Chris Cooper's Blog, page 146

Authenticity

Excerpted from Two-Brain Business 2.0

In the spring of 2015, I attended a seminar for coaches of Adaptive Athletes at Reebok CrossFit Back Bay. It was a great experience, but the best lesson wasn’t on assessment or exercise prescription. The best lesson was on authenticity.

 

Angel Gonzalez became a wheelchair athlete after sustaining a rare infection while surfing. Now a gym owner, he travels with the Adaptive Athlete crew to many of their weekend seminars. I met him at one of the seminars in Boston.

While the seminar was in session, Angel was introduced to a teenager who had recently sustained a spinal cord injury. The kid was new to the chair, and his parents fussed over him constantly. Angel took the family to a distant corner of the gym to chat.

 

First, Angel asked the teen if he’d ever used a “sport” chair. Angel has a high-performance chair he uses for CrossFit and his other sports, and it was sitting between him and the teen.

“Go ahead, try it out.” Angel offered. The kid demurred, but Angel insisted.

“You’ve gotta try this thing. Get in the chair, son.” Angel is a big Texan athlete and coach. He’s used to being obeyed.

 

So the teen nodded, and his parents rushed over to help. His dad stabilized his wheelchair while his mom moved his feet closer to the sport chair. His younger brother grabbed an arm, prepared to heave him up and out.

 

But then Angel raised his big hand and said, “Stop.” The family froze. Angel looked the teenager in the eye.

“YOU get in my chair,” he said. “Just you.”

 

“But I CAN’T,” the teen answered. Mom nodded. “I can help him,” she said. “I don’t mind.”

 

A mother’s love, empathy, and guilt—it’s powerful. But what Angel said next was even more powerful:

 

“Stop handicapping your kid,” he said softly.

 

Mom and dad immediately got the picture. She burst into tears; he clenched and unclenched his fists. Angel didn’t break eye contact with the teen.

 

“You’re going to want to go on dates. You have to go to college. You’re going to want to drive a truck like mine. You going to let Mom drive you around? Dress you? Pick you up when you tip over? Cause you’re going to tip over, son. That’s how this goes. And YOU gotta get back in that chair.”

 

That was one silent corner of the gym, let me tell you.

 

And then the kid said, “Okay, let me try.” And he tried. He fell down. Mom reached out to help him. Angel waved her off. After almost ten minutes, the teen collapsed back in his chair, sweaty and exhausted.

 

“THAT is functional fitness, my man.” Angel said. “I don’t care about your weight, or how much weight you can put overhead. Let’s get you up off the ground, son. THEN we’ll talk about getting you a date.”

 

The kid got the message. Mom was crying openly; dad was visibly choked up. Little brother was avoiding eye contact. And the newly-chaired athlete had THAT look: you know, the “hell yeah. Let’s get started now!” look.

 

I couldn’t have said those things, because they wouldn’t have been authentic. I haven’t been in a chair, except for one “seated” workout I performed with Angel that weekend (he smoked me.)

 

Who are your best clients? Look at yourself first. What are the challenges you’ve overcome? What were the greatest hardships in your life? Those are the largest opportunities to help others. The word “crisis” is derived from the Greek word “krisi” (κρίση ) which really means “opportunity.”

In 2008, facing potential bankruptcy, I couldn’t have predicted that my experiences would help thousands of others. But my ability to empathize with others in trouble means I can help them. They know I’m authentic. Just as you can’t get full insight into a chaired athlete’s life from reading a book about spinal cord injuries, other business “coaches” who don’t own businesses (or have never bounced their own paycheck) struggle to build rapport with owners who are in the trenches every day.

 

Your authenticity is a huge advantage. Your hardest lessons are the most valuable thing you possess.

 

What have YOU learned the hard way?

TwoBrain Radio Episode 134: “Clockwork”, with Mike Michalowicz

Episode 134-“Clockwork”, with Mike Michalowicz

 

Mike Michalowicz’ new book, Clockwork, continues his tradition of writing VERY actionable books. While business books containing one great idea are published every week, Michalowicz’ books are valuable because of the action they trigger. His Pumpkin Plan and Profit First strategies are part of our Incubator and Growth Phase curriculum, and Clockwork’s “Queen Bee Role” has been the subject of great discussion in our private Facebook group.

 

First, we start with Mike’s definition of the Entrepreneur’s Survival Trap: doing the things that will help you survive the day, but won’t grow your business. It’s the rush to the “urgent problems” without considering the future we’re trying to reach.

 

Then we talk about Parkinson’s Law: how your tasks will always expand to fill the time you have. You’ll always be busy. The key to success is to do the RIGHT things.

 

(What are the “right things”? That depends on which phase of entrepreneurship you’re in! Take our test here.)

