October 19, 2026

Follow-up re What if my prospects are confused by options?

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Fellow list member Joshua McNary wrote in to share an insightful follow-up to my last message (shared with permission, edited lightly for clarity):

What strikes me here is “recipe” = knowledge and “to you” = implementation.

If I am running a pizza shop, it implies implementation as part of the outcome.

If I am running a pizza shop advisory business, it implies knowledge as part of the outcome.

Clients can be confused about what kinda of shop I am running, and I can attract the wrong clients, but the above facts remain unchanged.

Also, the pizza shop advisory business is a much smaller addressable market which is harder to find, so you sometimes end up pitching to pizza shop customers “by accident”.

--JM

Well said!

So how does this apply to your business?

If most of your leads come to you expecting implementation work, it’s probably because you’re sending “implementation vibes” instead of “advisory vibes” in your public-facing material.

If you WANT to sell implementation, then there’s no problem.

But if you want to sell advisory, you need to work on making a different impression when strangers first encounter you.

Yours,

—J

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