Uncover your voice
You don’t get to “discover” your voice. It was always there, nothing to discover. Just like a baby. They have it there but can’t make sounds yet. They explore, see around, play to figure out how to make sounds. They listen. And again, they start playing and training their muscles. Inhale the right quantity of air to make their voice sound. Years laters, you explore. Module it. Train it again. Trust it? Sometimes. The world outside tells you to lower it, sound more like X, use certain words,…
The paradox of originality
Coming full range in what you do. To explore and apply a high level of imagination to a high level of knowledge. Originality. Here’s the paradox though The deeper you know something, the more used to how things are. Things are working, right? So why break them? Here’s why. Breaking off that thinking and finding new ways to apply your imagination can unlock greater originality in what you do and how you serve your market. David C. Baker calls this “being able to see the patterns”. Why? Because…
Lessons learned from saying Yes to free work
Lessons learned from saying Yes to “free work”, “show/prove your worth before charging” and “let’s start with this small/insignificant amount of money that will hopefully turn into a larger gig”. It’s bullshit. That’s what i learned. Here’s why. Most of these situations are unfiltered properly. You’re too excited/over invested into closing them, so you don’t qualify them thoroughly. → You do the free work and then “We’ll evaluate it and get back to you”. Which is code for “Ha! Thanks, moron….
No more invitations
“Since you’ve been one of this cohort’s most-consistent members, we would be inviting you to join The Cohort’s Behind The Scenes first.” Want to make your sales not sleazy? Stop inviting people. Unless you’re really inviting them. Have you ever been invited to a dinner or wedding and expected to pay for attending? Me neither. If you were, and had to pay, you’d be thrown off —or feel really weird, like WTF. That’s the same feeling your prospects get when they receive all these “invitations” to…
Provocateurs
Your price is not a response to the market. It’s a provocation. Push them to consider. Think. Wonder. It’ll change the conversation from: → “Could this expert help me?” (and compare you to others) into → “How could this expert help me?” (compare your proposed options) In agitation,
Beginners Mindset. Not.
“Approach things with a beginner’s mindset.” In an expertise/knowledge-based business, it’s the wrong frame. A beginner approaches things from scratch, trying to figure out the right questions. It takes them time to understand and comprehend things (quickly) because they’re trying to find patterns. A beginner explores with no clear picture in mind, Has no mastery. When you have expertise, it’s your responsibility to see and find patterns in an efficient way, meaning getting curious and asking…
Japanese wedding
Friend of the list James Turner replied to yesterday’s email with this interesting fact (bold mine): “Funnily enough, getting invited to a Japanese wedding is code for “you have to pay 30,000-50,000 yen” —if people like you and just want to hang out with you and celebrate, they only invite you to the casual afterparty, because getting invited to the actual wedding is super expensive, lol. ” That proves further the point of invitations AND money. If you do get invited to a Japanese wedding,…
Praise you. Adapted from
“We’ve come a long, long way togetherThrough the hard times and the good I have to celebrate you, baby I have to praise you like I should” Praise You – Fatboy Slim. [Or is it?] Original is an spectrum. A first level comes to things that are only new to you. A next one comes from adapting things under a new take. Just like this song. A sample of “Take Yo’ Praise” by Camille Yarbrough mixed with many other samples. It takes things already known in a new way. The thing is, it’s original. It took…
New to you
Originality can take many forms. It’s more of a spectrum. How original really is everything? Original. not the same as anything or anyone else and therefore special and interesting. Novel. Cambridge dictionary Let’s go back to 1993, me and elementary school (damn! 30 years ago!). Here’s a friend, Diego, who comes to me with his Walkman (yeah. that was a thing) and tells me, “Do you know this song? It’s incredible!” I had no idea. This was the first time I heard this long intro with the…
Non-exclusive
Profit and purpose are not exclusive. Confusing which one is the main driver, that’s the misaligning. One funds the other. Like a car, gas and your destination. Without gas, you won’t go anywhere for there’s no motion. Having too much of one and not the other is like having unlimited gas without destination. You could end up in a cool place. Or drive right into the ocean. Or a wall.