 

Mike said that he doesn’t like the “grind” and “hustle” mentality that many business speakers push now. I agree (here’s our post called “The Hustle Is A Lie.”)

 

Mike went into his “4-D Mix” – where an entrepreneur spends his time, between Doing, Deciding, Delegating, and Designing.

 

All of us know we need to spend more time thinking about our business; planning for growth; identifying and prioritizing opportunities. But we all get sucked into the daily delivery of our service. Mike gives us a great exercise to get more “Designing” time. He calls this the QBR: The “Queen Bee Role”.

 

Mike explained how to get yourself out of daily Doing, Deciding, and then how to properly Delegate. Then we got into Design, and what you SHOULD be doing every day.

 

Michalowicz says that after you identify the ONE thing that will grow your business, you–the entrepreneur–should be able to take time away from the business without it collapsing. Just make sure someone is doing the QBR!

 

In creative businesses (for example, if you’re an author or painter) it’s harder to replace yourself in the QBR. That doesn’t mean it can’t be done, at least partially. For a solopreneur (like a gym owner or attorney), it’s still possible to move lower-value roles off your plate!

 

What will you DO with the extra time? You’ll think about which opportunities to take (because when you have the time to look, there are always more opportunities than you can possibly handle! Every entrepreneur in our Tinker program knows that’s true!)

 

As you move away from Doing everything in your business, you’re going to be tempted to stick your fingers in the gears. Your ego will jump up and say, “This is MY company! I need to feel important!” Mike talks about his experience with this struggle and how to beat them.

 

BONUS: Mike’s “AC/DC” test to see how your business systems are doing. Rock on!

 

Finally, most of us actually LIKE working. The point is to have the choice, instead of fighting fires all day!

 

THEN Greg Strauch interviews Rebecca Boskovic of The Fittest Me – listen to this TwoBrain Family member’s story! You’ll LOVE IT!

 

Mike Michalowicz’ Fan Page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MikeMichalow...

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MikeMichalowicz

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikemichalo...

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemicha...

 

 

 

 

What’s Your REAL Duty?

If you’re a fitness coach, you’re probably an Adlerian.

 

Alfred Adler was a psychologist when Sigmund Freud was a psychologist. You’ve heard of Freud. You might not know Adler, but you follow his philosophy. Freud believed in determinism: you are the way you are because of certain events in your childhood. You’re destined to follow the tracks set by your parents and solidified by your experiences at a young age. There’s no escaping your legacy.

 

But Adler believed in individualism: that any of us could change the course of our life if we understood our own motivations. He believed that we justify our bad behaviors by saying “It’s just the way I was raised” or “I come from an alcoholic parent”–that those are just excuses to justify our ends. Adler taught goal-setting. He taught personal responsibility. And he believed that our ultimate duty was to the broader community.

 

Where Freud would have said, “You’re fat because you’re depressed, and you ingest food to replace the love your mother never gave you,” Adler would have countered with, “You use your obesity as an excuse, because you don’t want to let people get close to you. You’ve built an identity around obesity, and it’s easier to wallow than it is to change, so you don’t.”

 

Adler would have made one hell of a personal trainer.

 

Adler encouraged parents to let kids make mistakes instead of scolding them. He believed that each of us are ultimately accountable not to laws, or even to ourselves, but to our local community first. Here’s how to leverage Adler’s power to make tough choices in your business, start hard conversations, and do the best thing for your clients.

 

First, ask: “What’s the best thing I can do for my family?”

Adler believed the most basic functional unit of community was a 1:1 relationship, and that big community problems could be resolved by solving interpersonal problems first. Your business exists to serve your family, not the other way around. The most important relationships you have are the 1:1 relationships with your spouse and your kids. Your primary duty is to them. Is your business making their lives better, or are you asking them to sacrifice for your business?

 

Second, ask: “What’s the best thing I can do for my best clients?”

You can’t make everyone like you. My favorite book about Adlerian psychology is called “The Courage To Be Disliked.” (disregard the subtitle about a “Japanese phenomenon”–the book is 100% about Adler.)

When you accept a client into your care, you accept responsibility for their change. That means you’ll invest time into finding their emotional levers, establishing their goals and measuring their progress. Whether you own a gym, a salon, a financial planning firm or a car wash, your best clients should get priority. They’ll tell you what they want, and lead you to others just like themselves.

 

Third, ask: “What’s the best thing I can do for my staff?”

When you hire someone, you also accept responsibility for their success. But their duty is also to serve your clients, and to support your business in doing so. Your staff knows their duty. But sometimes we–the owners–forget. Adler believed that “all problems are interpersonal relationship problems.” We struggle to have hard conversations with our staff because we confuse our coworkers with friends. Instead of carrying two separate relationships–one friendship, one transactional–with a person, we blend them together out of necessity. And sometimes, that means we treat our staff like buddies instead of bosses.

