5 Stages Of Problem Solving

All right.So this is call number 100 it'snot questions, lightning Q&Ajam, it's just call 100.It's a major milestone for us.You guys call 100.That means there's over200 hours of contenton our channel.I don't know how you keep upwith it, but bless your heart.If you are open agenda.OK, so here's onething that I took awayfrom the creativeSouth workshop.And I was being bombardedby questions being pulledin 100 different directions.There are a couple ofpeople in the Pro groupthat did attendthe creative South.I think at least two.So if you're in theroom, let's see how I do.Ok? one thing thatwe were talking aboutwas the difference betweenamateurs and professionals.I started thinking about,well, what's a professional?How do they behave?How do they think,and what do they do?That's different than the waythat we conduct ourselves?Is that?So I want to show you whatI think a doctor does.Luckily or unluckily,I've had some experienceswith doctors recently,and I'm startingto watch how they work.So this is typicallyhow they do it right.So they begin withdiagnostic, they'reasking you a few questions,but they're not justany kind of question.They didn't ask youquestions like whendid you wake up or didyou have for breakfastunless it was a diet issue?They're trained to lookfor certain symptomsthrough their experience.They know if they askthis kind of question,it leads them in acertain direction.So they have alreadyin their minda couple of ideason what it couldbe based on what you tell them.So they ask you, like, whyare you here on this visit?So they're asking, what'sthe big problem to solve?Why are you here for this visit?Then you start to tellthem a few things,and I'm sure they havesome bedside manners whereif you ramble on and you talktoo long without telling themwhat the problem is, thenthey're going to stop youand kind of redirect you.I want you to thinkabout all of thisas it maps and relates to theway you hold your first clientmeeting.So in their mind,they're startingto eliminate what possible.What are the possible thingsthat are ailing you right now?And they're honingit in and they're notgoing to fully committo this just yet?Can I ask everybodyto unmute yourselvesbecause I'm hearingsome heavy breathing?There we go, thankyou very much.OK it was a heavy breathing isprobably just background noise.All right now, whatthey're going to dois they want to if it's amajor issue, major issues,not just a headache.It's not just needice on your ankle.It's a major issue.Require surgery.What they want todo is they wantto test and validate if whatthey believe to be true,to be true.So they're going toconduct maybe blood work.They might do a scan,they might do x rays,they might do something.And now they have ahypothesis and they'reready to prescribe a solution.We've eliminated alot of the options.We confirm what it is.Here's what you need to do.You need to have an operation.Now, your doctor cannotspecialize in all things,so in this case,they're the strategists,and they're not onlygoing to recommend,they're not just going torecommend the things that theycan solve, they're going torecommend things that are trulygoing to fix the problem.So they look into their networkof specialists, colleagues,peers and they're goingto refer somebody.Then that persondoes the operation.Maybe I should say operationinstead of operate.OK, now I want to openthis up to you guys.It doesn't matter if you dobranding, photography, video,website, design, whateverit is that you do.Tell me how yourprocess maps to this.Do you have a five step process?That maps to this, ormaybe you only have one.Maybe when the clientwalks in the door,you let them runthe diagnostic face,you allow them to self diagnose.And then as soon as theytell you what the problem is.We just go interoperation mode.We operate, we'regreat operators.Now, the questionthat I threw outat the audience inthe workshop wasthis is that if yougo to see your doctorand they recommend somethingthat works for you,and solves your problem, makesyou feel 1,000 times better.Who do you trust?Who do you go back to?Who are you loyal to?The person who operated on you.The person who ran thelab test or the person whodid the diagnosingin the first place.Let's open it upfor some questions,and then we are going tothen open it up to Q&A. OK,so I'm going to leave thescreen up for a second.You guys might want to screencapture this because that'sthe end of it, really.OK, Chris, wouldn't there be?Wouldn't there be astep before diagnosis,which would be listening?Don't you want theclient or the patientto tell you their symptoms firstand to listen deeply to thatbefore jumping to diagnosis?Yeah, that's part of theirdiagnosis process, though.As soon as youwalk into the room,I don't want to outlineevery single part of this.OK, so soon as you walk inthe room, generally speaking.So why are you here?They actually alreadyknow because in orderto make an appointment, youhave to tell them generallywhat the problem is.But I get the feelingthat doctors actuallydon't have that much time toread every patient jacket.So before theywalk into the room,there's a card or afolder and they read it.They walk into the room andthey ask you, why are you here?And you're going totell them whateverit is, you'regoing to tell them,and that conversationdoesn't usuallylast very long in my experiencebecause