The Business of Authority

What it takes to put your first product out for the world to see (even if you’re not painting zombies on skateboards).The fears you may experience the first time you go public and how to push through them.Why publishing your price(s) attracts the right buyers and repels the bad-fits.Worried about leaving money on the table by quoting a flat price? How to think about that whole transaction differently.Why your prices for products and productized services are all experimental and deserve to change regularly.Quotables“I was aware of a sales guy who would routinely send out proposals with an extra zero. And if the client gasps, he's ‘oh, it's a typo. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. It's $60,000, not $600,000.’”—JS“The buyer's time is valuable too. Who's going to want to sit through three conversations with three unknowns to figure out what they're going to do?”—RM“Just put a price on your website and you'll automatically attract the right kind of people for you. It would save everyone time. You wouldn't have to negotiate.”—JS“That first time that you actually put a price on your website…all sorts of things come up in your head, including imposter syndrome.”—RM“There's this fear of leaving money on the table, but guess what? If somebody jumps at it, then you just raise the price for the next person.”—JS“If you don't ever try raising your prices, you won't know the upper limits of what you can charge.”—RM“That indifference to whether or not the client buys—generally that comes from being in demand.”—JS“There's just something about putting a price on your website—you’re making a statement, oh, this is not a cheap WordPress guy I can hire for a thousand dollars…That’s level setting.”—RMLinksCarl Richards on Ditching HourlyAsk us a question LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

How most freelancers and independent consultants monetize their expertise in their first year or two—and the signs when your revenue model might need an overhaul.The link between your positioning and monetizing your business—and why you want to be open to new ways of packaging your expertise.A “typical” consulting/speaking/book revenue model and how it can become a trap (and some ideas to avoid it altogether or get out while you can).What to do when your revenue model isn’t working.Quotables“It's very common for people to just go out on their own and do their job, but for clients instead of a boss, and the obvious business model is to just rent your hands out by the hour. And that's fine. That'll get you going.”—JS“And then at some point (after you’ve positioned yourself) you come smack dab up to your business and revenue model and you say, oh, these don't fit anymore.”—RM“The competition is increasing and you start to realize that you need to, you might not call it positioning, but you start to realize that you need to appear different in a meaningful way.”—JS“The real money is coming from the other two revenue streams (consulting and speaking), so he is on what I would call a gilded hamster wheel.”—RM“The typical business model for a consultant is write books, speak at conferences and make your money on consulting…He couldn't sell that business—he is the business.”—JS“This idea that you're stuck with this business and revenue model that you created for something you no longer do is insanity.”—RM“I love posting prices on your website because it puts you into a slot in the prospect's mind. So when new clients come along, they already have the expectation, at least in a ballpark way, of what it would mean to work together.”—JS“Of course, there are things you're going to do for free. But when you're working in your genius zone, delivering to your ideal audience, most of those should be paid.”—RMLINKSInequity aversion LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

