209. Going from employee to consultant with Reza Saeedi

How to Sell Advice

I recently interviewed Reza Saeedi—a marketing strategist and former Director of Marketing at On Deck—about his transition from employee to marketing advisor to employee again with advising as a side venture.

In this episode, we chatted about things like:

• How Reza got into marketing and eventually, as a mentor/advisor to entrepreneurs
• How he was able to get one fractional CMO and two advisory clients quickly after leaving his job at On Deck
• The role of casual networking and how it led to unexpected opportunities down the line
• The difference between being specific and niching down in business based on your strengths and interests
• The role of risk-reversing guarantees and discussing prices against value during sales conversations
• Why turning away poor-fit clients helped with his overall confidence and contributed to his early success
• How to internally handle the fact we can’t guarantee successful outcomes
• The value of factoring in word of mouth and referrals into your marketing plan
• The intersection and overlap between teaching and advisory work
• How Reza plans to do part-time advising in a low-labour, sustainable way
• How Reza stays productize and organized in his work
• The importance of exercise, habits, and mental health optimization

Plus many fun tangents along the way!

Whether you currently have a job and are thinking about advising full or part-time, or you’re already independent but looking to get into advisory work, this episode will have a ton of insights to offer you.

Key links and mentioned resources:

• Reza on LinkedIn
• Reza's personal site
• Reza on X.com
• Passage.com
• Episode 200: Kevan Lee on part-time advisory work, mentorship, equity compensation, and more
• The Win Without Pitching Manifesto (Book)
• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
• 4,000 Weeks by Robert Bosman
• Readwise App