 

The greatest gift we can give our staff is opportunity. At TwoBrain, we teach Intrapreneurialism: the opportunity for your staff to build meaningful careers under their own power. They can enjoy the fruits of entrepreneurship without the risk IF they do the work. And that’s a big IF, because most people don’t want to do the work.

 

In twenty years of creating opportunities for people, I’ve seen many staff members seize their chance and make excellent careers. But I’ve also seen many people fail. And when they do, it’s always my fault: I didn’t promote their service enough. Or I didn’t sweep the floors with them, or I didn’t give them some critical piece of information they were waiting to receive. Adler would have something to say about those cases. But the diagnosis doesn’t matter, and neither does the blame. All that matters is making the change, because it’s your duty.

 

If you’re avoiding a hard conversation with a client, ask yourself: “What’s the best thing I can do for my family?”

If you’re avoiding a hard conversation with a staff member, ask yourself: “What’s my duty to my best clients?”

Then, do your duty.

 

Adler’s psychology is a psychology of change. There’s a classic joke about a retired psychologist who takes a part-time job at an auto body shop. A client brings his car in for an oil change and asks how long it will take.

“Oh, probably two to four weeks” says the retired psychologist.

“Two to four weeks?!” says the astounded customer. “That’s insane!”

“Yes it is,” says the psychologist. “But the oil has to WANT to change.”

 

Sometimes we, as gym owners, find excuses to avoid change. We say “I’m too soft-hearted!” as if acknowledging our weakness justifies it. We give a staff person “one more chance” because they had a bad home life, as if our customers should suffer for their problems. And we put off tough conversations because they’re painful. But when you open a business, you accept a duty that most won’t: the duty to do the best thing for the most important people, instead of trying to please everyone. That takes courage. The biggest change that usually has to occur in any business is to the owner. Knowing your duty is the first step.

 

Parkinson’s Law

“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

 

First published in The Economist in 1955, Cyril Northcote Parkinson was writing about his experience in the British Civil Service. The essay was mostly written for humor, but is now cited as fact by leaders like Mikhail Gorbachev and writers like Isaac Asimov, who said, “In ten hours a day you have time to fall twice as far behind your commitments as in five hours a day.”

 

Every entrepreneur has been frustrated by an employee who takes too long to complete a simple task. We’ve all said, “I can do that in ten minutes, but it takes Bill an hour to do the same thing! I don’t get it!” And this is where Parkinson’s Law becomes a trap: an entrepreneur in the Farmer Phase thinks “I’ll just do this myself and it will be done faster!” and jumps back into Founder Phase, over and over. They get stuck and can’t work on the things that will actually move the business forward, because they’re baking the brownies while Bill watches from the sidelines.

 

(In a moment, I’ll give you a tactic to get Bill in line. But first: a few examples of how Parkinson’s Law applies to more than time.)

“Data expands to fill the space available for storage.” – Peter Jansens, in IT Service Management (2008)

“The business owner sees the cumulative deposits (resource) from sales and has a propensity to conclude that all the money is available for expenses (the demand expands to match the supply)” – Mike Michalowicz, in Profit First (2014)

“When you have a new tube of toothpaste, you use a lot of toothpaste. You waste a lot. When you’re near the end of the tube, you’re squeezing, twisting, rolling that sucker to get every drop out of it. You’re more creative and less wasteful.” – Mike Michalowicz, to me last Wednesday.

When you have a lot of something–even if you think you do–you waste it. You don’t study for the big exam until the last minute. You don’t write the paper until your deadline. You don’t count your pennies until you’re running out.

 

The solution is to create a budget that prioritizes your goal, instead of simply measuring where your resource went.

 

In Profit First, Michalowicz teaches his readers to pay themselves first. Dave Ramsey tells his listeners to pay off their small debts first. And at TwoBrain, we tell entrepreneurs to create time budgets for themselves and their staff.

 

In “How to Optimize Your Day”, I told you to mark off a Focus Window and a Creative Window.

 

The purpose of having predefined windows of work is to give you positive constraints. If you have an hour, you’ll get important work done in that hour. If you have eight hours, the same work will take eight hours. And you can do the same with your staff.

 

After you do the Roles and Tasks exercise, assign a value to each role. For example, the skillset required to run your social media accounts is simple, and can be done by an enthusiastic teenager. The role of “social media manager”, then, is worth $12-15 per hour. Understanding this value will help you prioritize your time. But understanding the time required will help your staff prioritize, too.

 

Add a time budget to each role. For example, in the case of a social media manager, their checklist might look something like this:

Share content to Instagram with link and hashtags

Auto-feed content to Facebook page

Correct link on Facebook page to make a clear path to readership. Fix tags and hashtags to match Facebook profiles.

