Making the time
“How do you make time to write daily?” The same way you make time to do whatever you do daily: you don’t. This has been a question from a few friends of the list. And the answer is simple: I cheat. I don’t really “make time”. Here’s the hack: I write all day long. Meaning, whatever ideas come to mind, i write them down —however they come. The rule is: don’t edit, don’t look for fancy words —or even for the right words. It’s just a set of ideas. Often times without making any sense. And that’s…
German barbershops & Consulting
Client in a German barbershop: “I need to cut off ONLY the tips —just ONE cm.” Barber: “Only one cm? Sure. Look, here’s the 1 cm. Looks good?” Client: Yeah. Barber goes straight to cut everything BUT one cm of hair. That client… was me. ???? Besides the bad moment of having my hair cut in the total opposite that i wanted it, it made me wonder. “Was I not being clear enough?” Ranting about this with a German friend he said something that made absolute sense only then: “Well, in a German…
Prep the room
So, you’ve got a gig, quickly got to see the patterns that are holding your clients back and you are ready to move on. You make things happen. You know what to change, how to pivot the approach, how to implement actions, put a plan in motion and so on. You make shit happen. And you hit resistance. Intellectually, your client is following your arguments and understands them. In principle, it’s only logical to implement your advice IF they want to get to the results they want. But they don’t…
It’s some kind of emo thing
That was Chad Smith, drummer of Red Hot Chili Peppers, after hearing (and playing) “The Kill” by 30 Seconds To Mars in one take —listening to it for the very first time. If you like music, you might enjoy this vid (if you haven’t already seen it bc it’s gone crazy viral). [My recommendation: If you’ve never heard the song before, check it out here.(3:51) Short version of the jam (3:46) here Long version (8:45) here ] Chad’s level of expertise is such that he goes into an unknown situation and…
Value, then Price
If you know what your customer values —what’s REALLY important for them, you have a head start. A head start to put a price that is less that what they gain —so it’s a no-brainer. A head-start to focus on what they really want —so it’s a no-brainer. A head start to ditch whatever would be a nice-to-have and look for the big wins —so it’s a no-brainer. A head start to seeing what to say No to way ahead on the road —so it’s a no-brainer. A head start to shift the conversation from hours, time,…
That dark place of doubting yourself
Writing a proposal and sending it with 3 options. Commenting on it with friends and getting back “But this is not how things usually work here. You need to give a (daily/hourly) rate.” It makes you think if you approached it right. If the price was too high. If you need to show more value. If you need to prove it. if you need to keep giving freebies (and free advice). If the prospect will walk away because you’re too expensive. If —maybe— you thought too high of yourself and shot too high….
Another day in paradise
3 chords. No effort. Just a warm up. A world, epic riff that makes it stand out and recognizable all over the world (and time). That’s how this song was made. However, Dominic Miller’s first intention was to make it about the song and himself until he heard: – “That’s the riff!” – “Wait. Hang on a minute, mate. I’m gonna do something really epic that’s gonna show not only great your song is, but how great i am” (I’m just warming up!) When he understood it was not about him or about how epic…
Costs, then Price
A couple of replies to yesterday email focused on 2 things re: pricing. Decision-making and Costs. Decision-making Long time reader and AI specialist Genevieve Hayes pointed out (shared with permission): “All these pricing formulae are just examples of decision rules. And as we’ve discussed on many occasions, they are there to guide you, not to be blindly followed.”. She’s absolutely right. The thing is though, that almost everything taught is taken from the view that costs determine price….
What’s the need?
If a personal brand is just the reputation you have —what they say about you when you’re not in the room… what’s the need for it not to call it reputation?
Building trust
You don’t need a personal brand to build trust. A “personal brand” won’t make your prices more attractive. That would be like needing to have and project an image to make people believe you just because of the visuals. Having your prospects and clients trust you with their businesses What is trust? As friend of the list and fellow daily emailer Andrew Skotzko from Product Leadership Daily says: “Trust is choosing to risk making something you value vulnerable to another person’s actions.” Do…
