I recently interviewed Reza Saeedi—a marketing strategist and former Director of Marketing at On Deck—about his transition from employee to marketing advisor to employee again with advising as a side venture. 

In this episode, we chatted about things like:

• How Reza got into marketing and eventually, as a mentor/advisor to entrepreneurs 
• How he was able to get one fractional CMO and two advisory clients quickly after leaving his job at On Deck
• The role of casual networking and how it led to unexpected opportunities down the line
• The difference between being specific and niching down in business based on your strengths and interests
• The role of risk-reversing guarantees and discussing prices against value during sales conversations 
• Why turning away poor-fit clients helped with his overall confidence and contributed to his early success
• How to internally handle the fact we can’t guarantee successful outcomes 
• The value of factoring in word of mouth and referrals into your marketing plan
• The intersection and overlap between teaching and advisory work 
• How Reza plans to do part-time advising in a low-labour, sustainable way 
• How Reza stays productize and organized in his work
• The importance of exercise, habits, and mental health optimization

Plus many fun tangents along the way!

Whether you currently have a job and are thinking about advising full or part-time, or you’re already independent but looking to get into advisory work, this episode will have a ton of insights to offer you.

Key links and mentioned resources:

• Reza on LinkedIn
• Reza's personal site
• Reza on X.com
• Passage.com
• Episode 200: Kevan Lee on part-time advisory work, mentorship, equity compensation, and more
• The Win Without Pitching Manifesto (Book)
• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius 
• 4,000 Weeks by Robert Bosman
• Readwise App
  
  

So, you want to publish content to attract clients.

Do you start a blog? Hammer out posts on LinkedIn every day? Start a YouTube channel? A podcast?

Good question. I get asked it a lot. 

In fact, someone in Mindshare asked me about it again today, so I thought I'd break out my mental model for how I think about publishing and distributing content.

Here is a visual breakdown to look at while you listen to the latest How to Sell Advice podcast episode:

I recently interviewed Kevan Lee, the former VP of Marketing at Buffer and currently Senior VP of Marketing at Oyster.

Kevan is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to leading tech startups to significant growth. To give you an example, he helped Buffer go from $5m to $20m in annual revenue and 100,000 new customers acquisitions per month.

In his first year at Oyster, he helped the company 20x its revenue and build a marketing team comprising over 50 people. He's also involved as an educator and advisor with Reforge, On Deck, as well as a past contributor to ProductLed, and more.

In this interview, Kevan and I explore the realm of advisory work.

We cover topics like:

1. How he approaches advisory work while having a full-time gig
2. How he views mentorship and why it's important to him
3. How he prices his advice—and what he's learning in the process
4. His experience on the buyer side of equity for advice compensation discussions
5. How he packages his ideas into a playbook that he shares with paying Substack subscribers
6. And a lot more...

This conversation was a fun exploration of the world of advisory work. And like all of us, Kevan is still figuring out what works best for him.

You can follow Kevan on Twitter at @kevanlee and subscribe to his Substack at kevanlee.substack.com.

Give this a listen and subscribe to get more interviews like this in the future.

—k 

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

Have you ever considered writing a daily blog?

In this episode, I break down some of the main reasons why I do it (and have done for 120 days in a row so far on kevin.me) and why you might consider doing so, too.

Some of the main reasons include:

1. Clarifying your ideas to make them better
2. Creating a body of work that becomes interconnected on your blog
3. Building credibility by sharing your expertise
4. Increasing surface area and marketing gravity
5. Creates the building blocks for your Methodology
6. It makes you more "remarkable" and rare

There are many more reasons to write daily. If you're going to do it, be sure to keep things short and sweet. Otherwise it will burn you and your readers out.

If you're up for a daily writing channel, let me know and I'll open a private section in this group for daily motivation and feedback.

Cheers!

—k

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

What do you do when your client needs results ASAP?

Or when you have a prospect who has no momentum with their marketing program but expects big things in year one?

In this episode, I talk about setting expectations around the speed marketing should work at.

I talk about what clients to say no to and when to educate them on the big picture.

I also touch on how your job is to build a marketing system for your clients using your methodology. And that takes time.

Give this a listen and let me know what you think!

—k

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

If you're in a marketing strategy/advisory role, you'll inevitably be called to ask to help hire someone in-house, whether it be a marketing manager, content person, or something else.

Here's my general approach for helping clients find the right candidate.

1. Provide a sample job description
   • Ideally, you have a template you can use. Otherwise, you can find a few similar job descriptions in the wild and send it to them to prepare a draft.
2. Explain the few things that matter most for the position
   • Written communication skills
   • Attention to detail
   • Similar experience
3. Publish jobs on Indeed and LinkedIn
4. Ask them to create a short list of resumes to review together and reduce down to a small handful to interview
5. Once they've interviewed people, see who they feel is the best fit
6. Suggest doing a paid trial project or period
   • Project manager - two week paid trial
   • Markeitng manager - audit the marketing and suggest ways you'd seek to improve things
   • Writer - give them a brief, get them to audit the current content marketing and propose ideas, create a draft article + social media posts for them

The key part of all of this is the trial. I've seen a lot of people who look good on paper and end up being terrible hires. 

The thing is, you never know who's going to be good until you work with them. Get them to do either a trial project or work for two weeks and see if it's a mutual fit.

Hire right, not twice!

Have you hired before and done things differently? Any insight to share? Let me know in the comments below!

—k

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

Last episode, I talked about how I changed the price and scope up and down for a few different clients recently.

One thing I didn't get into is when to drop your price and when not  to drop your price.

