Look inside first
I cannot blame the ‘outside help’ at all; far from it. They actually did the work they said they would do. It just didn’t work. It was a decision that I made and I took full responsibility for it. We did not need to invest outside but look inside and invest in the team and strategies we come up with. The core team’s potential has to be fully harnessed to ensure the company gets the best out of them.
It happens all the time in companies where expensive consultants are brought in to bring ‘change and direction’. When it doesn’t work, then resentment grows sending team morale to an even lower level than before. Most of the time, it pays to look for solutions internally first. Your team understands the inner workings of your company better than any outsider ever will. What is required is opportunity and support to do their jobs in the best way they know how.
On a personal level, you need to grow your confidence by enhancing your own skills and consistent practice. There is no one who will be able to do it the way you would like it. Seek help once you realize you are not competent enough or have too many commitments to give it the time it requires.
The answers and solutions are rarely far away. Look inside first.


In an effort to make one of our projects successful, we paid large sums of money to individuals we believed would bring in more exposure and sales. We were relaxed knowing that we were assured of our return on investment. Eventually, we did not get the increased sales and what we actually sold could not be attributed to the ‘outside help’ we sought. The sales we achieved were a direct result of the efforts of my core team. The fact is they weren’t being paid as much as the ‘outside help’ but actually put their hearts out into the project.