Episode #1 - Introduction: An Interview with Your Host

Show Notes

In this special introductory episode, we get to know Kyle, the host of our UX Consultant Podcast. Celebrating her 20th year in business as an independent UX research consultant, Kyle shares her journey, the motivations behind starting this podcast, and what listeners can expect in future episodes. Joined by her children, Roger and Gabriel, Kyle answers some of the most frequently asked questions about her career, offering a personal and heartfelt look into her life as a consultant.

Show Highlights:

  • Introduction to Kyle (00:00:00) - Kyle introduces herself and her company, Usable Interface, and reflects on her 20-year career as an independent UX research consultant.
  • Why This Podcast? (00:02:00) - Kyle discusses the reasons for starting the podcast, emphasizing the need for real talk about consulting, especially in the current economic climate.
  • What to Expect (00:03:00) - An overview of the podcast's format, including interviews with other UX consultants, client appearances, listener questions, and more.
  • Who is This Podcast For? (00:05:00) - Defining the target audience for the podcast: independent contractors, consultants, freelancers, and solopreneurs in the UX field.
  • About Kyle and Her Consultancy (00:07:00) - Kyle answers common questions about her business, Usable Interface, with her kids, Roger and Gabriel, asking the questions.
  • Kyle's Journey into UX and Consulting (00:12:00) - Kyle shares her path from working in a Fortune 500 company to becoming an independent consultant.
  • The Leap into Consulting(00:20:00) - How Kyle transitioned from a corporate job to starting her own consultancy.
  • Finding Work as a Consultant (00:23:00) - The importance of networking, building connections, and establishing credibility through speaking and writing.
  • Challenges and Rewards (00:28:00) - The best and worst parts of consulting, according to Kyle.
  • Advice for Aspiring Consultants (00:30:00) - What it takes to be a successful UX consultant, including mastering your craft, being self-motivated, and building a strong network.
  • Specialization in UX (00:34:00) - Kyle discusses whether to specialize in a particular area of UX and shares her experience as a qualitative UX researcher.
  • Bloopers and Wrap-Up (00:38:00) - Enjoy some funny bloopers with Kyle and her kids. Kyle wraps up the episode and teases the next episode featuring a guest interview with Karen McGrane.

Links and Resources:

Listener Interaction: Have questions or topics you'd like us to cover in future episodes and/or want to share an anonymous consulting story? Submit your questions and stories here: https://bit.ly/uxconsultants-question-story

Don't want to miss an episode?

Kyle Soucy

Founding Principal, Usable Interface

A recognized leader in the industry, Kyle has spent over 20 years conducting UX research to help create intuitive interfaces for a variety of different products ranging from desktop & mobile apps, websites, medical devices, home entertainment systems, and even kitchen appliances.

Kyle is the Founding Principal of Usable Interface (www.usableinterface.com), an independent UX research consulting company specializing in qualitative user research and usability testing. Her industry diverse client list includes companies such as: Comcast, Intuit Inc., McGraw-Hill, Pfizer, and Wayfair to name a few.

Kyle is the Founder of the New Hampshire Chapter of the User Experience Professionals’ Association (NH UXPA) and served as its inaugural President. She has also served as Chair for the Philadelphia Chapter of ACM’s Computer-Human Interaction SIG (PhillyCHI). Kyle is very passionate about the continued growth of the UX community.

When not conducting research, you can find Kyle taking out her stress on the yoga mat or badminton court. She loves the outdoors and enjoys camping, hiking, and spending time on the water doing some stand up paddle boarding. She hasn’t fallen in yet!