There's a few situation when I might drop the price:

1. When the scope changes significnatly
2. When the value changes significantly (at which time I try to change scope, too)
3. When you have a great client who has given you lots of profitable work in the past, they're easy to work with, and it feels like the right thing to do

I never drop my clients to new prospects who simply ask for a straight discount (red flag), nor do I drop my prices for clients who are not living up to their end of the bargain on the implementation side of things (which impacts value).

At the end of the day, like I wrote about yesterday, you don't want to be the cheap consultant. You want to be the best consultant for people who need and value your work the most.

Otherwise you'll be spread too thin and won't be able to do the necessary groundwork needed to get them actual results.

Do you drop your prices in any other situations? Hit reply and let me know!

—k

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

There comes a time when you need to change prices with your current clients.

For me, it happens a lot when I work with them for a long time. The value changes over time.

And that's the key part here: value. 

In most cases, I find new ways to create value instead of reducing my rates. I ask questions about goals and needs.
 
But in many cases still, the value decreases once I get all the hard parts of the systems and strategies in place. And with that, it makes sense to have the talk.

I try to check in with my clients often, but especially when I intuit that either I'm doing way too much or not providing a clear enough value equation for them.

If you're not sure, the best thing to do is ask what the goals are and the impact of those goals will be so you can continue making a business case for the work you'e doing. 

I like to pre-empt these conversations as much as possible and suggest new rates or new scopes proactively whenever possible. 

The last thing you want to do is be stuck doing too much work or not feeling like you're adding enough value for your clients. When that happens, it's better to air your thoughts and make proactive adjustments to keep your work aligned with their needs and goals. 

Ultimately, doing this means taking a long-term view. It's about them, not you. And when you put your clients first, you always get the most mutual value out of the relationship.

Listen in for some more context and a few specific examples of changes I've made this month.

—k

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

Are you fully booked? When it happens, what do you do?

Do you refer work away or put clients on a waiting list?

Mark had a great question last week:

The answer is bigger than simply having a waiting list or not.

In this episode, I talk about things like:

• How limited availability helps create scarcity and therefore higher rates
• How serving a niche market can help you create group programs and training products that serve as temporary solutions while they wait
• Why it might be time to raise your rates if you're in high demand (you can always change them back later)
• Why  it might be time too say goodbye to old, non-ideal, lower-fee clients might not be
• When to use one-off or recurring strategy calls to get the client started while they wait for your full attention
• When to consider doing a one-time project (higher fees) as time permits to kick things off while they wait for your ongoing support
• How to start trying to create more leverage to help more people down the road

At the end of the day, how well you're positioned will determine whether you're interchangeable or whether you can command a waiting list when you get busy. By having a niche focus and rare specializations, you can create that waiting list demand as well as develop training, education, and group programs to continue creating more leverage around your knowledge. 

Good positioning is the lever that makes the rest of your business more profitable and impactful. Keep going!

Hope this helps!

-k

P.S. Got a question you'd like an audio response to? Leave it in the Ask a Question channel and I'll add you to the queue!

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

Do you find yourself selling the way you work instead of what the client gets at the end of it?

As marketers, we have a tendency to describe and sell our approach to solving client challenges, not necessarily the systems they'll use to run things later on.

And as important as that I, most people care less about how you approach your work and more about how their marketing program will be different after you're gone.

That's the transformation you're selling as a marketing consultant: it's a new way of doing things that helps get predictable results.

That's the asset they're buying. 

In this episode, I'll explore the nuances and explain in more detail what that means.

-kw

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

Here's a great topic for today's podcast episode from Mark Evans in the Submit a Question channel:

In this episode, I cover ideas for figuring out the value proposition of the business based on why the customer buys, and ways to find more people who share a similar need or problem.

Tune in and let me know what you think below!

k

I was speaking with a coaching client today about creating a list of offerings that make it easy for all opportunities to fall into one predefined offer.

It's basically a reverse-product ladder. Instead of people ascending the ladder, they can jump in the middle and even descend over time.

In this episode, I break down the "coinsorter" list I recommend for marketing consultants, including:

1. Fractional CMO
2. Advisory
3. Coaching
4. Group Programs
5. Fixed-Scope Engagements (audits, strategy, roadmaps, workshops)
6. Strategy Calls
7. Custom Projects (only as needed)
8. Products (info products, resources, etc.)

Ideally, someone comes to you and you can easily guiide them to one or two options and still get an end result. 

Custom engagements are always there, but you save a ton of time by having service offerings that balance specificity with a degree of looseness to allow wiggle room to get all kinds of results. 

Give it a listen and tell me what you think!

—k

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

Welcome to the 100th episode of the Mindshare Mentorship podcast.

In very meta fashion, I want to share an idea originally coined by Josh Spector, a friend who helps creators create, promote, and profit from their creations. 

He wrote an article back in 2018 called Only Do It If You're Willing To Do It 100 Times. 

In this episode, I break down his idea and encourage you to take his advice when venturing into a new niche or project.

The simple act of committing to doing whatever you're trying to do 100 times enables you to avoid projects that aren't a fit, think long term, adapt what you're doing, gain control over what you can actually control, and push through the resistance (The Dip) you'll inevitably experience. 

Give this one a listen and tell me if it resonates with you!

—kw

You may be a rock star when it comes to marketing your clients' business.

But when it comes to your own, it might be an entirely different story. And you know what? That doesn't make you a bad marketer.

It's incredibly hard to market yourself—especially if you don't have a system to follow.

In this episode, I break down the three core pillars to attracting more clients:

1. Looking good "on paper" to your ideal clients
2. Having somewhere to invite people back to
3. Opening conversations and fostering relationships

This might seem simple, and it is. But it's not easy. It takes time, energy, and commitment to build it out and for it to start working for you.

But with any luck, this framework (and the details I talk about in the episode) will make attracting clients a lot easier. When you have clarity, you can really lean into your efforts and start seeing traction faster than simply winging it.

