Latest / Forge Fire Protocol Podcast / The 10 Questions That Expose Who Your Real Customer Is

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The 10 Questions That Expose Who Your Real Customer Is · Forge Fire Protocol Podcast

• 0:02
  Imagine breaking free from the grind and building a business that lights you up, ignites with purpose, and delivers the ultimate reward.
• 0:12
  Forge Fire Protocol gives ambitious entrepreneurs the proven five-step system to choose the right business, launch it successfully, scale it strategically, and exit on your terms.
• 0:26
  Turning vision into lasting wealth, forged in fire, built for legacy.
• 0:35
  Well, welcome back to the Forge Fire Protocol Podcast.
• 0:38
  We're here, I've got Michael Sullivan, Stephen Moynihan and myself, Don LaPlume, your host for today and actually host for pretty much every day besides guests.
• 0:48
  But today we're gonna do something a little bit special.
• 0:50
  So as we've been going, we've been teaching you about different parts of launching a business, different things to look for, right?
• 0:58
  We've been sharing some of the tools that we've built
• 1:01
  And one of the tools that we built into the Forgefire Protocol app, we're going to talk about today.
• 1:05
  And this is not about the app for you.
• 1:07
  This is about a solution to targeting the right client.
• 1:12
  In fact, that is what we're talking about today.
• 1:13
  Who is your ideal client and how do you figure that out?
• 1:17
  I mean, truly figure it out because that's what matters.
• 1:23
  Your ideal client, and you guys can jump in on this one, but your ideal client is a client that they need what you have.
• 1:30
  they want what you have and they're willing to pay for what you have and you can identify them and target them uh whether it's with advertising or some other way to be in front of them social media whatever it is you can use crusher whatever it is that you use you want to be in front of them but but who do you want to be in front of you you need to know that answer am i right guys
• 1:51
  Yeah, and the other thing too is the size matters.
• 1:53
  You have to understand what you are great at delivering to, or you don't even have to understand that in advance, but you have to start off with something where you're not going to.
• 2:01
  I've seen this happen so many times where CEOs and entrepreneurs build out a company and they fall in love because they have this massive deal, $30,000 a month, $25,000 a month.
• 2:12
  They know what that means to their MRR, so they get all excited and jump in without looking to see if the company is a good fit.
• 2:19
  And what happens, not too many times, I'm not going to give a number, but what I've seen happen too many times is that one client now consumes the vast majority of resources and all those clients that help build you to where you are today, all those clients that are growing and that you're serving and that you are excellent delivering service to, their service starts to suffer because all your focus is on this one client who's a bad fit for your company.
• 2:47
  So it's important to understand as you're going through the process, in addition to who's the right client, it's not anyone who needs my services.
• 2:55
  Because you might not be able to deliver to a certain number of employees yet, because your system hasn't been built out yet.
• 3:01
  So you have to just understand in the ideal client, who they are, where they are.
• 3:07
  And then as you go through, evaluate that fit to see who's the right client for you as well in your company so you can deliver with excellence and help build that reputation.
• 3:16
  Mike, you were at that level because your IT services you were doing, you were charging, you know, several thousand dollars, you know, per client.
• 3:24
  So you had that and you experienced that.
• 3:29
  Where we're trying to build out, and again, in the beginning, we have our target goal to get to that point.
• 3:36
  At the end where you've got that $10 million buyout here in three to five years, and everything is designed towards that institutional transferability,
• 3:45
  and the due diligence readiness so that when that time comes to sell your business, you're maximizing that cash at closing and it requires maintaining a low customer concentration.
• 3:58
  And that's just what you're talking about right there.
• 4:01
  Yep.
• 4:01
  And the same thing, the opposite applies as well too.
• 4:04
  You don't want 50 customers paying too little
• 4:07
  that are noisy as heck and you're losing money on the deal.
• 4:10
  So that's why this episode is great.
• 4:13
  It showed you the system and what we've built into it to make it simple and easy.
• 4:17
  That's what I'm excited to do.
• 4:18
  And we're going to actually, Don, do a live walkthrough of how we use it, correct?
• 4:21
  Yeah, that is correct.
• 4:23
  So it's funny.
• 4:25
  I have to show you one other story because it ties in exactly with what you're saying.
• 4:28
  A good friend of mine is a CPA.
• 4:30
  In fact, he's my CPA.
• 4:32
  and um uh richard paul uh cpa and accounting is out in white river i just gave him a plug so richard when you catch this he's just a great guy all right a lot of fun um uh but with i know at one point in his business he had a very large client that outgrew him right and when that client went to a much larger firm that they needed to be for for the type of accounting that they needed um it dramatically affected his business
• 4:59
  And, and I know, uh, and he's built it up.
• 5:02
  He's got a phenomenal business right now.
• 5:03
  He's doing great.
• 5:05
  Uh, and, and he always was, but, um, but that was one thing that he learned in business that he shared with me.
• 5:10
  And I'm hoping it was okay, Richard, by the way, that I shared this, but, um, the, the, the whole concept of having all your eggs in one basket or, or virtually one basket, not a good idea.
• 5:21
  And for somebody who has chickens, I know that that's not a good idea.
• 5:24
  Well, different, different story.
• 5:26
  So, so yeah.
• 5:28
  The reason all of this is coming up, by the way, is we've been talking to you about the 72-hour task.
• 5:31
  We've also talked to you a lot about rapid iteration.
• 5:37
  We, meaning Steven, Mike, and myself, we look at everything we're doing and how can we improve it, right?
