Cut to the chase: what services are you offering?

You ask a question, or need information for a specific purpose like putting together a franchise, getting a permit or winning a point in liigation.

We source, collate, process, prioritise and comprehend relevant facts, generally to a standard which would stand up in court or convince a public servant. We systematise these facts into useable information to provide you with a proper answer to the question you originally asked. In short, we distil your essential concepts into longhand. In many cases, this requires us to work on a concept and develop it, laterally - for example, a question of “How can I sell my carbon credits in small lots?” led to the development of Trade Carbon Direct, a partnership between Elephant Concepts and a group of New Zealand foresters.

That’s a bit broad, isn’t it?

Not really. One can’t expect to be able to comprehend all information, so we concentrate on areas which formed the basis of our Director’s 13-year long management of his own law firm and subsequent development of a successful importing business and carbon trading platform: business, finance, bankruptcy, franchising, town planning, import permits, recycling, environmental matters and “downshifting”.

Information? That’s content. Do we still need information?

Information is based on facts, and whether or not you need facts depends what you’re trying to do.

If you’re marketing, you probably need to take a strategic approach to crafting breakthrough technology products, services and experiences that people enjoy using, and to assess the needs and desires of existing and potential customers. In order to do this, you would conduct user research to gain insights into customers’ motivations, desires and frustrations, and synthesize market, technology and cultural trends to determine product, brand and marketing strategy. And you’d come up with the five most marketed products in the world: mobile phones, porn, recreational drugs, cola-drinks and hamburgers.

If you’re trying to convince a court, the customs service, or a city planning department; if you’re trying to strip away the veneers of paper transactions to find where the money went; if you need a business plan good enough to borrow money on, or if you actually want to do something about your environmental footprint rather than just feeling good about it, then you don’t need to “enhance experiences” - you need to deliver facts. Clearly and concisely.

What are the benefits of outsourcing “thinking” and information sourcing?

Well, we may be able to do things that you either can’t do, or don’t have the time to do:
•

• We have excellent, demonstrated communication skills both in writing, and in presentation formats. We can work up a policy, or a proposal, or a tender document, easily and quickly because we are skilled in distilling your essential concepts into longhand.
• We understand the role of facts in litigation. Our idea of litigation support isn’t just ticking boxes. We’ll distill the essential factual issues and find the experts to provide opinions on them. Whether the opinions are for you or against you, we can use them as a basis to establish a methodology for ascertaining loss and proposing settlement.
• Often, particularly in cases of inside fraud or pending insolvency, you’ve tried to find the answer and haven’t been able to. That’s how fraud works... it cons you into believing that the circumstances are other than they actually are.
• There may be more than one way of observing data and compiling facts. the facts may fit together in more than one way or support more than one hypothesis. You’re in the middle of things and might not be able to see things objectively. But we will.
• We have the ability to focus on our core competencies of environmental, administrative, legal and financial domains. You may be good at what you do but running a business needs a whole different skill set.
• In terms of environmental redesigns of workplaces, we have the project management skills, tools, and methodologies necessary to a successful, on-time and on-budget project.
• We’re used to dealing with bankruptcies and liquidations - that was our principal's job for 13 years. We’re adaptable to real-time business situations and can navigate challenging work environments.

Isn’t asking people to outsource their thinking a bit pretentious?

I’m not saying that people shouldn’t think at all. Most large organisations have departments which think about various specialist areas: research into new products, or marketing, or the science of things, or financial projections. Smaller organisations don’t, and people can often be so trapped in their own subjective realities that they can’t see objective truths, especially if their businesses are losing money hand over fist. And because the world’s now so complex, you can’t have experience in everything, and it’s more efficient and cost-effective to outsource the research and planning of some areas of your business, particularly the painful ones like losing money, or staff strealing from you, or the non-traditional ones like environmental concerns to people who’ve been focussing on them for years.

Can you give some examples of outsourced thinking?

• Business development
• Finding where the money went
• Company Research
• "How can I re-use this scrap material/ recycle this waste/ do this task more efficiently in terms of energy and waste?"
• Competitive corporate intelligence on a rival’s, or a potential partner’s activities, strategic focus, financial performance, prospects and success.
• Analyses of companies and their peers to provide direction on their performance and growth potential.
• Due-diligence support in the areas of vendor and business partner evaluation, prospect evaluation, and prospective outsourcing and supplier relationships.
• “What business activities are permitted within my planning zone and how can I bring my activities within the scope of permitted activities?”

What does it cost?

Casual rate $140 per hour or $1050 per 8 hour day.
Contract rate $1000 per 8 hour day. All prices include GST.

"Standby work" at 25% off.

Performance guarantee: I don't take on more work than I can handle. Your work will be done within one hour per day tolerance of stated time-frame or I'll cut my fee in half.

If it's late by more than 50%, that is one day for each two promised days, and I can't show a very good reason, then it's free.

Can I make a booking? Sure... see my list.