Listen to this episode for all the nuances and details.

—k

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

This episode is in response to the story shared by Michel Fortin in the #general channel about how to handle difficult client situations, scope, and spotting red flags before they happen.

If you're in business long enough, you'll eventually run into people who aren't happy about something. Sometimes it's about you, often it has very little to do with you in the first place.

But regardless of the situation, it's your job as a professional to own the problem, look for ways to make it right, and prevent it from happening again in the future.

The gist of the questions are below, but read the full post for the full picture:

 1) How do you sell expertise (i.e., head, not hands) after a client has purchased from you? Particularly a roadmapping service where you are not tied to the implementation but the results of which are?

I'm sure proposals/contracts can clearly delineate the deliverables vs expectations. But I don't want to be so specific that I need to create long contracts to prevent every situational nuance.

2) How do you define "red flags" before a roadmapping phase? What do you do to find them (and how do you weigh them against your decision)?

My guess is something like the "why conversation" that Stark talks about would help. The problem is, people who hire marketing experts like us may be desperate and broke, or become nitpicky micromanagers.

But sometimes, these things don't show up in initial conversations.

I wonder if an application process might be good? Do you use one? I know you (Kevin) said you go in blind like in Getting Naked. I charge for the exploration, too, which is roadmapping. But do you do some prequalification?

I'm open to suggestions. 

Give this a listen and tell me what works for you in similar situations, we'd all like to know!

—k

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

Here's a good question from Mark about taking a one month vacation when you have a full roster of monthly retainer clients:

Any thoughts on how to do that when you have a roster of clients that you work with on a regular basis?

The high level summary includes:

1. Splitting the month (i.e. going 15th to 15th) to avoid one complete missing invoicing/service period and therefore charging full rates. Or go 3 weeks to make it easier to do that.
2. Prepare in advance and have things lined up so the client is able to run with things without you—or with minimal input from you while away.
3. Manage expectations early and often with your clients. Tell them early and often that you plan to be away, how you'll handle it, and what it means.
4. Be prepared to do extra work leading up to and returning from your break (i.e. more calls with your clients/their suppliers, etc.)
5. See if you can do some check-in calls mid-break (contained to a day or two) and/or be available to answer emergency or time-sensitive emails with some expected delay
6. If you can't do many of these, you might need to offer a partial refund. Remember, the value you charge for is not based on hours or individual weeks. It's based on creating a transition into a better situation for your clients. How you do that is up to you. So don't nickel and dime it into hours or weeks. 

I've gone on multi-week breaks before and it hasn't been an issue. A month is a long time so do what feels right at the end of the day.

Hope this helps!

Bye for now.

Kevin

P.S. Remember to submit your questions if you'd like an audio response in the Submit a Question channel. :)

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

Productized consulting is a great way to design your business in a way that is profitable and aligned with the effort you want to put into each engagement.

It's also easier for your prospects to buy, which means it's easier for you to sell.

What's not to love?

In this episode, I break down the ways you can price your productized services in alignment with the value you create for your clients.

We focus on four points:

1. Business outcomes

Value is determined by the business outcomes you create, not the work you put in. That's why it's so critical to understand and articulate the outcomes your clients want to accomplish, then build your services around achieving those.

Outcomes might include growth, retention, risk reduction, expansion of offerings, better visibility into numbers, systemization, hiring, or a whole host of other things individually or in combination.

2. The context behind the goals

In order to get a better picture of value based on business outcomes, you need to understand the context behind it. In other words, why it matters.

For example, your clients may want to grow, but maybe it's so they can raise more money or sell shares in the business at a better valuation.

Or maybe investors are getting angry because there is no visibility into the work marketing is doing. Maybe they want better reporting, systems, and processes.

The work you do may not even increase revenue, but it may reduce risk or ease tensions, which is worth much more than a few grand per month.

The context is a force multiplier for the value your work does. Understand why their goals matter to the bigger picture.

3. Determining value

Once you know the objectives, outcomes, and context behind them, you can begin to understand the value of the work you're doing.

Ideally you work with similar kinds of clients in a niche. That way, the value will be similar across the different companies you work with (of similar sizes/stages), which makes it easier to package productized consulting services.

Value can be determined by:

1. Opportunity cost - what happens if they don't hire you/take action? What is the value of the cost of inaction?
2. Upside potential - how much do they stand to gain from your work in financial terms? Might include new revenue growth, increased retention, increased average order value, increases in margins or lifetime value, to name a few. Multiply this by the years in which the value you create is reaped by the client.
3. Price anchoring - how much are your proposed fees in relation to hiring someone in house or even mundane expenses like cleaning costs? You can demonstrate the value by comparing it to other things they spend money on (which bring lesser value).
4. Subjective value - how much pain do they remove by hiring you? How much more confident are they in the rest of their business as a result? What's the value of reducing risk so they sleep better at night? Don't underestimate subjective value - especially for people with more money than peace of mind. 

There are many more ways to determine value, but these are what I cover in this episode.

4. Determine your price

Alan Weiss' Value Based Fees book (also available on Amazon) really opened my eyes to pricing based on value when I first got into consulting. I highly recommend buying it.

Even though you're selling productized consulting, doesn't mean you can't capture some of the value you create.

Your price should be a no-brainer relative to the factors above.

"If you keep even one client from cancelling, you more than pay for my work every month."

"If you can prove a systemized approach to customer acquisition, it opens the doors to millions in investment opportunity."

"If you can increase margins by 10%, it increases business value by 30%".

"For the price of what you pay on printer paper, you can sleep better knowing we're watching out for your blind spots."

Create a price for a service that accomplishes a business outcome, make it fair and compelling to everyone, and you'll have no problem selling your services.

The key is being able to articulate some or all of this in your sales page and conversations. 

