Expertise

People seek out specialists because they bring unique experience, insight and perspectives that deliver the highest calibre of expertise. That said, busy specialists generally don’t contribute to public forums or discussions outside their professional working environment.

Engaging a specialist directly allows recipients to leverage invaluable knowledge and insight unavailable elsewhere. Many learn the hard way that lesser sources deliver time-and-money-wasting misinformation and nonsense, leading to rabbit holes and disappointing results.

Get the best advice you can find from Mike, and please, stop quoting forum posts as authorities. Only the guys who actually work, live and breathe this stuff really know.

Jon S

Expectation & Entitlement

Customers routinely pick my brains for advice and recommendations. We deliver advice free from conflicts of interest, media hype, nonsense and sales pressure, informed by deep experience with an incredible array of equipment and music.

This brings many benefits to those seeking our expertise, and our advisory service attracts constant enquiries from around the world. But, no matter how small enquirers think their questions are, they all take time and energy to engage with and answer.

Time and energy = money, for all of us. No matter how entitled to assistance some imagine themselves to be, we must all be respectful of people’s time. Fifteen years of best practice, 2.5 million website views, and over half a million words of completely free content say we don’t owe anyone anything. Acting like we do guarantees we won’t be able to help.

Examples

G: ‘G’ sought technical assistance with his expensive Sansui amplifier. When I suggested he purchase discussion time, G exploded: “F*** you, I’m not going to pay you.” Alright then, though I’m guessing G gets paid for his time in his place of work…

K: ‘K’ read my KD-600 turntable articles and sought improvement advice for his KD-600. When I suggested he purchase a consult, K threatened that he knew “Someone in the Australian Tax Office” (LOL). K tried to obtain my help some years later, hoping I’d forgotten. I haven’t.

M: ‘M’ actually purchased a 30-minute consult, which yielded outstanding results in the form of a game-changing amplifier purchase, but angrily and erroneously claimed he’d “Paid for 60 minutes but only received 20”. I sent proof of his 30-minute purchase and 50-minute assistance but received no apology.

Exchange

With our pre-paid advisory service, fair-minded advice seekers pre-purchase consults tailored to their needs, a fair, sensible, flexible approach aligned with our core values of maximum quality and value, and minimum wastage.

Mike … you, of course, are a gem. We are so lucky to have someone as passionate, intelligent, ethical and hardworking in little ol’ Perth.

David H

Paying fairly for a service supports hard-working specialists and properly values a specialist’s time. It reduces time/energy/goodwill-draining interactions and fosters positive, mutually beneficial exchanges with good people. Expert advice pays for itself, of course, saving time and money and delivering the best possible results.