Ask Us Anything 3

This week, Jonathan and I pulled some questions from our “mailbag” since they’re great representations of the situations authority builders encounter and the seemingly small decisions that can have an outsized impact on the success of your business.

For example:

What to do when the three “why” questions aren’t working—and what to do instead.

How to get strategic insights into the niche of people you want to serve (we had a lot of fun using the craft beer industry as a jumping off point).

The best way to build high value, low time commitment product and service options when your time is limited.

How to think about commissions for referring work to decide whether they make sense for you.

Quotables

“There’s a hundred ways I can build this—I don’t want to build it in some way that’s oblivious to your larger goals. A good client will sit back and say, ‘yeah, let’s do it’. A bad client will say ‘Why do you need to know this?’”—JS

“You’re giving them a preview of what it will be like to work with you.”—RM

“If you’re in a conversation (with a potential client) and you can’t get them out of order giver mode, it’s not gonna work.”—JS

“Working inside a business feels like a very labor-intensive way to get smart about a market niche…and you’re still only learning from one example.”—RM

“Sometimes it’s helpful to have no knowledge because you can come in with completely fresh eyes and break new ground and change paradigms.”—JS

“Going into courses and information products is the easiest way (to high revenue) in the sense of setting it up and forgetting about it—but in order to do this you really need an audience to sell it to.”—RM

“Even if you’re the most ethical person on earth, people know that financial incentives affect behaviors.”—JS

“It’s really hard to trust somebody who’s gonna get some money out of your recommendations, especially when it’s a lot of money.”—RM