There’s an old saying in advertising that goes, “Don’t hire a dog, then bark yourself.” It’s one of those deceptively simple lines that packs more wisdom than a 400-page business strategy manual. Credited to Donald Ogilvy—often called the Father of Advertising—it’s also the perfect message for companies who hire outside help, then proceed to ignore everything they’re told. If that’s your game plan, save your money. Or better yet, send it to us. We’ll bark at the moon for you.
At Offsite Innovators, we’ve spent decades barking on behalf of offsite construction companies—big and small, new and old, confident and clueless. We’re not consultants who hand you a report, wish you luck, and vanish like a magician in a puff of dry-erase marker fumes. We’re advisors. There’s a difference. Consultants often tell you what you already know, dressed up in bullet points and PowerPoint. Advisors roll up their sleeves, tell you what you don’t want to hear, and then help you actually do something about it.
But—and here’s the serious part—you have to let us.
We’ve seen it time and again. A modular startup, flush with VC money and ambition, brings in an advisory team to develop a go-to-market strategy. We spend hours researching, interviewing staff, analyzing competitors, and crafting a smart, lean, practical plan. Then the CEO decides they’ll just do what their cousin in Boise recommended instead. (His cousin owns a landscaping business, but still—“marketing is marketing,” right?) Next thing we know, they’ve got a billboard on a dirt road in Nebraska and no sales pipeline. But hey, at least the billboard’s got a QR code.
Hiring advisors and then second-guessing every step of the plan is like bringing in a plumber and then telling them which wrench to use. If you know how to do it all, why’d you call us in the first place?
When you work with Offsite Innovators, we bark on behalf of your brand. That means telling your story to your best customers—not just your loudest ones. It means helping you make sense of the tech, tools, software, and shifting standards this industry throws at you faster than a nail gun with a hair trigger. We advise because we’ve been there. Factory floors, executive meetings, VC pitches, crisis turnarounds—we’ve barked through it all.
And here’s the funny thing: when companies let us do our job, they often realize we’re not just barking—we’re pointing. Pointing at opportunity, pointing at risk, pointing at areas you’ve overlooked because you’ve been too busy keeping the lights on and the modules moving.
But you’ve got to trust the dog.
That doesn’t mean blind obedience. It means collaboration. Respect. Letting experience have a seat at the table instead of a spot under it. Because the truth is, we want you to succeed more than your investors do. They’re watching the numbers. We’re watching the road.
So, next time you bring on an advisory team—whether it’s for marketing, strategy, operations, or leadership—don’t leash them to a corner and hope things improve. Let them bark. Let them growl. Let them do what you hired them to do.
Because when you hire the right dog, you don’t need to bark.
You just need to listen.
Gary Fleisher and Bill Murray of Offsite Innovators have decades of combined experience in offsite construction, modular housing, and factory operations. They’ve helped dozens of companies make better decisions—and avoided barking up the wrong trees.