Add content to Instagram Stories (and IGTV if it’s a video)

Add video to YouTube, or shoot a quick video

Link the same way to LinkedIn (in relevant groups), Digg (relevant questions) or any other top-of-funnel channels you use.

 

Now, left alone, this could easily fill an hour every day. But could the social media manager finish in HALF that time? Yes, if they were challenged to do so and rewarded when they do.

 

Then introduce the next role (client followups, for example.) Instead of saying, “Work your way through this list, and call everyone!” you can say “Let’s see how many of these folks you can contact in 30 minutes.” I guarantee their quality won’t change, but their focus will.

 

Positive constraints, focus windows and creative time are powerful tools. Using them with your staff will leverage THEIR best, too: don’t keep all these tactics to yourself!

How to Optimize Your Day

Work expands to fill the space you give it.

As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to spend a day being “busy” but accomplishing little. Small tasks are always present to fill your time; and rabbit-holes like chatting up visitors and Facebook groups can drag you in for hours.

Just like budgeting your money, budgeting your time can help you optimize your efforts. Instead of adding more things to your place in the Incubator, you will succeed because we focus your attention and limit your tasks.

Here’s a quick way to optimize your time.

First, you’re going to create two windows for uninterrupted work.

The first work window is for checklists; the second is for creativity.

First window: FOCUS

Use this time for uninterrupted single-tasking. Pull up your checklist for the day. Find the simplest task to perform, and work it through to completion. Then find the next-simplest, and work it all the way through.

This is single-tasking. But it’s also using a cognitive tendency called Gap Theory to get you some momentum and draw you into the “flow state”, where you work at your optimum focused pace.

During your Focus window, you need to be in a place with a door that closes; you need to turn off your phone and desktop notifications. If you work better to music, play some (I work best in complete silence.)

As you work through your list, cross completed tasks off AND add them to your “Done” list. At the end of your Focus window, you’ll want to see what you’ve accomplished. That’s important.

If you have trouble getting started, use the Hemingway hack: start with something that’s almost done already. Hemingway would stop writing mid sentence at the end of each day so the next morning he could simply finish the sentence and then be in flow state.

The goal of your Focus window is to SHIP. Read more by Seth Godin here: http://99u.com/articles/6249/seth-god...

Second window: CREATE

During this block, you’re going to do more creative work.

This is when you post your Social Media stuff; this is when you write your blog posts or film your videos. This is when you create the next day’s checklist.

Your creative time is more free-flowing, but absolutely necessary. It’s not nap time; it’s not easy, relaxing time. You still have to build.

Many entrepreneurs find they think best when their body is occupied at a repetitive task. (This is why you have your best ideas in the shower or while driving–we call this “thinking body, dancing mind.”) So if you have trouble thinking up a blog topic, start a menial task, like mowing the grass or going out for a walk. You can’t hit a CrossFit workout and call it your “creative” time, though, because hard workouts require too much conscious attention.

You can also use tools like 750words.com to urge you through creative work, or practice games like Tabata Talking, which we teach entrepreneurs.

Planning Your Windows

Focus time is best done before the day starts, or after a hard mental reset.

For me, that means a 4am start before anyone else is awake.

I start with easy stuff: doing money transfers and processing payments from the night before. Then I do responsive stuff: answering emails and messages. That’s my segue into my creative time, when I write blog posts and love letters to my email list.

Because most of my work is creative work, my “focus” time usually involves building or optimizing materials that will help business owners–work that is, by nature, creative; but not free-flow writing.

If you’re not an early morning person, that’s fine. Your Focus window should immediately follow a hard workout. CrossFit requires your full attention, which temporarily blocks out little distractions. That creates a short time frame in which you can follow the Focus window directions above (notifications off, doors closed.)

You’ll need at least one hour per day of Focus time during the Incubator, with a plan to build to two or more eventually.

Creative time is optimized by low-level exercise or a menial task (thinking body, dancing mind.) I have my best ideas while splitting wood or shoveling dirt. The challenge with these outdoor activities is that I rarely have a notepad around when I have my ideas. Ditto for driving and showering.

If you can find a menial task–like mopping the floors of your business or rearranging boxes in your supply room–that keeps you close to a laptop, this is often best: you can go back and forth between doing the work and recording your ideas.

Low-level aerobic stimulation, like walking, can help you remember facts more quickly AND make connections between ideas faster. It’s invaluable for an entrepreneur.

You need at least a 45-minute Creative window during the Incubator, working up to 90 minutes ideally.

The practices of Focus and Creativity are just that: practices. You won’t be great on your first day. Each is its own fitness, which means they’re both trainable. This is how you improve both critical skills for business owners.

The Currency of Coffee

What’s your coffee worth?

