"The Accra Business Code: How not to get got by taking short term losses on your own terms".

Why people hire you:

Clients in Accra (to a large extent Ghana) do not call you to come and solve their problems with your expertise.

Doing that through a proper process usual takes a lot of time and effort on you and the client's side so they most likely see you as an overpriced time waster.

You just be long guy.

To the clients they already have the solution but not the time so they need you for your time.

They'll micromanage the living daylight out if you because "it just a simple job" and "you are being long".

They don't have the information you need for your work but "don't look there".

Your diagnosis of the problem is considered irrelevant till it's time to pay...

... and then "you are unprofessional" since you didn't force them to give you the information that they clearly don't have because they are not serious.

They want buga buga so your documented step by step process is just "mere formality".

They are not open to the solutions you want to propose after a proper diagnostic process because they know what they want and anything different from that, even though far better than their ill processed results, is simply not it because they didn't hire you to solve a problem.

So if you are thinking the amount of money you make from an engagement is based on the value you create through the solutions you provide for clients major pain points you are playing yourself.

In most cases they pay you because the like you and not for the work you do!

People hire who they are related to first, who they know personally second, who they like or who they think has a solid portfolio so your process counts for nothing in a brief development/strategy session.