Transcript

Kyle: 0:16

All right, let's do this. I'm going to start by telling you a little bit about myself and why I'm doing this podcast. So this year I'm celebrating my 20th year in business as an independent UX research consultant. My company is called Usable Interface, and I offer services in conducting user research, usability testing, research strategy, and training. I'll include a link to my company website in the show notes. But celebrating this 20 year milestone has been a period of deep reflection for me. I would hope that after two decades in business that I'd have it all figured out, but that's just not the case. I do not have all the answers about consulting, that's for sure, but I do have a great network of other independent consultants. And whenever I catch up with other consultants, I always learn something new. I think having peers to learn from is invaluable. And I want to share that with all of you. I'm always striving to become a better consultant as I'm sure most of you are as well. So this is an opportunity for all of us to share stories and learn together. Peter Drucker, who's the quote father of management, he always insisted on asking himself before writing any new book, why this book now? And I think it's a really great question to ask yourself about anything you're putting out into the world. So, Why this podcast now? In my opinion, this is needed now more than ever. With the current economy and all the layoffs in tech, the attractiveness of going out on your own and consulting or freelancing has significantly increased. So with all these new people trying to get their feet wet with consulting, there needs to be some real talk about what to expect and the reality of it. I find there's also a need for a rich source of insights, stories, professional growth, and support for veteran UX consultants. And lastly, probably selfishly, sometimes it's lonely being an independent consultant. And this podcast gives me a reason to reach out more to other people, both inside and outside of my network. Basically I wanted a place to help each other with the challenges of consulting and celebrate the wins. So, what can you expect in this podcast? There are going to be a lot of discussions with other independent UX consultants, and this is really going to be a relaxed, fun, casual hangout for UX consultants to vent, share a laugh, and maybe some war stories. There will be some appearances from clients and other people that I think we can learn a great deal from. And there will even be a chance for listeners to interact here with submitting questions of their own with some Q and a. And if y'all are brave enough, some anonymous consulting stories, if you're willing to share them and there'll be a link in the show notes as well, where you can submit your questions and stories. I want to note here that there's nothing I hate more than making small talk and having superficial conversations. That's not what this is about. It's not what you're going to find here. We're going deep. We're going to have real conversations about the wins and the losses. So who is this podcast for? I think as the name entails. It's obviously for people who have their own consulting business and those that are interested in learning more about it. But I want to take a moment to define Consulting business. There are many terms that can be used to define someone who is a UX consultant. It could be independent contractor or consultant, a self employed freelancer, solopreneur, gig worker. All these terms could be used for business owners who provide set services to a company and are not on the company's payroll, like an internal employee. And for the folks in the United States, to put it in terms of IRS tax forms, this podcast is geared towards people who are 1099, not W 2 contractors. Again, this just means that you are not on the company payroll and you have control over when and how you work. With a W 2 employee, the number of hours and schedules they work are dictated by the employer. And they are given instruction provided with tools, training, equipment, whatever they need to complete the work. That is not the case here. You know, I went back and forth a lot about whether or not to name this podcast UX Freelancers Lounge, but I decided to stick to consultants because I believe it denotes that this is for folks that are in business for themselves full time and not just moonlighting on the side. Now, there's nothing wrong with part time freelancing, but there may not be as much value in this content for those folks. They'll get something good out of it, but this is really for the people that are hanging out that shingle and this is their business. And I want you to know too, that I'm not at all precious about the term consultant. If someone refers to me as a freelancer, I don't really care at all. I know some people do, and I'm sure it'll be a topic of discussion with some of my guests on the show. So that'll be interesting to chat about, but UX is a large umbrella as we all know. So this podcast is for consultants offering services in design, research, information, architecture, content, and other tangential areas like UX coaching and training. Of course, consultants from other fields may get a lot of value out of the content to since there's crossover with many topics. In fact, one of the podcasts I enjoy the most is called the deliberate freelancer, and it's hosted by a freelance writer, but her content really applies to all freelancers. I'll add a link in the show notes as well to this podcast. Now to learn a little more about myself and my consultancy, I thought I'd review the questions that I get asked most often about my business. Before I do that, And just a side note that this podcast is not going to be about just me and my business. I want to reassure you that the rest of the episodes are going to focus on my guests and their stories and experiences. I feel the need to say this because I'm very uncomfortable with self promotion, which we'll talk about, and this podcast is not an ad for my business. It's important for me that you know that. Now, the topic of self promotion is super important and interesting, and we'll definitely delve into that with some of my guests. I'm actually hoping to have a great author on the topic as a guest. So, please So keep your fingers crossed for me that we'll be able to book them. I guess we're going to call this a hopeful Easter egg. So in order to review the questions I get asked most often about my consultancy, I thought I do something fun and a little different and have my kids ask me these questions because they're a big part of the reason why I do. I chose to become a consultant and why I've decided to keep my consultancy going for the last 20 years. So I have two kids and whenever possible, I like to include them in my work. My youngest, who is 11 and you'll meet in a moment is always super curious about what I'm working on and he often has just really awesome insights. He'll look at a presentation or a report that I'm creating and he'll ask. Great questions that often help me get unstuck, and I'm kind of blown away every time this happens. So they've both been having a lot of fun helping me pick out the music and the art for this podcast. My husband is a UX designer, so our kids are very well versed in the world of product usability and user experience, uh probably to a fault. So let's get them in here and let me introduce you. Alright. Hey guys. Welcome to the lounge. Hi. Hey. So, we have Roger here, who's 14. Hi. And we have Gabriel, who's 11. Hi. I was telling the listeners about how you both have been involved in helping me make decisions about the name of the podcast, the cover art, and the music. And it's been a fun project so far. And I'm just super grateful for all your help and for joining me in this introduction where you get to interview me. Oh,

