Welcome to part 3 of the 3-part series which covers the 57 actionable insights from the 57 episodes of the Productive Insights podcast in 2015. If you haven’t listened to part 1 or 2 of this 3-part series, please go back and have a listen. Part 1 extracts the insights that I found most actionable from episodes 1 to 20 and part 2 extracts the insights from episodes 21 to 40.
In this episode, I’ll share some of the actionable insights from episodes 41 to 57. As always, I’ll also include links to each of the episodes (below) in the show notes so you can always go back to those episodes and listen in more detail.
If you find this information valuable or helpful, please do share it with friends via social media or email so it can reach as many people as possible. Also, please do stop by iTunes and leave a five-star review if you feel so inclined. It would mean the world to me.
Chris talks about how he works only 6 hours a day and 4 days a week and runs a multi-million dollar business. There is also some great discussion about how he increases his productivity. He talks about delegating and how to overcome the fears of delegation at around the 7-minute and 15-second mark. At the 9-minute and 41-second mark, he talks about how he relinquished control to his inbox and let them clear his inbox out (he hired someone to do this exclusively). At the 19-minute mark, he talks about the myth of multitasking. That is music to my ears!
Action step: Hire intelligently and be aggressive before you hire the person (rather than deal with staff issues after the fact).
Robbie’s worked with various large companies including Netflix who was one of the first adopters of the membership model. She talks about the evolution of the membership model and how it’s evolved with the internet at around the 3-minute mark. We have another great discussion about evangelists and how Apple grew its business through evangelism at around the 7-minute mark.
Action step: Seriously consider starting a membership model for your business (because most people that spend time and money on marketing could benefit from a membership model).
Hiten is the co-founder of Kissmetrics and I interviewed the other founder — Neil Patel — in episode 1 of the podcast. At around the 7 and a half minute mark, Hiten talks about whether or not your business is a good candidate for SAAS (software as a service). At the 12 and a half minute mark, we have an interesting discussion about Moore’s law which predicted that computer chips are going to double every 2 years in their capacity and power.
Action step: Find something that people are doing manually and automate it (at the 22-minute and 41-second mark).
This is a useful episode which gives you 10 key elements of a highly successful job offer for sites like upwork, elance, etc.
Action step: Start with what you can offer the applicant in your job ad. “What you’ll get out of this role”. This could be training that you offer, a good work environment, etc. Start with something you’re going to give. Set the tone for a collaborative role.
Some good insights on this show with Kim Garst, the founder of Boom Social. At the 4-minute mark, she talks about how she uses her freemium model to convert twitter followers into customers. At the 10-minute and 50-second mark, Kim talks about her conversion rates.
Action step: Start with a servant-based mentality to your audience. Look at what specifically you can give to your customers and what problems you can solve before you pitch to them. Provide value first and recognise it will take a bit of time.
Demian Farnworth is one of the best writers I’ve come across on the web. I find his content very compelling and he specialises in blog post openings. At around the 5-minute and 35-second mark, we have an interesting discussion about how SEO and content are linked. At the 9-minute and 21-second mark, we talk about the key elements of great copy. At the 17-minute mark, we talk about the competencies to look for around hiring a good copywriter.
Action step: Go to copyblogger media to hire certified writers. The other site you can look for is problogger or elance for writers.
In this podcast, John talks about how to use high-value consulting to increase profitability. It’s an action-packed episode. John shares some very practical tips on profitability and acquisition strategies at around the 1 and a half minute mark. There is also some great discussion around how businesses don’t invest enough in marketing at the 5-minute mark. At the 38-minute mark, he talks about how John Carlton says ‘You’re only one email away from your next big paycheque.’.
Action step: To maximise your conversions, pick up a phone and talk to a real person. This is the best way to start.
There are so many market forces that are constantly in operation today. Have you ever wondered how competitive your business is going to be in two years time? In five years time?
In this podcast, I talk about a framework that I’d studied when I did my MBA. It’s called Porter’s five forces and was first presented in 1979 by a young associate professor from Harvard. His name was Michael E. Porter.
Action step: Go to this link and download your copy of Porter’s Five Forces Framework and apply it to your industry.