 

Coffee is a great lesson for all entrepreneurs. A styrofoam cup, filled from a beaker that looks like it’s been on the burner for twelve hours, doesn’t carry a high perception of value. The same cup, poured into a kitschy ceramic mug by a “barista”, in a craft-heavy shop with a real roaster and bags of beans scattered around…well, that’s a luxury. But it’s not the coffee that changed. It’s the experience, the timing, the environment. A coffee guzzled by oneself is worth less than a hot cup delivered by a friend…unless it’s midnight and a big report is due.

 

Precisely because of coffee’s perceived value relative to its cost, it’s also an amazing tool for building your business. Taking someone a coffee is an excellent sales strategy. Coffee opens doors. Coffee stirs conversation. Here’s how I’ve used it to great advantage:

 

In Catalyst’s annual “Fit It Forward” week, the first assignment I give our clients is literally “Buy a stranger a coffee.” Every year, in drive-thrus and coffee lines, dozens of Catalyst clients say, “I’ll pay for the guy behind me.” The benefit is far greater than the price of a cup, and the purchaser feels good all day. But until I told them to do it, few were.
In our second location (2006,) our gym was above a women’s clothing shop. On opening day, I took the sales staff a tray of coffee as an introduction. That same afternoon, a teenager dropped a power snatch from over his head; all the track lighting in the shop below broke free and shattered. We resolved it peacefully. That coffee saved me five years of war with the neighbors.
Before Catalyst opened, I sought advice from an elderly attorney. My partners-to-be were friendly guys with successful businesses, but I thought it wise to be careful. I walked down the street to the attorney’s office and stopped to buy him a coffee on the way. I could barely afford the coffee, let alone his advice, but he said, “Thanks for the coffee. I needed that. No bill.”
In January 2013, I sat in the original Starbucks in Seattle with some of the HQ “inner circle”–Andy Stumpf, Sevan Metossian, and Jimi Letchford–and we were waiting for Greg. I was dangerously close to missing a flight home. But the wait gave me the opportunity to lay out what I was doing with Two-Brain Business over coffee. The next time I visited HQ, my book was in Sevan’s office, and I was on the payroll as a writer for the Journal. That coffee was worth tens of thousands of dollars.
When we published Ignite! Enrichment Through Exercise, I thought it would be popular around town. Instead, it seemed to be popular everywhere BUT locally: we had Skype calls with South Africa, Europe, Boston and Texas, but not our city. So we asked a local physiotherapist if we could bring his staff a coffee and a copy of the book. The discussion turned into lunch, and our first referral from them was worth over $19,000.

Like coffee, the value of your service depends on the context. To an overweight woman whose wedding dress is too tight, your nutrition program is priceless. To a shopper comparing your service to  an identical service across town, it’s worth the lowest price they see. A no-name coffee in a hotel room might be worth .30–or it might be worth $1000, if it helps me meet a deadline.

 

What’s a conversation worth? If it’s small talk about the weather at your kid’s soccer game, it’s probably not worth much. But a surprise coffee that leads to an introduction–or a conversation about meaningful challenges–is priceless.

 

Today, go to the closest coffee shop. Buy four cups of coffee. Throw some milk and sugar in a bag.

 

Walk into your neighbor’s business. Put the coffee on the desk. Say, “Hi, I’m Chris. How’s business?” That’s it. The conversation will have value even if it’s not transactional.

 

You don’t need an elevator pitch. You don’t need the perfect opening line. In fact, you’re probably better to start without any purpose beyond making a new friend. Before people can like you or trust you, they have to know you. Let’s start building THAT funnel.

Case Study: The Pirate

“I need to know the next marketing hack.”

 

Paris is a good marketer.

 

She’s very good at cultivating new leads for her business, a women’s weight loss center. Twenty years ago, she did Guerrilla Marketing: she staged an impromptu parade down our city’s main street, handing out popsicles with her company’s name printed on the sticks. Fifteen years ago, she launched a fax campaign to every fax number she could buy. Ten years ago, she emailed the entire directory of our local chamber of commerce with a coupon to buy her service at a discount. Five years ago, it was Google Ads. Four years ago, it was Groupon. Three years ago, it was Yelp. Then she started buying Facebook ads. Then she started running eight-week makeovers, using ClickFunnels and Facebook videos.

 

Like a Pirate, Paris is good at getting attention. She pulls along side a prospective client and fires her cannons. She waves her flag and swings aboard, golden earrings jangling. When she plunders, she does it well: she shares the booty with her staff, holds legendary parties, and spends the booty. Then she looks for the next boat.

 

The problem: there aren’t enough boats. At least, that’s what Paris believes.

 

“I’ve been in this town for 20 years, and I’ve met practically everyone. No one wants to spend money anymore! Or they’re just looking for some quick fix and then they’re gone.”