• 5:45
  Yes, we've got the book, right?
• 5:47
  We've got the roadmap, but it's not just about the roadmap, it's about always getting better, right?
• 5:56
  If you're not getting better,
• 5:58
  then you never get to stand still.
• 6:00
  We said this last time, you cannot stand still.
• 6:02
  It's like the river of life.
• 6:03
  You're either gonna go and get washed away with the current or you're gonna be able to go in the direction that you wanna go because you're moving, right?
• 6:13
  But here, we're looking at this and saying, you know what, we're growing, Forge Fire Protocol is growing, but we want it to grow faster, right?
• 6:21
  And so we looked at, all right, who are we targeting?
• 6:25
  And meaning, who are we looking for?
• 6:27
  Who do we wanna reach out to, to help grow this?
• 6:30
  Because you know our goal, right?
• 6:32
  Our goal is to have 100,000 subscribers by the end of this year.
• 6:36
  And that's because we wanna help 10,000 people minimum over the next five years to get to a $10 million plus exit, right?
• 6:43
  That's why we do this.
• 6:46
  And that's what the book is designed to teach.
• 6:48
  But we were not growing at the speed that we wanted to.
• 6:53
  And so we said, all right, what do we need to do?
• 6:55
  And even though we had a green when we did our 72-hour market test, what we really need to do is find the perfect client, right?
• 7:08
  And not just one of them, but a lot of them that could drive a lot of business to us, right?
• 7:14
  So we said, all right, well, before we do the 72-hour market test, and we've already done that here, but before we do a 72-hour market test, one thing that would be helpful is,
• 7:25
  if we knew who the ideal client was, right?
• 7:26
  We had that discussion.
• 7:27
  If we knew who the ideal client was, then that eliminates some of the no's or at least some of the pivots that we could run into when we're doing the 72-hour market test.
• 7:37
  So we need to know who that client is, right?
• 7:39
  And so we developed a way for you and for us to figure out who the ideal client is.
• 7:46
  And that's what we're gonna go through today to show you.
• 7:48
  And this is not about the app or Forge Fire, this is about you and your business.
• 7:55
  All right.
• 7:55
  This is this particular piece is something that you will have access to on our free version.
• 8:03
  So it's not about selling you anything.
• 8:05
  It's literally about we want your 72 hour market test to be detailed.
• 8:10
  We want to be successful and we want you to have the fewest possible pivot options, meaning we eliminate the target client.
• 8:18
  Right.
• 8:18
  Because we know who they are.
• 8:20
  So I'm going to pull up our app.
• 8:22
  and show you we're just going to go right through we're literally going to take this test all right so you guys i'm going to share my screen here let me just pull that up and let's see here all right ah no wrong how did that pick it didn't pick the right screen sorry guys as you can tell i got a few different things on my uh
• 8:52
  desktop.
• 8:52
  There we go.
• 8:53
  That's what I needed.
• 8:54
  Recording live.
• 8:54
  This is part of the deal.
• 8:56
  It is.
• 8:56
  It is part of the deal.
• 9:01
  And hopefully you get to see part of the Forgefire Protocol Cybertruck, too.
• 9:07
  Yeah.
• 9:08
  Very quick comment as we dive into this, because it really reminded me of something that hit home.
• 9:13
  I found a letter my brother had written to me years ago when he was 21 years older, and I was a sophomore in high school, and I had a really bad fall semester.
• 9:21
  I scraped by.
• 9:23
  I wasn't paying attention.
• 9:24
  I was disengaged.
• 9:26
  I was not...
• 9:28
  habits started to fall apart.
• 9:29
  And he recognized it and stepped in and just said, we're gonna fix this, we're gonna fix it now.
• 9:33
  And in the introductory, he wrote me like a two page letter, but it starts off with your number one focus is we're going to eliminate the expectation of striving for perfection.
• 9:43
  Our goal is progress.
• 9:45
  It's daily progress.
• 9:46
  That's all we're focused on right at this point in time.
• 9:48
  So eliminate everything else.
• 9:50
  And we're going to be laser focused on progress.
• 9:53
  And I think
• 9:55
  the value of that and what we're doing right now too, it tied into even what we just experienced live.
• 10:00
  This is going to be some hiccups once in a while.
• 10:02
  Just forgive, just let it go.
• 10:04
  It's part of the process.
• 10:04
  Just focus on progress and getting it out.
• 10:08
  Right.
• 10:08
  I just love that example.
• 10:10
  I love it as well.
• 10:11
  And wise, wise words, you know, years and years ago, many actually decades ago, I used to stay as a perfectionist and I'm so glad I'm not anymore.
• 10:20
  Yep.
• 10:21
  But I get so much more done.
• 10:22
  Uh, so it's great.
• 10:24
  Um,
• 10:25
  But very wise words from your brother.
• 10:27
  So, and we could have edited that out, by the way.
• 10:30
  But, you know, it doesn't matter, right?
• 10:33
  Here's what does matter.
• 10:35
  All right.
• 10:35
  So when somebody goes into the app, all right, and this is our demo version here.
• 10:41
  But it's the same as, it's the live version.
• 10:45
  So if I go down, and I'm moving these up, by the way, this whole section is moving up to the top.
• 10:50
  So you'll see that far soon.
• 10:52
  But under Spark, this is what you have access to.
• 10:54
  You have access to defining your ideal client and the 72-hour market test under Spark.
• 11:00
  And you also have access to our affiliate program.