You’re spending considerable time thinking, writing, speaking, publishing and socializing your point of view.You discover the forms of publishing that fit with your talents and audience and produce regularly, no matter what.You’re building a niche that not only allows you to charge more for your specialty, but gives you the ideal audience to continually feed your curiosity and work from your genius zone.You’re positioning your business and expertise in white space—a target market that you don’t share with anyone else.You’re building a business model with seductive levels of flexibility: what and how you charge; how much and how often you work; and a suite of leveraged services and products that optimize how you spend your time.Quotables“If you are renting your hands out by the hour to do tasks for your clients, it can be difficult to carve out time (to build authority). That feels un-billable, it feels like you're losing money.”—JS“Authorities have a point of view: what is your belief system about how your expertise impacts your world?”—RM“Freelancers are basically selling their hands where authorities are selling their brains. It's all about the intellectual property."—JS“Obviously you can make a lot of money specializing, but in addition to that, you really can go where your curiosity takes you.”—RM“Since I've got a daily deadline to publish something…for a bunch of people who are waiting for it, my brain will gravitate to what I should consider for that vs. thinking about say what should I wear tomorrow.”—JS“If you're looking for ways to prime the (authority building) pump…read!”—RM“Writing is like the sort of cohesive, coherent long form. It’s the crucible almost that you go through to bake your idea into something.”—JS“A lot of us need to socialize things with other people to really get at all the things in the dusty corners of our brains.”—RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Situations where designing an actual exit plan makes sense and how to think about it.The mindset required to move from trading time for money to creating assets with value independent of your presence.Client exit strategies and why they worked for their situations.Creating a business where the value isn’t 100% tied to your name—and when/how to start the shift. LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Channeling that sense of dissatisfaction to make big, small and/or pivotal change in your business.Deciding which aspects of your work/life are ready for change and how to keep moving forward.Dealing with status and identity challenges as you evaluate what next steps will work best for you.Leaning into small changes that can have an outsized impact on your happiness.How to let those clients and employees you’re leaving behind go with integrity.Quotables“I like to think optimistically that the whole thing was a wake-up call for people—who are now feeling the malaise as a desire to have more of a purpose or impact.”—JS“Our elbows are rubbing up against the sides of our cage. And people are saying, what else is there? What can be next?”—RM“Everything's in motion. So any rut that you're stuck in, you're going to have a lot of helpful momentum to pop you out of it.”—JS“Don't worry about the process. Worry about where it is you want to go to get really excited about your work again.”—RM“If you could wave a magic wand and put whatever you wanted in your calendar, what would be in your calendar?”—JS“Change begets change. We do one small thing and then it energizes us, it gives us confidence to make another change.”—RM“Look at your product and service mix and ask: am I getting bored with these? Am I getting better at these? Are they aligned with my mission?”—JS“We like the changes that we initiate far more than those that somebody else puts on us.”—RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Evergreen expertise and content vs. those with an expiration date.How to distinguish yourself with evergreen content—and why your voice and point of view are clear difference makers.Avoiding the purist view that we absolutely have to invent something that's never been thought of before—and what to do instead.Side-stepping the eventual conversion of your hot market knowledge into a commodity—or worse (our sympathy to Flash developers).The magic of moving up to a higher level topic that is relevant to your current audience—and how to do it.Quotables“Maybe you localize a topic about marketing or sales into the technology landscape that didn't exist five years ago. If you’re careful about how you straddle that divide, you could still create very evergreen, but up to date content that stands the test of time.”—JS“It's really easy to say let's go do evergreen content, but to distinguish yourself, you've got to really slice and dice it in such a way that you've got something new to say, or it’s new to a different audience.”—RM“I've probably read 200 books on sales and marketing. It's stuff that software developers would rather eat glass than read. So if I can bring that to them in a funny way, or a way that resonates with them, or using language that doesn't repel them, then that's super valuable.”—JS“We can't come from this purist view that we absolutely have to get something that's never been thought of before.”—RM“Some of these more evergreen topics are going to be like fundamental truths of human nature, human behavior.”—JS“It's a lot easier to get attention when you've got the newest sexiest whistle—everybody wants to go hear it.”—RM “When you’re being cutting edge, you're co-opting the hype that some product or technology has built up and you're just strapped to that horse.—JS“When your consulting is based on a new technology, over time more people are going to know what you know, so the price of your expertise goes down and eventually becomes commoditized.”—RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Tackling the mindset that says you must be constantly busy or you’re not worthy of success.Busyness as a form of procrastination—and what to do instead.Why defining a clear goal and strategy (with pre-planned tactics) can help you side step unfocused busyness.The joys of creating leverage—and what to do with the time you’ve freed up.How intentional, goal-based action will naturally identify the most high impact moves to grow your business.Quotables“When you actually get productive instead of just busy, you're producing better output with less input.”—JS“There is busyness that is not productive in some way or creative, but that is really designed to take up space—it keeps you from facing decisions you need to make.”—RM“Strategy is what helps you understand the difference between an opportunity and a distraction.”—JS“Not checking or responding to email constantly really changed my life.”—RM“How do you get productive instead of busy?”—JS“Putting some limits on what you do in a day helps to improve productivity and outcomes.”—RM“If you find that you can't eliminate the busyness, you have to ask yourself: what's going on here? Am I hooked on it? Is it some kind of worldview? Is it my identity? Do I believe deep down that if I'm not toiling all at all times, then I'm a bad person?” —JS“If you recognize that maybe there's a little addiction going on with your busyness, before you start to shift gears, just stop and breathe for a moment and just ask: is this the best thing for me to be doing next?”—RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

