Path to Simple

Latest Episodes:

16: Putting "Handlebars" On Your Client-Based Business Sep 21, 2020

Show notes

Do you ever feel like your clients see you as a cog in the wheel? Replaceable? Interchangeable with someone else who does what you do?

Years ago, I had a bank as a client. They believed their values, "Service, Loyalty, Integrity, Honesty" were enough to set them apart from every other small bank on the planet.

Spoiler alert: they weren't. They were getting crushed by the competition and couldn't figure out why.

It's because they were playing by the industry's rules—and not setting themselves apart ... for real. When a client sees you as replaceable, a few things happen:

You have to compete on price.
It's WAY more difficult to establish a relational connection with your client.
You're completely, totally, unavoidably forgettable.

On this week's show, you'll see what happens when you "monetize your mind" and create a business that's wrapped around the way you think (which is WAY more difficult to replace in the open market).

. . . . . .

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15: Monetize Your Mind Sep 14, 2020

Show notes

Have you hit the ceiling of complexity in your business yet?

If you haven’t, you’ll likely face the challenge of trying to grow the impact of your business beyond where you’re at now.

Defining the “ceiling of complexity” is super simple: you hit a level of success and then the stuff you did to generate results stops working.

You can’t work more hours.
You can’t raise your prices.
You can’t go and get more clients.

On the surface, it might seem like you’re stuck.

I hit that limit when I was working 60, 70, 80 hours a week in my digital agency. We tapped out just under 7-figures. Because, frankly, that's when everything kind of exploded. I couldn't work more. I could not give more hours. I had a wife that I wanted to stay married to. I had kids growing up that I wanted to see.

For that alone, things had to change.

That's when I discovered the four levels of "Monetizing Your Mind" I talk about on this week's show.

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14: 4 Secret Fears Holding You Back Jul 16, 2020

Show notes

One of my mission in this world is to help people stop trading their time for money.

And one of the biggest benefits of being an entrepreneur is generating income 24/7 without being directly involved - it's called Freedom.

The way I do that primarily is by helping folks create scalable digital products - whether it be online courses, coaching programs, virtual summits, etc.

In this episode, I share 4 secrets fears that holds people back - and in this context, building digital products.

Show Notes

[03:19] Fear #1: Money

Ask yourself a series of questions. How much is financial freedom worth to you?
Financial freedom means the income that you make is enough to cover your expenses in perpetuity without having you to pull levers to earn it
What is time freedom worth to you?

[04:36] Why entrepreneurs get stuck financially

When I was starting my business, there is a season of hustle but you can't run a business out of hustle. You'll burn out.
I reached a point where the market cannot tolerate the price increase.
You might be making an impact on your business but not life-changing levels of wealth.
The solution is to bottle up what you know into a digital product that you can sell over and over again.
You have a sales channel that's open 24/7 called "Digital You"

[07:42] Fear #2: I don't have time

Audit your time for two weeks and be as granular as you can.
More hours rarely fix the problem. In many cases, more hours compound the problem.
Start time allotting time (for ex 1 hour) for a digital product.
The more time you free up on your calendar. the more time you can put on building a digital product.

[10:19] Secret Fear #3: I have no confidence.

Building something once and selling it a thousand times takes believing in your skill-set and wisdom. That's where the confidence needs to come from.
Ask yourself: Do I know what I'm doing?
The feeling of having not enough social proof will never go away.

[15:03] Secret Fear #4: Finding the right time

Finding the right time is just an excuse.
There's never a good or a bad time. There's just time.
Create small steps: Ask your audience with their pain point.

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13: New Excuse Every Day Jul 07, 2020

Show notes

For those who may not know, I used to be a pastor before launching Think Digital, but I was really interested in social media and digital marketing. I found myself coming up with excuses everyday as to why I cant launch my digital product. I felt that people may think that I am a fraud, no business experience, no team, and my biggest excuse of all - there are a million people who are talking about digital marketing.

Finally, I have a friend who shifted my way of thinking about digital products, and I eventually stopped making excuses.

