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How to Govern AI — Even If It’s Hard to Predict | Helen Toner | TED

Wed, 01 May 2024 20:40:19 +0300

Record Number of Writers Were Jailed Globally in 2023, PEN America Says

Wed, 01 May 2024 20:00:45 +0300

For the first time, China has more than 100 incarcerated writers, and Israel and Russia entered the list of the 10 countries with the most imprisoned writers.

Met Gala 2024: A Guide to the Theme, Hosts and the Guest List

Wed, 01 May 2024 19:30:15 +0300

What’s the dress code, who’s hosting, who’s going and how to watch.

How To Tell Data-Driven Stories: Crafting Compelling Narratives from Original Research

Wed, 01 May 2024 18:40:18 +0300

How To Tell Data-Driven Stories: Crafting Compelling Narratives from Original Research written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Michele Lin. Michele is the founder of Mantis Research, where she helps marketers conduct and publish compelling original research. With her expertise in leveraging data to drive impactful narratives, Michelle shares valuable insights on how to craft compelling stories from original research.

Key Takeaways

Learn all about the the transformative power of original research in content marketing, with an emphasis on its role in establishing credibility and trust. I and Michele highlight the process of crafting data-driven stories, from defining research objectives to repurposing findings across various channels for maximum impact. By leveraging original research, marketers can optimize search engine visibility, attract backlinks, and position themselves as authoritative voices in their industries, driving deeper engagement and meaningful impact through their content.

Questions I ask Michele Linn:

[01:49] What is original research?

[03:11] How do you transform survey and data into a compelling story?

[04:35] Do you believe that sharing data builds thought leadership?

[06:00] Tell us about using data to validate a story

[07:28] How do you probe for data-manipulators?

[09:16] How do you draw conclusions from graphs, charts and data altogether?

[13:15] Is there a benchmark number of responses that can make a given data valid?

[15:06] Do interacting industries bring new thought to data collection?

[16:47] What are some of the great social media platforms for sharing data?

[20:04] What are your thoughts on search engines and how they view data?

[21:12] Is there some place you’d invite people to connect with you and find out more about the work you’re doing?

More About Michele Linn:

Connect with Michele Linn on LinkedIn
Visit her Website

Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!

Connect with John Jantsch on LinkedIn

This episode of The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Porkbun

Go to http://porkbun.com/DuctTapeMarketi ng24 to get a .BIO domain name for your link in bio page for less than $3 at Porkbun today.

Duct Tape Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00): I was like, I found it. I found it. This is what I've been looking for. I can honestly say it has genuinely changed the way I run my business. It's changed the results that I'm seeing. It's changed my engagement with clients. It's changed my engagement with the team. I couldn't be happier. Honestly. It's the best investment I ever made. What

John (00:16): You just heard was a testimonial from a recent graduate of the Duct Tape Marketing certification intensive program for fractional CMOs marketing agencies and consultants just like them. You could choose our system to move from vendor to trusted advisor, attract only ideal clients, and confidently present your strategies to build monthly recurring revenue. Visit DTM world slash scale to book your free advisory call and learn more. It's time to transform your approach. Book your call today, DTM World slash scale.

(01:02): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Michelle Lin. She's the founder of Mantis Research where she helps marketers conduct and publish compelling original research. Prior to Mantis, Michelle was the head of editorial at the Content Marketing Institute where she led the company's editorial strategy. She'd often been cited as a content marketing influencer and was named as one of Folio's Top Women in media. So Michelle, welcome to the show.

Michele (01:35): Thanks so much for having me, John.

John (01:37): So you mentioned it in your bio, but also part of my interest was you had written about this idea of using original research in content production. So this may sound silly, but let's start with what is original research?

Michele (01:52): That is not a silly question at all. I feel like there's a lot of people here research, and it means a lot of different things to people. So when I talk about original research, I'm talking about that type of research that you take and you publish out for thought leadership, content marketing and so forth. So it's very different. I have some people contact me and they want to learn more about their audience and so forth. That's very valuable. But if it's not published, it doesn't really fit in the context of our conversation here.

John (02:22): So maybe give me an example of some that you've worked with that would be pretty concrete, that type of business, and here's the research they did and then we can get into how they used it.

Michele (02:31): Yeah, absolutely. So there's a lot of different original research that you can do. You can do anecdotal, you can do first party interviews, you can do first party data analysis. The kind that I do specifically is survey-based research. So for instance, like you mentioned, I used to work for CMI for many years, content Marketing Institute, and one of the things that we did there every single year is we conducted a survey of marketers to understand if and how they were using content marketing. So we took everything that we learned, we asked questions that we were asked and we're wondering about. We took all of those insights and then we published those out to help other marketers do their jobs better with content marketing.

John (03:11): So surveys and data are lovely. How do you turn them into a compelling story, particularly one that maybe age your cause of getting more customers?

Michele (03:21): So I think it's a really interesting question. I think a lot of people, I think some people want to do research as a way to prove the value of what they are selling. I'm personally not a fan of that so much. I look at as more I look at original research as a way to show your customers that you know them that will hopefully generate like and trust with you. So I always tell people think about what are those unanswered questions in the industry that you can answer with data? Or I tell people, what are those things that you see and how can you help people do their jobs better? How can we ask questions to uncover those or how can we uncover what their pain points are so you can help them? So I look at it as a way to be relentlessly helpful to your audience. And when you do that, it's not always a direct correlation to sales. Although I have had many people tell me that they do get direct correlations to revenue and sales and so forth, but for many, it's just a great way to do thought leadership.

John (04:18): Many years ago, PR was about getting media mentions, and we used to do some of this kind of original research just because a lot of people would be writing a story about something and they wanted research to validate their story. And so it was a really good way to get quoted. Do you find that sharing this kind of research is a way to also build your thought leadership, your mentions out there in the world?

Michele (04:46): Yeah, I mean, I have this graphic that I often share. I talk about the value of original research. So yeah, it helps people get mentioned. It helps people get interviews for podcasts. It helps people. They base speaking presentations off of their research. It helps with leads, it helps with sales, it helps sales have better conversations. They have something new and interesting to reach out about so it doesn't feel so salesy. And I think it even helps marketers just find joy. So many marketers get excited to do something new and meaningful and different, and I love just seeing people get energized about the work that they do. And then too, we're talking about today when you do a study, well, you can take it and you can repurpose it. So every single client that I work with, one of their goals is always we want to create this editorial engine based on this Swiss one research study. So it works on so many different levels.

John (05:37): One more question related to that and then we can maybe start breaking down. How are the ways that you would repurpose this, but what about creating industry benchmarks as a way as somewhat of a lead generator? I see a lot of people do that to say you're spending X on ads, for example, but in the industry, this is what's going on and here's why you're spending too much or not spending enough or talk a little bit about using data to validate a story.

Michele (06:07): Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I think there's a lot of value, like you said, in using data to validate what people believe or using data. Like you said, if you could find that benchmark, which you can get via survey data or you can get via first party data analysis depending on what you're trying to do. If you're trying to analyze the behavior, sometimes first party data analysis is better. But anyway, if you find that benchmark and you can validate what someone believes to be true or they want to validate where they actually need to be, and then you can give them other data to help them get there, I think that's a really powerful thing to do. I once worked with this client and we had this whole model and we knew there was four stages. I can't remember what they were, but from beginner to advanced, and we wouldn't call them those four things, but you could see the beginners do this, the next stage, they do this and so on. So no matter where you were, there was very concrete data-driven evidence. If you're here do X, Y, Z things to get better. So I think that validation and those ideas of what to do, those insights are really helpful.

John (07:10): Well, and in some cases, just even telling somebody, Hey, your peers do this and you're not doing it, is also a way to get somebody's attention perhaps as well. So if you're listening and you are a true data scientist, cover your ears right now for what I'm going to say. There's a lot of people that can make data say anything they want it to say to support and validate any case they're trying to make. How do you sometimes look for like, let's probe for this because that'll give us the greatest opportunity to make something to tell a great story, or they're kind of proven things that you should be looking for to what you might even do research on.

Michele (07:49): Yes, absolutely. And to your point, John, I think people are smart and I think if your research neatly points or neatly proves, Hey, by the way, this proves that you actually need to buy X, Y, Z product or work with us, people see right through that. And I don't think that research is very credible, which goes back to really trying to be relentlessly helpful. So what I always tell clients to do is to think about things like, for instance, what are some things that you think people in your industry aren't doing but should be? What are those missed opportunities? How can we poke at that or how can we find disconnects? So for instance, I once did a survey with marketing profs and we asked a question to understand what would you like your B marketing? Which elements does your B2B marketing training have and what would you like it to have? We found these huge gaps in disconnects. People wanted examples and frameworks and so forth. So it's not a big fan of surveying for pain or to survey to, you need to do this, but really figure out, like I said, gaps, disconnects, missed opportunities and so forth. And then coincidentally, those are also great jumping off places to then share your thoughts and really use that for repurposing and so forth. So does that

John (09:02): Help? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Definitely the gaps. I think you might develop products and surfaces based out of that kind research, let alone this kind of editorial approach. But let's turn to the editorial part. A bunch of graphs and charts are lovely, but how do you make then say, what's our angle? What's our story?

Michele (09:24): So I start that thinking process at the beginning during the planning and the strategy phase. And as we're thinking, I always think about what topic can we talk about? What topic can we really dig into that says something new that's relevant to our audience and that aligns with our brand. And so once you have that topic nailed down, it then comes to, okay, well what are those headlines you want? What are those I call 'em big picture questions that you want to answer? What are those big broad stories you want to tell? We always figured that out at the starting place, like figuring out how can you be most helpful and then taking those questions and then answering them with the survey data so that by the time you get to the data analysis, you're then answering those questions and your themes and your stories are much more likely to rise to the surface because you've done the thinking work from the beginning.

John (10:17): So I mean, are you suggesting we have a hypothesis story almost and then hopefully the data validates that? Or are we going to just go with the story that the data tells us?

Michele (10:29): I think you can certainly can

8 Daily Newspapers Sue OpenAI and Microsoft Over A.I.

Wed, 01 May 2024 00:10:09 +0300

The suit, which accuses the tech companies of copyright infringement, adds to the fight over the online data used to power artificial intelligence.