If you can't articulate the value of what you do, prospects may compare you to other things (like saving the money or hiring in-house) and not even realize the costs of doing those things.

Give this a listen and let me know what you think below!

> Click here to join the conversation on this episode in the community

I had a great question come in via DM last night, so I'll keep it anonymous but I wanted to go deeper via audio to explain the nuances.

Here's the question:

In this episode, I talk about why I generally jump into advisory retainers right away, why clients tend to ask for that anyway, and why it's in their best interest to do so for 99% of cases.

I also talk about how to remove risk so clients can "try before they buy" (using guarantees) and generally how I sell it in a sales conversation.

Listen in and let me know if you do anything differently!

—kw

One of the things I like to promote in my consulting services is creating consistent and predictable results for my clients. 

In order to do that, you need to create effective systems and processes based on good strategy.

At the end of the day, people don't want to hire consultants on their team forever. 

Some will work with you for years—and those are great clients! But the majority want to hire you, get your knowledge, and run with a better marketing program after you're gone. 

In this episide, I talk about the differences between systems and processes, and why you need both so you can effectively create lasting change for your clients.

The benefit of systemization is that if something stops working (or works great), you're able to isolate the parts of your system that were responsible so you can do more of it or fix the things that aren't working. 

So if you're still selling tactics, strategies, and oversight, consider also focusing on developing systems and processes that will become assets to your clients' business.

—kw

> Join this episode's conversation here.

According to the Pareto Principal:

I recently noticed this pattern in my business.

My coworking membership program was taking up more energy than it was producing in results. I decided to pivot on that to win back my time and energy.

I also noticed that a marketing plan PDF template generated around 30% of subscribers, which is insane because I worked a LOT harder for the rest.

So, I made a decision to double down on lead magnet strategy in other areas of my business, including this group, and pivot on the coworking membership that wasn't creating my highest returns.

Tune in and have a great weekend!

—k

> Join the conversation on this topic.

This episode is related to the Daily Idea I posted today about designing your business.

We're still in January of 2021, which means you might be still in business planning mode. A good time for this topic.

This episode is all about the topic of designing your business in a way that adds the most value without taking up all of your personal time.

All it takes is a little business design and belief you can do more than you think.

Give it a listen.

—kevin

> Join the conversation on this episode here.

I was helping someone in the group win a proposal recently using the proposal template in the Templates section.

I asked why it worked better than their old way of selling their services and got some interesting feedback.

Here are a few lessons that stood out from the experience.

1. People don't buy deliverables, they buy outcomes.
2. People will only buy outcomes they want for the reasons they have.
3. They only buy those outcomes when you re-articulate them in your proposal and clearly state the problem and context.
4. You need to actually talk to people to get clear on what end results they actually want, why it matters, what the value is, and then create a proposal that maps precisely (or closely) to those expressed needs.
5. Later you can turn it into a productized service after going through this exercise successfully a few times.

Our tendency as consultants is to sell what we think people want: time, deliverables, plans, strategies, hours, etc.

What people actually want is solutions to their unique business challenges and aspirations.

Talk to people, understand what they want, then put that right in your proposal with 1-3 options for getting there.

Sell the destination, not the journey.

Listen in for more!

>> Join the conversation for this episode in the Mindshare community

We live on Zoom calls and webinars now—mostly from our home office.

That's the reality of most marketing professionals today.

And it looks like 2021 won't be much different.

And with that, I want to share an idea with you to keep it front of mind: people will judge you based on your "Zoom" appearance.

That includes your lighting, background, sound quality, video resolution, internet speed, and a whole lot more.

Ultimately, you're putting out an experience. It's either a high-quality one or it's hurting your identity.

So, if you want to be taken seriously, charge premium rates, and demonstrate credibility in 2021, you have to create a premium online experience for your clients. 

Or at least, a professional looking and sounding experience—even if it just has the basics. 

More ideas in this episode.

—kw

P.S. I mention some of the technical setup I use, you can check that out here if you're curious: https://kevin.me/audio-setup/ 

When creating a productized services offering, you have two choices:

1.  Sell just one signature offering
2. Create a service ladder with ascending options

I prefer the latter because I serve a range of clients who need different things. But whatever you choose, this topic will be for you.

When creating a high-end productized service, there are a few things to keep in mind, including:

1. Why the scope and price of your services should be based on the value you provide 
2. Why it should be pretty obvious to your prospects which one to choose 
3. Why you shouldn't sell anything that would weigh down your business too much or for too long
4. Why you should price heavily anything that involves higher effort or involvement from you
5. Some examples of the levers you can use to add to or remove from the scope of your projects

• More access to you in terms of who cant contact you (business owner, staff, suppliers, etc.)
• The channels people can contact you in (email, Slack, phone, etc.)
• The frequency of your interactions (weekly, daily, unlimited, etc.)
• Whether you will produce deliverables, and if so, what kind (i.e. research or marketing calendars)
• The value you add or remove (i.e. finding and vetting suppliers vs. access to Rolodex)
• The scope of what you will advise on (i.e. sales or sales AND marketing)

6. Why you should create a scope of work based on custom proposals people actually bought

Your high-end offering should be lucrative but not disabling in terms of your time or energy. Only sell things you want to sell—this is key.

If you sell things that are time or energy-depleting, charge a lot, and keep it limited to a day, week, or a couple of months at most. Otherwise, your life will become a drag, and your business will turn into a glorified job. 

Hope this helps - let me know in the comments what you think or if you have any questions!

—kw

What if the way to get your emails read and subscribers to stay subscribed was to lower the bar a little?

Not in terms of quality, necessarily. But in terms of format or type.

Instead of trying to write a grand theory of mathematics every time you publish, what if we treated email more like social media?

What if we aimed for a simple, concise, interesting, and/or fun piece of content?