I get right to it.And then the doctor beginsto ask a bunch of questions.So, yeah, you caninsert step 0 for sure.Anybody else?I mean, even focus.You guys bear with me,I've moved offices,I told you last time,I'm moving officesand there's construction workgoing on, hence the plastic.I'm not killing anybody.They must want totalk about this.Yes so.OK we'll have to do thisdemocratically, I heard, no.You go first.Yeah how would you run likea validation test for design?OK, well, here'sthe problem already.The reason why Iwanted to bring this upis that if you arethe specialist,if you're the operator, youalways recommend design, right?And that would be the problem.So what you realize is somebodyelse is doing the diagnosis,validating, prescribing,referring to specialists,and you happen tobe a specialist.You thought you wereabsolutely at the top,but you're at theoperation level.So when a clientcomes to you, let'sjust talk for a little bit, ok?Let's open it up.How do clients come to you?What's the dialoguethat you normally have?Honestly, I'm juststarting up, Iam I am doing currently awebsite for a cousin of mine.OK, so that will be my client.And technically, Ioffered her a websitebecause she isstarting her businessand she needs the page.So that's what's goingon with me right now.OK, so if it's the case thatyou're new to this and you,you build websitesand you design work,you ask me, how doyou validate or test?Is that right?Yes so you can doa design sprintand you could build a prototype.That's how you could testand validate without buildingthe whole site.But I imagine what you'redoing for your cousin isn'tall that complicated orin that involved, right?Yes, just the Basicwebsite for a startup.OK, so just a basicwebsite, so in this case,then it's mostly visual thatyour visual design that you'redoing, you may wantto do a style escapeto test and validate isthe general directionthat we're talking about.You can do wireframes and talkabout, is this a functionality?So there are definitely waysthat you can test and validate,are we going to do the rightthing before I do it all?You what you don't wantto go is straight from.I have a problem.Straight into operation.And that's wherea lot of you guysare going to run into trouble.The reason why peopledon't generallytake our professionvery seriouslyand treat it with therespect that it deservesis because we don't treatourselves like professionals.We don't act in aprofessional way.You talk to 100designers, they'regoing to operate verydifferently from each other.There is no standard.There's no decency.Mostly because the peoplethat we've learned design fromand how to do it.Focus too much onthe operation part.We spend all their timerefining our craft and almostnone of the time talkingabout how to diagnose,how to test and validate.And we do not build anetwork of specialistsbecause we are scared.We're scared torefer other people.We're scared that ifwe send somebody outto work with somebodyelse, they'll never return.So what we need todo is to adopt a moreprofessional practice inthe way that we conductour business, so ifpossible, I wouldlove for everybody that'swatching this videoto develop a five step process.And to formalize thisand start to refine it,and there's goingto be gaps, there'sgoing to be knowledgegaps, skill gap.And even a networkgap, and you'regoing to have to startto cover that gap.OK, so somebody elsewanted to say something,so let's move on.So if you can just raiseyour hand somewhere?So I've got a scenariofor you, Chris.All right.OK, so with thishappened this week,so we have quitea large departmentstore that's likeacross the UK, and therecame to us saying that wewant a new website, a new app.So I always kick back andI say, that's fantastic.You know, you'veidentified that youwant to create these assetsto achieve a greater businessgoal.Would you mind sharingwhat that goal is with me?So they then send we send outwhat we call a gold funds.And, Sean, your audio cutout for a second there.Oh, sorry.Can you hear me now?Yeah Yeah.So when they fillup goals, plans,challenges in timeand document and weget to understand the goals thatthey are looking to achieve,those goals came back as wewant to increase footfall.We're trying to repositionthe brand for a younger agedemographic.But there were no real truemetrics in place there,and at the end of that wholegoal setting process, he said.I understand whatyou're doing, but I needyou to give me a guide price.So that I'm notwasting your time.So at that point,you know, I've falleninto that trap ofgiving a price,but what would youdo at that point?OK can you ask that question andmuch more succinct way, please?If if you get thegoals of your clientsand their share some fuzzy goalswith, you're not specific goalsand then they're trying tonail you down on a pricebecause they wantto qualify you outto see whetheryou're too expensiveor you are within budget.What would you do at that point?OK, Sean, we'regoing to practiceI'm going to useyou as a case study.I know your question.I don't like the way you askedit, so I'm asking it again.Most questions startwith a W Yeah what?Who? why?How those kinds of ways?That's an h, right?Yeah you started with an if Istarted with an F to the clientor they started with an effortto me know when you were askingme your question, you started.If if my clients did it, did it?OK OK.And