Hello! A while ago, after another 90 minutes spent sitting in a meeting staring at an excel spreadsheet on a big screen, about a project that we have been discussing for almost 2 years with ZERO progress, I came home feeling a sense of dread and anxiety at the prospect of this being my Every Tuesday for the next years. Never the need for facilitation has been more obvious! I think that's when I realised I wanted to invest in becoming a facilitator. I am building my business, but I would love to be able to do something in my current role to help my own team before I leave. I tried to mention this to my line manager, volunteering to arrange a few sessions to kick start this project. To the surprise of no one - or we would not be here - they are incredibly reluctant to relinquish the obsessive control over their meetings. I think there is also an element of tension here as I would have to call myself out of the decision process and let the rest of the team decide. I would frankly happily give away my ideas on the project if we could progress with someone else's ideas. Anyone has successfully navigated this situation? Any tips to persuade people of the importance of facilitation or should I spend my energies on the already converted?

Hi everyone, please I need your help on this one. I’m a fresh graduate and I have an opportunity to return to the university where I got my first bachelor degree to organise a design thinking workshop. The workshop will be will be for 96 students split into 8 groups of 12 & the workshop will hold for 2 days. The students have no previous know-how of design thinking and at the end of the workshop they need to pitch a product/service idea to a jury (like the series Dragon’s Den). Please I’ll appreciate any help & tips regarding how I can make this a successful experience for both the students and my self. It’s a big opportunity for my career and I really want to make the best out of it. Thank you in advance.

Hey Workshoppers! If you, like many consultants, struggle a little with pricing and billing with your clients - I think this video will answer a lot of your questions. It's how we at AJ&Smart moved from hourly billing (and having clients nitpick every dollar) to package pricing (and having clients not even question the price). I think it's the most complete explanation I've ever put together of how we do it and I hope you find it valuable. Happy to answer any questions you have after watching! Cheers, Jonathan P.S. Yes i still had braces when I shot that video :D

Going right for the dirty word: Money! I have been asked to facilitate a one-day event. I will need additional information to understand what is required, what type of event it is, how they want it run and so on. My question is simply: how do you estimate how to price your work? Days of preparation + delivery? Organization's size? How big the audience is? I'd be interested in knowing how others approach it. (I usually added up delivery + preparation, but I tend to massively underestimate the prep and the associated time. Are there other parameters you consider?)

Hey all, I'm curious to know what other business owners do when it comes to investing profits back into the business (vs. taking it out as revenue). As context, I run a small business (me, my wife, a VA) and we had a really solid year last year (gross revenue north of £500k with a very solid profit margin as we are a lightweight, service-based biz). We use the "Profit First" operating model, meaning we pay ourselves first, so we draw a nice salary and also pay ourselves quarterly bonuses when our "profit" pot has extra money. Now we're winding down the year, trying to think about investments we could make to grow and improve the business (customer research, website development, content strategy, etc.) A quick Google leads me to believe the range is around 2.5% to 5% of profit for B2B and slightly higher, maybe 5-10% for B2C. But I'm much more curious to hear from fellow business owners on a similar path. Anyone out there? Thanks!