Something light and consumable. Not overthought. Not pre-judged. Just something you found interesting or valuable.

Would you be able to be consistent with your publishing habits? Would your readers prefer it? Would it keep you interested?

I think yes. But there's nuance, as with all things.

So give this a listen. See if it resonates with your headspace.

See if it helps you overcome that mental block stopping you from sharing your ideas with your subscribers.

And while you're at it, subscribe to Mindshare Radio via your podcast player to get more ideas like this (and interviews coming soon).

—k

This one might be a bit controversial. 🙂

Not really, but I do use the current political situation in the US to make a long-discussed point about where and how to build your marketing platform for longevity.

Disclaimer:  I mention not liking Mr. Donald Trump in this episode, but it's not a slight at the Republican party, people, nor their values. My friends and colleagues walk down both sides of the aisle and frankly, there are things to be gained from both sides. No judgement from me.

So with that said—on with the show!

This one is a riff off a post I published on my blog back in June of this year about owning your own platform.

There are several reasons for this. Namely, you don't want to build a business on someone else's land.

In this episide, I talk about the four ingredients of an independent platform and why it's so important to focus on those key areas for longevity.

I also talk about the irony of this group being on Circle, which is a platform I don't own, and how I mitigate some of that risk.

Here's the orginal blog post this is based on.

—Kevin

> Click here to the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community.

I'm a big fan of productized services.

They let you design your business in a way that lets you create predictable outcomes, scalable earnings, and managed effort.

But I don't create these services in a vacuum. And they're never completely "done"—I'm always updating them along the way.

These services are always born during the sales process.

Specifically, it goes something like this:

1. I speak with potential clients in a call and ask them about their goals, challenges, and desired outcomes.
2. I put together a draft list of objectives using as much of their own language as possible. 
3. Once they confirm the list is complete and accurate, I then put together a few options to help them get to that outcome. 
4. I'll then schedule another call to walk through the options. I don't like sending proposals without a discussion—especially for a new service. The feedback you get is essential to informing whether you hit the mark or not.
5. I make any necessary revisions and then once I'm able to sell the service, I know I have a first version. 
6. From there, I usually try to sell it again to the next prospect via 1:1 calls. I go through the same process, dig deeper into things, and see if any of the differences are important. 
7. Once I sold a couple, the productized service is officially validated. I publish it and begin promoting it.
8. But then when the next prospect comes around, I begin the process all over again from scratch, watching carefully what they say, need, and why it all matters. I refine the service and now it's even more polished.

By the time I've sold a few, the productized service should feel like I am reading my prospect's minds. 

They usually include a list of pains or scenarios they face and describe the benefits and why they matter to counter-act those pains. 

The scope is something that involves only the things I do best and only the things I can do which will deliver the most value.

Give this a listen and let me know what you do to create your productized services. 

—k

Today's content comes to you a bit late in the evening. 

I'm tired and ready for bed, but I didn't get this recording done so I wanted to make sure I delivered on schedule. I committed to Monday, Wednesday, Friday recordings, so that's what I'll do come heck or high water (except holidays ;)).

In this episode, I talk about the reasons why you should aim to stick to a set publishing schedule.

Give it a listen and let me know what you do to keep on track with your own publishing.

Best, 

—k

• Link to episode in the Mindshare community

Hey all,

I hope you had a great week and were able to take a few days off over the holidays. 

Today's topic is about how you position your services. I talk about how my two websites work and why Everspaces is really the model to follow.

Here are my services pages as discussed in this episode:

• https://kevin.me/consulting/
• https://www.everspaces.com/services/

The big point is that Everspaces' services are about YOU, the potential client. 

Whereas my personal website is about how much access you get from ME. 

People prefer to buy things that fit them like a glove. 

While my personal site does a fine job RECEIVING leads and opportunities from people in my network of all industries, it doesn't lend well to relying on it for all my marketing. 

It's too broad and target clients have no idea which one will get them the results they want. 

Some of you have borrowed language from my personal site for your own services pages, which is fine when you're starting out, but ideally, you want to create service pages that:

1. Maps directly to your target market segments
2. Speaks their language throughout
3. Makes it obvious which one they should choose based on their goals

Give this a listen and let me know what you think!

—k

We’ve all been there. You need to fire your client. 

Something is not working or feeling right, and it’s just better to part ways.

Ideally, you find a way to part ways amicably, learn from these experiences, and watch for red flags in the future so you avoid repeated scenarios. 

In this episode, I talk about the 8 signs it’s time to fire a client. At a high level, they include:

1. They make you feel bad or stressed often or all the time
2. They don’t implement your advice, or they pick and choose what to do but expect the results regardless
3. They treat you like an employee
4. They expect results too quickly and/or aren’t investing adequate resources to meet their goals 
5. They make you do a dog and pony show every month or quarter to reexplain everything you’re suggesting they do and the thought process behind it
6. They don’t pay you on time
7. They’re too needy/can’t do anything without you holding their hand
8. You can’t get an ROI for them in a meaningful time period

I go into a lot of details on these, so give it a listen and tell me if you think I missed any big ones! 

Eventually, if you learn to sniff it out early, it will save you a lot of headaches in the long run. 

Have a Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

—k

Join the conversation for this episode: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/85-should-you-do-project-management-for-your-advisory-clients

Last episode (I said 84 in the recording, I meant 83), I talked about the various ways some advisory clients can’t or won’t implement your advice, and what to do about it when that happens.

Mark had a follow up question about whether to do project management in cases where the client doesn’t have an in-house person to implement.

The short answer is no. I did it when I first started and I burned out/reached capacity at two clients (and some other smaller work I was doing at the same time).

Project management is stressful and energy consuming. It also puts the owness of speed on you instead of the client.