• 11:02
  But let's go to defining your ideal client.
• 11:06
  And any of you, by the way, can get access to that at app.forgefireprotocol.com.
• 11:11
  So once you're here, it says defining your ideal client.
• 11:14
  And it is this simple.
• 11:16
  So what it's gonna do is we've already built in
• 11:21
  an interview process and this interview, we're going to go through this live.
• 11:24
  So you're going to see this, right?
• 11:25
  Because this is a particular avenue we wanted to go through.
• 11:29
  And this, this process is going to make you think.
• 11:35
  After we built this in and I was testing it, I was, I went through in one direction, and looking at a particular, you know, a brand new person, or I should say a person that's got ideas.
• 11:49
  or has an idea for business or an idea to improve something that they're experiencing at work.
• 11:54
  It's a pain point that they have and, and how to, um, find out how to target those people, right?
• 12:03
  How to, how to reach them.
• 12:04
  Because one of the things you've heard us talk about is we're looking for people with ideas, right?
• 12:11
  We we've said that once or twice, right guys?
• 12:15
  So we're looking for people with ideas because we can help you take that idea
• 12:18
  and turn it into, well, first test it, validate it, and then turn it into a business, grow it, scale it, and then exit.
• 12:26
  That's what we do with the Fortifar Protocol.
• 12:29
  But is that the right person that we want to start with?
• 12:31
  Is that the person we're looking for?
• 12:34
  And we had a deep discussion internally.
• 12:38
  A lot of people, and this may be a challenge, and I want to go through this because I think this matters, because we had this discussion internally, the three of us.
• 12:47
  And I think it was Mike, I think you asked, are those the people that really do anything?
• 12:55
  Right.
• 12:56
  And so let's talk about that before we go into this, because I think all of this matters, right?
• 13:02
  We, whatever business it is that we have that we're launching, right?
• 13:06
  I don't mean me or us, the three of us.
• 13:08
  I'm talking about everybody that's watching this podcast.
• 13:12
  right?
• 13:12
  You've got ideas.
• 13:14
  You're launching a business.
• 13:15
  You already have launched a business.
• 13:17
  If you're here, more than likely, you're doers.
• 13:19
  You're people that want to get things done.
• 13:21
  You want to accomplish something.
• 13:23
  You want to grow something.
• 13:24
  You want to leave a legacy.
• 13:25
  There's a lot of things that you have and you want, all right?
• 13:30
  Can we all agree that not everybody's like that, right?
• 13:34
  Yes.
• 13:35
  So if we're targeting people that ideas, the one thing I can tell you is everybody has ideas.
• 13:38
  It's kind of like opinions almost, right?
• 13:40
  Everybody's getting opinions.
• 13:42
  We're not going to say that they're all good, that we agree with them all.
• 13:45
  It doesn't matter, right?
• 13:47
  Ideas are the same way.
• 13:49
  Are they all good?
• 13:49
  No.
• 13:50
  But everybody's got ideas.
• 13:52
  But here's the thing.
• 13:53
  There are people that have phenomenal ideas, and they never take action on those.
• 13:59
  Can we agree on that?
• 14:01
  Yes.
• 14:02
  Yeah, and by the way, just to put that in perspective,
• 14:06
  The number of what the average human has in thoughts per day has been reduced, but modern researchers think it's around about 6,200 thoughts a day.
• 14:16
  So out of those 6,200 thoughts, everybody has ideas, like you just said.
• 14:22
  And I was shocked when I realized how many people don't want to take those ideas and do something, that they're completely good with just having it.
• 14:27
  I remember being younger, probably about 12, 13, and realizing that people just didn't care.
• 14:32
  And then I was 18, and I met another kid who I really kind of looked up to,
• 14:37
  and he just didn't care.
• 14:38
  And I was shocked that, how are you here this far along?
• 14:41
  And he don't care.
• 14:43
  Then I realized it wasn't my responsibility to care how he cared.
• 14:46
  I just had to focus on me and be me.
• 14:48
  But there's so much value in this.
• 14:52
  That's why, yeah.
• 14:53
  Just sharing about the whole number on the thoughts, because that baffled me the first time I heard that.
• 14:57
  If you're having 6,200 thoughts a day, just think how many ideas are coming through there, that you're just dismissing.
• 15:06
  A quick note on that, you brought up, you were a kid, you had an idea, you wanted to build an airplane.
• 15:10
  And you talked about that.
• 15:12
  I had that same idea.
• 15:14
  And I had, you know, they had those old style like fire engine trucks, you know, you'd sat in and they had the pedals and they went like that.
• 15:25
  Yes.
• 15:26
  Yeah, that was my body.
• 15:29
  I love it.
• 15:30
  I love it.
• 15:31
  And I was like 12 and I was I was said I was going to make something that through and somehow I was going to pedal fast enough where it took off.
• 15:40
  So that didn't work.
• 15:42
  I'm sorry.
• 15:44
  So I went to a go-kart.
• 15:45
  My grandfather gave me an old Briggs and Stratton engine from a lawnmower, you know, the chain or pull on the side.
• 15:53
  And I had that and I cut out a board to put it on and I used the front end steering mechanism of that fire engine I took off and that was the front end.
• 16:02
  Yeah.
• 16:03
  I had to compromise for a go-kart that, you know, it didn't go real fast, but when you're 13, it was great.
• 16:09
  Yeah.
• 16:09
  You built it.
• 16:10
  You built.
• 16:11
  Yes.
• 16:12
  Yeah.