How confidence plays out in growing your business—and the role of daring and initiative in your success.Why you need a handful of marketing processes built around your expertise and your market position—and a few examples of those that work. How to think about and design your selling systems with both fixed and fluid components. Ensuring your delivery processes support your selling and marketing and deliver your promised outcomes.Why your behind-the-scenes operations need processes too—including project management, invoicing and client/team communications.Quotables“It's not confidence that allows me to launch (something new). It's that if it doesn't work, I'll try something else.”—JS“Well-placed confidence says, listen, I've been through this before. I don't know if it's going to be successful, but I'm confident that I'm going to do my best to make this work.”—RM“What is the market telling me…is this thing I created not selling at this price? What am I learning from that? And how do you build a system around it?”—JS“It's hysterical how those checklists save us time, but they engineer confidence. Because you can focus on what's important vs. the miscellaneous stuff that has to get done.”—RM“If you have to learn the lesson every time…you're not engineering any confidence in your process.”—JS“When it comes to selling, you want to absolutely systematize every possible thing.”—RM“You’ve already burned the creative energy to come up with a really good way to say this—why reinvent the wheel?”—JS“Process is absolutely a critical part of being a believable, repeatable, successful consultant.”—RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Understanding how bad things could go—what’s the worst that could happen and how are you protected?Pricing your work based on the amount of risk you decide to shoulder.Saying no to high risk, low return client requests.The role and value of defining work processes to manage your risk exposure.Using peers and sounding boards when you’re doing strategic, high-impact consulting.Quotables“What's the right thing to do when you're engaged in client projects, where there are risks and project failure can cost lots of money?”—JS“How bad can things go and what's your role in that? That's a strategic business operational question that we all have to ask ourselves.”—RM“If you…take these hidden risks and make them visible, you can price based on that.”—JS“Most of us who go into our own businesses, we don't like the word discipline…but there's a certain amount of discipline in running a business.”—RM“E+O insurance, that was my net. Like I could walk the high wire with confidence, knowing that if things went as bad as possible, I wouldn't be in the street. My family wouldn't be in this.”—JS“If what you're doing is more of a strategic thing, you really want to have a sounding board or two that you can use when you uncover an unusual client situation.”—RM“Knowing that a second pair of eyes will be reviewing your work is a very interesting little kind of safety valve.”—JS“We had peers excited about the work that we were doing, trying to figure out how to make it great for the client.”—RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

How to structure—and think about—advisory retainers, including the role/importance of a guarantee.Operating as a fractional CXO without committing to hours.Designing extra pair of hands retainers that focus on outcomes—including productized services sold monthly.The landmines to avoid when structuring your retainers.The mindset shifts you’ll need to make as you move along the retainer continuumQuotables“In this context you're selling insurance…that's what an advisory retainer is. It's not about showing up and coding.”—JS“When you're used to being paid for using your hands, being paid to sit on them instead feels really weird.”—RM“The people who designed my Subaru Outback are different from the people who built my Subaru Outback and are different from the people who change the oil.”—JS“You're not going to be able to deliver a home run to somebody who can't figure out what that looks like.”—RM“If you're earlier in your career…and you do want some kind of stability or predictability in your income you could sell productized services on an ongoing monthly basis.”—JS“There's no shame in doing the work and creating some kind of a retainer where you can get stability, you can get some continuity and you can build your credentials in the course of working for those organizations.”—RM“What are you guaranteeing with an advisory retainer? The thing that I would guarantee is the response time. What they're buying is good answers fast.”—JS“The whole idea behind advisory retainers is they're buying access—to your brain and to good answers fast.”—RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