then I forget your question.I know your question,but I'm goingto torture you a little bit.OK well, why did my clientsrain nail me down on pricebefore I'd qualifiedwhat their goals were?OK, why do client do anything?I don't know.That's to qualify, right?I don't know why peoplebehave the way they behave.Why do children always say why?Why do children ever want tosleep when they're supposed to?Why?I don't know.So ask the question again.We all want tobecome questionable.Just like god, myfocus is jacked.I'm going to keep progressing.Right we all need to becomebetter question colleges.You need to learn howto ask better questions.Because when you do,your value goes up.Did you ask the question again?I'm trying to thinkof how to ask you.I know, OK, somebody else?Somebody let's phonea friend, somebodywho understandswhat Sean is asking.Ask the question for him.Let's see if we can'tget to a better question.Anybody what is my responsewhen a client triesto qualify my price.Before I understand the scope?OK, that's much better.What's better?Good job, Bob.Bob did you see thedifference there, sean?Yeah, I did.Maybe, maybe thequestion should be how?How should I respond?How should I respond when myclients want a price, whenthe goals are not clear?Yeah OK, now when you askthe question that way,the answer becomes almostself-evident, don't you think?How can anybody giveyou a quote If you don'tknow what you're going to do?How does one do that?And then that's what I wouldthrow it right back at them.It sounds to me thatyou're not clear about whatyou want and neither amI. So how do you supposethat I give you a price?Yeah, it would be awag a wild ass guess.Does that work for you?And then theyshould laugh, right?Just like you just did?Yeah, right.That's kind of ridiculous,isn't it, sean?Well, we just want abig ballpark number.OK, so you want anorders of magnitude bid?Gone a generalorders of magnitude,see if you startdropping in acronyms,you sound like scientific now.Yeah so there's two termsif you didn't know himbefore a wag or swag, whichis a scientific wild ass,guess which is an oxymoron.Yeah or gone the generalorders of magnitude big mike?Yes so you justneed to know if it'sgoing to be $100,000a million or 50,000or something like that.Yeah well, based on what wejust heard that no, anymore, I'mpretty sure it's going to besomewhere between 100 to 200 k.Fantastic Sean,you're in the running.Let's talk more.Yeah or Oh my God.That's not what wehave prepared to spend.We thought it'sgoing to cost $200.Whew well, aren'twe both surprised?I'm glad we're havingthis conversation now.You came in to buydisposable contact lensesthinking you couldget LASIK eye surgery.That's not going to work.Sean, follow up.Yeah, no, I mean, I endedup there with that resultbecause I gavethem a range price.But it was, yeah,well, I supposewhat I'm trying to get you.I saw used to me givingyou 40 questions by now.Yeah, what I wastrying to get atis we have aqualification process,but when a client is tryingto nail you on price,you got to push it back on.I'm answering my own question.I think so.You see, so when you askthe question the right way,the answer is self-evident.So this is what I need.All of you all, you know,250 plus pro members thatare watching this videoeither live or later on, it'sto learn how to be moreintentional in the way youphrase things, becausethe way you do.What kind of answerthe question for you?Now, we generallywant to give everybodya lot of contextabout what it is,we're thinking blah blah,blah blah, and that'sfine for a lot of things.But when I'm askingyou to ask the questionand be really succinct aboutit, it tells you like your mind.You are notnecessarily clear whatit is that you want to know.So what we wind updoing is we startto do the thing that somepeople do is they speak to thinkand it's very confusing.Some people thinkthrough talking.I don't know what I'mgoing to do today,I think maybe I shouldshower for a shaveand then put on my pantsand hey, what do you guyswant to eat for lunch?But I'm thinking thisis how some people work.And if this is you, ifthis is your tendency,let's do a littleinternal audit right now,let's cut this stuff out.We want the clientsto hang on our wordsin order to do that, we mustbe very precise in choosingthe words that bestdescribe what itis that we want to articulate.So here's what I recommend.Either watch movies wherethey are really well written.And people are very well spoken.Listen to podcasts orwatch YouTube videosof people who are clearlyvery, very articulate.Jordan Peterson isone of those people.You don't have to like hispolitics or his beliefs,but listen to the way hecommands the English language.There are others I'llrecommend them later,I just can't remembertheir names right now.Simon Sinek is another one.Most of those hoitytoity professorsthat speak at one of thoseupper crusty universities,they also havecommand over language.Hang out with themfor a little bit.And when I sayhang out with him,you don't literally haveto go to the writers party,the intellectuals elite club.You just watch their videos.Listen to our podcast.See what?Listen to how they speak.OK, but I want to bring theconversation back to the 5things that I mentioned in caseyou're joining us a little bitlate.We were talking aboutthe difference in wayssome professionals work and howwe work as the creative