• 16:13
  Yeah.
• 16:14
  And it's funny.
• 16:14
  We think about those things.
• 16:15
  It's like, man, if I knew how to weld back then and I had a welder and the stuff I could have built, like when I bought this house, my wife and I bought this house last year where we are now.
• 16:27
  And with it in the field, we had a big brush mower.
• 16:33
  Right.
• 16:33
  Actually, it wasn't, it's not really a field, it's more so down a big long path on our property.
• 16:38
  And there's a brush mo there that hasn't been used in years, but there's a motor on it.
• 16:42
  All right.
• 16:43
  An engine.
• 16:44
  And you just made me think about that.
• 16:45
  It's like, man, if, if I were, if I were back at that age,
• 16:49
  and this is my parents house or whatever.
• 16:51
  And I was, I could just do that.
• 16:53
  I'd be, I could tell you I would be scavenging that motor and doing something that engine with and doing something with it.
• 16:57
  I'd have to.
• 16:58
  So, sorry, that is definitely a tangent though.
• 17:00
  Um, so we can reminisce, we could have some fun, but here's, here's the thing.
• 17:06
  All right.
• 17:08
  Um, what we can all agree on is that not everybody acts on the ideas that they have.
• 17:14
  Sometimes it's because of fear.
• 17:15
  Sometimes it's because of lack of knowledge.
• 17:17
  Sometimes it's because, well, you know, what's everybody else going to say?
• 17:20
  Who cares, by the way?
• 17:23
  I look at that and I'm so past that in my life, but I look at that and say, you know what, when I was like that, when I really, when it really mattered to me what other people were going to think, as long as I was doing the right thing, right?
• 17:36
  Always trying to help people to do what's right, then I shouldn't care what people think.
• 17:42
  All right?
• 17:43
  But that's
• 17:43
  That's now we're going to mindset and everything else.
• 17:45
  I don't want to get into that today.
• 17:47
  Although I love the subject and I love talking about it because we all need to improve, right?
• 17:52
  We all need to get better, but let's get into defining your ideal client.
• 17:55
  Cause this, this app, this tool is built into the app.
• 17:58
  Now we came up with the idea.
• 18:00
  We said, you know, this is something that we need.
• 18:02
  And if we need it,
• 18:04
  All of our subscribers need it, so we're gonna give it to them.
• 18:07
  By the way, that is another beautiful point about this.
• 18:09
  Anybody that is part of the system, they get all the updates.
• 18:13
  It's always, we're always gonna keep growing this and making it better and better and better and better.
• 18:18
  So this is the newest addition, which is defining your ideal client.
• 18:22
  And you do this before you run your 72 hour market test.
• 18:26
  All right, so you need to know exactly who you're targeting
• 18:29
  And this interview will extract your ideal client and it's going to do it step by step.
• 18:33
  So there's a bunch of questions and these questions will change based on your answers.
• 18:39
  This is one of the beautiful things about AI.
• 18:43
  So here's our little Forgefire bot here.
• 18:48
  So it says, hey, I'm here to help you nail down a single person you need to talk to for your 72-hour market desk.
• 18:56
  All right.
• 18:56
  A clear client is not a guarantee.
• 18:58
  The idea will work.
• 19:00
  The test still has to validate or you pivot or you kill it.
• 19:03
  Right.
• 19:04
  But, um, so here's question one, the product in one sentence, what do you sell or want to sell?
• 19:12
  What is the, you know, the product, the service or your offer and what does the buyer walk away with?
• 19:19
  All right.
• 19:22
  Think about how it opened it up.
• 19:23
  It said in one sentence,
• 19:25
  Just answering this in one sentence is pretty tough.
• 19:30
  All right, how would you guys, so I've gone through this, I've tested it, I know we've tested it.
• 19:36
  We could do this for any business.
• 19:38
  We could do this for Forge Fire, we can do this for any business.
• 19:40
  All right, but we have to stay in the same business as we go.
• 19:45
  Yep.
• 19:46
  So which one do we wanna do this for?
• 19:49
  Let's just do Forge Fire, just use it as an example.
• 19:51
  Okay, so great, so let's go,
• 19:53
  And let's say, so in one sentence, what do you want to sell?
• 19:58
  What do you sell?
• 19:59
  What do you want to sell?
• 20:00
  What's the product, service, or offer?
• 20:01
  And what does the buyer walk away with?
• 20:03
  So I'm going to go at this from, because we have, from a coach talking about looking for an ideal subscriber here, right?
• 20:17
  An ideal partner with the Forge Fire would be coaches in my head.
• 20:23
  right?
• 20:23
  Business coaches.
• 20:24
  And so, um, let's answer this.
• 20:26
  So I would answer this and I would say, I'm just going to speak this in here.
• 20:30
  You guys will hear it.
• 20:32
  Um, but so we sell a roadmap, a tool that helps business coaches assist their clients in turning an idea into a
• 20:52
  a $10 million exit over time and all the steps all the way through.
• 20:57
  What we sell is a product, an app and a full ecosystem that helps that coach be more profitable and allows them to help more clients.
• 21:13
  And what the coach walks away with is a system they can plug into and utilize that.
• 21:21
  that adds a revenue stream for their business and another way to help their clients.
• 21:27
  So you all heard me say that.
• 21:28
  It was a lot more than one sentence.
• 21:30
  I was trying to, I paused for a moment.
• 21:32
  I was trying to, how do I make this shorter?
• 21:35
  Right.