The role of trust—in you, in the process and their ability to carry out your recommendations—in choosing their course of action.How differing perceptions of risk and the fear of change can drive organizational decisions.Getting behind surface reactions and digging more deeply into the “why” behind client decisions.The relationship between time, value and urgency as the client perceives them. How the perhaps invisible—but still deeply entrenched—internal politics of your client’s situation may play out.Quotables“Straight up fear of change—where there's a perceived risk—it feels scary. Or distasteful. People just don't like change.”—JS“Forget what you think is the right decision—just try to get to the bottom of what the client’s fear is about. By asking them some of those deeper questions, you may be able to uncover something that isn't on the surface.”—RM“Sometimes it’s that they do trust you and they're not afraid of change, but they recognize that it (your recommendation) could fail.”—JS“If the person who's making the decision doesn't reap any of the benefits, they're just not interested in putting their head on the chopping block.”—RM“Maybe the person who's making the decision is new and hasn't got the political capital to do it.”—JS“The whole theme of this is don't rely on your logic. Because your logic doesn't matter. It's how the client looks at it—it’s their perception of the situation that is going to drive the decision.”—RM“Money is only part of the investment. There's also a time investment for any project.”—JS“This is not about being manipulative. It's just really digging in to their situation and trying to understand what their life is like inside this organization.”—RMGot a question for us?Do you have a question that you'd like us to answer on the show? We'd love to hear from you! Email a voice recording to Jonathan at [email protected] and we'll add it to the queue. LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Writing a proposal that offers up non-price options that make for easy negotiation wins.Positioning yourself and your work to minimize—if not downright eliminate—discount requests.Anchoring your fees in value instead of time so you can focus potential discounting discussions on outcomes vs. inputs.Offering guarantees or warranties—and why these are a lot less risky than you think.Working around the perils of dealing with procurement.Dealing with potential scope changes, both up-front and as your work unfolds.Quotables“The thing about getting into price negotiations with clients is that if you…concede the first time, then it's almost like their moral obligation to negotiate every single time after that.”—JS“When you make that decision that you're not going to negotiate on price, it actually makes everything else easier.”—RM“I put one thing in the proposal that's so preposterous that it's the thing that people always want to negotiate.”—JS“You're positioning yourself and your work in their minds.”—RM“If someone was going to refer me to someone else, the thing I want them to say is he's expensive, but it's worth it.”—JS“You're anchoring your fees in the outcome versus what a lot of people do—anchor their fees in time.”—RM“Offering a written guarantee on your services is like a five year, 50,000 mile guarantee on a car.”—JS“This is all about really creating the relationship you want with your clients…the minute we start to negotiate on price, it changes the dynamic of the relationship.”—RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Why even as an authority, you don’t need to know everything.The “rules” of improv and how to develop your own framework.Handling Q+A after a talk (hint: positioning your talk strategically almost guarantees you won’t get stumped by a technical question).Running sales calls with a three-step process that allows you to let go of the formalities and focus on your client’s desired outcomes. How to get the most out of exploratory meetings with potential partners and influencers. Quotables“In a sales interview…or a sales meeting, you're on the spot. You don't get a do over. You just have to look at it as practice for the next time.”—JS“It is almost impossible to be stumped if you're positioning the talk with a strategic intent. People probably aren't going to be asking you technical questions—they're going to be asking you the strategic or even visionary questions.”—RM“If you're doing Q + A and somebody hits you with a stumper of a question, you could turn it back to the audience…and say, 'Ah, interesting question. Does anybody else have the same issue?'”—JS“When in a sales meeting, I want to be the instrument to get them where they want to go.”—RM“If you're looking for an improv framework, look no further than The Why Conversation, where I talk about the three different why questions for running a sales interview.”—JS“If the conversation is a little too tactical, asking that next level up question, or even two levels up question is going to help make it strategic. And it's also going to frame how they see you.”—RM“In the sales meeting, there's this back and forth. It's like a volley of tennis—you've just got to keep hitting the ball back over the net.”—JS“You don’t want to be the guy on the white horse coming in with all of the answers on what their transformation should look like. The answer is in the client and it's our job to ferret it out.”—RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