Roger: 9:56

thanks.

Kyle: 9:57

Yeah, same. No, thank you. And how are you guys feeling about interviewing me about my work?

Roger: 10:05

Little nervous.

Gabriel: 10:06

This would be a first. Yeah. I've never done this. Yeah.

Roger: 10:10

I'd be nervous. What are

Kyle: 10:12

you nervous about? That

Roger: 10:14

I'm going to laugh.

Kyle: 10:16

That's okay. Laugh.

Roger: 10:18

Okay. It's

Kyle: 10:18

it's gonna be fun. And, hopefully, maybe you'll learn something about me you didn't know before or hopefully you'll find it interesting.

Roger: 10:26

Yeah.

Kyle: 10:27

I

Gabriel: 10:27

probably

Kyle: 10:27

will.

Roger: 10:28

Alright. Yeah.

Kyle: 10:29

Do you guys want to start by telling the listeners a little about yourself?

Roger: 10:34

Um,

Gabriel: 10:34

sure.

Roger: 10:34

Okay. You can go first, Gabe.

Gabriel: 10:37

Alright. So, well, as you know, my name is Gabe, and, I like football. And, I like sports.

Kyle: 10:47

Yeah. That's great. Okay. And how about you, Rog?

Roger: 10:53

My name is Roger, and I'm really into Magic the Gathering. And I'm really passionate about it. And I also like reading a lot. And just hanging with my friends and stuff.

Gabriel: 11:06

Yeah. Yeah.

Roger: 11:07

And music. Music is a big part of my life.

Kyle: 11:10

It is. Yeah. Yeah. The buds are constantly in the ears. Awesome. Alright. So, I've given you both the list of questions that I get asked most often about my business, and you're going to take turns asking me them. So, who wants to start first? I'll start. I

Roger: 11:32

will. Okay.

Kyle: 11:33

Oh, no, you can

Gabriel: 11:34

go,

Kyle: 11:34

Roger.

Roger: 11:34

Okay. Okay. Okay.

Kyle: 11:37

So Rog, before you start, I want you both to know that you can ask me any additional questions that you'd like. If my answer prompts you to want to ask another question, like a follow up question, you can ask it. Also if you don't understand my answer, or if I use a word that you don't know, Please don't be afraid to ask. That's okay. Okay? Okay. All right. Okay, Roger. You can go ahead.

Roger: 12:06

All right. How did you end up in UX and why did you decide to go out on your own as a consultant?

Kyle: 12:13

Okay, there are two main reasons that I decided to become a consultant. One reason was work related, and the other was personal. So, just to start with the work related reason, I truly just wanted to be trusted to do my job. It's kind of funny how often times in certain organizations, the moment you get hired, you lose all credibility.

Roger: 12:41

Yeah.

