Consulting and strategy work on your messaging, your optics, your liability and your reach. Most engagements start the same way, with a discovery, an audit and a blueprint. The work is an honorable, transparent, moral and solid foundation under your message, your optics and your presence. Built with you, and built to hold well after we are done working together.
What does a first engagement cover?
A discovery, an audit and a blueprint. The discovery is a deep dive into what is out there about you and what you put out, online and off. The audit is what that turns up: the liability, the compliance, the messaging, the penalizations, the red flags and the gaps, alongside a review of whatever you have already been told, quoted, pitched or handed. The blueprint is one document carrying the findings, the reasoning and the plan, written so you can apply it with me or without me.
On this page
- What a first engagement is
- Who it is for
- The five bodies of work
- Ways to work together, and what it costs
- What you walk away with
- Every service, listed
- What is in writing before anything starts
- The discovery, the audit and the blueprint
- Where I stand, and where you can check it
- How to check me, and anyone else
- Questions some ask before starting
- Getting started
It is for authors who wrote the book themselves, businesses, entrepreneurs, investors choosing an investment, and people looking for investment. Where each one sits in the list. Orlando, Florida, working worldwide, in person or virtually.
Perhaps you have been overwhelmed by a large number of fake, hype driven counselors, strategists, consultants and coaches that claim to have all the answers, or have not helped you move beyond the pretty look, with no consideration for the blueprint, the foundation and the long term strategies. Or perhaps you are at the beginning and have realized you cannot do it all by yourself. Either way, this is a place where we can start together if it is a good fit. I can serve as a steward and help to guide, assist, teach and train, if it is the right fit for both of us.
One of the questions underneath it is this one. When you take advice, are you listening to a person with real experience and authority, or to a prompt, or to a profile built to look professional? I share how I tell the difference, where my information comes from, and how you can decide for yourself.
What each service is, what happens inside it, what you end up holding at the end, what is not included, how long it runs, what it costs and what is in writing before anything starts. It is on this page, in order, with the longer pieces on their own pages and linked from where they sit.
Over 30 years of experience in arts, entertainment, media and business. Four books, three under my own name. Host of the Wait What Really OK podcast, with the written transcriptions on this site. The record, and the part of it that can be checked from outside this site, is on its own page.
I believe in discovery and blueprinting before building. Messaging before marketing. Engaging before selling.
To me, clear, honest and uniform messaging and optics, with stability and security, are the bedrock of any presence, online or off, and that is what I prefer to create with clients. I am sharing rather than telling, and the decisions stay yours in every one of these.
The Discovery, the Audit and the Blueprint
What you end up holding is one document. Getting there is one piece of work in three parts, and the deep dive and the build are not separate purchases and they are not quoted separately. This is where most engagements start, whether you arrive holding a plan somebody sold you or holding nothing yet.
For me, a first step, with any business, venture or visionary is to bring them through a personalized organizational strategy plan in order to create the right foundation for all to be built on or corrected.
Loren Weisman
- The discovery. A deep dive across five areas: liability and compliance, existing red flags and penalizations, branding and messaging, promotion and reach, and retention and authority structuring.
- The audit of what you were handed. What in the advice you are already paying for holds up, what does not, what is missing, and whether it was built for you or lifted from a prompt.
- The blueprint. One document. What was found, the strategy and the plan written as one thing, with the reasoning behind each recommendation so anyone on your side can use it again later without hiring me to explain it.
The situations it is built for, what runs each week, what is not in it, and why it is built for one client rather than generated, are on its own page.
The discovery, the audit and the blueprint
Who This Is For, and Where It Sits in the List
Authors who wrote the book themselves. Author and book plans and budgets, book branding, and the blueprint, beginning stages and pre release work on the author strategy page. Options 1, 2 and 5. My views on it: branding an authentic book from the start and you might not have a book in you, and that can be a good thing.
Businesses. Discovery, messaging, compliance checks, liability reviews and crisis prep. Across all seven options. My views on it: transparency in brand communication, aligning words and actions.
