Liz Ryan

THE TEN PILLARS OF FEAR-BASED MANAGEMENT 1. Attendance policies for salaried employees 2. Stack ranking 3. Bell curve performance reviews (limiting the # of folks who can be excellent, above average, etc). 4. PIPs 5. Insubordination as a concept (much less a disciplinary issue)

HOW MUCH SHOULD I CHARGE FOR CONSULTING? Q. Hi Liz, I’m intrigued at the idea of starting a side consulting business because people ask me for help all the time. I either help them for free or tell them I’m too busy. I could be working with some of these people as clients and getting paid for it, but I always get stuck on the question, How much should I charge them? A. Great question! “How much should I charge for my services?” is one of the biggest questions people ask when they’re considering stepping into independent consulting. What’s interesting is not that we have that question – it’s a very natural question – but that we get so freaked out about it. That’s because stepping into consulting feels like an identity shift. I don’t know about you, but my whole life I was told that entrepreneurism is only for mavericks and risktakers - not a regular person like me. Of course, it isn’t true. Two or three generations ago nearly everybody was an entrepreneur (farmers, grocery store owners and so on) – we just didn’t have a fancy French word to describe ourselves. I can tell you approximately what people in your area of expertise get paid for consulting, but I can also tell you this – you’ll probably start out by underpricing your services and then quickly cure yourself of that when you see how much value you deliver. Across all industries and specialties, independent consultants in the US typically charge between $100 and $300 per hour. For your very first client or two, you might charge less than that just to get your sea legs. As your confidence increases, you receive more glowing testimonials and your services become more defined, your rates will go up. After all, if you’re going to invest time and energy in something, you deserve to get paid appropriately for it. One of the great things about consulting is that, unlike at a full-time job, you decide what your services are worth. I’m teaching a free class, How to Launch Your Consulting Business in 8 Weeks, to walk you through the process of planning and launching your business. Here’s the link to my free class How to Launch Your Consulting Business in 8 Weeks : lizryan.easywebinar.live/consulting

Would you take this offer? Dear friends, In my mid-20s, I wanted to give up my city apartment and move to the country. Driving with a friend, we passed a cute apartment complex about 30 miles outside the city with a “for rent” sign out front. I scribbled down the number, called the landlord, and set up a showing. My city lease was ending, so I brought my friend back to tour the place. We fell in love with it - brand new kitchen, floods of sunlight, and immaculate hardwood floors. When the landlord told me the rent was nearly the same as my city apartment for double the space, I was smitten. “Let’s do it," I said. "Shall we look at the lease?" “Oh, I don’t use a lease," said the landlord. "It’s not required out here. A handshake is all I need. You’ve got a stable job and a great rental history, so that works for me." “No lease?" I asked. "The lease protects both of us." “No, a lease locks both of us down," he replied. "If I ever choose the wrong tenant by mistake, I need to be able to get out of it fast." “So, if you just decided you wanted to rent this place to someone else, you could give me a 30-day notice and tell me to get out?" I asked. “That’s right," he said. “But why would I? You’re a nice person. If you don’t want the place, don’t take it. It’s a fantastic apartment at a great price.” I didn’t rent the place, because the apartment and the landlord are fictional. This is an allegory about employment-at-will. You wouldn’t rent an apartment if you could get tossed out at any time because the landlord doesn’t like your face or your taste in decorating. You would never feel secure in a living situation where you could be randomly ejected. Yet, that is how the vast majority of working people in the US go to work every single day. Only about 10% of working Americans are protected by a union contract, and an even smaller percentage have individual employment agreements. Most of us just hope our employers don’t decide to get rid of us this week. It is a ridiculous and untenable standard. People in other industrialized countries are horrified to learn that the US has no basic worker protections. It puts you and your family at far too much risk. That’s why, for years, I have recommended that every working person start their own side business, no matter how small, to reduce dependency on a single employer. Like the slippery landlord, I wouldn’t trust any employer who tells you they value you but won’t give you a piece of paper that makes it true. If you enjoy solving problems and getting paid for your expertise, you can build a consulting business while you still have options to give yourself ultimate flexibility. I'm teaching a free class called How to Launch Your Consulting Business in 8 Weeks to show you exactly how to take back the reins of your career. Here’s the link to learn more: lizryan.easywebinar.live/consulting