How to get feedback on a new offering you’re considering. The art of asking for—and securing—permission to ask almost anything you’d like (this may be the step you’ve been missing if you’ve been striking out).Getting yourself booked as a podcast guest, even if you’re just starting.The role of trust in how you approach the answerer and position your question.The optimal way to solicit feedback in an on-line community—and the sure way to never get the answers you really need.Quotables“The first piece of how to ask a really good question is picking the person you're going to ask.”—JS“If you want an answer to a question (in email), ask the question right up front and ideally give the answerer enough information that they can help you.”—RM“If you do the question up front, I don't consider that to be blunt. I would put the question up front and then have whatever context you think is necessary, the minimum amount of viable context.”—JS“The headline…give that some attention. And then what's the question and how are you asking it? If you hook us, we're going to read the rest.”—RM“I think the wrong way (to pitch yourself as a podcast guest) is to just sort of tout your credentials and say let me know if you'd like to set up a call.”—JS“You wouldn't believe how many people have pitched themselves to my clients who have a no guest podcast—you’ve got to do your homework.”—RM“If this sounds like a lot of work (pitching yourself), it is. And guess what? That's why it's not spam.”—JS“The more specific you can be, the more helpful feedback you're going to get.”—RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

What we mean by finding your voice and why it’s worth doing.Why you need a point of view to dig into your (authority) voice—and how to build yours.How constantly refining and testing your voice helps you grow your audience and your business.The role of authenticity—and finding the right balance of being the real you with performing at your best.How to know when your voice is clicking with your audience (or not).Quotables“Your voice…is the most authentic connection that you have with your audience, but it's not just about you. It's about your ideas and how you translate those to the audience in a powerful way.”—RM“If you're blending in, no one can see you, right? It's like having camouflage on.”—JS“There are things you're for and there are things you're against, and that's all part of your point of view and how that gets reflected and integrated into your voice.”—RM“Look at Gary V versus Seth Godin. They're both saying very similar things…but could they be more different?.”—JS“A lot of it comes down to your point of view…it's not about you. It's about your audience. It's about how what you do transforms your ideal audience.”—RM“So you'll have this idea, you’ll see this problem…but no one cares yet because you haven't found a way to communicate it with people in a way that lights them up.”—JS“We're talking about voice, but it's more than just the physical voice. It's how are you going to translate that into formats that your audience can hear and emotionally respond to?”—RM“The potential reason for the disconnect (when your audience isn’t responding to you) could be that you're screaming into the wrong microphone.”—JS LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Building confidence in yourself and others about something you’ve never done before.Hedging your bets so you don’t spend tons of hours creating a course that launches to crickets.Getting your first customers–and glowing testimonials–for a new productized service.Price points to start with on a 10X Product Ladder.A “3 coupon” approach to accelerating an eBook launch.Validating new positioning statements when you're starting out or planning to pivot.Quotable Quotes“How do you get your first customers, your first clients, or even the feedback that you need to create the thing in the right way?”—JS“I mean, for me, it’s really simple. It’s reaching out to the people on my list that I think this might fit, because generally speaking, I’m not sitting with a blank sheet of paper, dreaming something up.”—RM“When I notice someone struggling with something, and then I notice somebody else struggling with the same thing, I’ll think, ‘Huh, I wonder if there’s something there?’”—JS“When you do a launch, your list will get bigger. That’s how it works.”—RM“When is comes to pricing, people are atrocious at pulling a number out of a hat.”—JS“What’s interesting is they found errors in your book, but they engaged with it. This is why we need to get over this idea of perfectionism because people engage for different reasons.”—RM“If you’re going to get $245 for this course, then you can reverse engineer how many videos you want to make.”—JS“If you think this is a numbers game, you will never launch.”—RM“I’m not looking for data to prove to me that it’s going to work. What I’m doing is looking for an opening.”—JS“What this process does is it gives you that confidence that you're not going to lose your shirt, that you know how to speak to your ideal client, and that if a bad one sneaks in there, you're going to be done really fast and they'll be out.”—RM“I don’t dream stuff up, like, ‘Boy, it sure would be cool if the universe had this in it now!’ It’s always from some struggle I observed.”—JSSharing is caring!If you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with a few friends who might find it useful. Thanks!Can you help?Has TBOA helped you in your journey to authority? If so, please rate and review the show in iTunes. Doing so helps folks like you find the show, and it helps us book more big name guests like Seth Godin, Jill Konrath, Joe Pine, and more. LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