Jeff Zucker Abandons Telegraph Bid, Putting London Paper Back Into Play

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 21:11:58 +0300

RedBird IMI said it had withdrawn its attempt to acquire the storied newspaper after a revolt from Conservative Party leaders.

My Epic Journey Becoming the Fastest Person to Paddle around Australia | Bonnie Hancock | TED

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 18:08:57 +0300

Bob Bakish, Paramount CEO, Steps Down as Company Weighs Merger

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 04:53:56 +0300

Bob Bakish was once a staunch ally of Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder. His departure comes as the company considers a major merger.

The Most Consequential Wave of Creation in History | Mustafa Suleyman @TED #tedtalks #ted

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 02:00:23 +0300

An Updated Action Plan for Solving the Climate Crisis | Ryan Panchadsaram and Anjali Grover | TED

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 23:00:05 +0300

How to Be an Entrepreneur in 2024: 15 Tactics Revealed

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 22:21:18 +0300

How to Be an Entrepreneur in 2024: 15 Tactics Revealed written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Paul Cheek, a serial tech-preneur, educator, and software engineer. Paul is also a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the MIT Sloan School of Management and the co-founder of Oceanworks. Our discussion covers the intricacies of entrepreneurship, focusing on the 15 tactics outlined in his latest book, “Disciplined Entrepreneurship Startup Tactics”.

Key Takeaways

In this episode you learn:

The importance of structured goal setting
a disciplined approach to business
Market testing for product validation
Effective marketing and sales tactics, and strategies for overcoming fear and uncertainty. By implementing these tactics, aspiring entrepreneurs can navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship with confidence and drive their ventures toward success.

Questions I ask Paul Cheek:

[01:47] What is disciplined entrepreneurship

[04:02] Do the tactics of disciplined entrepreneurship begin with vision?

[06:30] How do you ensure the vision is shared organization-wide?

[07:50] How do you tie OKRs to shared vision and goals?

[09:59] How are OKRs, visions and goals applied in OceanWorks?

[12:00] How do the illustrations in the book augment the entire message?

[14:39] Do you have a favorite tactic?

[18:52] Talk about the easter eggs laid across the book for reader to discover?

[22:53] Is there some place you’d invite people to connect with you, and grab a copy of Discipline Entrepreneurship Startup Tactics

More About Paul Cheek:

Connect with Paul Cheek on LinkedIn
Visit his Website

Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!

Connect with John Jantsch on LinkedIn

This episode of The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by ActiveCampaign

Try ActiveCampaign free for 14 days with our special offer. Exclusive to new customers—upgrade and grow your business with ActiveCampaign today!

Duct Tape Transcript

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Speaker 2 (00:17): You just heard was a testimonial from a recent graduate of the Duct Tape Marketing certification intensive program for fractional CMOs marketing agencies and consultants just like them. You could choose our system to move from vendor to trusted advisor, attract only ideal clients, and confidently present your strategies to build monthly recurring revenue. Visit DTM world slash scale to book your free advisory call and learn more. It's time to transform your approach. Book your call today, DTM World slash scale.

John (01:03): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsh. My guest today is Paul Cheek. He's a serial tech entrepreneur, entrepreneurship educator and software engineer. He is a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the MIT Sloan School of Management, the executive director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship and the co-founder of Today we're going to talk about his new book, disciplined Entrepreneurship Startup Tactics, 15 Tactics to Turn Your Business Plan into a Business. Paul, welcome to the show,

Paul (01:42): John. Thanks for having me.

John (01:44): Alright, so first let's define what is disciplined entrepreneurship as opposed to, what's a good answer now? Unruly entrepreneurship?

Paul (01:54): Yeah, yeah, it's a good question, right? And you think about it, it's not what people would usually jump to when they think of entrepreneurship, this idea, and I think even before we do that, John, we've got to define what is entrepreneurship. Well, that's true, and this is first couple sentences of the book, right? Entrepreneurship is about more than just startups. It's about more than just going and building new companies. It's about doing more than is probably reasonable with however much time, however much money you have control of. And that might be in a startup, it might be as a founder of a startup, it might be as an early employee, as a startup. It might also be in Big Co. It might be in a big large company. It could be in a nonprofit, it could be anywhere. And so what is discipline entrepreneurship? It's taking a structured systematic approach to having an outsized impact, whatever your goal or your vision might be.

(02:45): And so when we think about that systematic structured approach, we're thinking about this engineering approach to entrepreneurship. A lot of people think, and this is one of what I believe to be one of the most common misconceptions in entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs, they wake up in the morning and they do whatever they want all day long. They spend their time however, they so choose whatever they're going to be most interested in. And I believe that's wildly misguided. The best entrepreneurs build structure into their lives, into their business to help them work towards that ultimate vision. And so discipline, entrepreneurship thinks about what's the most structured approach we can take that's going to increase our odds of success. And startup tactics is a continuation of the original discipline. Entrepreneurship, looking at not just what do we do to go and to start a new venture, whether that's a new startup or within a larger organization. Startup tactics looks at how do you actually do it right? A lot of people know that they want to go start a company and they know generally what to do. The question is how do you take those first steps? How do you make sure you're being as efficient with your resources as possible?

John (03:49): So a lot of times when people hear tactics, they start jumping to, oh, we need Facebook campaigns or whatever tactics you start, of course, and this is the right place to start. But I think a lot of people probably jump right over this with the idea of vision. You mentioned already, I mean, before we decide any kind of tactics, doesn't it start there?

Paul (04:09): Yeah, absolutely. Right. It's like, Hey, why are we doing this? And discipline entrepreneurship looks at this idea of personal detri or a reason for existence. We've got to know what's our vision, where are we going? And the first tactic that entrepreneurs need is a really strong approach to setting goals. Like I said earlier, this idea that entrepreneurs wake up in the morning, they do whatever they want know. It's like entrepreneurs have goals. They know what they're working towards. Oftentimes what I see happen is entrepreneurs may have an amazing vision. They may have some goals, but then if you look at their daily to-do list, right? If we pull out the to-do list, there's a bunch of things on there that don't actually work towards that next milestone, that next goal. So we start with goals. We don't have goals. We're going to wind up doing a lot of things using our most precious resources to go and to achieve something, but that something doesn't move us towards the end goal.

(04:58): And when I think about it, it's something that everybody thinks they're good at, everybody thinks they're really good at setting goals, but when the rubber meets the road, when we actually look at those goals, we analyze 'em like, are those really good goals? We got to take a step back and revise. And the more we can build this skillset of setting goals, the better those goals are going to be on a recurring basis. Whenever we go and we begin that next stage of growth, whenever we think about what's happening with our resource pool, are we getting, are we fundraising? Have we raised money? Do we have more people on the team? Have we lost a couple people? Were those people part-time? Were they full-time? Are we losing or gaining time or money? If we are, then our goals should evolve. They should change in an instant because if we have more time, we have more people on the team where we have more money, our goals should be more ambitious than they were prior. Likewise, if we lose somebody from the team, we've got less time and we need to reset on our goals. We've got to set realistic goals for our team.

John (05:56): So goals, vision, I think are really easy, especially sometimes in the startups. It's like, this is why we're doing this. This is what I'm passionate about. And then chaos hits and diversity hits and more people come onto the team. How do you take that vision and make sure that you're aligning it and that it's shared and that it's the right one still?

Paul (06:13): Yeah, it, it's a good question. Is it the right one still? That one that's so context specific, that's hard to really dig into the details of, but is it a shared vision? That's a good question. And that has to be evaluated with every single person who comes onto the team. The thing that I do with companies in the earliest stages, we do this in our class at MIT, we will sit the founders down next to each other and we'll say, why don't you each grab a pen, grab a piece of paper, write down your vision of the future state of the world, what does the world look like with your innovation, with your business, once it's been wildly successful, what is that future state of the world that you are working towards? And nobody's allowed to talk during that exercise. And then we'll say, all right, put your pens down.

(06:58): Let's see what you came up with. Does it match what the other co-founders wrote down? And if it doesn't, then we need to reevaluate as a team, because if one co-founder has one vision and another co-founder has another vision, even if they're slightly different, they're going in different trajectories. And over the course of time, they'll move further and further apart. And the same thing is true of goal setting. Making sure that as we, and this is covered in the book, it's like as we write down a goal, how clear is it? Is it open to interpretation? Are we going to come back if we're doing quarterly goals and come back and in a few months and then look at them and say, yes, I think we achieved it, and somebody else says, no, we obviously didn't achieve that. How open to interpretation are these goals? The clarity is super important.

John (07:38): Yeah. Yeah. So there's a concept in the book that I was introduced to it. I want to give credit to Google or folks at Google, but called OKRs that shows up in this book as well. How do you tie OKRs to shared vision and goals and the fact that the founder has maybe different goals, I mean shared vision, but different specific goals than maybe team leaders?

Paul (08:03): Yeah, absolutely. Well, OKRs is introduced as one wait to set. Well, people say, oh, do we have to use ok? It's like what goal setting methodology you choose. It doesn't matter to me. What I care about is that somebody actually sat down and thought about these goals and we know why we're doing what we're doing. Our daily activities mapped to those goals and those goals mapped to our vision. When I think about it, it's in the early stages of that entire co-founding team needs to be aligned on what these goals are and the fact that they do actually work toward that vision. As the team grows, as we add additional people, you're going to have different goals for each team, and those teams are going to be responsible for having achieved their objectives. When I think about it, it's, it's got to trickle down, but in the early stages, when there is that chaos that you described, John, we've got to make sure that while none of these goals are open to interpretation, we have flexibility in them because things might change, our segment might change.

(08:56): We might run an experiment. We say, alright, we actually, we need to pivot that market segment a little bit. We're going to have to revise the goals that are associated with it. And so just allowing for that flexibility and really just the constant communication around these goals. It's not like we set them today and we come back to them in a few months. We could be constantly talking about these, and if those lines of communication are open, people are going to fall out of line Just in terms of where we're going as an overall organization. But one of the things that we connect, a lot of these tactics are all interrelated. When we get to, for example, the tactic on building a product roadmap that has to directly tie to the organization level goals. So in the early days, everybody's doing everything, but once you have a product team, making sure that the elements of the product roadmap tie back to the organization level goals is just so important. The same thing could be true with the marketing team and the sales team. Finding that alignment between each team's goals with the overall organization level goals, to the point we try to drive home.