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THE BEST LAYOFF INSURANCE? Hi Liz, I got laid off in 2024. It took me seven months to start working again. My current job seems relatively secure, but what job is actually secure these days? I can’t afford to go without an income for months if I get laid off again. I’m thinking about starting a consulting business on the side as layoff insurance. If I already have the side business and some regular clients, getting laid off would be inconvenient, but not devastating. What are your thoughts? Thanks, Parker Hi Parker, Launching a side business is a great way to create “layoff insurance” for several reasons. As you point out, if you have revenue coming in from your side business then a layoff would be unfortunate, but not catastrophic. You can ramp up the consulting business at that point and keep it going during your job search and beyond – or make it your full-time thing. But that’s not the only form of “layoff insurance” your side business can provide. Your consulting business could be the quickest path to your next full-time job. One of your consulting clients could hire you, or they could refer you to someone they know. Consulting on the side is the most high-powered networking there is, because you prove your capabilities through your consulting work. That’s a very different relationship from networking that revolves around coffee or lunch. As a consultant, your professional skills will grow much faster than they would otherwise. That’s because every client organization uses different tools, follows different strategies and teaches you to respond to different circumstances. That’s not only great for your résumé but also for your business knowledge, interpersonal skills and confidence. One reason I am so passionate about helping people launch consulting businesses is that as a career coach I have worked with hundreds of people who were laid off. Very few of these folks had any kind of business on the side before they got laid off. Losing their job made them feel as though they had fallen from a high peak to the bottom of a canyon. They felt like they were starting over. Once you have a consulting business you may get laid off, but you will never hit that canyon floor. Your side business becomes your foundation. No one can take your business away from you. The contacts you make as an independent consultant are yours. They do not belong to your employer. That control over your income, your direction, your career and your life is priceless, and it’s the critical skill for all of us to cultivate in 2026 and beyond. Planning and launching your own consulting business is not hard. It just takes a little attention and focus. If you begin the process now, you can be working with paying clients in September. I’ve created a free class called How to Launch Your Career Coaching Business in 8 Weeks. Here’s the link: lizryan.easywebinar.live/consulting

I absolutely hate crap like this. You’re teaching your employees to be “high agency?” If you want people to have agency, have the courage to give them contracts so they can tell you the truth instead of, “Thank you for the lesson, master.”

Your whole life, you've been trying new things that looked scary right up until you did them - and then they weren't scary anymore and after a little while, they were fun. Here are the things that scare people away from starting their own part-time or full-time consulting business - and why not one of them is actually anything to be worried about. It's all in this week's newsletter! #career #control #consulting #sidebusiness #coaching Here's the link to my free class How to Launch Your Consulting Business in Eight Weeks: lnkd.in/gTQmrTz5 linkedin.com/posts/lizryan_…

My wife and I own Forest Park Pharmacy, and we don't accept insurance. None of it. That decision is exactly why we could fix what happened to a patient today. A family came in wanting to transfer their kid's antibiotic to us. The child had already STARTED the course. Then, mid-treatment, the insurance company decided the last 14 tablets suddenly needed a "prior authorization" before the other pharmacy could hand them over. A sick kid, halfway through an antibiotic, and the answer was "please hold." The drug is linezolid. It's a generic. It's been generic for over a decade. It treats serious gram-positive infections — the kind you do NOT want to stop antibiotics in the middle of, because an interrupted course is how you breed resistant bugs and end up right back where you started. So why the hold-up on a cheap, common generic? Follow the fake math. Insurance and the PBMs behind them price drugs off a number called AWP — "Average Wholesale Price." People in my industry have another name for it: "Ain't What's Paid." It's a benchmark number, not a real-world cost. On paper, the AWP for just those last 14 tablets is about $2,500. My cash price for the same 14 tablets? $18. Read that again. The system that's supposedly "protecting" this family from cost is the same system that inflated an $18 medication into a $2,500 line item, then slapped a prior auth on it to "review the expense" THEY invented. They manufactured the problem, then billed everyone for the privilege of solving it — and made a sick kid wait while they did it. This is the whole game. When a drug is priced honestly, there's nothing to "manage." When it's priced off a fantasy benchmark, you get spread pricing, PA paperwork, pharmacy phone trees, and delayed treatment — all dressed up as cost control. Here's the part nobody tells you: roughly 90% of prescriptions are low-cost generics. For the vast majority of what people pick up every day, running it through insurance does two things — raises the real cost and risks delaying your care. That's it. That's the value-add. That's why we fired the insurance companies. No middleman deciding your kid can't finish their antibiotics on schedule. No fake prices. Just the real number, on the shelf, today. The medication was always cheap. The insurance was the expensive part.