class.And you can go downthe list, really.You can.Let's just go now, go to.OK for the years thatI owned a Mercedes,I would go to the dealershipand there was a problem usuallyan electronic, not amechanical problem.I drove a G Wagon and hadall kinds of problems.You come in.What's the problem?Yeah, you know, the windowkind of jams from time to time.I don't know what it is like.OK, so he or she already kindof knows what the problem is.So they're going to aska couple of questions.When's the lasttime you had this?Let's go to yourcar and they go,check it out like, OK, I thinkI know what the problem is.It sounds like thegear inside is broken.I can hear it.Oh, you could hear that.Wow, that's amazing.I couldn't hear that.Here's what we're going to do.Give you a loaner.Can't get you out of here.I'm going to have my mechanicpop listing open and lookat it, if it is what I thinkit is, it's probably goingto cost you a couple dollars.If it's something worse, I'llcall you and let you know.A couple of hours later,Chris, they popped it open.It is exactly what they said,the gear inside is shattered.We're going to get a part inhere, it'll be here tomorrowWe'll drop it in.They'll take care of it.You have your car back to youby the end of day tomorrow,is that ok?Yeah fantastic.Go pick up the car.Here's the bill.They itemize every single thing.They're done.It's a pretty clear diagnosis.The report on what theyfound, what the partswere, how much labor is put intoit, and then I get a fat bill.So I'm asking youguys now, what is itthat you do that maps it isbecause the more holes you havein this, it's telling meeither you're new to the gameor maybe we haven't beentaught to think like this,and that's OK.In both cases.So let's start to change this.Claire, who I met theother day on Monday,was sharing with me how she wentfrom doing, I think 600 or 800as a minimum levelengagement to 10,000.I read her PDF.You guys should readthat as soon as you can.We'll be talkingabout that more later.But when you startto transform the wayyou conduct yourself,the way that you talkabout your work and your craft.Maybe, just maybe you can startto be taken more seriously.And then therefore separateyourself from everybody elseand charge more.It begins with fiveparts diagnosing, testingand validating ahypothesis that youhave prescribing a solution.Referring a specialist.And then.Running the operation.The closer you get tothe number one spot,that's where the powerand the relationship is.That's where the trust is built,that's where loyalty is formed.Shortcut any one of these steps.You're only short cutting youronly short cutting yourself,ok?All right.Yeah, the lighting is crazybecause the sun is movingthis way, so I have to movefurther or farther awayfrom the camera, thereforepushing me out of focus.It's not really.Yeah, whatever you guys cansee me or hear me, right?OK, so somebody else talk tome about what they just heard.Let's share.Yes kieny.Gideon, what's up, man,saw you at what time?Yep welcome, brother.Thank you.What are some toolsthat you use to dothat diagnosing and validating?I found that obviously coreis super effective there,but even beforethat, I'm realizingthat there is a need to beable to diagnose and validatebefore doing somethingthat extensive.So what are some toolsthat you use in additionto just good conversationand high value questions?Is it more of alow fidelity corelike what our core is there likea framework that you can scale?Good question.I'm going to answeryou right now.Excellent question.His question is soclear that I knowexactly how to answer it even.I mean, even thoughI know how to answer,I might even screw it up.So let's see ifI got this right.OK almost all problemscan be resolvedby asking a few questions.We start broad and we form inour mind a couple of ideas.So if somebodycomes to you, Kelly,what do people come to you for?I would say rightnow, it's usuallyeither social media managementor brand identity design.OK, brand identitydesign, OK, I get it, OK.So when somebody comesto you with a problem,how do you determine if it'sgoing to be a social mediaproblem or an identity problem?Or both?Yeah, I think it's really askingthose high value questionson peeling the onion andgetting a sense of whatare the goals behind this?What are the pain pointsthat you have right nowin your business that areleading you to believethat you need social mediaor you need a brand identitydesign?Right so the client is comingto you self-diagnosed right?So that's the firstthing that youneed to recognizeeverybody, maybewrite this down somewhere.The client is going to come toyou self-diagnose because thisis how we've set up ourselves.Everybody thinksthey can do design.Everybody thinks.You know.So it's like the webversion of design peoplerather than like I have a tumor.I know I do becausethese sort of symptoms.So what we want todo is we want to makesure that we're checking thesymptoms with the root causethat those things areconnected because we'rethe professionals.So I need to ask you a coupleof things about the symptomsand then see if theyalign with what I believeare to be the root causes.So they come to you,it's like, you know,people don't like our brand.I feel like it's outdated.We're moving in adifferent direction.I think this is what we need.So usually I just go back andunpack everything they say.So I think we