued, explained, and sold.
   
• Step three: Stack three of them. Three named jigs in sequence becomes something bigger. Your methodology. Not a course you bought. Not a certification you earned. A system built from decades of pattern recognition that nobody else on the planet has.

That’s not a fancy shmancy resume line. That’s a moat around your business.

There’s an old story about a factory that ground to a halt. A critical machine failed. Production stopped cold. Every hour it sat dead cost the company a fortune. 

They called in a retired engineer. A guy who’d spent his whole career around machines like this one. He walked in. Looked it over. Listened. Ran his hand along the housing. Then he pulled out a small hammer, tapped it once in a very specific spot... and the machine roared back to life.

He handed them a bill for $10,000.

The owner lost his mind. “Ten thousand dollars? You were here for fifteen minutes. You tapped it with a hammer.

The old engineer looked at him and said, “You’re not paying $10,000 for fifteen minutes. You’re paying for 30 years of knowing exactly where to tap. And for the million dollars a day you’re no longer losing.”

That’s what a named jig is worth. Not the tap. The knowing. 

When you name your jigs, clients understand what they’re paying for. You stop feeling like you’re “just talking.” And you stop competing on hours... because nobody else has your jigs. They can’t. It took you a lifetime to build them.

If this has you nodding and going "ummhmmm...yep"... if you’re sitting there thinking “I know I have these, I just don’t know how to pull them out”... that’s exactly what I’m walking through on Thursday.

I’m running a live session: “How to Package Your Decades of Experience Into a Specific, Premium Consulting Practice That AI Cannot Replicate and the Right Clients Will Pay Top Dollar For.”

Thursday, April 2. 1:00 PM Eastern. One hour. No replay.

I’ll walk you through the full process... not just finding your jigs, but turning them into a consulting practice built on what only you can bring to the table.
Register here before tomorrow night — registration closes Wednesday, April 1.

What’s the thing you do for clients that feels so natural you’ve never thought to charge for it? Hit reply and tell me. I read every one.

Dale

Want to dive deeper? Check out these related articles:

👉  The Prosperous Consultant | Issue #12
👉  The Prosperous Consultant | Issue #11

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🔎  The Trust Reckoning: The Shadow Side of Force 1
🔎  Client Value Journey: Stage 1 – Aware

P.S.: When you're ready, here are more ways I can help you...