Kyle: 12:42

You know, there can be tons of internal politics that get in the way and just keep you from doing good work. In my last internal job, I was working for a Fortune 500 company. Wow. Do you know what that Gabriel: 12:57 yeah, it's one of the top 500 companies in the world that makes a lot of money and it does good, like Amazon.

Kyle: 13:04

It's one of the largest 500 companies in the country. And the list is done by Fortune Magazine, that's why it's called the Fortune 500. So it was a large organization that I worked for. And they would push back a ton, on recommendations, That anybody internally would really have but the moment a consultant walked in making the same Recommendations it was as if the Word of God was spoken. Yeah, and they just they did it You know, and I thought wow, that's what I want to do I want to be that consultant coming into the room and being trusted to Do my job. So so you just want to be responded. I would I would Yeah, yeah, it had, that's right. I wanted to be respected and I was completely burned out by a toxic corporate culture that just seemed to promote the people that weren't rocking the boat. So a lot of folks were just kind of failing upwards and I needed to get out of that environment. And I'm sure this sounds dramatic, but I also felt a lot like I was in a jail while sitting in my cube

Roger: 14:19

in

Kyle: 14:20

the office. Do you guys know what an office cube is? Yeah. Yeah, like, oh, it's just. It's depressing and there was no flexibility at all with my work hours and working from home 20 years ago Was completely unheard of. I know that's changed a lot now, but management at that company They wanted to see the back of your neck at all times I felt a lot like that main character in the movie Thank you Office space, which is one of my favorite movies and I know you guys have not seen it But one day when you're a little older, I think you have to be a little older to appreciate it and to see it but that was me that main character. That's just how I felt like suffocated in a corporate environment and it kind of leads me to the personal reason Why I became a consultant and actually where you guys kind of come into play, right? so flexibility with my work is Extremely important to me and I knew from a very young age that I wanted a family My mom, you know, grandma, you know was a stay at home mom and I I knew that I wanted to do that, but I also knew that I wanted and needed to work. It was always in the back of my mind and it was a worry, you know, when deciding what I was going to major in, in college. And this sadly is not something boys tend to worry about. They're, they're rarely ever worrying about raising kids when choosing their career path.

Roger: 15:58

Yeah, that's true.

Kyle: 16:00

I guess there is some truth to that. And, you know, when I was little, or not even little, but younger and figuring out my career, I always wanted to be a psychologist or a psychiatrist when I grew up. I was absolutely fascinated with human behavior and why people do the things they do, and I still am. So my first major in college was psychology. But I had a computer class as an elective and, technology and programming just came super easy to me. So a professor suggested that I switch my major to computer science. And that's what I did, um, mainly because I knew in the back of my mind that if I wanted to be home with my kids in the future and if I wanted to have kids before I was 30, I could never really fit in a doctorate degree program and a therapy practice as a psychologist. So, I gave up on that dream and I thought that being a computer programmer or developer may work better for my life plans.

Gabriel: 17:04

I can see that, but it's kind of sad because it's almost like you had to choose what you needed to do and not what you wanted to do in that situation.

Kyle: 17:14

Yeah, yeah, kind of sad. And the reason why I thought it would work with my life plans is because my, computer class professor, she actually ran her own business from the basement of her home. One time I missed a testing day, and she said, don't worry, just come to my home, it was right near campus, and you can take it from, My home office. And when I walked in, there were actually cubes in her home office, like people, there was separate entrance, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I'm like, Oh, this is possible. I could do this with this profession. That I didn't see possible with being a psychiatrist.,which probably, maybe I could have. But, at the time I didn't think I could. And you have to remember that at this time, the only people who worked from home were people who own their own business. And I know this isn't novel now with a lot of people working from home since the pandemic, but it was then. It was just really not done. So, working my first job out of school as a developer, I learned really quickly that I didn't enjoy it. Everything we were making was functional, but it was crap on the front end. The front end was terrible and I didn't know how to make it better. I wasn't a designer like daddy. I worked on the back end and the code. So, then I stumbled upon this world of usability. and human computer interaction. It wasn't called user experience 20 years ago, but it is now. But I was immediately hooked. It was like taking my two loves of psychology and computers and putting them together. It's almost like they had a baby, right? Yeah. Um because human computer interaction is all about how do people, think, feel, how do they use devices? Why are they using them in this way? It was fascinating to me and it, it really, spoke to my interest in human behavior, and put that technology slant on it. So it was perfect in that regard.