need a new brand.They come inself-diagnosed right.Why do you think youneed a new brand?And sometimes that's enough tobreak the whole conversation.So this is where I'm goingto get a little philosophicalwith you pulling a BruceLee reference, right?You want to be water.Water takes the formof whatever holds it.So the client comes to youand says x, y and z justreflect that backon them, it doesn'trequire some fancy degreeor even a giant framework.I just want to know it comesout of a place of curiosity,really.Why do you feel likeyou need a new brand?Well our numbers are going down.What numbers?So I don't evenassume what numbersI don't assume itssocial media numbers,the engagementconversion revenue.Customer service rating.I don't want to do him,I just want to know.And then what might they say?Well, they probably are goingto say our sales are down.Why do you thinkyour sales are down?So what I'm doingis I'm excavating.So if they gave me threethings to think about,we need a new brand.It feels outdated.We're moving in adifferent direction.I pick any one ofthose three things.I'm going to go down each one,so I'm not doing it right now.But on a note card orsomething and my notebook,I would write down identity.Different direction.Outdated because Iwant to help themunpack each one of thosethings and see where we go.So as you divedeeper and deeper,you need to forget thatyou're the operator,you're the strategist,you're at the top.Maybe your mindsetshould be I'm notallowed to do any of the work.I must refer other people.I cannot do the work myself.If you force yourselfto think like that,maybe the kind ofquestions are going to askand the mindsetwill be different.I could ask a followup to that, sorry.Yeah, it's a conversation,you can ask anything, man.So at that point, if I findmyself doing that a lot,how are you then?How do I make thatprofitable if I'mchoosing not to do any work?And I'm always looking to bethat high level consultant.How do you likebuilding that diagnose?Yeah how do youcharge to diagnose?Look, I'm going to bringup the slide again.OK, hold on.You want to be the specialistand you feel safe there,because that's where youdon't have to make money.OK, so if I were toduplicate this slideand we assign dollarvalue or percentage wise,let's do that rightnow, we're goingto do this as working style.OK I'm going to do is this.OK out of 100%How much should weallocate the budgetto diagnose the test,to prescribe torefer specialists?And to operate.Help me out.Yeah, definitely, Isay for diagnosis,I would put at least 50, 50percent, yeah, for diagnosis.They're going for atest and validate,I think I'd put 15%Going to prescribe.I put another 15.Are five.25 Ah, yes, I'm sorry.How are you doing thatnon-asian man there?Yeah all right.OK just making sure.OK, these numbers, let's havea conversation with everybodyhere.How do you guys feelabout this breakdown?Should we move the numbersaround a little bitbecause he's justshooting freestyle, right?Yep so you guys talked to me.Just take yourselfoff or unmute yourselfand just let's talk aboutit, because I can't reallyfocus on while I'm doing this.I'd bring an operationdown, maybe percentagewiseyou bring it down.It's the total cost of anengagement, is that, yeah,so if they give you$100,000 how much shouldyou spend making it?We are probablybeing operational,but then I just put it inthe chat like, you know,this is the most accessible andcheapest part of an engagementin the global economy today.It's true.Now, if I were to ask youguys how you do it today.I think most of youguys would do this.I would do it alittle bit different.OK OK, I'll hold one second,I just want to ask you guys,is this true?Almost all of youguys do operation,it's 100% of the budget.You don't refer to the job out.You're not charging to diagnose.There is no testingprocess at all.And prescription isthe strategy part.So is it true?Just hit it in a chat, ok?Tell me if it's true.Chris, you think prescriptionis the strategy partand not diagnosedis it's combination.It's the report, it's thereport of the diagnosing.I would give it a lower numberto prescription just becauseof that, but if you hadstrategy to this, yeah,I think referral specialistis much more important than 5%You don't recognizethis in first glance,but you know, actuallybuilding the networkto know which person tosuggest for the job canbe very taxing time wise.Right so what I would sayis that just spread thisout a little bit,OK, because dependingon how you look at this, I'mgoing to duplicate this again.I've not done thisin a long timewhere I live designing a keynotething with you, but let's try.All right.I've got all thisglare on me too.It's killing me.Give me one second.As I find my assets, I'vebeen away from my computer,my little baby here.And Mr. So I'm alittle rusty with mywhere all my assets are.Here we go.Let's try.This one this is one work.Can you guys see this greatthing that's not very clear?You can't see it.All right.So what I'm goingto do is I'm goingto delete these parts rightnow just for the time being.And just so you guysknow how I work,you see, I drawthis bracket hereand I have all different sizes.And then what I dois just double click,and so I make one elementthat can be used universallylike this.See how that works.So I think.These top three things.I mean that alittle bit too big.Which is what manyof us would