The Three Month Vacation Podcast

Does generosity have its limits? Let's say you decide to give away a lot of information to clients. How do you get them to come back to buy the rest of your information? Won't it overlap? Won't they get mad and demand a refund? Not necessarily. It all depends on how you go about about the free vs fee strategy. At Psychotactics, we give away hundreds of articles and an equal number of podcasts. We give away whole courses, reports and other goodies. And yet there are no shortage of buyers. How do you manage fee vs free? Let's find out in this episode.

When we think of writing, we automatically assume it's the act of sitting down at the computer and creating a new article, report or book. What we seem to miss is that there are other factors that come well before the writing process that drain us more than the writing itself. What's even more important, is that you're able to easily avoid those other factors—those minefields. While writing may still be difficult, there's no reason to make it even harder than it is. Let's find out how to remove the unnecessary obstacles in our way.

It's one thing to create information and quite another to know whether you've ticked all the boxes. When creating information, the client doesn't just seek information. Instead, she looks for other elements as well. Elements such as examples, entertainment etc, all of which need to be part of the product itself. In this podcast, we go back to front. Let's say you've already finished creating your information product. Can you go back and make tweaks to make it more complete, even more interesting? Sure you can and let's find out how.

When we start to build a list, we think of followers or fans, but all of these potential clients are elsewhere on YouTube, or Instagram or Facebook. We can't wait for the fans to swell up in number. Instead, you need to move quickly. Even if you have just four-five fans, you need to get them over to YOUR list, your website. How can you go about that task effectively? And how do you then get them to the very next stage, which is to buy something? List building isn't complex, but without these fundamentals in place, it's can be a massively wasted exercise. Find out how to avoid the pitfalls that a lot of people drop into and never seem to recover.

It's a line we've all heard, but as it does in life, the very same line plays an extremely important role in list building. When we think of building lists, we hope that some course will give us a silver bullet. That some coach will tell you which buttons to press, and you'll magically have a list. Or worse, we believe people who tell us that we can build our lists pretty much like a Jack and the Beanstalk story. Unfortunately for us, all of these promises are castles in the sand. The reason why we fail time and time again to build lists, is because we believe the dream-merchants and fail to pay attention to how a list—any list is built.

Imagine you've missed the sunrise for the past 300 days. Would that mean you'd give up on sunrise forever?We know the answer to the question, don't we? Even if we snoozed right a few hundred sunrises, it's possible for us to wake up on the 301st day and bask in the glow of a morning sun. And yet when it comes to projects, we often treat a stalled project as a form of failure. Why do we follow this crazy method of giving up? And how to we restart a stalled project?

In this second part, we go deeper into how it's not just the writing alone, but how a fixed formula can derail us. We often believe that if we've written 800 words in the past, the next article needs to be just as long. Which slows down your writing and often throws you completely off track. Find out why staying flexible is good for you as well as the reader.

Why does writing seem like a chore? It's easy to believe that we need more practice. But practice alone doesn't bring an article to life. A dull article, even when filled with lots of words, is still very boring. The problem lies in the misunderstanding that we need to write like authors. Authors and writers may be similar but most often are not. Being an author is often a gruelling task, and as a writer of articles, it's best to avoid that path. Here's how you go about it.

Did you finish the last book you bought? How about that last course? And if you're like me, you probably have at least two dozen things that you've bought—and still not finished. Well, there's a reason why. Somehow, our note taking gets in the way. We never seem to reach the finish line and we have a ton of books and courses to complete. Yet, what if there were a way to solve this problem? It's a method I use, and it's based (strangely) on boomerang behaviour. Here's how it works.

When clients leave, we automatically assume they say they aren't using the service or membership site. They give reasons why they're leaving, and it sounds logical to our ears. However, there are situations where clients almost never leave. And as you'd expect, it has all to do with community. Which is also why you don't leave your family, your friends and your dance group. How can we understand this concept of community better? And how can we make clients not only stay but benefit from community. Let's find out.

The 1000 true fans concept seems to follow a simple multiplication rule. If you have a thousand fans and they buy $100 worth of product in a year, you earn $100,000. Which sounds perfectly fine when you're doing the multiplication, but falls apart in reality? Where are the flaws in the 1000 fans concept? And what if we went down from 1000 to just one? Just one? As in "zero to one"? Let's find out.

Almost all of us will be asked, "what do you do?" And despite having to answer this question frequently, we struggle to create a powerful sense of curiosity with our answer. In short, the elevator pitch seems to fall flat. What makes it flat and how can we easily fix the problem?

Motivation people around you seems like an unending task. Your staff, your team, your walking group, your kid all need motivation. And all of them are motivated by different things. Some by money, some by responsibility and others by praise. Is there one system that works for everyone on the planet? Yes it is, and it's called "being a fan". Learn how you can become a fan and how it changes the dynamics of a relationship forever.