• 21:36
  What would you guys have said?
• 21:37
  Well, I don't even think you need to, though, because that's the wonder of AIs.
• 21:40
  You just speak to it, and if it's a run-on sentence, who cares?
• 21:44
  This is, again, we're talking progress, not perfection.
• 21:47
  There you go.
• 21:48
  You guys have seen it live.
• 21:49
  Actually, if you've watched this podcast and you've followed what I type, I'm not nearly as good of a typer because I do so much voice that I've lost a little bit of the one-time typing without errors.
• 22:03
  I also don't care.
• 22:05
  Because I can auto fix everything in seconds.
• 22:08
  So I just get it out.
• 22:10
  Get the thought out uninterrupted from mind to digitized output.
• 22:17
  That's all I'm trying to do.
• 22:17
  I'm trying to speak it or just type it or just get it out.
• 22:19
  Just let it flow and get the heck out of there.
• 22:22
  If it's a run on sentence that only made sense to me, I can look it back at it in two seconds and clean it up if I need to.
• 22:27
  But get the thought out.
• 22:31
  And I just want to add to that little piece because so I just did this in Whisperflow.
• 22:36
  All right.
• 22:36
  And in our tools section, we actually have a link for Whisperflow if you don't have it.
• 22:41
  But Whisperflow is just awesome.
• 22:42
  I speak to it.
• 22:43
  Mike introduced me to Whisperflow and now I'm hooked.
• 22:46
  It's like one of the best $15 a month I spent.
• 22:50
  All right.
• 22:50
  But it's worth it.
• 22:52
  Right.
• 22:53
  So.
• 22:53
  We asked for help.
• 22:56
  So here's what my help gave me, which was AI.
• 22:59
  So I asked in one sentence to find the ideal ForgeFire protocol client after thorough reviewing the whole ForgeFire ecosystem.
• 23:07
  And what I got was the ideal ForgeFire protocol client is often an ambitious founder, operator, or business coach, generating or validating six to seven figures who refuses the trap of an employee bloated, high stress job and seeks a structured AI
• 23:24
  leveraged operating system to build a founder independent high margin asset engineered for a 10 million dollar exit buyout in three to five years you know that's a little lengthy you know and it's a little more of a high-powered person um you know the whole ecosystem is is built for that person who has just been the average joe an average jane and has an idea and
• 23:52
  And the blueprint is so solid that if you follow it, you can lead to success.
• 24:00
  And the diligence that it can hold you to and the accountability is really a key partner.
• 24:07
  Yeah, I'll say this too.
• 24:10
  What I think we do, if I was to summarize it in a very short sentence or two,
• 24:16
  is we take complex information that we've learned and studied and paid tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars for over the years, we look at the investments that we've made.
• 24:29
  We take all of that information, look at the proven system and simplify it to bring it down to a fourth grade level.
• 24:37
  So anybody with an idea doesn't have the barrier to entry that we faced.
• 24:42
  So we've created a simple ecosystem to help people with an idea, turn that idea into a $10 million exit in three to five years, as long as they are committed to being persistent and showing up every day and caring.
• 24:57
  If they do that, we've built a system that can transform your life.
• 25:02
  See, and I love that.
• 25:04
  And so all three of us came up with something slightly different, right?
• 25:08
  and we're all immersed in Forgefire because this is what we do, right?
• 25:13
  Steven, now you're, you use the AI way and you could have done that.
• 25:16
  Anybody could do that as well.
• 25:18
  The, the, Steven has a heads up on that one because he's already got all kinds of stuff in his AI model about Forgefire because we do a lot with AI.
• 25:30
  And so, so it knows what Forgefire is.
• 25:34
  A lot of times if you're just starting out, you know, it was like, well,
• 25:38
  AI is not going to know what you're talking about necessarily.
• 25:41
  If there's a website for it, you can point it to the website.
• 25:43
  But if you're talking about a business, you might not even have launched a business yet.
• 25:47
  More than likely you haven't.
• 25:48
  And you need to have some way to feed some information into AI so it understands what you're talking about.
• 25:56
  Right.
• 25:56
  So but all three of us came up with a different way and a different way to look at it.
• 26:01
  So we'll just go through.
• 26:02
  I'm just going to run through and we can run through it a hundred times if we want.
• 26:05
  We're not going to do that.
• 26:06
  But let's go through this.
• 26:07
  So let's see what it says.
• 26:08
  So I put that in and now it's thinking, so it says, okay, who pays?
• 26:13
  Does a business pay you a consumer pay you or both?
• 26:16
  If both, which one can say yes to a paid conversation in the next 72 hours.
• 26:24
  So in our case, it technically could be both.
• 26:28
  All right.
• 26:29
  Because a consumer that's got an idea that wants to launch it, right.
• 26:32
  Or a business owner or even a coach who is a business owner.
• 26:38
  So there's, we're talking about different people, but ideally we're looking for people.
• 26:44
  And this is the logic you want to go through, right?
• 26:46
  Ideally we're looking for people that are already making things happen.
• 26:50
  Not just, you know, they think they might.
• 26:53
  Right now, I'm good with consumers.
• 26:56
  You know, somebody that hasn't launched a business yet that wants to, if they really want to take action, great.
• 27:00
  We want them here.
• 27:01
  All right.
• 27:02
  Because we're looking for people to take action.
• 27:04
  Um, maybe that's what I should put in.
• 27:05
  I need people to take action, but either way.
• 27:08
  Can I say one thing about this that I love?