 

Paris’ current product is an eight-week total-body makeover. Clients start with a cleanse diet for two weeks; then they start exercising with a local personal trainer. In the seventh and eighth weeks, they visit a local tailor and photographer. After the makeover, they’ve usually lost a few pounds, and they look great. Most of them say they FEEL great. Her walls–both real and virtual–are plastered with smiling clients who have had great results.

 

But still, Paris is always looking for the next boat. Her crew is starting to get hungry, and her stores are wearing pretty thin. So she called me to ask we could help.

 

“Where should I sell my challenge next?” she asked. “Pinterest? LinkedIn?”

 

Here are Paris’ real problems:

She’s not good at keeping people (she’s selling a short-term challenge with a fixed endpoint)
She doesn’t have a stable, recurring revenue model (it’s always ebb and flow)
Her staff is used to feasting or starving
She doesn’t have a long-term plan for growth, just a bunch of marketing ideas.

 

Paris is stuck in Farmer Phase. Her cash flow isn’t predictable, so she’s always reacting to crisis instead of capitalizing on her business. Though she’s in a city of 120,000 people, her market is the top 10% of all earners, and most of those folks know each other. Over 15 years, she’s worked her way through many of them, and her past clients have a “been there, done that” response when asked about her service. Her problem is really retention…but goes much deeper.

 

Paris is selling a short-term service (an 8-week total-body makeover.) Hairdressers don’t sell an 8-week haircut; they sell a recurring appointment to keep your hair trimmed. Dentists don’t sell a one-and-done tooth-whitening service; they sell a recurring appointment to keep your smile looking great. But Paris’ service has a defined beginning, middle and–sadly–an end.

 

No one sees a “makeover” as a lasting process. It’s the same with 8-week fitness challenges, 30-day detox diets and summer kitchen remodels: there’s no long-term recurring revenue. So Paris is stuck in a marketing cycle, and won’t ever escape until she changes her actual service. Here’s what we did to make Paris’ business successful in the long-term.

 

First, we created a recurring service. I asked Paris: “After your clients lose weight, what happens next?” We added a maintenance option for workouts and nutrition coaching at $200 per month.

Second, we tailored her intake to include stages: Stage 1 could still be her 8-week makeover, but Stage 2–presented at the first meeting–would be her new maintenance option, and we started thinking about Stage 3. Paris built a sales binder that clearly illustrated this progression as a graphic.

Third, I introduced Paris to the owner of a few local dress shops; a photographer; and another local personal trainer. We drew up a program for cross-referrals, following the guidelines in my book, Help First.

Fourth, we created a retention program. Paris’ clients now benefit from Bright Spots, online highlights, and posters around her office. She focused on making THEM famous instead of making her BRAND famous.

Finally, we launched TwoBrain Marketing: first Affinity Marketing, then digital.

 

After nearly 20 years in business, Paris can see a way out of the choppy seas. She won’t have to ride the highs and lows of selling short-term services. And she DID eventually learn up-to-date digital marketing practices, but only after she took several steps backward to fix her service.

 

 

Case Study: The Fisherman

Most of the case studies on this site come from actual TwoBrain mentoring clients. I change their names and usually their businesses to protect their anonymity, but I love to share their stories to help others. This story isn’t about one specific member of the TwoBrain family, but it could be about any of us. It’s one of my favorite business fables.

 

A businessman was on vacation in Mexico. After a few days of melting into the sandy beach, he started to get restless. So he booked a private fishing charter.

The businessman and his fishing guide spent a full day on the ocean. They caught a dozen fish each, drank as many beer, and got a nice tan. The fisherman didn’t speak perfect English, but listened intently and answered the businessman’s questions about his family and life as they floated.

At the end of the day, the fisherman beached his boat and began cleaning their catch. The businessman looked out over the waves at the setting sun and, inspired by his relaxing day, decided to help the fisherman.

“Tell me,” said the businessman, “Where do you go at night?”

“Well,” the fisherman answered, “After I finish cleaning the fish, I go home. My wife has dinner waiting for me, and we eat in the shade of my yard.”

“And what do you do after dinner?” the businessman asked.

“Well, I take my guitar over to the dock. My friends bring their guitars, and we play a little. We don’t have much money, but we usually have enough for some beer. We play our guitars and drink beer until midnight, and then I go home, kiss my wife, and go to sleep.”

“And then what?” asked the businessman. He wanted to know how the fisherman made his living, not how he spent  his money.

“Well,” the fisherman continued slowly, “I wake up when the sun comes through my window. Then I fish a little, and come back here with my catch.”

After waiting to make sure there wasn’t more to the fisherman’s story, the businessman took over. He was eager to help.

“Well,” he said, enthusiastically, “If you got an earlier start, you could probably take two fishing trips every day. You could earn twice as much money! Look, there are no shortage of clients like me around.”