Entrepreneurs. From scratch brand concepts, blueprints for building and pre marketing stages, and a discovery and audit before you sign with anyone. Options 1 and 5. My views on it: ready fire aim, are you branding in the wrong order and strategic patience and pressure when preparing a launch.
Investors choosing an investment. Due diligence discoveries, negative sweeps, and a review of the pitch you are being given, from outside the deal. Option 1 and the discovery menu. My views on it: where has all the vetting gone.
People seeking investment. Prospectuses, business plans, and initial investor and partnering layouts. Option 2 and the architecture menu. My views on it: thinking like an investor may help you find money and investors.
The Five Bodies of Work
The options above and the menu below sort into five bodies of work. Some engagements sit inside one. Most touch two or three. These are the same five subjects I speak on and the same five I am interviewed about, so the thinking behind a session is on the record where you can read it before we start.
Business communication
Inside an organization and outside it, with compliance, liability and crisis. What a business says to its own people, what it says to everyone else, and whether those two match. My views on it: transparency in brand communication, aligning words and actions and messaging before marketing to create a sound foundation.
Authors and creatives
Publishing, authorship, artists and creative careers. Plans, budgets, book branding and the stages before a release. My views on it: Amazon best selling book claims and the 16,000 book categories and success books explored for validity, authority and truth.
Capital and vetting
Raising it, reviewing it, and checking who is behind it. Due diligence discoveries for the person putting money in, and prospectuses and investor layouts for the person asking for it. My views on it: where has all the vetting gone and thinking like an investor may help you find money and investors.
AI and authenticity
Authorship, disclosure, and generated against written. Where the line sits, who drew it, and whether the person you are paying will tell you where theirs is. My views on it: where do you draw the line with AI in your brand strategy, fake authors using AI and the false authorship trend and honest AI will not replace humans.
High conflict communication
Contested narratives, keeping a record, and holding a position. What goes in writing, what stays out of writing, and how something written in one moment reads when somebody else pulls it up later. My views on it: is your email or text going to bite you later on, and responding to bad reviews without taking the bait, both in that same video collection.
What does it cost, and how long am I committed?
It is set to the shape of the work, and you are committed to one piece at a time. Sessions are by the hour. A baseline discovery, a retainer period and a full project are a set fee for a set scope, so you are not buying hours and you are not watching a clock. Each one is quoted and agreed in writing before it starts. Nothing renews on its own, nothing rolls into the next size up, and you can move between them in either direction.
Ways to Work Together
To me, the right one is the smallest one that answers your question. If a single session covers it, that is the one I would point you to.
A single session
One piece, looked at once. You bring what you have been told, quoted, pitched or handed. You leave with my review of it, and with your own questions to put back to whoever gave you the advice. If that covers it, nothing further is owed.
A short series of sessions
Sessions booked in packages of one to five, each one taking a different piece. Used when there is more than one thing on the table, or when something that came out of the first session opened up another.
A baseline discovery
The discovery, the audit and the blueprint, run as one piece of work for one set fee. It is not sold by the hour and you are not buying my time. You are buying the deep dive and the document that comes out of it. The scope and the fee are written down before it starts, so the number does not move because a week ran long.
It runs a month at a time. At the end you hold what was completed. If you want a second month, you say so before the first one ends so the work carries on without a gap. If you would rather take what is done and carry it forward yourself, nothing further is owed and nothing renews on its own.
A retainer
A block of time held for you by the week or the month, so things get run past a second opinion before they go out. This is access, and what is included in the period is written down so neither of us is guessing. A retainer is not a requirement to keep working together and it is not where an engagement has to end up.
A full extended project
Where the work has a defined beginning and a defined end and runs past a month or two. Scoped, quoted and agreed in writing before it starts.
In person and travel
Any of these can run online, by phone or in person. In person work and travel are quoted separately and agreed in writing before anything is booked. Travel details are here, and if you are coming to me instead, that is on the visiting clients page.
You can move between them, in either direction
A single session can become a series. A baseline discovery can become a retainer. A retainer can come back down to an occasional check in, or stop. Work can pause and pick up later. A change to what is covered, to the timing or to the fee takes effect when both of us put it in writing.