Roger: 19:20

Awesome.

Kyle: 19:21

Cool. Yeah. So that's how I ended up in UX and, why I wanted to be a consultant.

Gabriel: 19:26

How did you make

Kyle: 19:27

the leap into consulting? Okay. So like I mentioned, I was at that fortune 500 company I got so frustrated with my corporate job that I quit and I took a short contract position. And I thought at the time that It would be better to be a contractor because I wouldn't be quote unquote married to the company You know, i'm only working there like for like a three months six months contract, whatever it was but I quickly learned that full time contracting is pretty much Exactly like full time salaried positions. You still have to sit in a cube 9 to 5 and if you do good work, the contract really never ends. And I used to joke that I knew I was in a contract too long the moment that I got an invitation to a baby shower or some birthday or something else. I'm like, oh gosh, I'm just like an employee.

Roger: 20:23

Yeah.

Kyle: 20:23

So, I desperately wanted to figure out what the secret was to moving towards having my own clients and working from my own office, but I didn't. I didn't know how to do that. And I found someone that was a mentor and they explained that I simply just had to dictate the working arrangement. You know, if someone wants to engage with me you just explain how you work. And I know that sounds pretty obvious. I didn't realize this at all at the time that you can just simply state your working conditions, your working environment, just how you work. If somebody asked to work with me, I would say that's great, I'll be on site for these meetings. I won't be on site for doing this work. And you just kind of lay it all out there. Cool. And I was shocked that I could actually do that, that I had the power to do that. But once I did, I just kind of notified the world that I'm out here as a consultant, multiple gigs at the same time, you know, taking multiple clients. And it just went from there. But it took a while for me to change that contracting and employee mindset. So I started my consultancy six years prior to having you, Roger, before having my first child. And that was, very much planned as well. Because I wanted to have the business established beforehand.

Gabriel: 21:47

So, almost like when you notified to the world, so to speak, like, you're out there, I'm here. It almost gave you like a confidence boost, and like, just, it helped you be better. Kyle: 22:01 Totally, yeah. It was a lot of power in that, to say, I'm out here, hire me, I'm available. These are my services. Yeah.

Roger: 22:09

How do you find work?

Kyle: 22:12

So it's all about my network. I found that finding work is truly about building connections and trust with your colleagues. And I network a lot with other consultants as well, and we refer work to each other. We may compete at times for work, but truly everyone I found in this industry is really wonderful about sharing overflow. When I'm busy and a client is a repeat client and I really value that relationship, I turn to my network and I rely on the people that I trust the most, that I know will hit a home run for that client. And it's really great because I don't want to leave that client hanging if I'm not available. So that tends to work out well. But the way to find work is really making yourself known, speaking a lot of at conferences, writing articles, helps to establish credibility and position you as a thought leader. I typically don't get work right away though, after doing a speaking or writing engagement. It could be a couple of years later when someone contacts me about work after seeing me talk. They could say, a colleague of mine saw you speak at such and such conference two years ago. They thought you were great. And they said, I should ping you about this work. So it's, it's kind of like that it takes a while, but it does help every little bit helps.

Roger: 23:36

I

Kyle: 23:36

I also ran local, UXPA and CHI chapters in New Hampshire and Philadelphia. I volunteer for the IA Conference and I generally just try and stay involved in the industry. Some people ask me what about your website? Do people contact you through the website and I can tell you work does not come from my website. Even though I'm proud of it and my case studies and testimonials on it, cold leads just tend not to go anywhere. It's usually warm leads. People Who contact you and they've in some way heard about you before that usually goes somewhere. But, most importantly, good work leads to more work. So most of my work is repeat clients. Yeah.

Roger: 24:19

Oh, alright.

Gabriel: 24:20

So do you ever think about like, do you ever think about having employees and like wanting them at any times? Or like having a partnership with somebody? Yeah.

