Stick Out Your Tongue and Say, "aaaaaahhhhh . . ."

My father was a something of a country doctor, a general physician and surgeon in a small town. He had office hours where you just dropped in (for $5 -- for house calls, and he made plenty, it cost $7 or $8, if I recall).

He had a number of patients who came regularly with one complaint or another, but who benefited mostly from "going to the doctor's office". Often elderly, these were individuals who didn't have any serious ailments, but who, under the guise of "treatment", actually dealt with a lot of non-medical issues.

Going to the doctor's office meant they got out of the house (where they often lived alone). It meant they sat in the waiting room and chatted with the staff (who worked there for decades, of course, and knew everyone), and with similar patients, with similar complaints and similar life concerns.

Then they got in to see my father, and while he was checking them out, he was also talking with them, finding out what was new, and what was worrisome, in their lives.

The point is, patients used the office visit as an opportunity to deal with a wide range of issues, only a few of them medical. Sometimes, the doctor -- and the nurse, and the receptionist, and the other waiting room patients -- could help. Other times, although everyone wanted to be helpful, it wasn't something that could be fixed in the medical environment.

A freelancer who offers training services has to develop good diagnostic skills. An awful lot of your 'patients' will present 'non-medical' problems.

Sometimes your client has a need that can be addressed very effectively by educating employees in better practices. Sometimes training is part of the solution, but other things about the way the company works will have to change at the same time.

And surprisingly often, your client will propose a training solution that you know, if you're experienced, if you're good at this, that you know will not provide any relief. The problem is almost entirely elsewhere in the operations -- it is a management problem, or a systems problem, or a problem with a product or service they offer.

Those 'cases' are the tough ones. Sometimes training can help a little, even if it can't produce the results you would like. But other times, it might more sense to walk away, depending on what you want to get out of your own work.

Some people find it easy, for a while, at least, to take the money and run. "I'll give them a good training product, and if they can't take advantage of it, that's their problem." Indeed, these practitioners may end up charging for the same 'cure' over and over, because they're just addressing one symptom without going after the underlying problem.

That can be profitable, in the short run, anyway. But it's not what I turned freelance to do. When I worked in a corporation, years ago, taking money to do things that probably wouldn't work, well, that really was the problem of someone else higher in the organization.

But now I can take money to do things I think will make a difference, make life a little better for my client. If I can treat their ailments with good instructional design, that's great. If I can't cure them, but I can make them better, and suggest some supporting 'lifestyle changes' that will make a big difference, I can do that.

What I can't do is give them a placebo and charge them for a miracle drug. And that means I take the diagnosis stage of the relationship very seriously so that we can address what we're treating, and how, early in the discussions.

I don't know whether that is the best solution for keeping my cash flow as healthy and robust as possible, but it works for the rest of me!