Personally, I don’t want that stress and it’s not what I do best.

You want to be able to move at the speed of your clients, not the speed of your own internal capability to keep projects moving forward (which you have little control over anyway).

Instead, I’d consider finding someone to recommend to your client who can implement the work you agree to and/or manage projects so things stay on track.

The closest thing I do to project management is keep a record of notes in Google Drive for each of our calls. I write down what we talk about, who is doing what, and when it should be do.

Then, if the client hasn’t completed their end by the next call, it’s in plain black and white who’s responsiblity it was. I don’t babysit.

This has relieved immense amounts of stress and pressure off me. Maybe you can be a good advisor and be the one chasing information and managing projects, but I doubt it. 

It is highly low value and low leverage, which isn’t what you want to be doing as a solo consultant.

Lots more in this one, so give it a listen and tell me what you think.

—kw

If you’re working in an advisory capacity, it’s critical that your advice gets implemented.

If your recommendations aren’t being executed, you aren’t creating enough value for your clients, which means you become a cost. And that’s not good.

In this eposide, I share some ideas for what to do when your clients can’t (or won’t) implement your ideas quickly enough, including:

• Bringing in additional support to introduce to my clients (like a general marketing freelancer)
• Doing some up-front implementation work as a foundational project
• Hiring someone in my own business to help me flesh out my methodology (including training, systems and processes) to make implementation more efficient

Do you have any other ways of facilitating the implementation in an advisory relationship? Let me know in the comments below!

Join the conversation: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/84-what-to-do-when-your-advisory-clients-can-t-or-don-t-implement-your-advice

It can be hard to know how to position your services.

Are you the high-quality option, the "cheap and cheerful" one, or somewhere in between?

I've spoken before about being in a reasonable price range so clients can justify staying with you longer. But "reasonable" is a big vague, so I wanted to explore this topic deeper.

To me, it comes down to the pain potential. Not the pain, necessarily, but the potential for pain if they don't hire me (or someone like me).

The bigger the downside potential, the more people will pay to avoid it.

Give this a listen and tell me if you agree.

—kw

Join the conversation for this episode: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/82-why-you-should-price-in-accordance-with-the-pain-potential

Join the conversation for this episode here: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/general/81-why-sharing-your-backstory-matters

* * * * 

Have you ever noticed how dramatic movies tend to start with lots of backstory behind the characters?

Think about Apollo 13, for example. The first part of the movie is focused on their family life, children, etc.

Why do they bother going into all that backstory? What does it have to do with the main plot?

They do it so you are emotionally invested in the characters. It gives them meaning and you can empathize with them a lot more.

I’ve been thinking lately about how best to use backstory in marketing. As a professional, I think it’s important to share some of your personal life inside of your professional identity.

Otherwise, you’re kind of like an interchangeable extra in the film. Nobody cares what happens to you. 

Like the thousands leading the charge in Braveheart, we only really care about the characters we know. 

If you want people to care, share some of your backstory.

Join this episode's conversation in the community: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/80-how-to-make-your-products-or-service-more-compelling

. . . .

Lately, I've been paying attention to the factors that convince me to buy things—especially when I'm not super familiar with the product or creator who made it.

By far, the most compelling factor in my decision to puchase was the positioning.

What does it do, how is it unique, and is it for me?

And assuming the product or service is well-positioned, I really analyzed what else made me more likely to want to buy things.

And after a lot of analysis, the second most significant factor was social proof.

Things like:

1. Unsolicited recommendations
2. Reviews and testimonials
3. Case studies and work samples
4. Client and media logos
5. Statistics and numbers
6. Group affiliations

The main crux of this is selling people on two points:

1. Does this work in general?
2. Does it work for people like me?
3. Will it actually work for me?

The last part is the trickiest, which is why you can never have too much social proof. 

So there you have it. Are your/your clients' products and services well-positioned?

And if they are, how much social proof surrounds the places where people make buying decisions? My guess is there's always room to improve and add more.

Got any good tricks up your sleeves? Let us know in the comments below!

—kw

P.S. I'd love to hear your feedback on this group. Want to leave a testimonial or review? DM me or email kevin@kevin.me and I'd be delighted to hear from you. 🙏

The most successful businesses have a high degree of customer-centricity. Think Amazon or Google—they're absolutely relentless about the customer experience.

And in the consulting world, the most successful advisors are the ones who have a high customer-centricity and low self-orientation.

Not sure what this all means? In this episode, I break down how to put your client at the epicentre of your business, how to reduce your self-orientation, and the trade-offs needed to do all of this well.

Join the conversation around this episode here: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/79-how-to-come-up-with-interesting-topics-for-your-content-marketing

. . . .

I had a great question come in about whether to interview clients for content ideas or not.

In general, I'm not against asking clients what topics they might be interested in, but like a lot of things, people don't know what they don't know.

Especially if you ask them out of the blue.

It's better to spot things "in the wild" in the course of your conversations and through research.

In this episode I will cover my top three sources for content ideas:

1. Imaging my best clients and intuiting what they would want
2. Taking notes throughout the day and noticing key questions/challenges/desires/things I teach often
3. Researching online, such as on Twitter, in communities, book reviews, podcast topics, conference topics and more. 

There are a lot of ways to find new topics, but these work best for me. I go into a lot more depth on why in this podcast.

The main thing to remember: with everything you write, ask yourself, would my ideal client want to read this? If not, go back to the drawing board. 

—kw

P.S. Know someone who would be interested in this group? Ask them to join! I might just hook you up with a free month or two if you do. 

Every client engagement comes to an end, eventually.

And when it does, I'm a big believer in having an "off-boarding" call.

In my opinion, these are critical. It can sometimes be a little uncomfortable—even when things end on a good note.

But they are extremely valuable to both you and the client. I'll explain why.