Kyle: 24:30

I have absolutely no interest in managing employees. You guys probably know this about me. I have a hard time with confrontation. Good or bad. I've had other people who own design firms come up and share that they envy how I only have to care and feed myself and I, I just don't know that I could handle having to stress about other people's performance. I put a lot. Yeah. on myself. So

Roger: 24:59

yeah,

Kyle: 25:00 I don't know. And honestly, I don't have experience in management. I into consulting without ever managing before. So that would be a learning curve. I've never equated success with growth in terms of head count. To me, success was just staying solo and gainfully self employed. And I've been approached a few times about partnering with other consultants, and I honestly don't even know what that means. I have so many questions about how that could work.

Gabriel: 25:36

You know, oh, okay. Cool

Roger: 25:37

have you ever needed help with your business?

Kyle: 25:40

Yeah. Absolutely. I actually hired a sales coach a very long time ago, like three years into consulting and he ended up firing me as a client. How does that work? Well, sometimes the client relationship is not good and it's not beneficial. We just recognize that. He couldn't help me, and I couldn't really get a lot out of, a lot of, advice from him. So what happened was I couldn't do the things he wanted me to do. And when I tried to do them, it just came off bad and unnatural. So I learned that when it comes to business development and sales, you have to do what feels natural and normal for you. And the tactics that this sales coach wanted me to do at the time were just too aggressive for me. And they just didn't work. And it was just, it just came off bad. So no bad blood, but it just wasn't the right coach for me. And it was a good experience though, to come out of it. Knowing what does work for me and what doesn't.

Gabriel: 26:45

Yeah, I understand. Yeah, and when it comes to need Oh, go ahead. It's like a positive consequence almost.

Kyle: 26:53

Yeah, absolutely. And when it comes to needing help from my business, I mean, that's constant. I'm always striving to improve as a consultant. So in that way, I'm always learning, and I'm always seeking help. And that's really one of the main reasons I'm doing the podcast is to learn more and also to share it with everyone. Cool.

Gabriel: 27:15

What do you like best and least about consulting?

Kyle: 27:20

Well, best is definitely the flexibility and the freedom. Yeah, with my schedule. It's just, When you guys were little putting you on the bus, taking you off of the bus, that was possible. I didn't have to tell my boss that I wasn't available during those times. I just didn't make myself available for meetings during those times. I worked around it. And that's everything to me. That is worth more than money at times, just to have the freedom, of my schedule and to not have to ask permission to take a vacation. Now taking a vacation is difficult cause I do need to be there for my clients and I'm sure that's something we'll discuss in this podcast. But, there is lots of flexibility and freedom.

Gabriel: 28:01

Yeah.

Kyle: 28:02

The worst part about consulting though is, is really the sales for me and the business development. It's hard and it's not. It's not what I enjoy the most about my work. I love doing research, but I don't exactly love getting the research work.

Gabriel: 28:23

It

Kyle: 28:23

can be a bit of a grind at times. Leads don't just fall from the sky. You really have to work for them. Oh, go ahead. I just said, you gotta work for it. Right, right. And surprisingly, that's what's hardest for me. It's not the unpredictable income. I know for some people that's the worst part of consulting, but to me, I actually, I like having control over how much I can make. If I want to make more, I just have to hustle more and it feels more in my control since I'm not limited by a set salary.

Roger: 28:59

Yeah,

Kyle: 29:00

I see.

Roger: 29:01

I get that. What do you think it takes to be a successful UX consultant?

Kyle: 29:09

Well, first and foremost, you have to be a master of your craft. I'm noticing now, because there are a lot of layoffs in the industry, and the economy is a little poor right now, that there's a lot of people jumping in, and they're fresh out of school. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, but I think with consulting and opening up your own business, There are some things you can learn on the job, but there's a lot that you should already know. The basics is one of them. You really need to be a trusted resource and be confident in the strategy and the things that you're suggesting. And I think that only comes with time. So, I mean, five years as a bare minimum working in the industry to me is required. So that's one thing, mastering your craft. You have to be self motivated. You have to be disciplined in your day to get stuff done, because again, you don't have a boss telling you what to do.

