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V O L . X X V I I I N O. X I X S E P T E M B E R 5 , 2 0 2 2 8 B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S N E W S F RO M A RO U N D T H E S TAT E and Lowell machine shop for the area's textile industry and various textile mills in the 1800's. e prop- erty will include 96 design-forward apartments inspired by industrial mill details, and will also have a self-storage facility with 327 units. Future plans include commercial space as well. Port Property, founded in Portland in 1993, manages more than 100 unique residential prop- erties in southern Maine and Wilmington, N.C. N O T E W O R T H Y S O U T H E R N Maine Behavioral Healthcare in South Portland announced that it will join the Autism Speaks North American Autism Care Network in the fall. The Portland Museum of Art said it is participating in the Art Bridges Collection Loan Partnership, an art lending model that allows artworks from a diverse group of museums to travel the country. The museum will display an array of American artworks through summer 2023 from the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Neb. SUBCIRCLE ENGINE AUTHENTIC IMAGINATIVE VISIONARY ...GOOD BUSINESS IN ART IS... COMMON ROOTS STUDIO CHAYA STUDIOS JEWELRY biddefordmaine.org UNIQUE A S K AC E A n s w e r e d b y C a r r i e G r e e n Y a r d l e y , Y a r d l e y E s q . P L L C The Association for Consulting Expertise (ACE) is a non-profit association of independent consultants who value "Success through Collaboration." The public is welcome to attend its regular meetings to share best practices and engage with industry experts. For more information go to www.consultexpertise.com. Q: I need to hire an outside technical expert (or two) to bring my small business to the next level. I've even identified grants to help pay the cost. How do I make sure my money is well spent? ACE Advises: Get it in writing. Read what's written. Keep read- ing and writing until you understand what you're paying for. Professional services agreements challenge a business owner to grasp unfamiliar technical concepts and language. An expert, having studied and practiced in the field, should be able to draft a scope of work clients can understand. It goes with the job. For example, a marketing ser- vices agreement might be divided into phases such as: "Discovery," "Findings and recommendations," "Marketing plan develop- ment." Payments might be made at the beginning of each phase, with a final pay- ment upon completion. Listing the phases is not enough. It is in both parties' interests to document specific tasks to be performed in each phase, so there is a reasonably objective basis for determining when payment is due. For example: "Discovery — to include a review of current marketing materials, online presence, interviews with key managers, sales staff, and customer survey." That might not be enough for a particularly complicated engagement, but for a simple agreement it should be enough to allow the client to ask intelligent follow up questions. Conversely, it limits the discovery phase to a reasonable list of tasks, as opposed to the infinite universe of all possible discovery tech- niques the client may anticipate — reasonably or not. The consultant should be willing to provide the answers to questions concerning the materials, interviews, and survey, and to specify deliverables. In the example above it would be entirely reasonable for the client to expect a copy of the survey, and the raw data received in response. The parties should then consider whether clarifying or supplemental language is needed. If you understand the scope of work, you should have no difficulty understanding the bill. ACE board member Carrie Green Yardley is an attorney at Yardley Esq. PLLC, a law firm providing services to small businesses and their owners from start-up through succession. She can be reached at carrie@yardleyesq.com. For more on this topic see "Set SMART goals for your professional proposals." at mainebiz.biz/AskACE-SmartGoals @

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