Show Notes

[01:44] The conversation that changed the way I think about digital products

There are hundred of thousands of books getting published everyday
Pick any topic you want into Google and there are hundreds of thousands of books every topic
You have experiences, relationships, and a particular way of seeing teaching a particular topic

[03:25] The three shifts in concepts that completely changed my family's life

Digitizing my mind - What I knew.
Digitizing my skills - What I did.
Digitizing my systems - How I did it.
I launched my course in July 2013, and by the end of the year, we had 100 students in our first course.

[05:00] The hurdle in creating digital products

Why would anybody listen to me?
It's not always a problem of skill. Throughout the years, I saw people who knew less skills that I did but makes more money.
Stop making excuses. Start building the digital product that you want to make.

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11: Escaping The "Business Friend Zone" Jun 16, 2020

Show notes

You know how friend zone, or being in the friend zone works. A guy or a girl giving tremendous amount of care and support to their special someone. And after all the effort, they're just...friends.

Your business can suffer the same fate as well. I was put in the business friend zone with the clients that I wanted to work with, where I would show interest in working with a client or have a desire to work with a client.

Have you ever been in this situation? Listen in as I'll share 3 steps no how you can break out of the business friend zone.

Show Notes

[1:00] How "Friend Zone" in the relationship setting works

On a guy's perspective, A guy likes a girl, guy waits on the girl, caters to her desires and whims, etc.
But the girl doesn't like the guy or not like how the guy likes her anyway.
"I'm so glad we're just friends".

[02:38] Friend Zone in the business perspective

I was doing all the things that I was supposed to be doing as a business .
I was giving a ton of "value" to those who I want to work with.
The business likes having you around but have no intention of ever working with you.

[04:36] Step 1: Create some friction in your market

Say something that scares you. Be easily approachable, but not easily accessible.
Don't be afraid to piss some people off in your market.
Be bold, take a stand, be who you want to be in business instead of who you think your market wants you to be

[05:56] Step 2: Teach the "what" and sell the "how"

Businesses give away the milk because they think it will attract buyers. By doing that, you are training your audience to ignore you.
Show the market that you understand the problem that they are facing. This builds trust.
Do not give away your solution. SELL your solution.

[07:28] Step 3: Increase your opportunity volume

Businesses get put in the friend zone because they don't have a predictable, dependable way to automatically bring in new opportunities.
Once you have the ability to increase your opportunity volume, leads will come in.
Have a simple and predictable way to bring in leads.
Having bigger opportunity changes your perspective on the market and it changes the way that you approach your market

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09: Tame Your Technology Apr 08, 2020

Show notes

Distractions are everywhere.

Little interruptions - like email, Slack messages, notifications - these distractions get us out of our flow.

And brain studies show that it takes the brain 30-45 minutes to get back into the groove after a distraction.

In this episode, I'll share how you can get rid of distractions, take back your time and increase your productivity

Show notes:

[00:55] We thought we are productive

I thought I was productive until I did a time audit.
I realized that I am wasting a tremendous amount of time.
We can't get work done at work so it hounds us all the way home.

[02:05] The power of distractions

Small situations can even get you out of your groove.
Brain studies show that it takes the brain 30-45 minutes to get back into the groove after a distraction.
We need to stay in the groove because it's where we do our best work.

[03:00] How I get rid of distractions?

Put your phone into airplane mode or just turn it off.
I use Pomodoro method where I give myself 25 minutes for work and 5 minutes for break
Continuous use of Pomodoro method shows increase in productivity.

[05:37] Action step

Block of 2 hours off your calendar.
In my "smash time", I smash my task list.
Make it holy. Commit to it and get stuff done.

Resources Mentioned

It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried

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08: Finding Opportunities In Light Of The Pandemic with Bryan Dewhurst and Phillip Ramsey Apr 01, 2020

Show notes

We are in an unprecedented time. Coronavirus is here and everything is uncertain.

If you don't have the mental tools to stay afloat during this period, it can suck you into the "doom loop".

That's why it is so vital right now to have a trusted network and advisers that you can go to in times of trouble. They can help you stay focused on opportunity, productivity, and growth.

And in my network, it's Bryan Dewhurst and Phillip Ramsey of Uncommon Wealth Partners.

They're also the hosts of The Uncommon Life Project where they guide you to asking different questions, considering different paths and building a life that fits your unique definition of what your uncommon life might be.

We went unscripted and shared our perspectives on the whole coronavirus situation, especially how you can get through this.

Show notes:

[06:58] What's our current situation

Many people are calling our situation as "The Great Depression Of Our Era".
For the US it's positive because its election year and the government moved pretty quick with the stimulus.
So much of the growth we had out of the last financial crisis was fueled by debt, making a lot of the companies will be in a cash flow crunch.

[09:35] Corporate Share Buyback Loop In a Nutshell

Basically, companies can take a portion of their cash and profits and buy their own stocks. This reduces the amount of stock in the public market.
The corporate executives and board of directors have the ability to authorize compensation packages and it can include the award of stock.
It's becoming an enrichment scheme for corporate executives using corporate money to buy corporate stock.

[14:40] Effects of the pandemic to small business owners

There's a package where you can apply to a direct SBA loan at a low-interest rate to have access to cheap capital.
Have a strategy for organizing your capital and staying liquid.
Having digital products to sell and strategy is crucial.

For small business owners, this is the opportunity of the lifetime if you positioned your firm well and is sitting in cash

[17:26] How to respond in light of this pandemic

Prioritize what's important to you and do what it takes to be intentional on that list.
You can either respond with fear or opportunity. It will dictate your results in the future.
You need to be creative in how you conduct business in the coming months ahead.

Business as usual is now out of the door

[23:00] Creative ways that business owners can do to build and grow their business

The uncommon response right now is to amp up your marketing. This is the best time to get in front of people.
The people who are starting to see the opportunities in this pandemic are doubling down on what they know best.
The people who take ownership of the things that they're responsible for and start choosing a path that feels right to them are the ones who'll thrive.

[32:43] How can someone who lost everything move forward

This is the time to see what you're made of.
Get a mentor to help your leapfrog out of your situation.
Now is the time to experiment with things like marketing.

07: Downsize Your Economic Footprint Mar 18, 2020

Show notes

Welcome to the first episode of this series called BULLETPROOF YOUR BUSINESS.

Let's be real. We've been in an upmarket for the last decade where our businesses started in but the reality is, we're rapidly approaching a down market.

And in light of recent events, answering this question becomes paramount: "How can you make your business survive and thrive regardless of the business environment?"

One of them is by downsizing your economic footprint.

I share an exercise that you can do to downsize your economic footprint and get rid of unnecessary business expenses.

You'll be amazed by how this can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars every month to further grow your business.

Show notes

[3:00] How To Downsize Your Economic Footprint

Create 3 columns in a Trello Board: Must Have, Nice To Have, and Need To Cut.
We use that Trello board for a variety of business expenses
Print out your credit card statement, check your subscriptions and ask yourself: "Is it a Must Have, Nice to Have, or Need to Cut"?
After doing the exercise, set a date on your calendar where you'll cut those expenses off.
The first time I did this, it saved us $1,500 a month or $18,000 a year.

[05:52] Downsizing your team members and collaborators

Use the same exercise. Categorize which roles ones are must-haves, nice to have, and need to cut.
In my case, an assistant is a must-have. I will cut everything else before I cut my assistant.
Collaborators are classified vendors and partners.

[08:02] Interest fees, credit card payments, and debt servicing.

Remember: Lenders don't want you to default.
If you're in danger with the monthly payments, talk to your lender.
They would rather get something than nothing. Work with them to give you more breathing room.

[10:30] Why you should not cut on your Ad Spend

Law of supply and demand: As supply goes down, demand goes up, and when demand goes up, prices go up. We're in the opposite of that right now.
Fear-based businesses are cutting down on their Ad Spend making the clicks, leads, and acquisition costs cheaper.
I spent more money on ads in the last 48 hours that I did all last month.

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06: Working With A Virtual Assistant with Bobbie Clark Mar 10, 2020

Show notes

If you're an entrepreneur, hiring a virtual assistant is a great path to freedom but you have to do it the right way. It's about having constant communication, clear expectations, and many more.

That's why in this episode, I have my own VA, Bobbie Clark, to be on the show to share how to have a successful working relationship with your virtual assistant. We share our method on how we document our business processes or SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) properly and how to properly hand off these tasks to a VA to ensure the tasks are done successfully so you can focus on the "$10,000 per hour tasks" in your business.

Show notes:

[03:10] How Bobbie got into becoming a VA

Prior to becoming a VA, Bobbie has been working as an Executive Assistant while her husband is in the army and they move around every 3 years.
She decided to step back and settled with her kids.
She searched for some virtual work and worked at ChatterBoss for 2 years where she can still do what she loves while working virtually.

[05:46] If someone has never worked with a VA before, what should they be prepared for?

Communication is the key point in building a relationship with your VA. Expect to chat with your VA every day
It may be hard to let tasks go if you've never worked with a VA before.
Let the VAs know what's in your head so they can identify the tasks, and bottlenecks that are holding you back.

[09:25] What kind of guidance should an entrepreneur give to a VA?

It's really important to give a pitch of your business for them to know how they can support you.
Get the processes out of your brain and share it with your VA.
Start with one task and use it as a practice run with your VA to make sure all the necessary steps and resources are given and to see what a true given successful task looks like.

[13:50] How to start documenting Standard Operating Procedures

Start with basic tasks (making payments, sending invoices, etc) and write it exactly how you do it step by step.
Do a screen-record of how you do a specific task or process because it will show the intricacies that might not be able to be properly conveyed if the tasks will just be written.
Give your VA time to master the first tasks and they'll eventually match the time and quality of how you do those tasks.
In my experience, I record a screencast of a specific task and I'll have Bobbie create an SOP based on it.

[24:50] The difference between a good and bad VA

It's very important that a VA should adjust to how you work.
Set the expectations that you have for the VA to accomplish.
If you're seeing errors with tasks, take the time to let your VA know and address the issue. If you're still seeing issues, look for other options.

[32:26] What are the indications that an entrepreneur might need to hire a VA

If you want to focus on expanding the business while not sacrificing the quality of communication that you have with your current clients.
If you have an expanding to-do list in your business where it's already taking your personal time.

[43:30] What do you wish that entrepreneurs knew about working with a VA

VAs are here to make our lives easier and they want to take things off your plate.
It takes time for a VA to master every process that you want to handoff.
Set time-bound goals with your VA so you can both identify where you want to be at a specific date.

05: Take More Time Off Mar 03, 2020

Show notes

Welcome to our first “minisode” for Experimental where I share little nuggets that brought significant results into the lives and businesses of my clients and myself. In this week’s minisode, it’s to take more time off in your business. Take a listen to learn why. Show notes [01:10] Take more time off in your business On the surface, it looks like it’s counterproductive but it’s not. Working less means you have to prioritize more, focus more. If you restrict your work hours/days, your time takes on a new meaning. [2:09] How I apply this in my business I don’t work every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. My team and clients know my schedule and if they want something done on those days, it has to wait. [02:50] What goes into my “off days” I read at a coffee shop. I take my family out to eat. Volunteering at my kid’s school. There are days where I watch viral videos all day long…GUILT-FREE [04:06] Shift your view on taking the time off Everybody sees that rest is a reward for their labor. That’s why. See rest as a necessary ingredient for producing high-quality work. Days off are the highlight of my week because it gives me time to sit, think, and remember that I’m a human being first. [04:53] Action step: How to implement more time offs Look at your calendar and remove one standing meeting permanently. Put 1 hour in your calendar as your “me time”. Do these two little by little until you reach the point where you have another day off. Resources Mentioned Dan Sullivan Subscribe To The Podcast Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcast Overcast Pocket Casts Stitcher