call.Strategy so you can break itout in which way you want.Not the refer specialist part.Well, you can even arguethat that's part of it, too.OK, you guys see that.So far, so let meput it like this.So this is what we came up within terms of how a doctor works,a mechanic, anybody.Pretty much everybodybut designers.That's what wewould call strategywhen I say designers,anybody that'snot that's a creative right.Then what we're sayingnow is that the old way iswe will put all the moneytowards operation because we'renot even aware ofthe four other steps,let's just say orwe're aware of it,but we don't feel confidentenough to charge for it.So what we're saying rightnow, according to this,is that the strategy partis worth 80% of the job,so I think that'sa little bit high.Unless your strategy only firm.So just so it makes alittle bit more palatablefor some of you guys, let'sredistribute the numbers again.I would put actually a littlebit more into the operations.OK oftentimes, if Irefer specialists,I'm going to ask for 10%minimum referral fee.So the diagnosing,if we're just talkingabout the initial conversation,I'm going to bring this down.And I'm going to just bring alittle bit more parody to this,so this is 30, so thathas to equal 70, right?So let's say.So my math, right?5,700 maybe.And you guys can playaround with this.It doesn't really matterhow it breaks down.This would be pretty ideal.And any version of this thatworks for you works for me.So let's go over again,it looks like this.This we call strategy, andit's accounting for about 70%of the entire budget.And if we look at theold way that we did itwhen we reverse these.There you go.OK let's keeptalking about this.So this is me, justrevise the numbers.So he only was asking, sorry.Give me one second, I justremembered that I didn't reallyfully answer Kelly's question isthat he's like, well, aren't Igoing to go brokeif all I want to dois stay up here andnot do the thing?Well, you've got to startcharging for it, Kelly.And then you can start askingthem certain questions,and he wanted a frameworkaround this right?So in my mind right now, allI do is when I talk to people,I just want to knowwhat the big problem is.And anything that doessound like a big problemI generally just ignore.I reject.Redirect the conversationand ask different questions.So I can find out whatthe big problem is.Me if these numberswork for you,would you suggest thatthese percentages reflectyour resources as a business?So I'm just thinking aboutreferrals and, you know,growing networks right now.Do you think that10% of your timeshould go should goto building a network?Or do you think itwould be a different,a different percentageof your resources?Oh, in terms of my time.Yeah, there's obviouslya time elementand since you're makingmoney out of your time,so you know howlazy I am, I justcreate a Facebookgroup to get workand they justself-organized in there.And what I needto refer somebody.I just pull it out.I'm about to refersome of you guysto this one person who'slooking for some help.And I'm not even makingany money off it, I should.Well, I'm just doing it to tryand help the community out.So when you're young and youdon't have a big network,join groups and figure outwho's good, who does what.There are 250 people in here.I'm not saying there are250 rock stars in there.Their specificvertical, but they'regot there's got to be atleast 50 that are good.So just by being apart of the group,we're doing the work for youbecause we're vetting outor we're notvetting, I shouldn'tsay that we're holding back.Some people because evento be able to affordto be part of the group.Means that you have to havesome level of self-awareness,some kind of disposableincome and some desireto move forward, at least youhave a certain mindset that'sin common with everybody here.And that's a prettygood starting point.And I do just wantto warn everybody,just because they're inthe program doesn't meanthat they're good,they're good people,but they might not begood at what they do.They might not have thebusiness chops to be ultra pro.One day they all will be,but not necessarily today.So just keep that in mind.OK because I've heard some Idon't want to scare anybody,a handful of storieswhere it didn't work out,everybody's still friends,but it just didn't work outthe way they thought.It's because theydidn't do their vetting.That's all it was.OK, let's keeptalking, and then we'regoing to switch gears when youguys are talking about this.Thanks for clarity.I'm sorry.OK, Mo, since you doa lot of the talking,I'm just going to ask you.Hold on, I heard a female voice.Just hold on one second.Let's do this.Can you guys digitally raiseyour hands and I'll call youso that we don'tlike in everybody?It's not an auction, ok?If you just digitallyraise your hand,you guys know how to do that.There's these three littlewhite dots on the upper rightcorner of your profile picture.Just click on that andsay, raise him and thenI can see you.There are a lot of you,so it's getting harder.I don't see anything.OK, Lauren.Just because you got it,you got it, girl, you do it.I claimed it.I love it.You, you mentionedin the beginningthere that diagnosticis where the powerthe trusting relationship is.My business model might bea little bit more uniquethan everybody else'shere, so I do apologize.OK, we are white labelingourselves to