• 27:09
  Cause when I was going through it and just playing around, yeah, I answer with three different, cause there's three different people that I directly interact with in one of my businesses.
• 27:17
  So I entered all three and it said, well, let's, let's look at this.
• 27:22
  It's like this person in this size firm and this person in this size firm are completely different people who pay, who signs your paycheck without hesitation.
• 27:32
  And I said, that guy, not this guy or that guy, the guy in the middle that I had also mentioned.
• 27:37
  That's the guy.
• 27:39
  It gives you some examples so you can really find through.
• 27:42
  So in this case, I'm going to say a business owner that is successful and looking to be more successful is the one who I can have paid conversations within the next 72 hours.
• 27:59
  It's good.
• 27:59
  Okay.
• 28:01
  I wasn't clicked on there, sorry.
• 28:03
  A business owner who is successful and is looking to improve and get better and build a business is someone who I can have a conversation with in the next 72 hours.
• 28:14
  There it goes.
• 28:15
  I had to be in there.
• 28:17
  So now if I had said both, though, it would do what it did to you.
• 28:21
  And it would ask a question.
• 28:22
  Well, wait a minute.
• 28:22
  No, you can't have all of these.
• 28:24
  It helps you refine it is the point.
• 28:26
  So now, and here's a great example.
• 28:30
  too wide is the person paying you the business coach looking for a new tool as mentioned in q1 a question one or the business owner seeking the exit and can they commit to a paid conversation this week so so it's challenging me already all right and i and i love that um that's that's because if you're going to get to we've talked about this you're going to get to your ideal client if you're going to get to a business that's going to launch and do well
• 28:59
  You have to have brutal honesty.
• 29:01
  You have to have people checking you.
• 29:04
  But this is AI.
• 29:07
  So it's not personal.
• 29:09
  But I want to add quickly, if you've ever, and for some of these people out here that maybe haven't ever had high-level coaching, when you have some of that higher-level coaching and you get the brutal, hard, quick questions hit at you,
• 29:22
  It can be slightly intimidating, but it's really empowering.
• 29:25
  It is.
• 29:25
  Because you know you're really getting deep.
• 29:28
  And in that depth, you're going to get so much progress.
• 29:32
  Yes.
• 29:32
  And that's what's happening here.
• 29:34
  And you're not throwing down $10,000 plus for it.
• 29:37
  No.
• 29:38
  And I have spent a fair amount of money on coaches.
• 29:40
  Yep.
• 29:41
  So I can certainly speak to that.
• 29:44
  So let's answer this one.
• 29:46
  So it says, no, too wide.
• 29:47
  Is the person paying you the business coach looking for a new tool?
• 29:52
  as mentioned in Q1, or the business owner seeking the exit, right?
• 29:57
  And so truly in this example, really in this example, it would be the business coach's clients that are paying me, although the business coach will pay as well to utilize our platform for their clients.
• 30:18
  Let's see what it says, right?
• 30:21
  Because this is all about extracting.
• 30:23
  So you're gonna, whatever you think about, it's gonna ask the question.
• 30:28
  So for the 72 hour test, you must pick one entry point.
• 30:31
  Who signs the check, going back to what you said, Mike, for the first 20 conversations, the coach buying a tool to scale their practice or the business owner buying an exit roadmap directly?
• 30:42
  And I'm gonna say the coach.
• 30:46
  So the coach buying a tool to scale their practice.
• 30:51
  Okay.
• 30:53
  So, okay, the person.
• 30:55
  So who is the human who feels the pain and can approve a purchase, give a role, situation, or title, not a demographic poster?
• 31:03
  So, example, a solo executive coach.
• 31:06
  And I love how it just gives those examples.
• 31:07
  So a solo executive coach billing $150,000 was capped on time and manually building slide decks for every new client.
• 31:16
  That's a great answer, actually, because that's an ideal...
• 31:22
  coach that we'd want to work with because we're basically giving that coach everything right we're giving them the full tool what how do you guys take that question well i think the most important i just take it as just let's i see it as a conversation with a let's say you have a friend or you know somebody or someone's dad or
• 31:45
  depending on your age, either someone's parent, mom or dad, or somebody you know has had a lot of success.
• 31:51
  Imagine sitting down at a coffee table and just having a direct conversation about how you can improve or take an idea that you have to do that.
• 31:57
  That's how I'm taking this.
• 31:58
  So that question right there, I think just gets down to the,
• 32:02
  meat and potatoes of what we're looking for.
• 32:05
  It's what just what directly do we need to get from the coach?
• 32:09
  We got to take the niche and niche down.
• 32:11
  I like, again, I like the high level of their answer.
• 32:13
  I think that's we're looking for, when you were talking about the multiple slides, my mind goes into automation.
• 32:19
  And in addition to what we're offering from the platform through the AI services that are available, we can take that individual slide decks and basically templatize it and tell them how to speak into the user tool that basically speaks to it and auto creates everything.
• 32:34
  Buying back that efficiency, that's laser focused on that client based on all that client's logo and information that gets auto pulled in.
• 32:40
  So that's from the technology side of my mind works.
• 32:43
  So I'm like, in addition to getting everything else in terms of building this, they're also gonna get that.
• 32:49
  It is wild.
• 32:49
  It's a great offer.
• 32:51
  But I think, and I like that answer.
• 32:54
  Did you want to add something to that, Stephen?
• 32:57
  Mike always goes to the technical end, and I go to the less technical end.
• 33:01
  And that human interaction where you're going to get some feedback as well.