John (09:53): I love examples. People learn from examples, and we had a case of an example business called Ocean Works. How does Ocean work vision and goals and OKRs, and as you've kind of grown folks there, ho

Skydance Offers Paramount a Merger Sweetener: A $3 Billion Cash Infusion

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 21:00:32 +0300

The terms of the new deal would provide Paramount shareholders with an investment to pay down debt and buy back stock.

How AI Is Unlocking the Secrets of Nature and the Universe | Demis Hassabis | TED

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 17:48:02 +0300

Biden Revisits His Past in Interview With Howard Stern

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 02:57:02 +0300

The appearance allowed President Biden to tell the stories of love and loss that have defined his public image.

Weekend Favs April 27

Sun, 28 Apr 2024 20:18:36 +0300

Weekend Favs April 27 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

I don’t go into depth about the finds, but I encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from an online source or one I took on the road.

Pika Labs AI – Pika Labs AI, is a free AI video generator that can turn your text or image prompts into short, engaging videos. With a simple interface and easy-to-use features, Pika Labs AI is the perfect tool for content creators looking to add some visual flair to their online presence.
Runway – Runway is a new suite of creative tools designed to turn the ideas in your head into reality. All made possible with AI models that can understand and generate worlds.
Midjourney – Midjourney is an independent research lab exploring new thought mediums and expanding human imaginative powers. Focus on design, human infrastructure, and AI.

These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Connect with me on Linkedin!

If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.

How to Live With Fire | Oral McGuire | TED

Sun, 28 Apr 2024 14:00:52 +0300

With ‘Challengers’ and ‘Saltburn,’ Hollywood Movies Embrace Sex Again

Sun, 28 Apr 2024 12:02:22 +0300

Studios obsessively focused on PG-13 franchises and animation in recent years, but movies like “Challengers” and “Saltburn” show eroticism has returned.

Paramount Chief Executive Bob Bakish Could Be Out Next Week

Sat, 27 Apr 2024 19:20:08 +0300

He was once a staunch ally of the company’s biggest owner, Shari Redstone, but the relationship soured in recent months.

What TED Will Look Like in 40 Years — According to Sora, OpenAI’s Unreleased Text-to-Video Model

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 23:11:52 +0300

At the Time 100 Gala, Dua Lipa, Patrick Mahomes and More on the Red Carpet

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 23:05:30 +0300

Dua Lipa and Patrick Mahomes are red carpet stars at an event that brought together Oscar winners and thought leaders.

The Secret Ingredient of Business Success | Pete Stavros | TED

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 20:08:33 +0300

The Onion Sold by G/O Media

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 17:51:03 +0300

The satirical news website was bought by a new firm in Chicago that took inspiration for its name, Global Tetrahedron, from a book written by The Onion’s staff.

Inside the Crisis at NPR

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 06:21:13 +0300

Listeners are tuning out. Sponsorship revenue has dipped. A diversity push has generated internal turmoil. Can America’s public radio network turn things around?

The National Enquirer’s Parent Company Struggles To Find A Buyer

Thu, 25 Apr 2024 22:30:03 +0300

The parent company of The Enquirer, the tabloid now famous for its ties to former President Donald J. Trump, has tried repeatedly to sell the publication. It hasn’t been easy.

The Art of Persuasive Storytelling | Kelly Parker | TED

Thu, 25 Apr 2024 18:19:43 +0300

Alfonso Chardy, Who Helped Expose Iran-Contra Scandal, Dies at 72

Thu, 25 Apr 2024 15:36:17 +0300

A Miami Herald correspondent, he powered a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting and helped snare three other Pulitzers for the paper.

Meta Says It Plans to Spend Billions More on A.I.

Thu, 25 Apr 2024 01:31:36 +0300

Along with the higher spending, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp projected lighter-than-expected revenue, causing its stock to plummet.

The Weird and Wonderful Art of Niceaunties | TED

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 21:48:56 +0300

The Art of Posing Quality Questions

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 20:21:42 +0300

The Art of Posing Quality Questions written by Tosin Jerugba read more at Duct Tape Marketing

The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Jeff Wetzler. Jeff Wetzler, co-CEO of Transcend, is on a mission to transform learning opportunities by blending leadership experiences from business and education. With a quarter-century quest under his belt, he’s pioneered innovative approaches to leadership. His latest endeavor revolves around tapping into the hidden wisdom of those around us, exploring unexpected breakthroughs in leadership and life. In this conversation, Jeff unpacks the ASK approach, a framework designed to elevate organizational communication for deeper insights.

Key Takeaways

Jeff Wetzler, co-CEO of Transcend, introduces the ASK approach, a framework aimed at elevating organizational communication for deeper insights. By fostering curiosity, creating safe spaces, posing quality questions, listening actively, and reflecting on learnings, individuals can unlock the power of curiosity for enhanced collaboration and growth.

Questions I ask Jeff Wetzler:

[01:48] What is a co-CEO and how does it work?

[02:43] How did growing up as an outsider shape your perspective on curiosity ?

[11:19] If the ASK approach involves a level of vulnerability how do we get people to adopt it?

[14:46] How do we develop consistency in practicing it?

[17:13] Could this self developmental approach be introduced into organizational culture?

[20:35] Where can people connect with you and learn more about your work?

More About Jeff Wetzler:

Connect with Jeff Wetzler on LinkedIn
Visit his Website

Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!

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John (01:03): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Jeff Wetzler. He has been on a quarter century quest to transform learning opportunities, blending unique set of leadership experiences in the fields of business and education. He's pursued this quest as a management consultant to the world's top corporations most recently as CO CEO of Transcend, a nationally recognized innovation organization. And we're going to talk about his most recent book today. Ask Tap into the hidden wisdom of people around you for unexpected breakthroughs in leadership and life. So Jeff, welcome to the show.

Jeff (01:44): Thanks, John. Great to be with you.

John (01:45): So I have a personal question totally unrelated to the book. How does the CO CEO work?

Jeff (01:51): A lot of people don't believe that it can work. My co CEO and I, Alan Samoa actually had a chance to lead together and work together in a prior organization before we founded Transcend Together. So I don't necessarily recommend it if you haven't tried it out in a different way at first, but because we had worked together and we knew each other's strengths and weaknesses and we knew that we complimented each other, we said, let's give it a shot. And it has really lasted. We founded Transcend in 2015. It's lasted us since then. As we look ahead, we're actually moving into a stage. We're going to shift into a solo CEO model after almost a decade as the organization has grown so much. But we really feel like the model served us really well up until now.

John (02:36): I suppose clear responsibilities, expectations probably really key to that

Jeff (02:39): A hundred percent. And good communication.

John (02:42): So one of the things you mentioned early on in the book that your own childhood or your growing up as an out or feeling like an outsider as one of the few Jewish kids, I'm assuming in a neighborhood kind of shaped a little bit of your perspective on this. I'd love to hear a little bit about that component.

Jeff (03:00): As I grew up, I didn't always feel safe just saying everything I thought and felt. I had some signals that both explicitly and implicitly said to me, you know what? You may not be as safe as you wish you were here. And it just different people handled that differently. What it did for me is that I just kind of kept my mouth shut. And so instead of announcing my opinion, I would ask questions and instead of blurting things out, I would keep a lot of thoughts and stories in my own mind and head. And at some point it occurred to me, if I've got all this rich set of ideas and experiences going on inside of me, I'm probably not the only one. Chances are other people are too. And how much more interesting could things be if I could talk about it and if they could talk about it as well. I was always wishing someone would say, Hey Jeff, what do you think about this? And it led me to realize there's probably others who feel the same way.

John (03:48): So I'm tempted to ask you to unpack the ASK approach. So you have kind of a baseline of where we are, but I've got a hundred other questions. But maybe let's do the high level. What are the components of the ASK approach?

Jeff (04:02): Yeah, so the ASK approach is five practices that when put together, give us the greatest possible chance of really learning what person in front of us or the people around us truly think, feel, and know. Because far too often people don't often tell us what they actually think and feel, whether that might be feedback they have for us or ideas for where we could take the business or critiques of our direction, any number of things, they stay too silent. We can talk about that as well. So the ask approach basically helps to solve that problem. And you want me to just run through each of the five real quickly? Yeah. Okay. So number one is what I call choose curiosity. And choosing curiosity is basically centering one single question in our mind whenever we're interacting with someone. And that question is, what can I learn from this person?

(04:51): So it's breaking out of the certainty that we so often find ourselves in where we might think to ourselves, I know what's going on, I'm right there wrong any number of things, and it says there's something I can learn from anyone. And when I'm here in this interaction, what can I learn from this person? There's more to it than that, but I'll leave it at that as a starting point. Now, number two is called make it Safe. And what it reflects is that even if I am super curious to learn from you, if you don't feel safe telling me your truth, I'm not going to learn from you. And this is particularly important and I've learned this the hard way across lines of power when there's power differences, but also other kinds of differences as well, when other people may not feel like it's safe to really speak their truth. And so if we want to learn from them,

John (05:31): I'm going to say what I think you want to hear, right?

Jeff (05:34): Yeah. Or I'm going to keep my mouth shut. And so making it safe, it's really about how do we create connection with the other person in ways that build trust? How do we open up ourselves so that they don't have to guess at what is our agenda for asking them questions and also open up about things that might feel vulnerable for us to share too. And then what I call radiate resilience. How do we demonstrate to them that we're not going to crumble based on what they have to say? We're not going to flip out based on what they have to say. We're not going to hold them responsible for the reactions. And so if we can create connection, open up radiate resilience, we go so far in terms of making it safe for the other person. Do you want to say you want to jump in?

John (06:11): All I'm thinking is I'm hearing you go through these. My first thought was a coworker. You want to learn something from that you think they could, which is great, but I'm also immediately jumping to somebody you think that you just are diametrically opposed opinion wise too. Totally. You think about the political divide right now that there are people that think, I can't even talk to you because I don't get you at all. And I'm kind of going through these going, well, maybe that would actually facilitate a good conversation.