salespeopleso they tend to dothe diagnostics.So how would I be able to stepinto more of that relationshipearlier on?Yeah OK, so you'reat the last step.You're the operationsperson, right?Correct we're theoperations people.Right and furthermore,you're the wayyou're the operations personthat's been white label.So we know who you are.You're not evenallowed to, like,be your own person, right?Did you sign a non-compete to?Non poaching agreement.It's coming out on me.Yeah wait, sorry,can you say it again?Yeah did you sign a non-competenon poaching agreementwith whoever sent you thework, the salespeople?Can you hear me?Oh Lawrence.I'm panicking, I start myvideo, sorry, that video yeah,just preserve theinternet speed there.The three hamsters were tired.Oh, OK.So, Lauren, let me sayagain, since you'rewhite labeling yourself, itmeans that you can't evenhave an identity, right?Lauren such.Is it my internet or is it?Can you guys hear me?Can you guys give me athumbs up if you can hear me?OK, you guys can hear me shoot.OK, Lauren, it's time toupgrade the internet connectionor tell the kids orwhoever's in the house.Stop streaming.Stop playing video games.OK, we'll have to circle backto Lauren when her internetconnection is resolved.But I'm just going tomake some assumptionsabout what she's asking, ok?And there's danger there.I can get it wrong.She's in the operationsstage like the last oneand she's beingwhite labeled, whichif I say I need you towhite label, it means,for all intents andpurposes, the clienthas no idea who you are.You work for me and you'repart of our company.So she wants to movetowards the diagnostic part.She has acquiredthose skills and beginto look for her ownclients to onboard themand to run thediagnostic phase herself.That's hard.Well, like Jim Rowan said,don't wish for thingsto be easier, wish foryou to have more skill.You've got to move yourself up.You'll start to realize allkinds of wonderful gainswhen you do.Now I say this as a person whowas in the operation phase.OK and even in theoperation phase,you do still haveyour own mini formof diagnosing, referringspecialists, building teams,et cetera.But what you want todo is move as closeas possible to where theclient starts to talkto you, which is in step one.And we've done thisfor many, many years,Matthew is on thecall, and I don'tknow if he's still on the call,but the agency would figure outwhat the problem was.They would writethe script and thenthey would have a bunch ofspecialists like us bid for it.And depending on who had thebest combination of ideas,budget and personality, theywould recommend or refer.A studio that wouldbe us, hopefully,if we did it right andthen we would operate.So once we learned about coreand doing brand strategy,we shot right up tothe top and now wecan work with clients directly.OK let's go toKenzie and then Mo.Right I do have a questionabout the diagnosed face.Yes how do you apply adiagnosis from clientswho did a self diagnose andhaven't run on any problemsyet because theyhave a new business?OK, so they're comingto self-diagnose,which almost all clients do.So give me a differentversion, this questionI have already answered.Who?they have a new business,and therefore theydon't have any problems yet.They don't have the decreasedincome or anything like that.So they just say, Ineed a new website,I need a flyer, et cetera.OK, OK.So is the assumptionthat new businessesdon't have problems becausethey don't have history?No, but the previous diagnosedwhat you were talking about,I think, was about, OK, what arethe problems you are getting?OK, let's go back to the doctor.Yes and you're showing upfor your annual checkup.You've never had any healthissues whatsoever before.All right.So that means there'snothing to do.You have a physical Kenzo.They can say that they just needa new logo because they needa new right, just like I'mnot, I don't want to be here,but my wife told me I needto get my annual physical.Mm-hmm how wouldthey solve that?See, I think what wedo a lot, everybodyis we think about howspecial and different we are.So none of the things ineveryday life can apply to us.That's a dangerousform of thinking.My dad hates togo see the doctor,he hates, to goto see the doctor.He's just an old,cranky guy that way.And my mom makes sure hehas all kinds of stuff done.Hose poked, fingers pushed,you know, everything.He doesn't thinkhe has a problem.And then they do a bunchof tests and they're like,oh, we found some problems.Your blood pressure is up.Your cholesterol is high andyou're borderline diabetic.If you continue down yourpath and you make no changes,you'll be a full blown diabetic.Should we put you on a program?Can I refer specialists?So whenever you.So here's the thing, I doappreciate every single personwho shows up for thesecalls who ask the questionand who is a paying member tobe a part of this community.I do appreciate you, but Ialso want to teach you guyshow to answer your ownquestions in the futurebecause I'm not avery good teacher.If every single timeyou have a question,you've got to come back to me,which my pocketbook Thanks youfor bending the team.Thank you for, but I'mreally not doing a good jobof teaching you how to learn.Learning how to learn, right?So every time youhave a problem,try to map it out to thereal world, to somebodythat you admire or look upto or has a great processand