The Expert Advantage: How Learning to Bike at 39 Taught Me About Professional Consulting
Lia Grimberg, CLMP?, MBA
Loyalty Program Consultant| CEO | Financial Services, Retail, Ecommerce | MBA | Personalization, CRM, Lifecycle Marketing | Writer and Speaker | Ex The Bay, Loblaw, Home Depot, LoyaltyOne, American Express
"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear", Tao Te Ching.
No matter how tempted you may get, some work is better done by a professional who specializes in this field. You may get a friend or an employee to help. You may even have the tools and watch enough webinars (or YouTube). But oftentimes, you need to leave things to a specialist. Hire a professional. Get yourself a consultant. Not the $1M Big 6 consulting firm that will build you a very fancy deck that is not actionable. But a small, scrappy firm that will work with you every step of the way to make you successful.
Let me tell you a story - a true story.
I was 39 years old. It was a Monday afternoon in July. I just dropped off my baby girl (7 months old) with my husband.
I was at my son's summer bike camp. And no, I was not there to pick him up.
I was there for a private lesson with a TEENAGE instructor to finally learn to ride a bike. I was terrified.
"How did I get that far without learning to ride a bike?", you may ask.
Background
I don't know why I didn't learn as a child. Perhaps it was because my parents feared for my safety: I was a sickly child and accident-prone. Perhaps they were busy with other priorities, including moving across the world, but that didn't happen until I was 11. I am just not sure.
Riding a bike was not a priority as a teen in Canada. Although all my friends knew how to ride a bike, none of us immigrant children owned one of our own. We walked or we took the bus. No big deal.
Eventually, I learned to drive and got my mom's hand-me-down car (until I crashed it, but that's a story for another time). I didn't need a bike. I either had my own car (until I didn't) or could catch a ride.
The truth was that I was scared. I was very sheltered as a child - I was afraid of going fast and getting out of control. I don't like those tickles in your belly that you get when you go fast. I stay away from roller coasters.
Why didn't I learn to ride a bike as an adult?
Attempt # 1: Hire a Friend
I tried. First with husband number 1. Then with husband number 2.
From both of these experiences, I can attest that learning a new skill from a spouse is a BAD idea.
Attempt # 2: Get Tools and Try DIY
For the next step on my bike-riding learning journey, I decided on a DIY approach. That's right, I bought adult training wheels for my bike.
Let me tell you. Adult training wheels are not like children's training wheels - mainly because they weigh 70 lbs. I'm not even kidding.
Can you picture a woman in her 30s, in a bike helmet, attired in knee and elbow pads, manoeuvering an unwieldy 70lbs+ bike on a park path (and falling ungracefully) while you are enjoying your ride?
I can also report that this attempt was also unsuccessful.
I was ready to give up on ever riding a bike.
Attempt #3: Hire an Unlikely Professional
Then I enrolled my son in a summer bike camp when he was 6. On day 2, he was off his training wheels. By the end of week 2, he finished Level 1. By the end of week 3, he finished level 2 and was riding independently. By the end of the summer, he was a pro.
I was envious of his progress. Could I learn from their method too?
Unfortunately, I could not start that summer as I was pregnant, so I waited a year.
This brings us back to that same July afternoon. My 7-year-old son and I were taking lessons from the same bike camp at the same time. Both our teachers were 14 years old. How embarrassing for me. But I was determined.
We started with glides. Then eventually I learned to pick up my feet. To touch the pedals. To put my feet on the pedals. To pedal while being supported. To pedal a little while not being supported. To go straight. To turn left. Turning right was not happening. I quipped about not being an ambi-turner. My teacher was not familiar with Zoolander ??♀?. I fell. My husband and kids brought me ice. I got up again. I learned to turn left. I biked on my own.
I am by no means a great bike rider. I can go a km or two, max. But I am so proud of what I accomplished by going with a bike teacher who even at 14 specialized in teaching people (not just kids) how to ride a bike. Now I can tell my kids that
Fast forward 3 years to when my daughter turned 4 and we enrolled her in the same camp. Her teacher was MY teacher from when she was a baby. What are the odds?
Why did this Approach Work?
Why Am I Telling You This?
If you are looking to design or revamp your loyalty program, you may be tempted to hire someone or get the tech and try to do it yourself.
I have seen that movie and believe me, you do not want to go down that route.
This is how you end up with a few problems, such as:
This is why hiring someone (e.g. Radicle Loyalty ) who works on loyalty all day, every day makes a lot more financial, business, and logical sense.
#consulting #entrepreneur #loyalty #loyaltyprogram
Consultant and Advisor, Customer Loyalty and Engagement
4 周Great lesson, well told. Thanks!