“I see,” the fisherman replied, still cleaning their catch. “What would I do with the money?”

“Well,” the businessman said, “You could buy a bigger boat. You could take two clients out fishing at a time. At two trips every day, you’d make four times as much money as you do now!”

“I get it,” said the fisherman. “And what would I do with that money?”

“Well, I’m glad you asked.” said the businessman. He was getting really excited now. “You could buy a second boat, and hire your friends to take charters too. Heck, you could build up to a whole fleet! You’d make a ton of money!”

“And what would I do with that money?” the fisherman asked.

“Well,” the businessman answered, “that’s where things get really interesting. You could build the fleet to be huge, of course. Or you could invest in a packing plant, and sell your catch overseas. Or you could build a second fleet at the next town up the coast. You could take investors. You could become rich!”

“I like the sound of being rich,” the fisherman said, washing his hands. “What would I do when I became rich?”

The businessman beamed.

“Well, you’d sell it all. You could retire to a little place on a beach somewhere, and spend your time playing guitar with your friends, drinking beer–maybe even doing a little fishing for fun.”

 

The hustle isn’t the goal; the grind isn’t the goal. The money isn’t even the goal. The goal is a happy life. In the pursuit of growth, it’s easy to lose sight of the horizon.

From Affinity Marketing to Infinity

Every business needs marketing. We all agree on that.

 

But what IS marketing? Is it a team of 13 Facebook experts, tweaking landing page scripts and generating Clickfunnels reports? Or is it one mom saying “come with me!” to her best friend at the book club?

 

It’s both, of course. And while everyone agrees that word-of-mouth marketing is a powerful force, it’s too passive for most businesses in the Founder and Farmer phases. We can’t afford to wait.

 

At TwoBrain, we split our marketing into two parts: Affinity and Digital.

 

First, we train entrepreneurs to be good at sales. If you’ve read Help First, you know that you don’t have to feel like a slimy salesman, but you DO have to sell. Removing barriers to entry, learning how to ask people to pay, and simply coaching people to the best result are all skills that can be mastered with practice. But few spend time practicing their sales skills. You should hone your sales skills because they are a marketing multiplier.

 

For example, let’s say two personal trainers each spend $100 on a Facebook ad. They use one of our templates, so they have pictures and text ready to go. Let’s say each of those ad generates 10 leads for each trainer.

 

Now, if Trainer #1 is trained in sales, he knows to call a potential client after they fill out their form. He makes sure they’ve booked an appointment, and tells them what to expect. He helps ease their transition into they gym. This means 7 out of 10 leads show up to talk with him. And since he’s good at the Help First model, he knows how to recommend the service they actually need, instead of selling another 6-week, revolving-door challenge. 4 out of 7 convert, purchasing a high-value entry point for $499. His ROI on the Facebook ad is $1996 with $100 in ad spend, or nearly 20X.

 

If Trainer #2 isn’t trained in sales, she doesn’t call potential clients after they fill out a form on her site, even though they’ve indicated their interest. She doesn’t want to seem “pushy”, so she doesn’t help them over their fear threshold. 3 out of 10 leads show up for their appointment, and because the trainer can’t clearly lay out their best path, only 1 signs up for her intro package of 5 sessions for $199. Her ROI on the Facebook ad is $199 with $100 in ad spend, or around 2x.

 

A 2x return on any marketing investment is still great. But sales training makes it far more rewarding; it’s a multiplier.

 

Second, we teach Affinity Marketing. Imagine a bull’s-eye, with your best clients in the center dot. Surrounding that dot are the people closest to your best clients (their families). Moving out from center, the next circle represents your best clients’ coworkers, and the third circle represents their friends. As the circles grow in size, they move farther away from center.

 

The people closest to the center dot are just like your best clients. They can afford your service; they already understand its value; and they a person they care about is in love with your service. They know, like and trust you already. It’s your responsibility to help them. The Affinity Marketing process helps entrepreneurs identify these high-affinity clients; create a proposal to help them; and then convert them to clients.

 

These people don’t need filtering; they need someone to say “Come with me. I’ll show you.” They don’t need an ad; they need a hand. And Affinity Marketing is also a multiplier for the digital marketing to come later, because every new client is the center ring of a new bull’s-eye.

 

Affinity Marketing is also an easy, natural offshoot of regular goal reviews, which is a critical part of your retention plan.

 

Third, we teach lead nurture. When someone indicates interest in your service, but isn’t ready to sign up right away, what do you do then? Well, you write them love letters. You make them mixed tapespodcasts, and YouTube videos and other presents to show them you care. You tell them how you’re going to solve their problem, and you prove your skill by telling stories of others. TwoBrain entrepreneurs produce a LOT of content in a caring, engaging way, because no one gets married on the first date.