Jeff (06:40): Yeah. I mean, the book ends by basically saying, I think the ask approach could be part of what we need to heal some of the polarization and divides that we have in our society. And I tell a story of how I got into an Uber with someone who I thought was basically diametrically opposed to me on a bunch of political issues. And by the end of the Uber ride, I realized we had so much more in common than I realized.

John (06:57): That's amazing.

Jeff (06:58): Yeah. You

John (06:59): Want to go to number three? We're on number three, right?

Jeff (07:01): Okay. Number three is pose quality questions. And so this is really the heart of the ask approach. Once we're curious, once we've made it safe, how do we know what are the questions that are going to actually get to the heart of the matter? I kind of think of it this way that I imagine a surgeon would think about all their tools, their scalpels and all kinds of different things that they would have. I need this tool if I want to get to this. Well, questions are the same way, and most of us have one or two questions that we have as our go-to questions, but there's a whole taxonomy of questions out there. There can be questions if you want to really understand what's the root of someone's perspective. You can ask questions if you want to understand where do they see the holes In my view, you can ask questions if you want to invite their ideas to make things better. And so this is all about choosing the right question based on the thing that you want to learn that's posing quality questions.

John (07:46): So do we have a little index card box full of these questions that we need to tap into?

Jeff (07:51): Exactly. Exactly. And that's basically what the chapter lays out. And then summarize it at the end is what are the most important questions, depending on what you're trying to learn, but once you ask the question, it all comes down to how well you listened. It's not enough just to put the question out there. And so the fourth one is listening to learned. And most of us think we're good listeners. It turns out we're missing so much. There's a big difference between thinking we're listening and actually hearing what someone has to say and also what they're not selling us as well. For the book, I interviewed award-winning journalists who are professional listeners, and I remember one of them, Jenny Anderson saying to me after every interview, she records the interview and then she goes back and listens to it 2, 3, 4, 5 times. And every single time she listens to it, she hears something she hadn't picked up the previous time.

(08:34): And I think to myself, if a professional listener misses things on the first time, second time, how much are we missing when we don't record our stuff? And so this practice is all about broadening the range of information we're listening for. And I talk about it's not enough to listen just for the content of what someone's saying, but also the emotion that they're conveying and the actions that they're taking in the conversation as well. So triple the channels that you're listening through. And then the last one is called reflect and reconnect. And this is my favorite because I am a junkie for learning and reflecting is really how we take all the experiences that we have and we squeeze the learning out of it. That's where we get the insight. And so reflecting is about what I call sifting it and turning it. Sifting it is first to say from everything that I heard, what's valuable and what can I let go of?

(09:16): And then turning it is basically going through three processes where I turn it first to say, what did I learn from this person that would affect the story I have about them or about the situation or about myself? The second turn is what did I learn that would lead me to take certain steps? What can I do about it? And the third turn is, how can I grow more deeply? Does this speak to some of my deeper assumptions or values or ways of being in the world that either confirms them or challenges them or enriches them, et cetera? Those are the three reflective turns, but it's not en

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Book Review: ‘The Rulebreaker,’ by Susan Page

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What Is an AI Anyway? | Mustafa Suleyman | TED

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Nina Jankowicz Forms New Group to Defend Disinformation Research

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The group intends to fight what its leader, Nina Jankowicz, and others have described as a coordinated campaign by conservatives and their allies to undermine researchers who study disinformation.

Howie Schwab, ESPN Researcher and Trivia Star, Dies at 63

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How Cable News Covered Day 1 of Trump’s Criminal Trial

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Weekend Favs April 20

Sat, 20 Apr 2024 15:00:15 +0300

Weekend Favs April 20 written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

Robinize – Robinize enhances your content creation with AI, enabling you to quickly research and write SEO-friendly articles. This tool boosts your content’s search engine ranking, making your articles more visible and engaging to your audience.
Close – Close offers advanced, high-speed sales software tailored for forward-thinking businesses. This powerful CRM enhances your sales process by integrating outreach, engagement, and automation into one user-friendly platform, making it easier for you to boost your sales efficiency.
Reflect – Reflect harnesses the power of AI to elevate your writing, streamline your thoughts, and become your ultimate brainstorm buddy. Their mission? To revolutionize how you think, one delightful note at a time.

These are my weekend favs; I would love to hear about some of yours – Connect with me on Linkedin!

If you want to check out more Weekend Favs you can find them here.

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Gain Freedom With The Hands Off CEO Blueprint

Thu, 18 Apr 2024 20:00:49 +0300

Gain Freedom With The Hands Off CEO Blueprint written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Mandi Ellefson.

Through her company “Hands-Off CEO”, she rescues agency owners from the daily grind, transforming million-dollar agencies into self-sustaining enterprises. With her expertise, she’s boosted hundreds of agencies to millions in revenue, attracting premium clients willing to pay 50-600% fees. As a former business exit advisor, she crafts exit strategies, adding up to five figures to clients’ net profit monthly so they can focus on growth. She shares her wisdom as a published author of

“The Hands-Off CEO: Triple Your Fees and Profitably Scale an Exceptional Consulting Agency that Grows Without You” and host of the Hands-Off CEO Podcast, helping consulting agencies triple fees and scale without less reliance on the CEO.

Key Takeaways

Mandi Ellefson, founder of Hands-off CEO, shares her journey from overwhelming debt to multimillionaire status by transforming consulting agencies into self-sustaining enterprises. She stresses the importance of building systems that allow businesses to thrive without the constant presence of the CEO. Mandi distinguishes between growth and scale, highlighting the need to create capacity and systems for consistent results. She advocates for productizing services based on outcomes and emphasizes the mindset shift required to embrace delegation and empower teams.

Questions I ask Mandi Ellefson:

[01:45] Tell us about the frustration you encountered earlier in your career, not being able to have a company run without you?

[04:47] How does the Scale to Freedom framework differ from other types of processes?

[08:20] Is a mindset shift a necessary step in undertaking this process?

[09:00] How do you balance working with a passion for the project and embracing the need to scale?

[09:13] Why are service businesses hard to scale?

[16:21] How do you help people differentiate between growth and scale?

[22:16] Where can people connect with you and obviously find a copy of the hands-off CEO?

More About Mandi Ellefson:

Connect with Mandi on LinkedIn
Visit her Website

Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!

Connect with John Jantsch on LinkedIn

This episode of The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Porkbun

Go to http://porkbun.com/DuctTapeMarketi ng24 to get a .BIO domain name for your link in bio page for less than $3 at Porkbun today.

Duct Tape Transcript

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Testimonial (00:00): I was like, I found it. I found it. This is what I've been looking for. I can honestly say it has genuinely changed the way I run my business. It's changed the results that I'm seeing. It's changed my engagement with clients. It's changed my engagement with the team. I couldn't be happier. Honestly. It's the best investment I ever made. What

(01:03): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Mandi Ellefson , and he went from a hundred thousand dollars in debt to multimillionaire status by revolutionizing consulting agencies through her company Hands-off, CEO e. She rescues agency owners from the Daily Grind, transforming million dollar agencies into self-sustaining enterprises. She's also the author of a book we're going to talk about today, the Hands-Off, CEO, triple Your Fees and Profitably Scale, an exceptional consulting agency that Grows Without You. So Mandy, welcome to the show.

Mandi (01:41): Thank you so much for having me again, John,

John (01:44): Since you put it in your bio. Let's talk about the frustration perhaps that you felt in having a previous business that didn't run without you necessarily to leading you to creating what you do for your life's work now.

Mandi (01:59): Yeah. So can we tell about that experience? You're saying that led?

John (02:02): Yeah. We want to hear frustration and embarrassment that every entrepreneur goes through.

Mandi (02:07): Yes, yes. There was definitely plenty of that and what it looked like as I was nine months pregnant and I had a 4-year-old daughter. My husband lives in a demanding graduate medical program. I had moved across the country. So you're painting a picture of I had. It was a pretty challenging situation, right? Yeah,

John (02:23): Yeah,

Mandi (02:24): Yeah. And my business at the time, I was trying to close up shop for me to have maternity leave because it was not set up in a way where it could run without me at all. And that was a frustration just because I had managed another company before this. I was the manager and I was able to get this company to run without me as the manager. So I was pretty frustrated that I couldn't do this within my own company. And weeks before I was about to give birth to my second daughter, all the stress of trying to make all these things work on my timeframe, it was so stressful and my health was breaking down. So I literally had my arms not being able, I couldn't move them more than just a small amount, and I had to go and get some treatments. Thankfully, I was able to heal my arms from this, but this was not a good time.

(03:16): Just weeks before giving birth to my second daughter, and we could have used that income in our life. That was one time we really could have used it. And again, anyway, I had to shut the business down. But what that led me to look at what is actually stopping me from having this. So then I went out and I started talking to other entrepreneurs after I had my maternity leave, after I took that time and I took some time to slowly start back up to just, I wanted to make sure I got it right this time. So I started interviewing other people and I knew that if I could solve the problem for someone else, I could solve it for myself. So I just started helping other people because I knew I could break down the system and figure it out. I could reverse my engineer back into it because I'm pretty good at that.

(03:59): So I knew I'd be able to figure that out. And before I knew it, I started a consulting company. I didn't mean to, but I started a consulting company because people asked me they wanted to pay me, help them with this, and I started seeing the patterns and the trends for what it takes to be able to take a service business, especially service businesses are very difficult to scale and remove yourself from. So I started seeing the patterns and I helped other people be able to solve this before I was actually able to solve it for myself.

John (04:26): So a lot of books consulting around this idea of scaling, making a business run without you really all come down to systems and process and operations. And I think you dive a little deeper than maybe there's even, I've had Gino Wickman on the show, but EOS and Traction. How would you say that your system, which you call scale to freedom, is that right framework? How would you say that you go beyond the typical systems and processes?