In this episode, I talk about: 

1. Why you want to have off-boarding calls with your clients (and not let things phase out into oblivion).
2. What to talk about during those calls, including accomplishments, results, things still to be done, feedback for you (good and bad), as well as an offer to stick around to ensure a smooth transition.
3. How to use that process as the basis for case studies, testimonials, and improvements to the way you do your work, and much more.

Do you hold off-boarding calls? Will you start now if not?

I'd love to hear what else you do at the end of your client engagements.

Link to episode in community: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/78-the-right-way-to-wrap-up-your-client-engagements

—kw

It's late on a Friday night and I'm sharing this quick audio with you.

It's about consistency. The value of showing up even when you're tired and don't want to.

Writing and publishing content consistently has been the sole driver of most of my businesses since I started.

If I didn't create lots of content over the years, I wouldn't be in business today. It's that simple.

And while I've gone through phases of creating lots of content and letting the habit slide, the best results have always come from being consistent.

In this episode, I talk more about:

1. Strategies for writing content daily
2. Coming up with content ideas
3. Focusing on topics related to your methodology
4. Discovering your own big ideas
5. Infrequent vs. frequent content
6. Recency and frequency biases

And a few other ideas.

I hope this resonates with you. 

Have a great weekend!

Link to episode in the community: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/77-the-value-of-consistent-publishing

—k

When you get paid to do implementation work, you're ultimately being paid to solve a problem.

Maybe it's anything website or content-related. Or maybe it's more broad, like anything marketing-related. Anything within that purview becomes your problem. 

In other words, you own the entire problem of X for your clients.

The challenge when switching to advisory work is that you end up facilitating the solution instead of actually doing it for your client. That means someone still has to actually do the implementation.

But as an advisor, whatever your scope is, it's still your problem to solve. Regardless of the roadblock that comes up, you will move mountains if you have to.  

That might mean finding new freelancers or agencies to implement, doing wireframes or proof-of-concepts yourself, training people do to things in-house, teaching people how things work, or anything else that needs to happen to get the problem solved.

After all, what you're selling is a solution to their problem. Nobody pays for half a solution.

Personally, I charge a fixed price for what I do. I don't want problems to get more expensive for my clients than anticipated. That just adds a problem to a problem.

If it means I need to put in overtime to get the problem solved, that's the risk I take. I own it and find solutions. 

From the client's perspective, they get the assurance that for a fixed price, the problem of X is solved (marketing, design, strategy, leads, whatever).

The feeling of buying all-in services is very reassuring.

But if you throw your hands in the air and make any part of the problem your client's problem, you're providing an incomplete service.

"That's not my job" won't cut it if it's part of the problem you promised to own. 

People pay a lot of money to make their problems someone else's. The more you do that, and the bigger the "problem", the more you’ll get paid.

Listen in for some more specifics. 

Link to this topic in the community: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/76-own-the-entire-problem

—kw

Positioning yourself effectively kinda hurts.

It should feel like you're leaving a LOT on the table. And the reality is, you are. You're leaving MOST of your opportunities on the table.

And yet, counter-intuitively, by saying no to most, you say yes to more.

In the episode I talk about how and why you should tightly narrow your positioning.

It shout hurt a little bit, which is why I recommend doing things in a very particular way (i.e. having a broad AND narrow position until you get traction, phasing into it, focusing who and HOW you serve, etc.).

If you are struggling at all with your positioning, give this a listen and let me know in the comments where the pain is. I promise the pain is where the opportunity is in so many cases.

We all need a little coaching to get through it (I did), and there are a lot of considerations when making a choice, so don't be shy about where you are in the process.

Here's a link to the post in the community: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/74-how-to-and-why-you-should-tightly-narrow-your-positioning

—kw

We’ve been talking a lot about business models and positioning lately but not enough on how to generate leads for your consultancy.

In this episode, I break down the way I've been able to get a consistent flow of clients in my consulting work, resulting in me being booked solid for most of this year.

Here's an overview of what I talk about:

• Positioning 
  • Choose something you have an existing advantage in
  • Go two levels deep
    • Industry
    • Problem you solve
    • How you solve it
• Deep research
  • Communities
  • Podcasts
    • Guests and hosts
  • Conferences
    • Presenters and sponsors
  • Books
    • Read the reviews
  • Consultants
    • Who else is offering what you do?
  • Other service/software providers
  • Products they buy
  • Pains/problems/questions
• Content marketing
  • Write daily or as often as you can
  • Publish on LinkedIn, anywhere else you can
  • Send to email list
• All roads lead to email list
  • Create a "super signature" to do the selling for you
• Be everywhere
  • Webinars
  • Associations
  • Conferences
  • Software companies
  • Groups
  • Invite your subscribers to free webinars
  • Community participation/eBombs
  • Build relationships
  • Podcasts
    • Remember: send everyone to your email list
• Have a productized services ladder that maps to your ideal clients' situation
• Plus many more ideas you could get into, including ads, video, podcast, and so many other tactical things that could work for you. 

This is just the beginning of exploring the topic of lead gen. for your consultancy and it's by no means the only way to do things. 

Do you do anything differently? What works for you?

Leave a comment in the community: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/74-how-to-attract-more-leads-to-your-consultancy

As a marketing advisor, I’m biased towards done-with-you services.

While I see the merits in done-for-you work (freelance/agency style) or do-it-yourself (one-off strategy sessions and/or info products), the thing thay works best for me is clearly the done-with-you offering.

In this episode, I talk about the three ingredients required to make done-with-you work into a high-profit and low labour engagement.

The three ingredients include:

1. Having a process for every engamenent  
2. Having pre-made training resources to help clients learn and do some things independently 
3. Working with a team of highly specialized partners to do the implementation for the client (and the benefits to everyone of doing so as a fiduciary advisor)

If you’re serious about selling advisory work, this is the trifecta that has worked extremely well for me and my clients, creating leverage and some degree of scale in my business.