What to do when the three “why” questions aren’t working—and what to do instead.How to get strategic insights into the niche of people you want to serve (we had a lot of fun using the craft beer industry as a jumping off point).The best way to build high value, low time commitment product and service options when your time is limited.How to think about commissions for referring work to decide whether they make sense for you.Quotables“There’s a hundred ways I can build this—I don’t want to build it in some way that’s oblivious to your larger goals. A good client will sit back and say, ‘yeah, let’s do it’. A bad client will say ‘Why do you need to know this?’”—JS“You’re giving them a preview of what it will be like to work with you.”—RM“If you’re in a conversation (with a potential client) and you can’t get them out of order giver mode, it’s not gonna work.”—JS“Working inside a business feels like a very labor-intensive way to get smart about a market niche…and you’re still only learning from one example.”—RM“Sometimes it’s helpful to have no knowledge because you can come in with completely fresh eyes and break new ground and change paradigms.”—JS“Going into courses and information products is the easiest way (to high revenue) in the sense of setting it up and forgetting about it—but in order to do this you really need an audience to sell it to.”—RM“Even if you’re the most ethical person on earth, people know that financial incentives affect behaviors.”—JS“It’s really hard to trust somebody who’s gonna get some money out of your recommendations, especially when it’s a lot of money.”—RMGot a question for us?Do you have a question that you'd like us to answer on the show? We'd love to hear from you! Email a voice recording to Jonathan at [email protected] and we'll add it to the queue. LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Transitioning from execution to strategy, including setting up the right boundaries (hint: it’s a process).Recognizing the warning signs that you’re sliding down the slope in the value chain—from strategy back into execution.Adopting the mindset required to fully make the shift from execution to strategy.Setting client expectations and managing boundaries.Positioning yourself in your client’s mind as the strategist. Quotables“A lot of the struggle is: how much strategy do I do, how much execution do I do and where do I find that balance for my own sanity?”—RM“Strategy can be very lucrative but you have to build that up—so how do you still keep putting Cheerios in the bowl between now and then?”—JS“In order to really steer clear of execution, we have to put some big ‘ole boundaries in place.”—RM“If you’re new to doing strategy it can feel like you’re not adding enough value because there’s so much profit.”—JS“Working as the architect (the strategist) is a different way of working—it’s a different mindset.”—RM“To shift out of (execution) and just deliver a strategy or an architecture or a migration plan and just leave is a hard shift for people and that can suck them back into implementation.”—JS“There are people out there who are loving doing the execution and you want to know those people. They’re not your competition—in fact they might be the ones that help you get out of having to do more execution...”—RM“Your positioning gives you a litmus test…it tells you what you should say yes to and what you should say no to.”—JS LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

How to attach rewards to your truly essential (but exceedingly distasteful) tasks to make them more likely to get done.The role of knowing—and accepting—the consequences of delaying action. Keeping the integrity of your list and why that powers your self-esteem and confidence.The tricks we use to convince ourselves that procrastination is working for us—and how to reprogram them.Discovering your danger zone—those things you genuinely can’t tolerate doing—and designing work-arounds so you can enjoy your life.Quotables“If stuff keeps staying on the (to do) list, it creates an anti-gravitational pull…the feeling of a death spiral.”—JS“You want to keep the integrity of your list—if you’re not tending to it, all of a sudden nothing on the list is important.”—RM“Get the stuff you’re never going to do off the list.”—JS“The way we end relationships is a really good indicator of how we begin the next one.”—RM“There’s a tendency to pour all of your time into the things (on your list) that you’re good at.”—JS“Sometimes we just don’t have clarity—we put the thing on our list but we haven’t bought into the idea that this needs to get done.”—RM“I know what my danger zone areas are, so I just make sure they’re covered.”—JS“If you’re the kind of person that likes to have a lot of balls in the air (and you want an excuse to procrastinate), you throw another ball in the air.”—RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