Granny has a few things to say about the way things are, and the way they used to be – in this week’s newsletter: linkedin.com/pulse/grandmas…

Why are some people more outraged by someone using food stamps to buy a treat for their kids than outraged that billionaires don’t pay taxes?

Let’s reflect on the fact that when people were dying in droves from Covid employers were most concerned that unemployment benefits were extended, meaning everyone wasn’t forced to take their crappy jobs to stay alive

Automated AI-generated comments on LinkedIn have that distinctive “I’m using words to say nothing” vibe

No woman is born of a man’s rib. Every man is born of a woman’s womb. One of the patriarchy’s oldest lie is crowning the father as the lifegiver.

Here's the link to join: @lizryanhumanworkplace" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">m.youtube.com/@lizryanhumanw…

Join me tomorrow night - Wednesday, June 3 at 7:00 pm ET - for a YouTube Live strategy session on how to navigate working under a bad boss. Bring your questions, stories and observations - everyone is welcome!

It doesn't matter: 1) How lofty your job title is 2) How much you get paid, or 3) How prestigious your company is. Here's what matters: Are you driving your own career? If you are, you have control. If you're not, you're someone else's puppet. That's terrifying. You deserve better!

Performance reviews are time-wasting, insulting nonsense raconteur.net/talent-culture…

One evening in the nineteen-seventies, my dad hosted a fancy business event on behalf of his company at one of the university clubs in Manhattan. He was a magazine publisher. The event was an annual bash for his team and their most important advertisers and clients. The event was going wonderfully when my dad got an urgent call from the lobby imploring him to come down and deal with a situation right away. He took the elevator down to learn that the ground floor staff had prohibited a guest bearing an invitation (a client) from entering the elevator to join the party. Why did they do that? Because she was a woman, and she arrived alone. At that time, the club did not allow women beyond the lobby unless they were accompanied by a man. The club concierge and ground floor staff had told the woman she could not enter, so she laid on the floor on her back and waited for something to happen. What a badass! My dad came downstairs, told the club staff they were being ridiculous, his company had not agreed to the no-unaccompanied-women rule, and my dad and his client went upstairs. He came home very embarrassed. He said, this nonsense will be over by the time you grow up. But it isn’t over. All-male panels make decisions about women’s health. When my dad threw that party where a woman had to lie on the floor in protest, we had control over our bodies. Now, we don’t. Around the same time, a constitutional amendment was drafted to give women in the US the same rights as men. That amendment is not in force today. My rights and every woman’s rights begin and end at each state line. Can you imagine? Can we call ourselves a civilized country? We should be moving ahead but instead, we are hurtling backwards.

Those poor @Reds players every time I see them in those bright red pajamas I think of my first grade son's sleepover birthday party

Interviewers ask, what is your greatest weakness? You are expected to share your innermost feelings after knowing them for 10 seconds. It’s a pure power play I do not feel powerful in my own life, but the little bit of authority this organization gives me (as a person who interviews candidates) allows me to ask questions it’s normally unacceptable to ask a person unless you and they are very, very close. It’s almost as though the entire interview process is structured to reinforce the presumed unequal power relationship between the interviewer and the candidate.

Holiday weekends are PROOF we can have 4 day work weeks and get the same amount of work done.