The checks to run on any counselor, strategist, consultant or coach before you hire them, me included. Every flag here is one I have written or talked about, each one links to the piece, and the second half is the same list run on me so you can see what it turns up.
Use it without contacting me. That is what it is for.
Table of Contents
The Red Flags
Ask every counselor, strategist, consultant and coach you are talking to what the work is, who it is for, what you walk away with, what it costs to find out, and what is in writing before anything starts. If they cannot answer in plain words, that may be your answer.
Are they only addressing your symptoms or are they working with you to find a cure? And, do they have the knowledge and ability to assist you in the healing with a plan for the long run?
Loren Weisman
These are the flags I have written and talked about over the years. Each one links to the piece, so you can use them without ever contacting me.
- You asked for information and got motivation. Motivation vs information.
- Their expertise expired years ago and they are still selling it. Expired experts, and how to spot them.
- “Studies have shown,” with no study anywhere. A study on the claims of fake studies.
- Popularity and hype offered as proof of authority. Popularity and hype.
- Best seller claims and reviews that cannot be checked. Amazon best selling claims and fake Amazon reviews.
- Cold outreach that reads like spam. Awful spam email tactics and authentic outreach beats spam.
- Coaching with no accountability for what was said last month. Coaching with accountability.
- More people selling the work than doing it. More coaches on the sidelines than players on the field.
- Nothing to vet. No website, no record, an email that goes nowhere. Vetting.
- A plan that reads like it came out of a prompt, from someone who cannot say where any of it came from. AI in business strategy and where do you draw the line with AI.
- Books written in minutes and authors who did not write them. Fake authors using AI.
- “I read it in a book” offered as the whole argument, when a book can be published in hours. One minute message ten.
- A claim with no evidence behind it, or a secondhand opinion presented as a fact. Proving claims with irrefutable evidence and sharing opinions instead of trying to state facts.
- A certificate or a course with nothing traceable behind the instructor. Are online courses actually worth your time and money.
- Being asked to like, share, subscribe or buy before you have experienced anything. One minute messages five and eleven, on engagement farming and letting an audience choose.
- The same branding they sold the last twelve people, with your name dropped into it. Are they branding you into a box that is not you.
- The word best doing the work that evidence should be doing. Why best has lost its meaning.
You can stand out by being checkable, and you can protect yourself by checking. Both are yours to do whether or not we ever work together.
Those Same Checks, Run on Me
I publish the checks I ask people to run on anyone they are about to trust, and every one of them applies to me first. These are the results of running them on me.
The work behind it
- Over 30 years in arts, entertainment, media and business. Work as a drummer and producer on 700+ albums, and television production credits with ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS and TLC.
- Books put out five ways, one of each: an indie press, a hybrid publisher, a major publisher, an independent publisher, and the imprint I set up with my daughter. Music Business For Dummies, John Wiley and Sons, ISBN 9781119049654. The Artist’s Guide to Success in the Music Business, Greenleaf Book Group, now in its second edition, ISBN 9781608325788. Alphabet Animal Adventures Across America, written with my daughter, Dadau Publishing, 2026. The fifth is a 2026 book released under a pen name. Separate from those five, I also put out the satire Wordy Worded Words as Wordy Worderson, a pen name I use openly.
What can be checked from outside this site
- A body of work in my own voice, over years rather than months. More than 200 videos on the channel, and a podcast whose episodes carry their written transcription on this site.
- A published statement on how artificial intelligence is used, up since 2023.
- A Library of Congress name authority record held since 17 March 2014, LCCN no2014035350. The record cites The Artist’s Guide to Success in the Music Business. Both books are in the Library of Congress catalog, LCCN 2013936454 and LCCN 2015941027.
- The same name on the same domain since 2005, registered 9 January 2005 and first captured by the Internet Archive on 7 February 2005. That is the one item on this list that cannot be made after the fact.
- Every agreement I work under is published in full on this site, including the terms I will not move forward without and the list of who I will not take on.
- I host my own show and vet my own guests, so the checks I ask you to run are the ones I run from the other side of the desk.
The same material, laid out for a producer, journalist, publicist or editor, is on the interview information sheet. Nothing there is behind a form and nothing asks for an email address.
Questions About Vetting a Consultant
How can you tell if a consultant or coach is legitimate?
You can often tell by asking what the work is, who it is for, what you walk away with, what it costs to find out, and what is in writing before anything starts. If they cannot answer in plain words, that may be your answer. Another question I ask is whether they are only addressing your symptoms or working with you to find a cure, and whether they have the knowledge and ability to assist with a plan for the long run.
What are the red flags of a fake consultant or coach?
Red flags can include asking for information and getting motivation, expertise that expired years ago and is still being sold, and popularity and hype offered as proof of authority. Best seller claims and reviews that cannot be checked can be another flag, and so can nothing to vet: no website, no record, an email that goes nowhere. I also watch for cold outreach that reads like spam, coaching with no accountability for what was said last month, and the same branding they sold the last twelve people with your name dropped into it.
How do you verify an expert online?
You can often verify an expert by looking for a record that exists outside their own site: books in a library catalog, a domain held for years, and an email on that domain rather than a free address anyone can create. Whether profiles were rewritten once they were caught may be worth checking too. In my own checks, I treat a domain held since 2005 as the one item on the list that cannot be made after the fact.
How can you tell if a business plan came from AI?
You can often tell by asking where the plan came from, and whether the person who handed it to you can say what is in it and why. A plan that reads like it came out of a prompt, from someone who cannot say where any of it came from, can be one of the flags. Among the flags I have written about are books written in minutes and authors who did not write them.
Does Loren Weisman run the Before You Hire Anyone vetting checks on himself?
Yes, I publish the checks I ask people to run on anyone they are about to trust, and every one of them applies to me first. The second half of this page is the same list run on me, so you can see what it turns up. I host my own show and vet my own guests, so the checks I ask you to run are the ones I run from the other side of the desk.
Can I use the Before You Hire Anyone checklist without contacting Loren Weisman?
Yes, you can use the Before You Hire Anyone checklist without contacting me, and that is what it is for. Every flag on the Before You Hire Anyone page is one I have written or talked about, and each one links to the piece. You may protect yourself by checking, whether or not we ever work together.