Spent $2,400 on a "growth consultant." Here's what I actually got.

Hired a growth consultant because I'd plateaued at $3K MRR for 4 months. Thought an expert could unlock something I was missing. Cost: $2,400 for 6 hours of consulting spread over 3 weeks. What I got: Hour 1: He asked me questions about my business. Stuff I could've answered in a Loom video. Hour 2: He shared a generic growth framework with 6 pillars. Could've found the same framework in a free blog post. Hour 3: We "ideated" on growth experiments. Most of his ideas were things I'd already tried or were irrelevant to my market. Hour 4: He reviewed my landing page and suggested changes. Some good, mostly obvious. Hours 5-6: Follow-up calls where he asked what I'd implemented and gave vague encouragement. Actionable takeaways I couldn't have figured out myself: 2, maybe 3. Value of those takeaways: nowhere near $2,400. The problem with growth consultants: The good ones are either too expensive or too busy with their own projects. The available ones are selling frameworks, not solutions. Nobody understands your business like you do. External advice is useful for blind spots, but most "consultants" are just repackaging common knowledge. What I should've done instead: spent that $2,400 on 80 customer interviews at $30 each. Has anyone had a genuinely good consultant experience? What made it work?