• 33:07
  So, and this is helpful, too, because some of you that are launching an idea or plan to launch an idea, or you're in business, you've got business partners.
• 33:15
  You've got somebody that you're working with where you're going to become business partners if it's at the idea stage at this point, right?
• 33:23
  And you have to be able to have these conversations and get the input from everybody.
• 33:28
  At the same time, you've got a tool here that's going to ask all three of you, in our case, the questions, right?
• 33:35
  So I think the AI hit it pretty hard on that one.
• 33:40
  And so I'm going to give almost that same answer.
• 33:44
  So we're looking for solo, a solo executive coach that's building at least $150,000 per year, who is capped on time and manually building slide decks for every new client.
• 34:01
  Let's see.
• 34:01
  Let's see what it says.
• 34:05
  Okay.
• 34:06
  The pain this week.
• 34:08
  And when I went through this the first time and I was like answering that pain question, like,
• 34:12
  Wow, that hit me because having to define it, right?
• 34:16
  So the pain this week, what is going wrong for that person right now that your offer is supposed to fix?
• 34:23
  Use this week, not your feature list.
• 34:27
  So not all about the features and everything.
• 34:29
  Go ahead.
• 34:29
  Go ahead, Mike.
• 34:29
  No, no, no.
• 34:30
  I just think if I hear that, what I'm picturing is someone who knows that they could be serving a lot more than what they're doing.
• 34:36
  They know they're good at what they do.
• 34:39
  And they're trying to figure out how can they serve more, build up their clientele, but still deliver without getting overwhelmed.
• 34:46
  Like, how do they get, and not overwhelmed from a, overwhelmed from a delivery perspective, making sure that they have, that they as a solo coach can deliver the best of themselves to every client, but add a bunch of clients so they can grow revenue, but also increase impact and help more people.
• 35:05
  So how do you define that in pain?
• 35:08
  Well, they know that financially, that's it.
• 35:11
  I mean, for me, it's a financial thing.
• 35:14
  They are here and having to deal with all the burdens that exist from being, let's say, not financially free.
• 35:25
  They want financial freedom personally, and they want to help more clients.
• 35:30
  So, I mean, part of it's emotional.
• 35:33
  where they know they're not being their best selves and they're not delivering what they dreamed.
• 35:37
  They're helping clients, but they're not delivering excellence and building a brand.
• 35:42
  So that pain is financial and emotional.
• 35:44
  Financial, not being where they need to be and not having what they want.
• 35:48
  And then emotional because they know they're meant for more and they're just not doing it yet.
• 35:52
  Anything you want to add to that, Stephen?
• 35:55
  Yeah, because there are some people that have that inner drive where they know they can do more and they have that idea.
• 36:02
  By not taking the action on it, that just, it can gnaw at you inside.
• 36:08
  And it doesn't always show itself every day at every moment, but you get those moments where you know you can do, you know you can achieve more.
• 36:16
  And, but you just haven't had, you know, guidance or that roadmap to get there.
• 36:23
  So let me, I'm going to try and paraphrase what you guys said and along with where my thoughts are.
• 36:32
  that their income is capped and they know they can serve more people and in better ways, but they don't know how to get around their time cap and their financial cap.
• 36:49
  So the biggest, the biggest frustration for them is financial lack of financial growth.
• 36:54
  They've hit a ceiling.
• 36:57
  Is that fair guys?
• 37:03
  It really is pretty awesome.
• 37:06
  So capped income is a long-term result.
• 37:09
  All right, so that's interesting.
• 37:10
  So what happened this Tuesday that made them feel that ceiling?
• 37:17
  Did they have to turn away a high-value lead, or are they drowning in manual prep for tomorrow's client?
• 37:25
  Both great answers, great examples.
• 37:27
  I love how it does this.
• 37:29
  So...
• 37:30
  So how would you guys answer that?
• 37:32
  I know how I would answer it, but how would you guys answer it?
• 37:37
  Give me a second.
• 37:37
  I've got to move my screen.
• 37:38
  I can't read that screen, to be honest with you.
• 37:41
  Oh, okay.
• 37:41
  You know what?
• 37:42
  I didn't realize that.
• 37:43
  Let me – there we go.
• 37:47
  Can you read it now?
• 37:48
  Yeah, I figured squinting isn't going to help anyone looking at me squinting my way through it.
• 37:53
  No, it –
• 37:54
  always let me know that because I don't know if other people can see on the screen.
• 37:57
  I see my big huge monitor here doing its thing and I'm good.
• 38:01
  But My camera's here.
• 38:04
  That's why I can't have it on my big screens off to the side or I will never be looking near the camera for the rest of the episode.
• 38:09
  So for me to have my camera focused, I got to have it on my laptop screen.
• 38:13
  All right, Captain.
• 38:16
  What happened this Tuesday?
• 38:18
  And I think
• 38:24
  You can come up with your thoughts there.
• 38:30
  We don't have your audio, though.
• 38:32
  Yeah, how about now?
• 38:33
  Oh, we got you now.
• 38:33
  Okay.
• 38:35
  Yeah.
• 38:35
  All right, so what happened Tuesday?
• 38:40
  That made them feel that ceiling.
• 38:43
  There could simply be, you know, they could be...
• 38:50
  You can be a woman who has her business and, you know, she went home that evening and, you know, something happened to her husband's car and now they need some more money.
• 39:03
  And his income is capped because he's an employee.
• 39:07
  And she's actually been the one who's made the most money for their family.