How to use empathy and consultative driven sales to fast-track growing your authority footprint and your revenue.Learning what your people care most about—including how they talk about it, act and buy—so you can meet them where they are.Why sales is mostly listening vs. talking—and why introverts can be natural masters of selling.Developing a sales mindset that not only tightly serves your target market, but also reflects who you are and how you work best.Why the need for connection and human relationships remains unchanged—and how “selling” fills that need. Quotables“There’s no shortage of bad examples of selling.”—JS“The core question we ask ourselves is: how do I (sell) in a way that uses my time in the right ways and is still giving value to my audience?”—RM“The key word is empathy. You need to have empathy with your ideal buyer.”—JS“The “game” isn’t to sell this thing, the game is to get the person’s wants and/or needs met and to have a meeting of the minds about what that outcome is going to be.”—RM“There’s a type of person I relate to better than other types of people I relate to, so it’s way easier to produce desirable outcomes for people I have a natural affinity for.”—JS“What you’re trying to do when you’re selling is you’re trying to make a connection.”—RM“Having conversations, building empathy (with your ideal buyer) and helping them achieve their goals—to me, that’s selling.”—JS“We want someone who gets us, who understands us—whether it’s a product, a service or a productized service, we want something that really speaks to us.”—RM “If you don’t like the idea of sales you’re probably thinking of it as talking, but really, it’s mostly listening.”—JS LinksThe Secret of Selling AnythingNever Split The Difference LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

How to pinpoint the intersection of your talents and passions with a demonstrated market of people ready to buy.Identifying your superpower talent (and why it’s sometimes challenging to see it for yourself).Why your goal is to create white space in your market—and how to use your talents and passions to carve it out.Engaging your target market in unique ways that tie to your brand, your positioning.The power of research and why we don’t do it nearly often enough (and how to change that).Quotables“A lot of times our greatest talent comes so easily to us that we don’t even think of it as a talent.”—RM “You could do an exercise with sticky notes where you write down a bunch of things you’re good at—not just business things, but every thing—and a bunch of things you really love doing. You look for the overlaps.”—JS“We don’t hire cardboard cutouts—we hire real people and real people have talents and passions.”—RM“Since we’re no longer limited to the accidental geography we find ourselves in…there’s no reason for you to be limited by your immediate vicinity. Your market is global, almost certainly.”—JS“You have to research who’s in your space: what are they saying, what are they doing, what are they selling—because you want to carve out white space that no one else owns.”—RM“If you’re putting yourself out there, being an entrepreneur, starting your own business, why not start one that makes you jump out of bed?”—JS“Building authority requires confidence.”—RM“Go “painstorming” in the watering holes of the people you want to help. Find a place where they hang out on-line—find places where they vent…to give you a crash course into this market.”—JSLinksHow To Work A Room: The Ultimate Guide to Making Lasting Connections LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Expanding your knowledge through books, podcasts, programs and even coaching from those in your market-adjacent space (or completely outside it).The connection between moving and feeding your body with your mindset (and sometimes your spirit).What to do when your ideal routine gets whacked sideways—by COVID, a change in work schedule or your home life.Wiring your habits—including your physical space—to support your goals and minimize relying on discipline (hint, hint: reduce friction). Understanding the relationship between spirituality, being of service, contentment and confidence. Quotables“It’s pretty reliable that you can read a book that has been a business best seller for 40 years, 50 years and be like ‘Wow, that is really good.’”—JS“Sometimes we just have to find the right combination of messages to get to us—and it doesn’t come with the first things you read or the first thing you buy.”—RM“It’s almost like you need a surrogate brain to figure stuff out.”—JS“There’s something about that flow of energy where everything is firing on all cylinders—that once you experience it, it’s really hard to go back to not having it.”—RM“You add a little bit of friction in front of the bad habits and take away a little of the friction in front of the good habits—put the apples on the counter and the Oreos in the cabinets.”—JS“If you don’t put the temptation in front of you, you don’t need discipline.”—RM“No one is in charge of you anymore—so you have to be in charge of you.”—JS“If your spirit or your spiritual practice is working for you, you’re going to be more comfortable putting yourself out there and putting your ideas out there.”—RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