Which do you think is superior? Group or one on one consulting? Most people aren't likely to pick group consulting. It seems like the benefits of one on one consulting far exceed that of a group. And despite our bias for one-on-one consulting, greater learning and implementation is done with groups. Plus as a trainer, you earn a lot more while spending fewer hours. If this all sounds magical, it is. But how do you position group consulting in a world that's tilted towards one on one? Let's find out

If you were to ask someone to pick a field where there's more vs less competition, they're likely to pick one with less. And that would be a mistake, possibly a fatal one. Competition isn't bad for you—it's good. If it makes no sense, here's a podcast that shows you exactly why competition helps you determine if you're going to make it or not. And how to go about using the power of competition to your advantage.

You think you know Renuka, but maybe there's a bit you don't know quite yet. She looks mischievous, but her real mission comes alive on April 1. Enjoy this slightly unusual episode of April Fool when Renuka's maniacal genius comes to life.

The problem with a service-based-business is that you can't always publish a fixed price. The pricing always seems to depend on what needs to be done for the client. This results in a lot of wasted time and effort. Often, both the client and the vendor (that's us) get so bogged down in the process of quotes that the job gets postponed or falls through. How do we avoid this back and forth? And is it really possible to make your service like a product? Let's find out in this episode.

I used to hate writing a newsletter. It would be the task I'd keep postponing until the very last minute. Of course, that would make my entire week miserable. Until, I found what could be called a "rough formula". And it's an easy formula too. Try it and you'll see that your newsletter isn't as tedious as it used to be. In fact it's fun—well, almost.

If you look around you, the obvious success benchmarks are usually money first, and then, at least a huge dollop of fame. But are our benchmarks of success skewed by Fortune Magazine or Inc or Fast Company? Are those blogs we read driving us down a path we didn't originally set for ourselves. We had to muddle around a fair bit because we too were confused. However, here are our benchmarks for success. Maybe it will get you to set your own, as well.

When we think of membership sites we tend to think just about "information" based sites. However, there are many ways of looking at membership sites. In this second episode we dig into the "limited membership site" (yes, one that lasts for a fixed time and then stops). And we also look at membership sites that are not membership sites at all. Yes, it's a weird trip. Come join us and see how your business model might find these types of sites quite suited to your way of life.

A membership site isn't just another site. Instead, it's almost like an inner circle where you draw your closest clients to you. Yet, which kind of membership site would suit you best? Should you hand hold your clients? Or should it be a membership site with content they can pick and choose—and with no input on your part? In this two part series, we look at the power of the hand held membership site and compare it with the content-only membership site. Which one is for us? Let's find out.

Clients may love our work. They may refer us on to others. And yet, when it comes to sales, we shrivel back almost in horror. We find sales techniques to be a bit over the top and often bordering on yucky. Is there a way to quickly get over this terrible feeling? How do we promote ourselves without feeling icky?

Do you find yourself loving your work, but knowing that you're getting a bit one-dimensional? You work, then work, then work some more. And when others around you protest that you're working, you say, "But I love my work" or "I'm not working that much". You find yourself justifying the importance of the work, both from a monetary point of view as well as something you want to do. And yet, you know that setting needs a slight recalibration. That there are these things called hobbies. Things that you do for no reason at all, but for the pure joy. Where there's no financial benefit at all, and yet it somehow seems magical. If you want to keep working endlessly, that's a call to make. But if you'd like to re-calibrate your life to include something more, here's how you go about it.

Which is the most frequently used method of evaluating someone you want to hire?Usually, the method used is quite bizarre. You tend to ask for references, probably some sort of resume and you're expected to make a decision based on those parameters. However, almost everyone will make sure they have a polished resume, which means you don't know if the person is really a good fit for the job. At Psychotactics, we've hired duds before. And in order to avoid the frustration of hiring and then having to let go of staff/outsourcers, we've devised a method that is surprisingly easy—and effective. And in this episode you'll find the three steps we take to get very precise hiring results. Listen away!

Imagine making one change in your pricing strategy. Then let's say you make two. But let's say we make three changes. With three tiny changes, we have not just made tiny little moves, but have created a whole pricing environment. Or a trophic cascade, where one thing leads to the other, and then the entire cascading effect changes the way you do business. Your revenue goes up, which buys you more time. Wouldn't you like to know how to create this cascade? That's what today's episode is all about and how to go about putting together the elements of the cascade.

Either your article is too long and bloated or it's much too skimpy. When faced with either of these situations we are at a loss as to what needs to be done. Well, worry no more because "examples" are waiting to rush to your rescue. Let's find out how to use examples to extend or reduce content in articles, books, presentations and just about any other media that goes out to clients.

When you run a business, there are three things that seems to come up. The first is "ungrateful subscribers", the second is definitely "pirates" and the third is the "competition. No matter how hard you try, these three pesky occurrences seem hard to avoid, but as you'd expect, there's a way out.