Of course, all of this works best if you focus on a niche industry. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be a horizontal specialist, i.e. an SEO, designer, or even a copywriter.

Do you prefer one of the other forms of offerings in your business? A blend of everything? Feel strongly about an entirely different approach?

Let me know! My word isn’t gospel so let's share the nuances in the comments below.

Link to post: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/73-how-to-use-done-with-you-offerings-to-create-efficiency-and-leverage-around-your-expertise

—k

There are lots of ways to price your consulting engagements. 

You could be the low-cost consultant, the high-price consultant, or anywhere in between.

Usually, I recommend companies focus on being either one of the lower cost, convenience providers (and do it at scale) OR create a world-class experience and charge high rates. 

This idea came from a book called Trade-Off by Kevin Maney. I highly recommend you read this.

But oddly enough, I price my consulting services at what I consider to be a very reasonable cost. And yet, I am able to generate multiple six figures without breaking a sweat.

Why? Because advisory work is pretty leveraged. There aren't too many deliverables. 

But following my pricing isn't a strategy.

In this episode, I walk through my mindset when it comes to picking prices for my services so you can see if any of it resonates with you. 

I also talk about recurring revenue and how it helps create stable, predictable revenue and a calm business.

There are many ways to package your services, so you should do what works for you. 

Here's how I think about it in case it helps.

Link to post in the community: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/72-should-you-price-your-consulting-services-on-the-high-middle-or-low-end-of-the-spectrum 

—k

P.S. Got a question? Reply to this (or any post) or DM me if you'd like to keep it anonymous/private.

Hello friendly people!

Oren had some questions about my coworking consultancy's membership program, whether people upgrade to the 1:1 premium "inner circle coaching" option, and whether it's the same things my Propeller Program.

In this episode, I break down:

• How many people are in those groups
• Whether people upgrade to the premium 1:1 coaching
• The surprising benefits of memberships outside of the money it generates
• How the small group coaching works and why it's a good idea to try
• And how being in a niche (or having a clearly defined market) is key if you plan to sell a program like any of these

I also mention a past recording of a situation where a client was considering as downgrade into the 1:1 inner circle coaching. Here's a link to that recording (episode #65).

The bottom line is this: 
If you're going to do group stuff, it helps to be in a niche or serve a very specific group of people, otherwise it's just too hard to coach or teach a group of people who are in completely different situations. You end up broadening and generalizing your info to the point of it losing most of it's value.

Think small to think big!

Join the conversation here: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/71-selling-membership-group-coaching-and-low-ticket-1-1-coaching

I was recently asked how I am able to find clients for all my different services. 

So, I thought I'd break down my business strategy, marketing strategy, and marketing plan to help you get the full picture in case it helps you get clarity.

Currently, I have:

• 8 x 1:1 advisory clients
• 1 x 4 members group coaching clients 
• 40+ people in a memberrship program
• This community which is in it's infancy
• I do occasional workshops/training programs
• I sell (very few) info products 
• Some lingering website maintenance and hosting work from past life

With total revenue around US$25k/month including the web stuff (to give you context and full transparency).
 

In this episode, I'll break down how I look at:

1. My overarching business strategy
2. My current marketing strategy (for my specialized business)
3. My current marketing plan (at a high-level)

The key to a good marketing strategy is having a good business strategy. 

And the best business strategy is to be specialized if you're a consultant—even if, like me, you keep a general website for those random opportunities outside of your specialization.

Does this resonate with you? Do you have a different approach? I'd love to hear it! 

Leave a comment in the community for this episode: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/70-an-inside-look-at-my-business-strategy-marketing-strategy-and-marketing-plan

—kevin

The odds of you succeeding with new ventures or ideas out of the gate is low. It’s not fun but it’s true.

Even if your idea is good, it might be adjacent to the one the market wants. A small set of tweaks and iterations to the format, offer, or audience might just be what it needs to take off.

And that’s empowering! It means you’re not alone. Nobody figures everything out right away.

It’s easy to get frustrated when things aren’t clicking for you—especially when you’re trying something new that you feel really passionate about.

It can feel like two steps forward and one step back. We look around for answers but get frustrated when nobody offers the magic pill.

There is no magic pill, only iteration and innovation.

We have to hold our vision strong while simultaneously being loose about our best ideas. It’s a fine line between a steadfast vision and being oblivious to what the market wants.

If you are willing to iterate and innovate continually, it’s only a matter of time before your vision and what your audience wants are in complete alignment.

Listen in for more on this topic if you’re in this mode or subscribe via your podcast player.

Yesterday, I wrote a quick post on my personal website about how your job as a marketing consultant is as much about de-risking your clients' situation as it is about growth.

It might seem counter-intuitive for a marketing consultant to be thinking about risk mitigation when your day-to-day job is to help clients win new business, but you might be surprised to hear that they are two sides of the same coin.

Give this one a listen and let me know in the comments what you think!

Yours,

—kevin

Hey! 

Today is my birthday and I felt like recording this little bit of encouragement for those who are thinking of starting a group program or mentorship of your own.

Yours,

—k

P.S. The community is being rebranded as Mindshare.fm and has been rebuilt using Circle (community platform), Memberful (payment and private podcast functionality), and Transistor (podcast host). If you want to get access today, you can head over here and save $5/mo. on monthly plans (promo code: VIP5) or sign up to the new annual plan for $99/year: https://mindshare.fm

More details soon.

When a prospect asks to speak to one of your pasts clients as a reference, what do you say?

Do you say yes or no? Is it a red flag or normal procedure? 

Let's dive in. 

Yours,

—kevin