look at how they do thingsand break it down simplyas three to five stepsand then try to mapwhat can I do to act and soundand behave more like them?And before you know it,you have your own solution.Moreover, once you're able todo this, if you document it,you share it withthe world, they'regoing to thank you for it.You're going to growyour social influenceand perhaps one day youcreate a downloadable kit.A book.Or podcasts or YouTube channelor an online learning course.This is going to help you.So let's get backto Ken's Kenzo saysthere are new company,well, new companieshave all kinds of problems.Well, they're enteringinto the marketbecause they have a goal.Why start your company,what is it you want to do?So the question is justchange a little bit.But I'm lookingfor the same thing.What's a big problemyou're trying to solve?So they're coming to youself-diagnosed, we acceptthat all clientscome to us this wayand we need to immediatelyflip the conversation around.You can acknowledge it.You could be verypolite about it.You could be very sincere.What you need to flipthe conversation,you need to redirect theenergy towards something that'sworth solving.Well, I know you want to doa website that's fantastic,because luckily my name isKenzo and I do amazing websites.But here's the thing what kindof website are we building?Why are we building this?Everybody thinksthey need a website,everybody thinks thatthey need a fancy logo.I'm here to tell you,you don't always need it.Despite my own bestinterests, I may recommendthat you don't do anything.Or spend your moneyon something that'sgoing to make a differencein your business, let'stalk about that.Why did you start this company?What are you trying to do?Well, we noticed that uber,their corporate policyis horrible and we wantto replace them because.Oh, I see.So this is aboutthe greater mission.So let's maybe get togetherand let's figure outhow to craft the languagethat we sound differentbecause otherwise we're goingto be Uber clone, aren't we?Tell me what you do differently.To me, why somebody should care.That's all part ofthe diagnosing part.And in order for us to have areal, meaningful conversation,we're going to have to movethis into a testing validationphase.We call this strategy for that.I'm going to charge you x.Would you like to proceed?All right.Is that OK, kenzo?Yes, thank you.Thank you.Oh, you're up.I didn't murder you.Come on, man.No, no, no, no, I'm here.You actually just answered it.I was vetting thechat and there wasa question regarding what doestesting and validating entail?And you just said.OK, so we're done.You're so if I put myown ice long enough,the questions aredone, OK, so I'mgoing to give somebodyelse a chance before Ibounce the County.Anybody else in here?Can it's yours go?Of course, so going backto my original questionabout how we cangenerate revenuethrough this diagnosingphase, I understand the testand validate beingstrategy and goingto make sure I'm askingthis question clearlywhen someone comes toyou and they've alreadydiagnosed themselves, do.Are you going to send them aninvoice for that first call?No, you cannot diagnose somebodyor you can't bill somebody.If it's not clear that that'swhat they're calling you for,ok?Try to do is do some kindof phase engagement, right?The first call is free.It's on me, and almost allprofessionals do this, too.When you go meet an attorneyas financial advisorand accountant,somebody like that.The first meeting isfree because we'reseeing if there's agood fit for each other.I'm not trying to solveall their problems.I'm just trying to helpthem understand that there'sa problem they need solving.Then from there, we can engage.Right now, that makes sense.Henry has a very interestingway to bring clients in.We talked about thisat the mastermind groupthat he did on Monday withClaire and friends in thatif you can have a landing salespage that talks about a problemand you offer a solution assome kind of downloadableas an email tripwire.Want to give youyour email address?Then you can send thema series of email blastsat some point you have a callto action, the call to actionwould be to book me.To to diagnose yourproblem or to doan audit or test or something.So then you're bringingthem into the ideaof I'm going to pay youfor your time in ideas.And in that phase.You can give tremendous valueand then you can refer people,and that will be theend of the engagement.But most often whenyou're able to understandthe problem as clearlyas I hope you're able to.You've created aconnection with the client,and they're going to wantto work with you regardlessof your inexperienceand said vertical.That connection is sopowerful, you guys go ahead.That makes sense.And I think that amistake I've been givenis just giving upmy time for free.And you wouldn't go to adoctor over and over againand expect to not payand you can just go inand get some insights from him.And I think I've been fallinginto this trap who justmeeting whatever clients want.Yes, I'm listening.Yeah, that's aboutit, and it's justrepositioning that,hey, this first meetingthat we're having whereI'm diagnosed, you know,we're kind of doing apre strategy meeting.This is free.But going forward, this meeting.These meetings whereI'm diagnosing.Are not just call mewhenever you want and getfree insights and free referralsfrom me and recommendations.Yeah