Mandi (04:56): Right. So EOS and other frameworks, they're great. They're really effective and they can help you bring your company to a level of order. But here's the thing is I talk to CEOs almost on a weekly basis who have implemented all of that and still have a company that's not profitable. They may even say it's profitable. Oh yeah, well, you know what, we're profitable. But what they don't tell you is that they're not taking anywhere near a market rate salary for what they would get paid somewhere else. So they're actually losing money every year if you look at it that way. So the thing is, those frameworks, it helps you organize a working and functional business model, but it's not a business model and it's not a profit model, and it's not your pricing model, and it's not the structure for what agreements you create with your team, with your clients. It's not going to give you the positioning in the market. It's not going to tell you who your profits fleet spot client is, who's going to pay you the most. It's going to contain those things, but garbage in, garbage out. So you to get that right first if you want to have a sustainable company.

John (06:01): You mentioned something in the very beginning that you were able to manage this company to run without you, but when you, maybe it was your own business, the CEO, and I'm curious, there's if there's something like instructive in that idea, right? It's like as the CEO, you're very married to what it's doing, you're emotionally attached maybe, and in some cases it's hard to step back and give yourself the distance that it requires to properly delegate and let your people do the work that they're there to do. Do you think there's something, I guess I'm really talking about mindset probably. Is mindset a key role to even start embracing this idea?

Mandi (06:39): Absolutely. And there's two different aspects of it, and I'm glad you brought it up because there is a system and then there's a mindset. And here's the thing is you can build the system all day long, but unless you have a corresponding mindset, then the system is useless and you won't be able to actually use it and you won't be able to let go. So that's one of the things that I've observed too with our clients is that they might get to a point where they have the whole system in place and they're like, I know I'm supposed to be working on sales right now. I can't quite let go of this. And I've even had one of our clients called the hands-off, CEO, Twitch, he named it that. And I asked him, Philip, do you have the system in place? Do you feel comfortable? They have everything that they need to be able to do this? He's like, yep, I do. And then he's like, okay, I realize it's just a mindset. So at that point we knew that it wasn't the system, it was the mindset. And now it's just looking at what are you committed to and your vision being bigger than whatever it is that you really want to be doing that gives you that significance.

John (07:43): And I think I run across a lot of business owners that need to, their business is growing, they need to let go of certain things. And a lot of times it's just they know that. I mean, I don't think anybody has to tell them that they're holding that back, but it's what maybe they feel valuable or they feel, or let's face it, sometimes it's the work they like doing, right? Web designers a great example. I mean, they love to do the work. They try to grow a business and scale business. It makes no sense at all for them to actually be now doing the design, but that's where they are passionate. I mean, how do you get around? Or on one hand you can't scale. On the other hand, this is what you're passionate about. How do you get around that kind of dichotomy?

Mandi (08:25): I think the first thing is just to recognize what actually do you want? And there's nothing wrong with you going and doing the web design work if that's the kind of company you want, but that's more like a freelancer company that's not going to give you the wealth. It's not going to give you the freedom and it's not going to give you some of the things that you would get from a business. But it's a very simple business. And if you really are passionate about being a web designer and you don't want to learn the skills of managing teams and being a leader and getting all of the other things right for a business, then that might be a good thing for them. But on the other hand, if I may add to that, John becoming more hands off, what that allows you to do is pick and choose the kind of projects you want to work on. You get to have autonomy over where your time is spent

John (09:10): As long as everything's not on fire. So you mentioned that service businesses are particularly hard to scale. Why is that? I mean, I think some of the obvious, if I'm selling a $29 product, a lot of people can do that. A lot of people can produce it, do the work. But what is it unique about service businesses that you think make them feel harder to scale?

Mandi (09:30): Well, the origin of it is first and then the structure of it second. So the origin of it is that you were good at something and you start off going out and selling this service because you're good at it, and then you have enough people that are coming to ask you for this service. You start hiring freelancers and then maybe employees. And then after a while you're like, well, there's so many people, I'm going to hire a manager. So some companies just grow organically like that, and they didn't really set out to build that big of a company. So that's one aspect of it that makes it challenging to scale that you kind of, so what that means is that the value proposition of the business oftentimes is the skillset of the owner. So the clients are coming for the skillset of the owner, and anything less than that, they're feeling li

How to Balance AI Magic with Human Expertise

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 23:59:22 +0300

How to Balance AI Magic with Human Expertise written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Jeff Coyle, the Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer for MarketMuse. Jeff is a data-driven search engine marketing executive with 20+ years of experience in the search industry.

He is focused on helping content marketers, search engine marketers, agencies, and e-commerce managers build topical authority, improve content quality and turn semantic research into actionable insights. Prior to starting MarketMuse in 2015, Jeff was a marketing consultant in Atlanta and led the Traffic, Search and Engagement team for seven years at TechTarget, a leader in B2B technology publishing and lead generation. We discuss the intricate balance between leveraging AI technology and harnessing human expertise to create authentic content in today’s digital landscape.

Key Takeaways

Jeff Coyle emphasizes the importance of blending AI capabilities with human expertise to create authentic content. While AI tools offer efficiency, they continue to lack the ‘personal touch’ and nuanced understanding that human expertise provides. By infusing personal anecdotes, brand tone, and subject matter expertise into AI-generated content, businesses can craft compelling narratives that resonate with their audience. Striking the right balance between AI magic and human creativity is crucial for achieving authenticity and differentiation in content creation. Ultimately, by leveraging both AI technology and human expertise, businesses can unlock new levels of creativity, efficiency, and effectiveness in their content strategies.

Questions I ask Jeff Coyle:

[01:54] Can you set the record straight on the discourse of the inauthenticity of AI?

[03:49] What are the differences between some of the more robust technologies and the pedestrian types such as Chat GPT?

[07:44] Does feeding language models lead to more authentic outputs?

[10:36] Talk about how tools like Market Muse are perfecting AI as a tool

[14:58] How do you overcome the shortcomings of AI as an unideal substitute for expertise when using search engines?

[23:07] Is there some place you’d invite people to connect with you?

More About Jeff Coyle:

Connect with Jeff Coyle on LinkedIn
Visit his Website

Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!

Connect with John Jantsch on LinkedIn

This episode of The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Porkbun

Go to http://porkbun.com/DuctTapeMarket ng24 to get a .BIO domain name for your link in bio page for less than $3 at Porkbun today.

Duct Tape Transcript

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(01:03): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Jeff Coyle. He is the co-founder and chief strategy Officer for Market Muse. He's a data-driven search engine marketing executive with 20 plus years of experience in the search industries focused on helping content marketers, search engine marketers, agencies, and e-commerce managers, build topical authority, improve content quality, and turn semantic research into actionable insights. So Jeff, welcome back to the show.

Jeff (01:37): Hey, thanks John. It's good to be here.

John (01:39): So when you proposed this topic of AI and authenticity, I jumped on it immediately because certainly that's one of the biggest complaints. I mean, you hear people out there saying, oh, well never use AI because that's inauthentic. So why don't you just globally set the table for how you're approaching that topic?

Jeff (02:00): Yeah, I think the easiest way to think about it is the AI that you may have access to isn't equal to all of AI as a concept. And so the way I think about it is setting the table is just because the thing you have access to on your phone doesn't do it, doesn't mean it can't be done a, and doesn't mean that you are using that type of technology to inject all of the things that would represent you and your authenticity or your brand's authenticity or your company's authenticity. So not to say it's user error because there's a lot of problems with technology that exists and it is accelerating so fast. However, what I've heard, there are large waves of folks who are almost like discrediting an entire science based on their experience, and that is always something to take notice of. And I build content strategy, content plans, content briefs, content, state content with authentic examples, authentic items, and I think that the last piece of this, I think worth talking about is content execution, content marketing, building content doesn't only reference the generation of text or the draft. It's all the steps that lead up to it and it's everything that happens after it. And those things can be built and customized made to be authentic throughout that process as long as you have an understanding of what it is and what it isn't.

John (03:40): Okay. You said about 10 things there. I know. Let's break up a little.

Jeff (03:43): I tried to set a table, it's a buffet.

John (03:48): So let's back up a little bit there. What are the differences between some of the more robust technologies, if we want to call that, and maybe the more pedestrian sort of, let's start with chat GPT, just because so many people know that. And I'm guessing when you said that thing you had on your phone, you were talking about that

Jeff (04:05): It could be that it could be Siri, it could be, I mean, Alexa, the first time you had an Amazon Echo, you asked it a question, it probably didn't get it right. Probably gotten better over time,

John (04:15): Right? Yeah, yeah. I listened to obscure bands. Apparently it can't ever get that right.

Jeff (04:20): Oh, I know I did. It never does. Right?

John (04:23): So what are the differences between the more robust technologies, if we're going to call it that, and then something that you referenced that you might have access to?

Jeff (04:33): Sure, sure, sure. So when you're thinking about a chat GBT or a claw or Bing chat or the chat you have on a search engine, those are just your access account to query a, you're hitting a large language model with prompt and you're getting a response. And so the most basic prompt and response large language model, but there are complex AI to use for predicting algorithmically predicting stock picks or algorithmically predicting churn risk. You can build models that will do things that are very relevant to your business that have nothing to do with large language models. Another example is you hear quite commonly you'll hear that. So from contrast that if I ask my phone, what stocks should I pick tomorrow? And it tells me, Hey, go pick Microsoft and Google, and I'm like, Hey, that doesn't pick stocks, right? AI can't do that. It can just not this.

(05:41): Another example would be complex math problems. So you ask Chad GBT to do some sort of complex college math, they won't do it. However, there's an entire Google team, the Minerva team who is working on college math level mathematics and doing very passive job of it. So it is the simple access to an attune for the masses large language model will get you the most predictive response to whatever, however it interpreted what you sent. So it's trying to, and then there's some error built in. So it's basically saying that the capital of North Dakota is, well, 99.99999% of the time. The right answer to that question is Bismarck. It's going to follow up with that.

(06:33): If it's giving more of a holistic predictive step through is trying to pick words, maybe put some creativity in it, even with chat GPTs technology that GPT for now that everybody's using, you can go in the backend and you can tweak what they call temperature, make it more or less creative. But in your experience on your phone, you don't have that. You get one input, one output with not a lot of configuration. So you're getting a front end on a very complex technology that even its own, even the thing you're using can be configured in dozens and dozens of different ways to be more creative, less creative. You hear people make fun of its use of the word delves on everything, and its use of the word crucial. It's because there are particular settings in the backend that are yielding that outcome. You can tweak all of that. It can be as customized as you might want just from the base model. So they're giving an attribution to the user interface and the default settings of the software, not the science. And that's really the differentiator.