Clickbait headlines seem to be designed to get our curiosity. But what makes a clickbait headline so attractive in the first place? And how do we write "normal" headlines that are far superior in getting the attention of the client?

Often contrarian advice is precisely what the client needs. But how do you present the concepts to clients? Don't you need a lot of proof and research? Here's how you can get your client to not just listen, but also implement your contrarian advice.

It's one thing to say "be contrarian" but you can stick out too much. And anyway, we don't particularly care to disagree. Yet, being contrarian gives you a uniqueness factor that gets the attention of the client. What steps do we need to take to get to this attention? And how do we go about it systematically? Let's find out.

Do you know why the Tesla is such a big car? Think about it for a second. Tesla Motors only make electric cars. The bigger the car, the heavier it's going to be and the greater the drain on the battery. So why make a big car? Why not make it more compact like other electric cars? The answer lies in the battery. The entire base of the car is nothing but a battery. The bigger the battery, the greater the distance the car can go. The top of the line Tesla can go 400 miles (that's over 640 kilometres) on a single charge. How did Tesla come up with technology that far supersedes the range of a fuel-driven car? The answer lies in a concept of contrarianism. Being a contrarian means you're not like sheep, just following what has been done in the past. Being contrarian means you're creating an end point and working backwards, without even knowing how you're going to get to the "finish line". Find out how to use the power of being contrarian to your advantage.

When we think of making the transition to our own business, why do we freeze? It's simply because we're not sure where to start. A business has so many aspects to it. Yet, most business people never start up a business. Find out what you really should be doing.

When it comes to testimonials, we tend to end up with rambling, not so great testimonials? How do we get powerful experiences, instead of watered down testimonials? Here are three quick (and relatively easy) ways to go about the task of getting great testimonials.

The final rerun of six re-runs: Can you really double your sales of a product you've created a while ago? And why are satellite products so very useful to clients and profitable to your info-product business? In this episode we look at info-products as we'd look at a piece of software like Photoshop. Find out the magic that already exists within your info-product and why you don't have to keep crazily searching for newer clients all the time.

The fifth of six re-runs: Whenever you have a deadline, somehow you're able to stagger towards it and get the job done. But other tasks never seem to move forward. You fall behind on your reading, your fun projects, even that movie you'd promised yourself. In life we need to complete projects that are urgent, but also projects that are good for the soul. How do we get these projects going and how can we sustain them over the long term? Let's find out in this episode.

The fourth of six re-runs: It might not seem like tolerance is the root for success, but if you dig deeper, you'll find that small businesses struggle without these core concepts of tolerance. So how does tolerance play a part in something like a successful artwork, or music, or the next product or course you produce? Let's find out in this podcast.

The third of six re-runs: How do you know whether an idea is good or bad? Is there a system of validation for your info-products, courses and workshops, or do you just go with the wisdom of the crowds? And why do brilliant ideas like the Segway fail? This episode shows you exactly what causes one idea to fail and the other one to succeed. But what about self-doubt? Find out how to take on self-doubt as well as validate your ideas in this episode.

The second of six re-runs: One of the biggest hurdles in writing, has nothing to do with writing at all. It doesn't have anything to do with time, either. Instead, it's an understanding of energy. Without a clear view of how energy works, we're likely to start off strong and then find ourselves stranded. Is there a way around this energy hurdle? What causes an energy loss? Let's find out in this episode.

The first of six re-runs: Hype works exceedingly well, even when the client knows they're being duped a bit. But what if you can't stand hype? Does that mean you roll over and play dead? Here's how you can avoid hype completely, if you wish to do so. And if the hype is so great, that it can't be ignored, you can use the hype like mental judo to turn the tables and to achieve precise results for your clients.

When we think of mastermind-based concepts, we tend to isolate the ideas to a group of people. But what if you could use the very same concepts in courses, workshops and even in membership sites? Here are three steps to powerfully use mastermind concepts across the board.

It feels difficult to feel any gratitude when you're cooped up. Yet, these weeks in relative isolation have also brought unexpected joy. This is a small insight into how it has changed our personal live and even the structure of our online courses.

One of the most draining aspects of article writing is the research that we need to put into writing an article. No matter how hard we try, we end up spending hours, even days digging up for the right research. But what if there were a faster and better way to do research. What if that method was "accidental", yet super reliable? Let's find out how to go about it, shall we?

We've been told time and time again that our mindsets need to change in order to change our skillsets. But what if it's the other way around? Why are we still stuck despite making a change to our mindset? And are we fighting just a solitary mindset without realising there are multiple levels? Let's go past what's holding us back in this episode of mindset vs skillset.

When are you and I the most distracted? Often, it's right after you've finished one task and on your way to start another. You've planned your day well, but you lose your momentum and before you know it, you're in a big doom loop. How do you avoid this in between distraction so that you get tasks done and cross off all those boxes on the to-do list?