What I am not taking over
I come in for a defined period on a defined scope, and then I am done. I am not taking a title, a seat or a position inside your organization. I am not replacing anyone you already have, and I am not looking to become the person your team reports to. The decisions, the execution and the follow through stay yours.
The other arrangement is often called fractional. A fractional CMO, CFO or COO holds the position part time and carries the outcomes from inside the company. That is a real service and it is a different one from this.
Pricing and fees
Pricing starts with a conversation. Where you stand, what you have, what you need, what is missing, and what the work requires. A quote that arrives before that conversation is a quote for somebody else’s project.
Our authoritative pricing with a stewarding approach considers every business not as a template but strictly as an individual business.
Loren Weisman
I put that position on video before I put it on this page, in a one minute message on pricing, and what the absence of a price list can say about a business. The ranges further down are here because a reader deserves to see the size of it before making contact, and the number inside the range still comes from the conversation.
Two rails, and which one you are on is said up front:
- By the hour. A single session, a short series, and a la carte work. Booked singly or in blocks by the hour, the week or the month.
- A set fee for a set scope. A baseline discovery, a retainer period, and a full project. The scope and the number are fixed before it starts and neither one moves on its own.
Either way it goes into a statement of work and an invoice that say what is being done and what it costs, before the work starts, and it is set to your situation rather than to a package built for somebody else. Every way to pay an invoice is on the pay page.
The ranges
Ranges, not a price list. Where a project sits in them depends on its scope, and the scope is settled in the conversation before any number is agreed.
- Smaller projects. $500 to $2,500.
- Mid size projects. $2,500 to $7,500.
- Larger projects. $7,500 to $15,000.
- A monthly retainer. $750 to $5,000 a month, set by what is held in the period.
A single session or a short series sits at the lower end. Travel and on site days are quoted separately and agreed in writing before anything is booked.
This work is not the cheapest and I have written about why in integrity over ease, the true cost of authentic brand communication. What I want out of a transaction is set out in profit at the expense of no one.
Shortcuts on the foundation of your discovery, compliance, brand, website, uniformity, competitive, comparative as well as your core messaging are a dangerous and often become the most costly route to go.
Loren Weisman
What You Can Walk Away With, If You Commit to the Work
What you leave with depends on which of the options the work sits in, and on what you put into it. It is more than me. I can lay it out, share what I see and build it with you. The commitment to carry it is yours.
No one can create your brand for you. No one can create your story for you. To be authentically created, this has to be done with you, not for you.
Loren Weisman
- From a single session or a short series: my review of what you were handed. What I believe holds up, what I believe does not, what may be missing, and what you may be paying for that you already have. Your own questions to take back to whoever gave you the advice.
- From a full discovery, audit and blueprint: one written document carrying the findings, the reasoning, the rules and an action plan for forward motion, built for you, not downloaded and relabeled.
- From messaging work: the messaging plan or the audit, and where the work is the copy itself, the description, the bio, the pitch and the one sheet, aligned and saying the same thing.
- From plans and budgets: the plan and the budget for the book, the record, the film, the artist, the restaurant or the investor conversation, on paper and in order.
- From crisis and optics work: the story aligned, defined or refined, and the response prepared before it is needed.
- From every one of them: the ideas and the documents are yours. No rights and no ownership are taken on your work. The execution and the follow through after we are done are also yours. I do not hold your hand and I do not spend the time on motivation. Why that is, in my own words: motivation vs information and the podcast are most motivational and business coaches bad for you.
The Seven Primary Service Options
I am not trying to win you over. I want you to win, and win the right way.
1. Single or Multiple Sessions for Review, Clean Up or Reset
Short term or one time work. This is where the single session and the short series sit, along with cleaning up what is already out there and resetting what is not working. Related: reviewing authentically over demanding reviews for popularity.
2. Creative Brand Development, Direction and Distribution
Taking the next steps or next stages for a brand, its communication, optics and budgets. This includes recording budgets and releases, books, speaking packages, prospectuses and business plans. Related: defining messaging tactics from intention to perception.
3. A La Carte Strategic Consulting and Planning
Laying out a menu of options and picking what a client or a team wants, rather than buying a package built for someone else.
4. Short Term Messaging Work, On and Offline
Focused work on specific hit points of communication, optics and presence. Related: is your messaging clear when others are sharing it and telling your story or sharing someone else’s.
5. From Scratch Brand Concepts to Full Communication Blueprints
Complete layouts for building, financing or pre marketing stages. The full discovery, audit and blueprint sits here.
6. Crisis Communication, Response Prep and Optics Corrections
Getting a story aligned, defined or refined for media and reputation situations. Related: business continuity planning for an unexpected loss and a brand named Sue, or a brand name that will not get you sued.
7. Exit Strategies
Closing up a shop, and strengthening or updating the brand for a sale.
The Detailed Menu
Every individual piece of work, grouped. A line at the top of each group says what that group is for.
Brand and Communication Discovery and Development
Finding out what is there before anything gets built or rebuilt. This is where a baseline discovery sits, in an abbreviated or a full version, for something already running or something that has not started yet.
- Abbreviated discovery of an existing project
- Abbreviated discovery for a new project
- Full discovery of an existing project
- Full discovery for a new project
- Due diligence discoveries
- Brand and communications repair, renewal or reset
Messaging
The words themselves, and whether they are consistent, supportable and compliant everywhere they appear.
- Brand messaging plans
- Brand communication and compliance checks
- Messaging audits and revamps
- Messaging co creation
- Graphic co creation
Restoration, Revisit, Review and Reset
Work on something that already exists and is not doing what it should. Several of these are deliberately placed before a hire.
- Branding
- Primary content
- Marketing plans, built before you go to marketing
- Social, marketing or ad reviews and resets, before you hire social media people
- Budgets
- Messaging
Liability Reviews and Resets
Exposure. What can be used against you, what a search turns up about you, and what is prepared before a problem rather than after it.
- Negative sweeps, perception and connotative reviews
- Crisis management media planning
- Preemptive crisis management messaging
Promotional Plans and Strategies
How the message travels once it is right. These are the plans. The execution is not included and is quoted separately or referred out.
- Earned media strategies
- Social media strategies
- Influencer strategies
- Print media strategies
- Placement strategies
- Sponsorship and endorsement strategies
Architecture Strategies
The blueprint documents themselves, and the plans and budgets behind a book, a film, a record, an artist, a restaurant or an investor conversation.
- Blueprint strategic layouts and action plans
- Author and book plans and budgets
- Documentary and film plans and budgets
- Artist and musician plans and budgets
- Restaurant or cafe initial plans and budgets
- Product protection and AI protection
- Initial investor and partnering layouts
Speaking
Options for having Loren Weisman speak at an event, conference or convention are decided with each client individually. More on the speaking page.
What Is in Writing Before Anything Starts
A statement of work we build together, a strategic services agreement, and clear invoices that say what was done and what it cost. Samples of the documentation are on the strategy and consulting documents page. The paperwork is there to read before contacting me.
On payment security. Payment details are only ever changed on the pay page. No change to them will ever reach you by email, text or direct message, whoever it appears to come from.
Before anything confidential is shared in either direction there is a mutual non-disclosure agreement. The terms covering supply, delivery and returns are on the conditions of supply page, and the site terms are on the terms and conditions page. If you are in a position to refer consulting clients, that is covered by the consulting referral agreement. Every agreement, term and policy sits together on the agreements, terms and policies page.
Where I Stand, and Where You Can Check It
Eight positions, stated in plain terms, on artificial intelligence and what it gets wrong, my own use of it, opinions against facts, motivation against information, liability and what it costs to skip it, what stays yours, who I work with, and the methodology under all of it. Each one links to where it is written out or spoken in full, alongside the podcast episodes, the videos, the quote collections and the talks. None of it sits behind an email address, a form or a download.
Where I stand, and where you can check it
Before You Hire Anyone, Including Me
Seventeen red flags to check on any counselor, strategist, consultant or coach, each one linked to where I wrote or said it, and the same list run on me: the record, the books, the Library of Congress entry, the domain, the agreements. It is on its own page so you can use it without reading anything else.
Before you hire anyone, including me
Questions Some Ask Before Starting
Am I buying hours, or a piece of work?