John (07:44): So you mentioned a couple times the language model. I mean, essentially what you're saying is that's what it's been taught. That's what it's been fed. And so that's that model a lot of people are finding that they can actually teach, they can feed everything that John Jan has written in the last 15 years and build a model around that. Are you going to get closer to, if I want to be in my authentic voice, is that going to give it a much closer model by feeding it or teaching it that?

Jeff (08:14): Oh, absolutely it does. And it's already, I mean, that's one way that you can start to get, so what you can do is you can take something that's been trained or an ensemble of language models and then also stack on your stuff, everything that you want. You can do just your stuff, but that could have challenges. So you can work with collections of those items. You can even do complex comparisons. So there's a thing called an AI agent. So you might've heard they're doing custom GPTs with chat GPT and that software. However, you've been able to build agents that do a lot of different things. So you can actually chain together various steps in a process to take and reference each of your works. Let's just say you found out that it would be more precise to reference them individually or just step through each one in a particular pattern versus just considering you as the training model for the LLM, so that you can do different types of approaches to solve specific goals and instruction sets. But I mean, it's not limited to that. You can get into a situation and say, only include a reference to this book by John. This is the source of truth. Everything you do must reference this book, and you should consider this to be the tome of all knowledge. So there can be specific instruction sets, and these are not tremendously complex. These are things that a business user can learn how to do, not just an AI developer or somebody in product management, engineering and data science for 20 years like me or anything.

John (10:06): So one of the things that I think a chat GPT was, so it's both plus and minus. The plus was it's so easy to use, you just go type something, right? The minus was you got a lot better result if you knew what you were doing, if you knew how to query deeper, if you needed that, how to ask for tone and all those kinds of things. What are, I'll use market uses as an example. What are some of the use cases that you are building that actual steps or templates if you will? I don't know if we're going to call 'em that. Talk a little bit about how tools like Market Muser are actually taking the power of AI, but actually building it into use cases.

Jeff (10:45): So some of the most exciting, I mean I'm building right now, the engineering team and the data science team at market use is building by far its most amazing things we've ever built. I mean, we have, the content briefs that we are building now are by far the best content briefs that exist in the market, which is exciting. They're not out yet. I'm pushing really hard. But what we're able to do is really special. And it's when you already have your own data and you already have your own innovations and insights, you can use artificial intelligence to work with those things very magically. There is a technology called, you might hear RAG or Rag Retrieval augmented Generation Vector databases, which if you imagine a concept in 3D space and these imagine clusters of information in 3D space, you can work with those types of technologies, what used to cost millions of dollars worth of research and innovation for thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars to get usable things that you can work with.

How to Hire a Fractional CMO: 9 Questions to Ask

Mon, 15 Apr 2024 02:20:20 +0300

How to Hire a Fractional CMO: 9 Questions to Ask written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Are you looking at your business goals and feeling your marketing strategy just isn’t cutting it? You’re not alone. Many businesses reach a point where the usual approaches no longer produce the desired results and everything they try just falls flat or I believe the technical term is “meh”. This is where hiring a fractional CMO can make a significant difference.

As the founder of Duct Tape Marketing, I’ve spent 30 years helping small and medium-sized businesses achieve their goals through effective marketing strategies and our Fractional CMO+ approach. My passion for empowering entrepreneurs has led me to publish best-selling books, host a popular podcast, and share insights with thousands at conferences worldwide. The Duct Tape Marketing System, born out of my desire to solve the frustrations business owners face, has revolutionized how organizations approach marketing and drive sustainable growth.

Let’s explore how hiring a fractional CMO could be the key to pushing your business forward. And if you find the concept intriguing, why not learn more?

Business owners get your FREE Marketing Success Toolkit with the Ultimate Case Study for Hiring a Fractional CMO & the Marketing Audit Checklist so you know exactly where to focus or you can schedule a strategy session to see how this could work for you.

The Role and Benefits of a Fractional CMO

Understanding the Fractional CMO
Cost-Effectiveness and Strategic Value
Flexibility and Scalability

How to Find & Hire the Right Fractional CMO for Your Business: 9 Questions to Ask

9 Questions to Ask When Hiring a Fractional CMO
Aligning with Business Goals
Cultural Fit and Communication Style

How to Work with Your Fractional CMO for Best Results

Aligning Marketing with Business Objectives
Developing a Strategic Marketing Plan
Execution and Accountability
Customer Focus for Premium Brand Positioning

The Advantages of Bringing a Fractional CMO into Your Marketing

Injecting New Ideas into Your Marketing Strategy
Leveraging Cross-Industry Experience

FAQs in Relation to How to Hire a Fractional CMO

How much does it cost to hire a fractional CMO?
Where can I find a fractional CMO?
When should I hire a fractional CMO?
How much can a fractional CMO make?

The Role and Benefits of a Fractional CMO

So you’re thinking about hiring a fractional CMO. But what exactly do they do? And how can they help your business grow? A fractional CMO is a part-time marketing executive who provides strategic leadership to help companies achieve their goals.

Fractional CMOs usually work on a contract basis, typically for a set number of hours per week or month, and bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the table. Unlike a full-time CMO, a fractional CMO can be hired for a specific project or time period, making them a flexible and cost-effective solution for businesses of all sizes.

Fractional CMOs can work on hourly basis. Most fractional CMOs who work on an hourly basis will charge an average of $200/ hour. However, this number varies greatly based on level of expertise, experience and what they bring to the table.

You can learn more about What a Fractional CMO is and does here.

Cost-Effectiveness and Strategic Value

Hiring a full-time CMO can be expensive, with salaries often exceeding $250,000 to $480,000 per year. For many businesses, this simply isn’t feasible. But a fractional CMO can provide the same level of strategic thinking and leadership at a fraction of the cost.

According to a Forbes article, fractional CMOs typically cost between $3,000 and $36,000 per month, depending on the scope of work and the CMO’s experience level. This can be a game-changer for businesses that need high-level marketing expertise but don’t have the budget for a full-time executive.

Flexibility and Scalability

In my experience, another key benefit of hiring a fractional CMO is the flexibility and scalability they offer. As your business grows and evolves, your marketing needs will change. A fractional CMO can help you navigate these changes and adapt your marketing strategy accordingly. They can also help you scale your marketing efforts up or down as needed, depending on your current goals and resources. This level of flexibility is especially valuable for startups and small businesses that are still figuring out their marketing strategy and may not have the resources to commit to a full-time CMO.

“A fractional CMO can provide the strategic guidance and leadership that businesses need to scale, at a fraction of the cost and commitment.” – John Jantsch

How do You Know If Your Business Needs a Fractional CMO?

To find out if hiring a fractional or part-time CMO is right for your business it’s worth considering some key questions, as highlighted in an article from Inc.

Some of those questions are:

Project Management: Do you lack someone in-house who can oversee and drive various ongoing marketing and branding projects?
Expert Insight: Are you in need of fresh, professional insight into complex marketing challenges, with the ability to turn these insights into actionable strategies?
Specialized Leadership: Is there a long-term project on your plate that demands specialized marketing expertise not currently available within your team?
Cultural Transformation: Do you require a leader to foster a shift towards a more brand and marketing-focused organizational culture?
Completion of Initiatives: Are there numerous marketing projects initiated but left unfinished that need driving to completion?

Answering “yes” to any of these suggests that hiring a fractional CMO could be a beneficial and strategic decision for your business at this time.

How to Find & Hire the Right Fractional CMO for Your Business: 9 Questions to Ask

Okay, so you’re sold on the idea of hiring a fractional CMO. But how do you find the right one for your business?

9 Questions to Ask When Hiring a Fractional CMO

1. Can you demonstrate a proven track record of success?

A fractional CMO should have a portfolio of successful projects and satisfied clients. Ask for case studies, references, and examples of their work to get a sense of their expertise and the results they’ve achieved for other clients.

What is their social proof?

2. Do you have experience working with businesses similar to mine?

Experience tells me that first, you want to look for someone with a proven track record of success in your industry or a similar field. They should have experience working with businesses of your size and stage of growth.

A fractional CMO who understands the challenges of your industry and has worked with similar-sized companies will be best equipped to help. A fractional CMO who has worked primarily with large enterprises may not be the best fit for a startup or small business. Or a Fractional CMO who has worked only with national eCommerce companies might not be the best fit for your local service based remodeling company.

3. Do you follow a proven process for marketing strategy and execution?

A fractional CMO should have a structured approach to marketing strategy and execution. We have an approach called Strategy First and while the strategy is different for every client we always start with the same framework.

If they’re not coming with that strategy first approach, and they’re just saying, “What random acts of marketing do you need?” That’s a red flag.

I want to be clear that a proven process doesn’t mean cookie cutter. It just means that a process that ticks certain boxes allows you to discover things very quickly and move in the right directions quickly. This should include an audit of your current marketing as well as a long-term plan for growth.

4. Do you have the ability to not just create a plan, but also execute it?

When it comes to execution, many small to medium-sized businesses need more than just a strategic plan they need the guidance and execution as well but they generally can not afford the overhead of what that costs. The ideal fractional CMO brings not only marketing expertise but also the ability to execute the plan, guiding your team and driving results for as long as their services are needed at a price you can afford.

5. Flexibility

A fractional CMO should be adaptable and willing to adjust their approach based on your specific needs and evolving market conditions. They’re not just bringing marketing expertise, they’re bringing adaptability.

Think about it: maybe you need to pivot your focus for a new product launch. Or maybe the market throws you a curveball, and you need to adjust your strategy. A fractional CMO is used to working with different businesses and can optimize accordingly. They can help you scale up or down quickly, depending on your needs and budget.

6. Can you present a clear scope of work?

A fractional CMO should clearly outline their services, deliverables, and pricing. This ensures transparency, sets expectations, and avoids any misunderstandings.