The signs it’s time to systematize components of your business—and which to tackle first.How to find the right balance between building automations and developing manual tools like checklists and reminders.Using any friction in your business processes as a signpost to ask yourself: Is this necessary and if so, what’s the best way to deal with it? The role of triggers—business and personal—in deciding what needs systematizing.How to delegate to external partners and still sleep at night (hint: think mutual documentation pact).Quotables“I don’t rush to program stuff just because I can. My experience when I do that…is that it creates an inertia for me to not want to change the system.”—JS“I tend to err on the side of I wanting to know what is being done by any system…I want to know what it’s doing, how it works and how it interacts with anything else.”—RM“I collapsed an hour of stressful scrambling into 10 minutes of successful execution.”—JS“We only have so much attention…to think and interact at our highest level. So take all this “stuff” that you really don’t need to worry about and put it in a checklist or procedural outline so you don’t have to waste your brain space on it.”—RM “Structure is freeing. It allows you to focus your brain on stuff your brain is good at and not burn your brain out on stuff that’s a waste of time.”—JS“There is power in writing down every procedure that you outsource.”—RM“You can’t go on vacation if you’re the only one who knows how to do everything.”—JS“The time to hire a VA is when you decide your time is more valuable than money.”—RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

The difference between “dumb” and smart risks.The two questions to ask yourself when evaluating any risk.The role of the lizard brain in how you react to risk and how to move beyond it.Why having a clear strategy allows you to quickly assess risk and separate real opportunity from distraction.How to recognize and deal with the emotions risk taking arouses in you.Quotables“If you’re not placing some bets that have a big pay-off, then you’re not taking risks or you’re taking dumb risks.”—JS“We ought to have a few sleepless nights or we’re not working hard enough on taking risks.”—RM“It’s very common for people to be scared to do something and they interpret that as the thing is risky, but... the impact is a mildly bruised ego and it’s even a private bruising.”—JS“Sometimes what we’re looking for (when evaluating risk) is an excuse not to do it.”—RM“You need to stand out from the crowd. You need to. And it feels risky.”—JS“We choose the vetting (of our partners) based on our perceived risk.”—RM“It’s important to know what failure and success look like.”—JS“If you’ve got a strategy it makes it easier to figure out who to say yes to.”—RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

How to think about your business as an experiment and failures as practice.The value of postmortems to understand—and rebound from—failure.How to put failure in service to your story, your audience and the change you want to make in the world. Reframing failures (after you’ve worked through the emotions around them) and the role of resilience.Why being willing to fail is part of the mindset of an authority.Quotables“My philosophy (on failure) for years has been that everything is practice for the next time.”—JS“When you have a big failure…you’ve got to go through that experience of feeling the pain, feeling the crap and then you come out the other side.”—RM“What’s the worst that could possibly happen—what’s really at risk?”—JS“Most of our failures are not nearly so public as they feel to us.”—RM“Have lots of little failures instead of betting the farm on one big thing.”—JS“It’s about getting comfortable that all those external things—your job, your bank account, what people think of you—if they all go away, you’ll still be OK.”—RM“If you have a catastrophic failure, you can’t come back and play again tomorrow—you’re more or less forced into a pivot.”—JS “You have to find the right support from the right people in the right places. We all know who NOT to go to.”—RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

The difference between sales and marketing—and why both are necessary to run a sustainable authority business.How aligning sales with your values allows you to sell in line with who you are (and avoid those slimy sales tactics we all hate).Why one part of successful consultative selling is reserving your right to say no—that this client, this work is not the right fit.When your prospective clients arrive with different mindsets about their presenting problem that have nothing to do with you.How successful consultative selling makes your ego disappear as you put yourself in service to the client’s vision of the future.Quotables“You don’t have a business if you don’t sell stuff.”—JS“Marketing is creating demand. Selling is closing the deal.”—RM“If you don’t like sales, then you’re gonna have a problem running your own business.”—JS“Are you reacting to what’s coming in or are you going out and killing what you eat?”—RM“Sales mode is not synonymous with trying to close the deal. We’re talking about a potential engagement here, but either one of us can walk away from it.”—JS“Know that they (people who enter your sales stream) come in with ideas and expectations that have nothing to do with you…along with what they think might be possible with what they’ve seen of you.”—RM“I’m the type of “shopkeeper” that is perfectly happy to send somebody to the shop across the street if I think they’ll find what they want over there.”—JS“In the best consultative selling, your ego goes away. Your client feels that you are there for them to succeed.”—RM LINKSRochelle | Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter