G.00Guides
Decision guides
Before you hire anyone, including us, there is a decision about what kind of help the problem actually needs. These guides answer those questions at the category level: no named competitors, no packaged pitch, an interest declared wherever we have one.
Why these exist
The market sells labels. You are buying a decision.
Consulting, contracting, fractional leadership, transformation, AI partners: the labels overlap, the prices differ by multiples, and the wrong purchase is usually decided before any vendor is met. Each of the 29 guides below takes one of those choices and lays out the structural trade-offs in plain language, the same way we reason through fit in a first call. For the vocabulary the proposals are written in, the consulting glossary decodes the terms of the trade, and the FAQ answers the questions buyers ask us directly.
Two ground rules hold on every page. Comparisons stay at the category level: we name kinds of firms, never competitors. And wherever Praxis has a stake in the answer, the page says so in the first lines rather than performing neutrality; how that honesty discipline runs across the whole site is described in how we work.
The guides
29 decisions, taken seriously.
- G.01Strategy vs managementThe two labels get used interchangeably and priced very differently. What each one actually buys, and which fits the decision in front of you.Read the guide
- G.02Consultant vs contractor vs fractionalThree ways to buy outside help, three completely different accountability models. Which one the problem in front of you actually needs.Read the guide
- G.03Boutique vs Big FourScale buys real things and costs real things. An honest structural comparison, from an independent practice that declares its interest.Read the guide
- G.04Consultant vs in-houseRent the judgment or grow the muscle: the decision comes down to frequency, urgency, and who must own the answer afterward.Read the guide
- G.05Change vs transformationOne names what changes, the other names how people get there. Programs fail predictably when either is bought without the other.Read the guide
- G.06Fractional vs retainerA seat in your company versus judgment beside it: two ongoing models that look similar on an invoice and behave nothing alike.Read the guide
- G.07AI consultant vs implementation partnerOne decides whether and where, the other builds and runs. The incentive difference between them is the whole game right now.Read the guide
- G.08Data strategy vs engineeringDeciding what data is for versus building the machinery that moves it. Buying them in the wrong order is the classic seven-figure mistake.Read the guide
- G.09Consulting vs coachingOne works on the business, the other works on you. Confusing them wastes money in both directions.Read the guide
- G.10Interim vs consultantOne takes the chair, the other advises the chair. The difference is authority, and it decides everything downstream.Read the guide
- G.11SEO consultant vs agencySenior judgment on your strategy, or a production line for your deliverables. The right answer depends on which one your search problem is starved of.Read the guide
- G.12Transformation vs modernizationReplacing old systems is not the same as changing how the business runs. Budgets die in the gap between those two sentences.Read the guide
- G.13What drives costNot a rate card: the six variables that actually move a consulting price, and how buyers influence each one before signing.Read the guide
- G.14Fee structuresThe three ways consulting gets priced, what each one quietly incentivizes, and which fits which kind of work.Read the guide
- G.15Fixed vs T&MThe two classic contracts fail in opposite ways. Knowing which failure your project invites is the real decision.Read the guide
- G.16First-engagement budgetHow to size a consulting budget from the decision at stake rather than from a rate you heard somewhere.Read the guide
- G.17Questions to askTwelve questions that separate rigor from theater, and the answers that should worry you.Read the guide
- G.18Red flagsThe warning signs before signing and after kickoff, and which ones mean renegotiate versus leave.Read the guide
- G.19Writing an RFPMost consulting RFPs select for the best proposal writer, not the best advisor. Here is how to write one that does the opposite.Read the guide
- G.20Evaluating proposalsA proposal predicts the engagement. Here is how to read one for reasoning, staffing, pricing, and the clauses that matter later.Read the guide
- G.21Do you need one?Half the market's problems do not need outside help. A decision test, from a firm with an obvious interest in the answer.Read the guide
- G.22Getting the valueEngagement value is half client behavior. The practices that separate acted-on advice from expensive shelf documents.Read the guide
- G.23When to hire strategyThe five situations where strategy help pays, the three where it wastes money, and the timing signal most buyers miss.Read the guide
- G.24SEO for constructionWhat search visibility actually does for a contractor, which SEO purchases pay, and the specifics generic agencies get wrong.Read the guide
- G.25Board vs advisory boardOne governs with legal authority, one advises with none. Choosing wrong either handcuffs the founder or wastes the advisors.Read the guide
- G.26Marketing consultant vs agencyStrategy and diagnosis, or campaigns and production. The marketing version of a choice most buyers make by accident.Read the guide
- G.27Piloting an advisorHow to test an advisor with a small real engagement before betting a quarter's budget on the relationship.Read the guide
- G.28AI implementation costNot the model: the six cost drivers of real AI adoption, and why the integration and people lines dwarf the technology line.Read the guide
- G.29Strategy vs ESG reportingOne changes how the business operates, the other discloses it. Buying disclosure first is the expensive order.Read the guide
Decided what kind of help fits and want to see whether we are it? Start with the services or go straight to when Praxis is not the right fit, which is the page most firms would not publish.
Bring us the decision itself.
A first conversation is a scoping conversation: what you are deciding, what it is worth, and an honest read on whether we are the right resource for it.
No obligation · a scoping conversation first