Sadly, a lot of marketing folks just throw magic fairy dust out there and print off a couple of The FUD Factor: How Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt Shape Leadership written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Brendan Keegan, a seasoned executive with over three decades of experience in leadership and innovation. Brendan is also the author of the book “The FUD Factor: Overcoming Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt to Achieve the Impossible.” Our conversation covers the profound impact of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) on leadership and how mastering these emotions can shape the trajectory of businesses and individuals alike.

Key Takeaways

Brendan Keegan emphasizes the transformative power of addressing fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) in leadership. By embracing failure as a learning opportunity, fostering a culture of fearless leadership, and developing emotional intelligence, leaders can overcome mindset barriers and drive growth. Strategies for overcoming FUD include encouraging open communication, setting clear goals, and celebrating successes, ultimately empowering individuals and organizations to achieve greater efficiency, effectiveness, and success.

Questions I ask Brendan Keegan:

[02:11] Is there’s a personal story of how you overcame FUD?

[03:30] How does FUD show up in the workplace?

[05:00] What are some best practices to admitting fear and overcoming it?

[06:42] What inspired you to write a book about overcoming fear?

[07:39] Talk about fearless leadership

[10:55] What are some of the key traits that this fearless leader needs to learn or evolve in their arsenal?

[13:16] Would you say a high level of self-awareness is one of them?

[14:41] How does leadership act as a differentiator between good teams and great teams?

[17:32] Why does leadership matter more now than ever?

[19:56] Is there some place you’d invite people to connect with you, and learn more about the FUD Factor?

More About Brendan Keegan:

Connect with Brendan on LinkedIn
Visit his Website

Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!

Connect with John Jantsch on LinkedIn

This episode of The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by ActiveCampaign

Try ActiveCampaign free for 14 days with our special offer. Exclusive to new customers—upgrade and grow your business with ActiveCampaign today!

Duct Tape Transcript

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Speaker 3 (01:04): Hello

John (01:04): And welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Brendan Keegan. With over three decades of experience, he's known for his practical insights and passion for innovation. Brendan's focus on leveraging technology to streamline operations has made him a trusted resource for businesses of all sizes. He's also the author of a book we're going to talk about today, the FUD Factor, overcoming Fear, uncertainty, and Doubt, to Achieve the Impossible. So Brendan, welcome to the show.

Brendan (01:36): Alright, welcome. Thanks so much. I'm excited to be here. And just talk a little bit about marketing and fud.

John (01:41): So with St. Patrick's Day, I'm recording this in March with St. Patrick's Day, not too far behind us. I've been watching a couple Irish movies and I'm got to tell you, Brendan Keegan sounds like a character from an Irish movie.

Brendan (01:52): Yeah, well, my middle name's Patrick, so I got the a hundred percent factor going there.

John (01:59): Awesome. So one of the main premises of the book is this idea of fud, which I think is a term that I've heard used by other folks. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt is kind of learn throughout our lives. I'm curious if there's a personal story of how you overcame your own brand of fud.

Brendan (02:18): Well, it's interesting. As a kid, your parents kind of put FUD onto, but you don't realize it until you're a parent. So I remember when I started realizing it when our daughter was really small, but then when she started playing sports, and I still remember she had a skateboard, and all of a sudden it's get the helmet on, get the knee pads, get the elbow pads on, and it's like, Hey, in case you fall now to a 5-year-old, they don't think they're going to fall. So I put the idea of falling into her head and with all the equipment, all of a sudden she was thinking, Hey, I'm just going to go down the hill. I'm going to ride it over to my friend's house, house's going to have no issues. And all of a sudden I turned what was going to be a fun ride into a very dangerous sport that she had to be very careful of. The same could be said, going downhill, ski, and you get 'em bundled up, put the helmet on and everything. But as parents, we tend to be protective because we know they can fall, but we start to unintentionally with the best of intentions, impart some of our fear, uncertainty and doubt. Fear. What if they fall, they're going to break their arm. Well, they didn't plan on falling.

John (03:30): So how does that show up then in the adult version of the workplace?

Brendan (03:36): Well, as you grow up, it manifests where all of a sudden someone wants to play soccer, and it's like, I'm not sure if I'm going to make the team. Well, do I try out? Do I not try out, who am I going to ask to prom? What if they say no? It's like, well, what if they say yes? So we start just as human beings to put the doubt inside our own heads, whether it, well, I'm not going to try off this document, I'm not going to make it. Why? Well, I'm not good enough, as opposed to, Hey, if I practice, I'm good enough. And some of that just can be environmental. Did you grow up in a house where your family, your guardian, your uncle, your parents did say, Hey, if you practice 30 minutes a day, you're going to make the team? Or did they reinforce the, Hey, it's going to be really tough to make the team. I coached football for a number of years, not here. Parents say, I'm so concerned, I just know if he plays football, he's going to get hurt. And I'd say, what if I told you there's three times more injuries in cheerleading than there is football in youth sports, or if that matter, high school sports, but you don't have a fear of your daughter or son cheerleading. But football has that, and so we're just programmed.

John (04:47): So you talk about this, some examples of how you've worked with team members to push them on because people show up then at the workplace in their twenties, thirties, and forties, still with some of that residual doubt. So what are some of the ways that you've found practices, tactics, strategies, whatever you want to call 'em, to get people to move paths that to like, okay, I'm admitting I'm afraid. How do I move past sales?

Brendan (05:10): I think the first thing is talking about you are going to fail, just kind of saying, okay, it's okay to fail. So on my wall at every office, I have the saying, have the courage to fail and the faith to succeed. So the first thing, best practice is make failure acceptable. So that's automatically, you're going to say, well, if this doesn't succeed, I'm not going to lose my job. I'm not going to be in the penalty box. I'm not going to get in trouble. The next thing I'd say is when you do have failures in your company, don't hide from 'em. Talk about 'em. So if you do zoom calls, say, Hey, this week we're going to talk about one of our successes, but we're going to talk about one of our failures. And when you talk about the failure, talk about what you learned and how you're a better company because of the failure, because I've had lots of failures in my career going into new markets, and you really learn, wow, we thought we were going to do well in this market, and you really learned that you didn't, by the way, sometimes when you're successful, you don't diagnose it as much as to you just kind of keep doing it.

(06:09): So I think the first best practice is let failure be acceptable, let failure be something that's possible, and then just some very light training on how do you overcome fear. Some of that can be design thinking, some of it can be some innovation courses. And what's great now is whether it's LinkedIn learning or just all the free learning online, there's courses where you can learn how to think and then test your ideas.

John (06:35): I probably should ask this first, but you're, by all intent and purposes from your bio, you're an operations guy. What inspired you to write a book about overcoming fear?

Brendan (06:47): I've had a chance to be a CEO for the last 23 years, and I've gone into six different companies, every one of 'em. We were trying to either do a turnaround or a transformation, so we were trying to go against our natural momentum. And what I found is I had to spend more time internally changing mindsets than externally. Externally, you could see here's a great market, but internally I'd have people saying, oh, here's why. Here's, we're not going to be successful in that market. We've never pursued that market. We're not prepared for that market. And I'd scratch my head as an outsider, saying, why? And you start to get the, well, we haven't done that before. And my favorite is, well, we tried that when? Five years ago. Five years ago for

John (07:29): One week, right?

Brendan (07:31): Or five years ago, you might not have had the capability to do it that you have today. And just things change.

John (07:37): You talk a lot in this book about something you call fearless leadership, and I'm curious if you could help to find that, because I mean, there's certainly lots of fearless leaders that lead people off cliffs as well, so I'm guessing that's not exactly the same sense in which you mean it.

Brendan (07:52): Yeah, no, in Fearless Leadership is about creating an environment that allows people to fail, allows people to try, allows people to take risks, and then allows those successes to be celebrated. So it's not reckless leadership. I'm not a fan of, Hey, let's just pursue any market for any reason. One thing I talk about oftentimes is establish some guardrails like, Hey, we can pursue any market as long as we make 5% margin. So you're saying, okay, you can't pursue something that we're going to lose money or say, Hey, we're going to start a business, and it's okay if we lose money in the first year. It's not okay if we lose money in the third year. Someone might say, well, to start the business, I can't make it profitable the first month, but I can make it profitable after a year. What I find is set up some parameters, set up some guardrails and say, okay, this, as long as we're within here, you can operate in any way you see fit.

(08:46): And that can be how fast do we want it to grow? What clients do we want to pursue? How profitable do we want it to be? What's the time horizon? We're going to do this for six months, and then we're going to assess. So it's not reckless, but it's creating an environment, setting parameters, and then going after it in a way that you wouldn't have gone after. Because if you go after it in a very calculated, slow manner, there's a good chance that the opportunity passes you by. So you do have to go about it in a very intentional way.

John (09:20): It's my pleasure to welcome a new sponsor to the podcast. Our friends at ActiveCampaign. ActiveCampaign helps small teams power big businesses with a must have platform for intelligent marketing automation. We've been using ActiveCampaign for years here at Duct Tape Marketing to power our subscription forms, email newsletters, and sales funnel drip campaigns. ActiveCampaign is that rare platform that's affordable, easy to use, and capable of handling even the most complex marketing automation needs, and they make it easy to switch. They provide every new customer with one-on-one personal training and free migrations from your current marketing automation or email marketing provider. You can try ActiveCampaign for free for 14 days and there's no credit card required. Just visit active campaign.com/duct tape. That's right. Duct Tape Marketing podcast. Listeners who sign up via that link will also receive 15% off an annual plan if purchased by March 31st, 2024. That's activecampaign.com/duct tape. Now, this offer is limited to new active campaign customers only. So what are you waiting for? Fuel your growth, boost revenue and save precious time by upgrading to active campaign today.

John (10:37): So leadership's one of those things that it's like sales people are either really good at it or they're not, right? They, they're like born salespeople. Same with leadership. I think a lot of people say, oh, that person's born leader, some people suggest that it can be learned. I know that you fall on the, it can be learned, but what are some of the key traits that this fearless leader really needs to have or really needs to learn or evolve in their arsenal?