Both are on offer, and which one applies is said up front. A single session, a short series and a la carte work are booked by the hour. A baseline discovery, a retainer period and a full project are a set fee for a set scope, so the number does not move because a week ran long.
Do you take over anything inside my organization?
No. I come in for a defined period on a defined scope, and then I am done. I take no title, no seat and no position, I replace no one you already have, and the decisions, the execution and the follow through stay yours. A part time executive seat, often called a fractional role, is a different service from this one.
What is not included?
Implementation, web work, social work, video or audio recording, and graphic design. Once the blueprint is done, implementation can be quoted, or referred to contractors who do it, or to my team. It is priced separately.
What happens if the advice I already have turns out to be sound?
I say so. Some of this work ends with my view that what you were handed holds up, and that is a useful outcome that costs you nothing further. It is not a pitch to replace the people advising you, and it is not legal, financial or accounting advice.
Who owns what we build?
You do. No rights and no ownership are taken on your work, and the ideas and the documents are yours. Anyone on your side can pick up the blueprint, apply it, build on it and go back to it whenever they need it.
What happens at the end of a month, and how do I stop?
You hold what was completed. Nothing renews on its own and nothing rolls into the next size up. If you want a second month you say so before the first one ends so the work carries on without a gap, and if you would rather take what is done and carry it forward yourself, nothing further is owed.
How can I tell whether what I was handed came from a person or from a prompt?
Look a little more carefully at the content anyone provides you. Is it coming from them, or does it just seem like some kind of marketing process that came out of an AI system? Information can be scraped, put together and not referenced, and what comes back out is a mixture of plagiarism and, at the same time, not theirs. Ask whoever handed it to you what is in it, why it is there, and where each part came from. Ask me the same.
If I share something with you, can it end up feeding someone else’s results?
That is a concern I have raised for years. Are you adding in ideas, and at the same time can those ideas be used by somebody else? Do you become something that is derived in AI for somebody else’s search? What you share is not put into a generative system, and before anything confidential moves in either direction there is a mutual non-disclosure agreement.
What will you ask me for?
Answers, and documents. Weekly calls or video meetings with email back and forth in between, and there will be questions and requests for information. A blueprint built for one client can only be as accurate as the answers it is built on. You decide what you share. Nothing is assumed and no gap is filled with a guess.
Can we sign a non-disclosure agreement before I send anything?
Yes. Before anything confidential is shared in either direction there is a mutual non-disclosure agreement, and it binds me exactly as much as it binds you. If you would rather use your own, send it over and it gets signed instead.
What if I have already paid someone else for a plan?
Bring it. That is what the audit is for. Some of this work ends with my view that what you were handed holds up, and that costs you nothing further. Where it does not hold up, you leave with your own questions to put back to whoever gave it to you.
Are you a coach?
No. I am a brand communications and optics strategist, and what that means is set out in defining a brand communications strategist. The work is information rather than motivation, and I have said where I stand on the coaching industry out loud in are most motivational and business coaches bad for you, more coaches on the sidelines than players on the field and motivation vs information. If what you are after is a lift rather than a plan, I am the wrong hire and I would rather say that before you pay me.
Why is the fee a range instead of one number?
Because the scope is settled before the number is. The ranges above are here so you can see the size of it before making contact, and where a project sits inside a range comes out of the conversation about what you have, what is missing and what the work involves. My view on why a fixed price list can be the weaker signal is in a one minute message on pricing.
How do I know the plan is not a template with my name dropped into it?
Ask to see the questions before you agree to anything, and read what a template approach looks like from the other side in why customized brand communication strategies outperform template business plans and are they branding you into a box that is not you. What I build starts from your answers, which is why the discovery asks for so many of them, and why a blueprint arrives with the reasoning attached rather than the conclusions alone.
Eighty more questions and answers are on the frequently asked questions pages.
Getting Started
The first step is a conversation, not a contract. Bring what you have been told and what you are weighing. From there we can both see whether a single session covers it, whether a short series makes more sense, or whether a full discovery, audit and blueprint is what the situation calls for.
I am back at work and taking on new engagements, in person or virtually.