James and I talk about the importance of rejuvenation as an entrepreneur at the 3-minute mark. This is critical. He talks about his approaches to mindset at the 20-minute mark where he talks about the Socratic technique, telling stories to move people, probing thoughts and ideas and sharing information.
Action Step: Stop looking at cost cutting as your only option to increase profitability. Your profit can be increased by investing in better systems and training. So focus on that. e.g. Get your team bigger to have a higher output.
Ever wondered if you could find a way to dramatically reduce the amount of time you spend typing away on your keyboard? What if there was a magical way in which you could create CUSTOMISED emails using the SAME template??? Well, now there is!
Action step: If you’re using a Mac (and I hope you are because they’re far easier use), then definitely install Textexpander on your computer. As I write the sentence, text expander has saved me 31 hours of 562,525 characters assuming that I type at 60 words a minute. If I type at 40 words a minute, it has saved me about 46 hours.
In this episode with Kyle Tully, I talk about how to 10 X your prices using mindset techniques. There is some really valuable content at around the 2- minute and 40-second mark. It is where he talks about how 80% of the market is price focused when they’re buying your product or service. They are looking at many other factors including results you can generate, time frames you can turn around and etc. Definitely, have a listen to that!
At about the 10-minute and 21-second mark, he talks about value-based pricing and how to position yourself as a person delivering value. As Warren Buffett says “Price is what you pay and value is what you get.”. At around the 17 and a half minute mark, there’s an excellent case study where Kyle shares an example of a high-priced office that converts. He talks about how Patrick changed from a commoditized approach to a solution-based approach which included high-priced offers.
Action Step: Get clear on the value you can bring to the table and then get in front of a mirror and practice saying that price to yourself as if you were quoting to a client.
Pratima and I discuss her journey about how she got into entrepreneurship and built a successful business which she sold for 8 figures in late 2015! She’s a dear friend of mine and I am delighted to feature her on my show. At the 5-minute and 22-second mark, Pratima talks about how to deal with self-doubt which is a useful section to listen to. Another very important part is at the 8-minute and 50-second mark where we talk about the biggest challenge in identifying the most impactful problem the customer faces and in solving it. Now, remember this is the most impactful problem as the customer sees it, not as you do.
Action step: Spend at least 10 minutes a day (an hour if possible) looking at the world from your client’s perspective! Put yourself in your client’s shoes and that’s going to be the best way in which you can move your business forward.
In this episode, Mack and I talk about the keys to community building which is an often overlooked skill when it comes to creating successful businesses. At the 2-minute mark, we discuss why community building is so critical to business success. At the 12-minute mark, Mack talks about the three important areas of focus for successful community building. At the 21-minute mark, there’s a good case study from Mack who used community building in the wine space. They were a thriving business but achieved 100% lead growth by shifting the messaging.
Action step: Focus on depth of connection with your customers rather than just metrics and put your customers’ purpose and journey before your profits.
Ezra is regularly featured on the shopify website and is one of the leading authorities in e-commerce. Ezra and I speak about the future of ecommerce at the 3-minute mark. Definitely worth a listen. I think what he says about the millennial generation and why they will be the driving force of economies around the world is interesting. He talks about this at around the 6-minute mark.
Action Step: Pick a visibility source (whether it’s joint ventures, facebook advertising). Focus on the promise before the product. People buy the promise before they buy the product. Note, this means that your product has to fulfill your promise but your promise is what gets your product in front!
Dana and I talk about where google is headed in terms of SEO and content. This is something I like to ask all influencers in this space as I think it’s probably the most important thing to understand about google. As always, that led to a very interesting discussion. We talk about this at around the 2-minute mark. And around the 4-minute mark is an interesting case study that Dana talks about with one of the clients.
Action step: Sign up to googlenow for useful contextual and location-based information updates.
Lisa Myers, the CEO of Verve Search, talks about her signature offering which is creative content. As always, at the beginning of the episode, I ask her for her views on Google algorithms and Lisa obliges. At the 2 and a half minute mark, we talk about the changes in Google algorithms and the direction in which SEO marketing is headed. At the 12-minute mark, she discusses Verb Search’s award-winning content marketing campaign which is definitely worth listening to. The conversation moves towards mindset towards the end. There is a very interesting thought experiment at the end at the 46-minute mark.
Key action step: Go to the 46-minute mark and do the thought experiment that Lisa explains.