Mastering Delegation: How to Transform Your Business and Life

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 22:24:05 +0300

Mastering Delegation: How to Transform Your Business and Life written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with John Jantsch

In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Dave Kerpen, a seasoned entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author with a passion for effective leadership and delegation. Dave and I uncover the transformative power of delegation, shedding light on how mastering this skill can revolutionize both your business and personal life.

Key Takeaways

Dave Kerpen emphasizes that delegation is a transformative skill that empowers individuals and organizations to achieve greater efficiency, effectiveness, and work-life balance. Overcoming mindset barriers such as fear and distrust is crucial, as is following a structured approach like the Five Cs of Delegation: Choose the right person, Communicate clearly, Coach for success, Check in regularly, and Celebrate achievements. By mastering delegation, individuals can unlock exponential growth opportunities for their businesses while prioritizing meaningful experiences in their personal lives.

Questions I ask Dave Kerpen:

[01:38] What sorts of mindset shifts do you encourage people to take in your book?

[07:14] Explain the S.H.A.R.E model

[09:51] How do you overcome the need to micromanage and delegate instead?

[12:42] What role does mentoring to create leaders inside your organization play, or do you go out and find that leader?

[14:20] What practices should we start exploring? if as leaders, we are to take balancing seriously

[16:38] How do you achieve this balance with teams working remotely?

[18:24] Where can people connect with you and learn more about the Mentorship?

More About Dave Kerpen:

Connect with Dave on LinkedIn
Visit his Website
Grab a copy of Get Over Yourself

Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please!

Connect with John Jantsch on LinkedIn

This episode of The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by ActiveCampaign

Try ActiveCampaign free for 14 days with our special offer. Exclusive to new customers—upgrade and grow your business with ActiveCampaign today!

Duct Tape Transcript

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John (00:17): You just heard was a testimonial from a recent graduate of the Duct Tape Marketing certification intensive program for fractional CMOs marketing agencies and consultants just like them. You could choose our system to move from vendor to trusted advisor, attract only ideal clients, and confidently present your strategies to build monthly recurring revenue. Visit DTM world slash scale to book your free advisory call and learn more. It's time to transform your approach. Book your call today, DTM World slash scale. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Dave Kerpen. He's a serial entrepreneur with three seven figure businesses, a New York Times bestselling author of five books, an investor and most important, a father of three with and husband to wife, Carrie, who's also a partner in the business. And we're going to talk about this latest book, get Over Yourself, how to Lead and Delegate Effectively for More Time, more Freedom, and More Success. So Dave, welcome to show.

Dave (01:34): Thanks so much for having me. Great to see you again, John.

John (01:36): Likewise. So this book is all about mindset or mindset change, I should say. So let's talk about a couple of the shifts that you're going to ask people to make in this book.

Dave (01:48): So the biggest thing that holds people back from delegating well is it not knowing what to do. It's the mindset issues or what I'd call in the book emotional detractors that get in the way. And the two biggest ones are fear and distrust. So we're afraid that if we have somebody else do the work, they're going to mess it up. They're going to fail. We're going to lose clients, we're going to go out of business. There's many things that we're afraid of on the trust side. We don't trust people to get the job done. Our people have let us down in the past, and that makes it harder and harder to trust. And then the two other ones that are a little smaller, but that I do see popping up now and again are the need to control everything and the need for things to be perfect. If it's not perfect, it's not worth doing. And those things get in the way of good delegation as well.

John (02:34): Over the years, I've learned kind of the hard way sometimes that not delegating or not letting people just run with stuff and trusting them. It's really disempowering, isn't it, to the team. I mean, even if it's done with because oh, I want it done it right? I mean, it really teaches them, oh, I just have to wait for you to tell me what to do.

Dave (02:52): It is. So one thing I write about and like to remind people is if they've ever, especially entrepreneurs and small business owners, if they've ever worked for somebody else, many of us have had the experience of working for a micromanager. I know I had that early on in my career and it was miserable. I felt so disempowered, I felt so just unenthusiastic about my work. And so now that your listeners are on the other side of the coin, and entrepreneurs and small business owners have an opportunity to be better, we need to remember what it was like to be micromanaged and make sure that we're not that kind of boss.

John (03:25): Yeah. Another thing that I know I run into a lot of business owners, entrepreneurs, particularly entrepreneurs that are, we'll figure this out, whatever it takes kind of mentality. A lot of times the work that they started doing, the work that the business began with that was kind of their passion and joy. It doesn't make sense for them to do it anymore, but they love it. And that I find is a real challenge.

Dave (03:50): What's really funny, I'll tell you this book is with Ben Bella, and Glen's a wonderful guy that, he's the publisher, he is personally involved. It's a smaller imprint. And he did the first read and he came back. And in the book I talk about three things that every leader should do, three things and three things alone. Set the strategy and vision, hire the right people for the right seats and assure access to enough capital and resources to get the job done. Those three things alone. And Glenn pushed back a little. He said, well, what if you like doing things? What if you like doing marketing? What if you like doing sales? I said, listen, I'm not saying you can't do these things, but a lot of people use excuses that, oh, I like doing this. I'm really good at this, or I really like doing this, so I'm just going to keep doing it. But eventually, first of all, that disempowers the team that's supposed to be doing it. But second of all, the stakes here are big. The stakes aren't just your successful business. The stakes are your time that you only get once. And I write about people on their deathbeds. John, do you know what percentage of people on their deathbeds say, I wish I had worked more

John (04:56): Somewhere around zero.

Dave (04:58): I wish I had built a bigger bit somewhere around zero. But what percentage of people on their deathbed said, I wish I had more time with my family. I wish I had more time with my close friends. I wish I had more time to pursue travel and passions and different things that are personally meaningful for me. So many people have that experience. So why should we get obsessed with doing marketing for our business only because we like it or we're good at it if it's taking us away from our family, our children, the things that are important to us. It's just you have to weigh the relative benefits of doing any particular task or project versus other things that you could be doing with your time.

John (05:38): Well, and I said at the beginning of this, you've run several seven figure businesses. You do the math on that. You break evens about a hundred thousand dollars a month and can I afford to do $30 an hour work for the business at any time?

Dave (05:54): That's right. And I'll tell you, as I've gotten older, I'm more experienced here. My accomplishments have changed. I think for a while I would've said my biggest accomplishment in business was the money. And then I moved on to my biggest accomplishment in businesses of being rated best places to work in New York for five years in a row. You know what? My biggest accomplishment in businesses now, it's having businesses that allow me to check out at 3:00 PM every single day and spend the next four hours with my son doing homework and having a catch. That's time that I will never ever get back. And I've done that by delegating, by letting other people do the work, by empowering them, by stepping back and saying, you know what, if it gets 80% done the way I would've wanted to, that's definitely enough. Who cares if it's 99 or a hundred percent precisely the way I would've wanted it? I've had people come to me, John, and say, Dave, I built a really big business. I made a lot of money, but I missed my whole kid's childhood. Is it really worth it? Yeah.

John (06:55): That leads me straight into the 2015 World Series. Should we talk about that?

Dave (06:59): Oh no. I knew you were going to bring that up. It's been a while since Casey was. I

John (07:04): Know. I know. We're trying to actually get back to respectability so I won't bow bad mouth too much. So you actually hinted at this about the three things somebody needs to do. You actually have a model that you've built that you've given a lovely acronym as consultant author types. You've already kind of unveiled a little bit, but you want to put it in context.

Dave (07:26): Sure. So I'll give you two quick acronyms here that, because I love acronyms. So the first is the share model that it focuses on the three things and the three things alone that we as leaders should be concerned with and what to do with the rest. So those three things are the S is for set, the strategy and vision. The H is for hire the right people in the right seats. And the A is for assure access to capital and resources to get the job done. The R is to remind ourselves that every other task on our plate, every other project on their plate, every other opportunity or obstacle or challenge can be delegated. And the E is for empower instead of making somebody do it, I love the word empower. Give somebody the opportunity to make their mark on that work.

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(09:20): So what are you waiting for? Fuel your growth, boost revenue and save precious time by upgrading to active campaign. Today, I tell you, as my organization's grown, and I read this somewhere so I don't claim that I came up with it, but I love to use this term when I'm delegating something. A lot of people want to micromanage. You use the word talk about all the do it exactly this way. And I love to just say, here's the definition of done. Here's what it's got to get to. What does that look like? So talk a little bit about in the book, obviously delegation's a big part of this, so a lot of people struggle with how to do that. So talk a little bit about how to do that.

Dave (09:57): Yeah, so that's my second acronym, right? So I've got what I call the five Cs model. So five Cs to remember along the way. And I'll briefly go through each, John. The first C is choose the right person. And this is a no small task. I get it. The biggest mistake people make here is choosing the first person that happens to be there. Okay, well this is my assistant, so she'll do it. Or this is my cousin and he works on the business, so he'll do this. You need to be, of course, very thoughtful about who to choose to do the work. And the good news is in today's world, there are freelancers, there are contractors, there are vendors, there are agencies, there are apprentices. One of my companies there are Fiverr and Upwork and all kinds of ways to find people and find the right person.

(10:46): The second C is communicate clearly. Verbally is great, but put it in writing what your expectations are. So there's no misunderstanding, there's no confusion. There's a lot of clarity about how to do it if you insist, but better to the point we made earlier, what that expected outcome is what the finish line looks like. The third C is to coach them on their way to success and cheer them on their way to success. I never think of myself as a manager. People hate managers. I think of myself as a coach. People like coach coaches are the best cheerleaders and they help people get to a successful outcome. They help their teams win. Managers are like, oh, nobody even likes the word. The fourth C is check in on the regular. The frequency of your check-in really depends on the scope of the project, but I do not like daily.

(11:41): Some people are overdoing here with daily check-ins or hourly check-ins. Unless it's a three day project. I like once a week check-ins, 15 minute, everything going, what are your challenges? How can I help overcome those challenges? And then the fifth, see, and this is often forgotten. Once the task is actually accomplished, congratulate them. Celebrate success, right? Let's learn from our mistakes along the way, but let's really emphasize how great it was that we got to that outcome so that they have a good feeling in their mouth, a good memory of the whole thing. And you allall can rinse and repeat and do it again.

John (12:18): One of the things that a lot of organizations, I see this, an organization grows, they need people to do tasks or functions, so they start hiring people,

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