Gabriel: 30:03

Yeah.

Kyle: 30:04

And you have to be willing to hustle. You have to have a good network. That's probably number one. When I talk to people who are like, I'm thinking of going out on my own, but I don't really know that many people. It's like, whoa, don't do that. You're not going to go far. You, you have to have Connections. A strong network that's going to, yeah, connections that are going to support you, that are going to be interested in the services that you provide. It's so very important. So you have to build your network. And you do need a good amount of savings. There are going to be slow periods and you don't want to hit a slow period and immediately go, well. Well, that was fun. I guess it's back to getting a real job because I don't have savings to float for a little while.

Roger: 30:49

Yeah.

Kyle: 30:49

You do have to have that. And, lastly, I would say to be a successful UX consultant, you need to do your homework and figure out your pricing. Learn how to write a proposal and an SOW. Um, an SOW is a statement of work. You need to get your contracts in place and possibly a, a marketing plan.

Gabriel: 31:10

Yeah, um, I know I'm going out on a big limb here and Probably most like going out on a tree, but like what about you X in general Attracted you like to it

Kyle: 31:29

well, it was back to what I said before about I really Loved that somebody cares about The experience that an end user is having with a product Because there are so many products that are hard to use like let's take a remote control for example You know how some of them are like wicked complicated You look at it and you're like, I don't even know where to start here and some people are just so frustrated just want to throw it against the wall like and And a lot of times people will blame themselves, right? They'll be like, I'm so dumb. I can't figure this out. And it's like, no, you're not dumb. The product was not made with, you know, thinking about your needs and, and they didn't do anything. It was probably designed by an engineer who doesn't think like the rest of us. Um, and that was a big reason why it attracted me. It's like, yeah, there's a way to design this. So it's easy to use. So it's simple. And it just requires you to sit down and actually observe someone using it and, and assessing their emotions, their thoughts, their feelings as they use it and caring enough about the experience to do that. So the industry appealed to me because it was an industry of people who cared to create. experiences that are better and it's kind of nice to work in an industry where it's my job to kind of make people's lives easier To make them better and that's nice. That really appealed to me.

Roger: 32:55

Yeah, it's gonna make you feel good about yourself

Kyle: 32:57 Now there are times where I'm, you know, some of my clients, you guys know, like, sometimes it can be like, oh wow, I'm working on something really heavy, like an application for cancer patients to make some experience better or pain management or something in the medical, um, sometimes it's, it could be a microwave or, you know, a washing machine. But there are times where the mission isn't really altruistic, it's more just like,

Roger: 33:24 you

Kyle: 33:25

know, make more money. Yeah. You're doing something else, just doing dirty work? Well, you're, it's not doing their dirty work, but it's just helping them make more money, not necessarily making the end user's life better. It's not always great, but most of the time it's usually to help improve the experience. That's good.

Roger: 33:42

All right.

Kyle: 33:44

Do you guys have any other questions?

Gabriel: 33:46

Yeah. Well, I don't know how to say this, but how, like, in all your projects with all your clients? Um, Do you have like a specialty?

Kyle: 34:05

That's a really good question. So, I don't., I will work on anything from a travel website to a medical device to a kitchen appliance to a web application. It really, it goes across all different industries, financial, just everything. And there are some consultants out there that do specialize. And this is probably a topic I'm going to talk about with some of my guests about whether or not you should specialize or not. A lot of times people say it's better if you do. And. I will say that there's some fear around specializing. If I say, okay, from this point on, I am going to be the UX research consultant for just e commerce websites. Then I feel like I'm turning down other work.

Roger: 34:51

Yeah.