 

Finally, we teach digital marketing. When an entrepreneur enters the Farmer Phase, they must begin selling to strangers. The power of storytelling platforms like Facebook and Instagram are incredible. Consider them the top of your marketing funnel: they’re the way you meet strangers and start a conversation.

 

Top-of-funnel marketing used to mean billboards and radio ads. Now it means Facebook, YouTube and Google. But in the future, it might mean Strava or Amazon (bank on it) or geofenced micro targeting.

 

The TwoBrain Marketing program was built to teach all parts of the sales process: from conversion to Affinity Marketing to Lead Nurturing to Digital Lead Generation. We share ad copy, budgets, ROI, wins and losses every single day. It’s a mentorship program, not just another Facebook group and swipe file combo. And we update our best practices every single week–what else would you expect from TwoBrain?

Case Study: The Juggler

“I have a ton of great ideas, but I never get anything done!”

 

Dallas is a polypreneur. At least, he’d like to be. He’d like to start five companies, but operate none of them.

 

“I launched my gym first,” he told me. “I wanted to sell t-shirts to my clients, but couldn’t find a vendor. So I ordered some locally, and then had the idea to sell my designs online.”

 

So he spent a few months building an online store, seeking out funny slogans and designing graphics. The t-shirt business consumed a lot of Dallas’ attention: he’d often scribble ideas on paper while coaching clients in his gym. Eventually, he sold a few shirts to his gym clients, and started posting about his t-shirt company on his Facebook profile.

 

Then another opportunity struck: a local cheesemaker saw his new website and asked who built it. “I did!” said Dallas, and offered to build one for the cheesemaker. He came up with a third brand, and dove into web design: creating his own new logo, and then one for his client. For several months, Dallas learned the web trade between training his clients. His online shirt store was all but forgotten, and he considered taking a partner to run the online business.

 

Dallas is a very smart guy. And these are very real opportunities, with clients willing to pay for them. How can he capitalize?

 

“I figure it will all tie together, you know?” he told me. “I just need someone to run with these ideas after I have them.”

 

Here are Dallas’ real problems:

He’s constantly sacrificing one business for another
He’s distracted by novelty instead of capitalizing on any one idea
No one wants to follow him around and implement his ideas in exchange for “shares” without value
He believes that businesses are made by ideas, not action.

 

Dallas is stuck the Founder Phase, and every time he brings an idea close to the Farmer Phase, he starts fresh with a new one. I’ve never met an entrepreneur who didn’t have at least three great ideas. Dallas was being pulled in every direction and making progress in none. This was partly due to the distraction of novelty, and partly due to FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). He admitted to worrying that “someone else will do this if I don’t.”

Here’s what we did.

 

First, I had Dallas calculate his Effective Hourly Rate (EHR) for each company separately. Of course, his EHR was very low for all three ideas, but it was slightly higher for his gym, because the gym actually had some clients.

 

Next, Dallas and I performed a test for low-hanging fruit. We identified which opportunities were easiest to capitalize on NOW. I showed him that 1 new gym client was worth 13 t-shirt sales per month, and 1 new website every two months. Since it took Dallas more than two months to build a website, and he doesn’t sell 13 shirts every month, he concluded it was easier to focus on building his gym…for now. But he was unwilling to give up on the shirt company and the web company completely, which I fully understand.

 

“I get that we don’t have to do those things right now,” he said. “But WHEN?”

 

Rather than choose an arbitrary start date, or a target like “we’ll do them in the third quarter,” I prefer to have a financial goal. We recommend entrepreneurs in the Farmer Phase reach a 33% gross profit margin in their FIRST company before launching their second company. We also ask the owners to run a vacation test: they must take a full two weeks away from their first company, without phone or email contact, before they know it’s safe to start the second.

 

Outcome:

Dallas agreed to put his shirt company on hold until he reached a 33% profit margin in his gym. He was committed to finishing the website for his cheesemaker client, but agreed to have the site hosted and maintained by someone else at the client’s expense. He still owns the URLs for each, and can come back to them anytime–if he doesn’t have another big idea first. With all of his attention focused on his gym, Dallas is building that business with the goal of having someone else run it. Because he’s not going to run out of ideas.

 

As an entrepreneur, your options are infinite. When you have the entrepreneurial skillset, you can do anything. But you can’t do everything–at least, not right now.

 

To satisfy your urges toward novelty, and assuage your FOMO, I suggest you register the URL for your idea but go no further. This places an external “thumbtack” in the idea, and–unless you have a better idea in the meantime–you can come back to it later. My GoDaddy account shows 71 registered domains, including book titles that I’ll never write and businesses I’ll never launch. It’s my way of “putting a pin” in an idea, getting it out of my head, and clearing my mind to build the companies I already own.