What is this service?
Consultancy is a somewhat fancy word. It's otherwise known as helping. We help people adapt. Adapt to what? Well, if you've read some of the material on this website, you'll have an idea of what we think you might need to adapt to. But ultimately, its what concerns or excites you that matters.
Often its the threats that command the most of our attention. Climate change, economic depression, resource shortages, pandemics, and the like. And that can't be safely ignored. But there are also exciting possibilities and potentialities that ask us to adapt, in order to meet their requirements. A life more connected to family, soil, food and community, purpose and generosity, and other wonderful things requires most of us to make changes and sacrifices, build skills and systems, and think differently to how we do now.
Our help comes mostly in the form of conversation, teasing out what's possible, what's most important, how to organise and prioritise the work, what investments to make and when, where to obtain the equipment, materials, expertise needed, and so forth.
But it can also take the form of design-collaboration, where we design together certain things you need. It could be structures on your property, or it could be a system. That might be a physical system, like water harvesting, or a workflow system, like a management strategy for food growing. Any of these might require some drawings and documentation, or they might not.
You might be in the process of designing a house, and want to bring resilience-thinking to that adventure. We have the design literacy and drafting skills to feed into that process.
It might also be as abstract as a plan - a plan that states how you will deal with a certain emergency, a staged plan for the development of your land, or a plan that articulates your path to economic freedom.
You can see why we want to name these diverse possibilities simply as 'help'. But that's also how we feel it. It feels like we all need to help each other along the road to resilience, and we are simply putting our hand up to give what we can.
What does it cost?
The first consultation, roughly 1.5 hours, is free. That time is mostly about establishing that our service fits your needs. After that, the work is charged at $75/her, or whatever you can pay.
Whatever you can pay? Yes, what you feel you can manage, and what the service is worth to you. This is based on a principle of gift economics. You can learn more about that here.
If you choose this option, there's a little more complexity to it, but none that ordinary human relationships can't easily handle. As an example, it won't really work to decide you'll get what you can from us for nothing. But then again, if you need what we offer, and can pay only a small fraction of a normal charge, please engage with us - its the relationship that shows the way. If you like, you can read more about the dynamics of 'whatever you can pay', or just get in touch.
Many people find these sorts of conversations awkward. If so, try it anyway. You might be surprised. We believe this kind of exchange is the way of the future for economic relationships, and if that's the case, we all need practice! Get in touch to chat.
Who provides the service?
Hi, my name is Andy Wildman. Your consultation will be with me. I'm a building designer, a design-nerd in general, a self-taught builder, and a writer.
I have a degree, other qualifications, and a professional life I could talk about, but I'd like to get away from the idea of the traditional bio, in favour of a more human approach. My bio probably wouldn't much impress you, anyway.
I come to resilience and adaptation not from a professional path but from a deep and long personal interest. My professional life informs the quality of the work, of course, but its not where the impulse comes from. And because work on adaptation and resilience lies toward the edge of mainstream acceptance, like a lot of people with a heart-felt vision, I've had to derail a safer career in order to bring this work into reality.
If you are uncomfortable with the idea of getting help from me without a demonstration of expertise, you can always take advantage of the 'pay whatever you can' option described above. It might be more a case of 'pay what you feel its worth'. As a side-effect of having minimal interest in expert-status, I'm not offended by working to a lower rate, and our business model allows for that.
Where I am prepared to talk myself up a little, is on the topic of multi-skilling. Now approaching my fifth decade, I find myself with a surprisingly broad array of useful skills, and I've discovered that this Renaissance approach to acquiring new abilities is central to resilience-thinking and adaptive strategy. The future, we believe, will demand this of us. I can help you with skill-building as part of the conversation. And there will be articles coming on generalism as a learned skill in itself, so watch the RESOURCES section for those.
Beyond that, though, for successful work together, its the rapport and the relationship that matters most, and we can't find that until we get together and talk. Get in touch whenever you're ready.