Kyle: 34:52

But I can see how you position yourself that way, people will, you'll be top of mind when people are thinking about e commerce stuff. So there's pros and cons to it. I stayed away from it mainly out of fear, to be honest but I did specialize slightly when it comes to my services, I'm what's called a qualitative UX researcher. And that just means that we do moderated interviews like this where we ask follow up questions We do a lot of one on one research versus quantitative UX researchers who do unmoderated research, like surveys with a thousand people. And you're getting feedback, but it's done very differently, and you do a lot of statistical analysis and figuring out things that I typically don't touch. I will do some surveys, but usually it's on a smaller scale. So I am a qualitative researcher, and in that way I do specialize a little bit. Yeah. Okay. Alright. Yeah, but good question. Rog, do you have any questions?

Roger: 35:54

No, those questions answered it for me.

Kyle: 35:57

Alright. I'm curious though, what, if anything, surprised you about my answers?

Gabriel: 36:04

Well, first thing, I didn't know about the whole Fortune 500 company and like that you worked in a cube.

Kyle: 36:13

Yeah.

Roger: 36:13

What surprised me was most was probably learning about though couldn't working conditions there Mm hmm. I like about the difference between working at home and working at home. And one of those Fortune 500 companies.

Kyle: 36:29

And, you know, not all large organizations are dysfunctional or toxic. Some can be really good, really enjoyable. I just did not have good luck. All the internal jobs I ever had were just kind of the same in that regards. Lots of politics and things. But I'm sure there are some that are good. Some people I think are really not cut out to be employees and they, they're really cut out to be an entrepreneur, to have their own business. And I think that's just what I was cut out to do. I always felt that urge to, to be out on my own. And you know, it's funny. I'll say this too. I think for women, a lot of women are pushed out of corporate America and just working internally because in order to have the flexibility that some of them require to have families and trust that's required to do their job, sometimes they have to go into business for themselves in order to have that, that a lot of corporations can't or really won't provide that. And if they did, perhaps they wouldn't lose them to them starting their own businesses.

Gabriel: 37:39

Yeah It was nice having like a big conversation with you I mean, we never we have never really like I don't know just like sat down and just talked felt good. Yeah,

Kyle: 37:54

I Honestly was afraid I'd bore you No,

Roger: 37:59

that's okay. You didn't.

Kyle: 38:01

It was entertaining

Roger: 38:04 yeah.

Kyle: 38:04

Well, awesome. I'm so glad that you guys could do this. I really

Gabriel: 38:09 appreciate it.

Roger: 38:10 Of course.

Gabriel: 38:13

We'll be discussing our payments later, right?

Roger: 38:16

Yeah.

Gabriel: 38:18

Yeah.

Roger: 38:20

20 a minute.

Kyle: 38:21

Yeah. Oh my goodness. We'll just take 20 for the whole thing. I don't, okay, well I don't know that my consulting business is that good. All right, well thank you guys so much for helping me out with this portion of the episode. Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate it. Of course. It was really fun. Oh good, maybe we'll, maybe I'll have you back.

Roger: 38:42

Yeah.

Kyle: 38:42

Please. All right, bye. Bye. All right. That wraps up the introduction to this podcast. Again, I'm really hoping this will be a fun and laid back hang, and I hope you'll continue to join me. Stay tuned for the next episode where I'll be hanging out in the lounge with Karen McGrane to chat all about her extensive consulting experience. I know she'll have a lot of great wisdom to share with all of us, and I'm super excited for it. Till then, take care. 39:14 Cue the blooper reel.

Kyle: 39:17

so let's, um, get, um, 39:20 Single and ready to mingle. And Gabe, nobody can see you, buddy. Your hair looks great. You don't have to worry about it. Do you now? Okay. Alright, so, um, Any questions for me before we start? Nope. Do you need to go to the bathroom? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay, go. That's fine. That's totally fine. No, no, no. That's, that's totally cool. Go ahead.

Kyle: 39:55

I'm refreshed now.

Gabriel: 39:57

Did you close the door completely? Um, let me see. Oh, whoops!

Roger: 40:03

What do you think it takes to be a successful U. S. consultant, UX consultant?

Kyle: 40:08

careful, careful. Okay, that's your microphone.

Gabriel: 40:11

What?

Kyle: 40:11

That's your microphone, be careful.

Gabriel: 40:15

You ready to start? Yeah. I need to prepare for my voice. Alright. Alright. I'm ready.

 

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