Optionality is confusing your prospects
That’s the argument I found on a LinkedIn post about why sales aren’t working. Just as these other ones: 3 options will only confuse people. And they won’t buy. Putting the full price will deter prospects from buying. I’m competing with other guys and they’ll evaluate based on price. Giving the full price and what it includes will show my offering is too expensive. So they won’t buy. And what’s the solution? We send one-price quotation. We add a line saying “Ask for this extra for $X”. We…
Unreadiness
You won’t ever be truly ready for things to happen. There will always be something in the way, something you’d love to know a bit more of, something you won’t completely know or any (or some) level of risk, Yet, you have to act. And own it. Especially when you’re scared AF. It’s taking that responsibility, being “accountable” and brave to make —at times— bold decisions, knowing what’s at stake and yet moving forward because it’s all about that bigger, larger thing than just you. And when you…
Fill in the blank. By Tanya Moushi.
Today, this is brought to you by daily emailer and amazing writer Tanya Moushi. She’s got it right. Fill in the blank I feel excellent about myself when I ______________. I feel like shit every time I ______________. I’m ready to finally let go of _______________. I’m going to finally explore _______________. I’m extra grateful for ____________. This one is so full of gold and self-reflection. Perfect for preparing yourself for the next year.
“Work like a founder”
This one is if you’re working for somebody —or if you have people working for you. 🙂 “Work like a founder” That’s lame advice. Unless this founder is sharing the same level of rewards with you, it’s nonsense. Unless you’re sharing the same level of risk with them, it’s nonsense. This is not a call for mediocrity. It’s a call out to bullshit advice where power dynamics are unequal —and it’s absolutely fine that they are. Just people can’t use it as leverage to get “more work” in exchange for…
Feeling like an impostor?
Mike Julian and Adam Grant seem to have opposite takes re: impostor syndrome. Mike’s take: I think the tech industry has many failings and shortcomings, but one that’s been annoying me lately is the pervasive belief that everyone has impostor syndrome.There are people that worked their asses off to become great and they know it. We shouldn’t be minimizing that. And the other take, from Adam: The only people who never feel like impostors are narcissists.Being 100% sure of yourself at all times…
Relying heavily on AI
If you rely heavily on AI (or LLMs), here’s something worth checking. Is it being trained on biased datasets? If you want to explore the whole pod, you can follow it here.
What if
Asking this is to exercise constraints. Unlike what many people think —that to be creative, you need to have freedom— when you’re restrained is when you get to be more creative. Asking “What if” helps in thinking broadly. And that’s the first step. After that, saying “But this is all I have” will set you in a game of constraints. Where you get to push yourself on how to do things different. And depending on how these things get to be different, your approach will be more or less creative.
The less you know…
The more knowledge and more imagination, more originality. How do you get to know more? By knowing less. And then diving deeper. Deepening your expertise. Specializing. Seeing the patterns. With that, you know “What is” and all you have to do after that is ask yourself “What could be?” Start with this: what if?
The (un)curse of knowledge
The curse of knowledge. It’s assuming others know what you know (because you get that all backgrounds and understandings are shared). What if you had an un-curse of knowledge? Not assuming that others know what you know, but bring them something that comes from your background and understanding to help them better understand it themselves. That would become a gift. Philip Morgan calls it a Free Gift of Knowledge. A live test to the market on what you can offer as you specialize. I’m making a…
Laser-focused or Loser-focused?
What’s the thing you’re focusing on when running your business? The goal to get to? Or what others are doing in your same space, so you “don’t lose”? One can take you to new heights. The other one, only down. To zero.