• 39:11
  And then she's feeling, you know, that she's capped and what can she do to increase
• 39:18
  What can she do to increase it?
• 39:19
  Because she feels that she's the one that has the easiest ability to solve the problem right there.
• 39:28
  But what it's asking, because it says capped income is a long-term result.
• 39:32
  So we just focus on the capped income.
• 39:34
  That's not going to do it.
• 39:35
  It's what actually triggered it.
• 39:38
  What triggered that feeling of, wait a minute, I've hit a ceiling.
• 39:43
  So for me, if I internalize, which is what I do often, is I have a daughter in college and a second daughter is transferring to the same school as her sister in January.
• 39:52
  So that's two kids in school and college at the same time.
• 39:56
  So I'm paying for a college with my daughters, but I'm paying for that and realizing that
• 40:07
  not only am I not excelling past that, where I can just calmly just write that check and not think twice about it, but I'm looking at that ceiling that I'm up against, saying, oh, now I have to go get more business.
• 40:19
  I have to make sure I'm driving more revenue.
• 40:21
  I have to make sure I'm helping more people.
• 40:22
  And then I'm internalizing saying, how many of my clients are having this exact same moment right now?
• 40:27
  Yeah, yeah.
• 40:28
  Because a lot of people are in this age, I think with the most prosperous years for people is what, 45 through 65, I think is the typical person.
• 40:36
  So,
• 40:39
  That's on Tuesday.
• 40:40
  They wrote that check out to school for me.
• 40:42
  That's how I'm internalizing it.
• 40:43
  And then realizing that, okay, I thought I was doing pretty good, but that check just really capped where we are.
• 40:50
  And I got to go do more so I could have that freedom.
• 40:53
  Cause I just lost that freedom.
• 40:54
  Yep.
• 40:57
  So in your case, it was, it was, uh, tuition for two kids in college, which I've got two kids in college.
• 41:04
  I feel your pain, man.
• 41:06
  I feel your pain.
• 41:07
  But I love them both, all my kids.
• 41:10
  But, you know, but it's one of those things that we do.
• 41:15
  We help them, right?
• 41:16
  So what we were talking about earlier, so there's two different things.
• 41:21
  So you guys brought up different pains in life, which could trigger that.
• 41:28
  And I like something that we talked about earlier, which was they've got to do all of this prep.
• 41:32
  They're drowning in manual prep.
• 41:35
  So I love that second answer personally.
• 41:37
  Because they're realizing it and they're realizing that's what's causing their cap.
• 41:43
  They've got to do all of this other stuff rather than, which is not their highest value.
• 41:49
  Their highest value is when they're literally with a client helping them, guiding them, right?
• 41:55
  So I would think this is somebody that we can speak to and they're going to be receptive.
• 42:07
  Yeah.
• 42:07
  So I think you break that down into they're spending too much of their time, not in income producing activities.
• 42:13
  There you go.
• 42:15
  They're realizing that they're spending time in non income producing activities.
• 42:19
  In other words, they're drowning in manual prep for tomorrow's client.
• 42:23
  And so they're serving fewer clients and capping their income.
• 42:29
  See if it'll challenge me further or not.
• 42:31
  Okay, good.
• 42:32
  We went to the next question.
• 42:33
  So, um, so,
• 42:36
  how they cope today?
• 42:38
  What do they already use instead of you, in this case, sports fire, a person, a tool, a workaround, or do they just live with it?
• 42:50
  What would you guys say for an answer there?
• 42:51
  A lot of times they just live with it.
• 42:57
  Yeah.
• 42:58
  And people are stuck, yeah.
• 43:01
  I would say they're just driving through.
• 43:03
  They're just doing what they know based on their past programming and past history and experience.
• 43:08
  And they realize that the old way of doing things has got me here.
• 43:12
  And I'm not going to get further.
• 43:13
  I just keep on pushing through.
• 43:15
  But now I'm trading more time for money because I'm just throwing more time and more time and more time.
• 43:19
  And at the end of the day, we all get 24 hours and I got to be more efficient.
• 43:23
  Yep.
• 43:24
  Yeah, definitely.
• 43:25
  So we're all in agreement there.
• 43:27
  Is it they're, they're not really, they don't have another workaround.
• 43:29
  They're creating their presentations.
• 43:31
  They're doing their trainings.
• 43:32
  They're doing all the different stuff, but they're, they're living with it is what it comes down to.
• 43:36
  So, uh, yeah, they're just living with it.
• 43:39
  There is no other solution that they have outside of a huge, um, outlay of cash for a massive, um,
• 43:48
  call it national program.
• 43:49
  That's what I was going to say.
• 43:51
  They're probably looking.
• 43:52
  They're probably looking for... Yep, sorry.
• 43:54
  I didn't realize you were recording that.
• 43:56
  I was going to say they're probably looking for an issue.
• 43:57
  They're looking for a resolution and that's what they're finding.
• 43:59
  They're finding, maybe there is a program from a...
• 44:03
  person who they look up to in the industry that program is 10 000 a month or that program is this and they're trying to prioritize their tasks and say okay maybe i can build up to get there but i'm not there but that's on top of what they already are feeling capped with so now you've added an additional five ten thousand a month on top of the cap that you're already feeling exactly i'm over here looking at my uh yeah my book one of my one of my bookshelves but um
• 44:32
  Yesterday, I saw an ad for coaches, and it was from – I don't know why I'm drawing a blank.
• 44:41
  He's all over here.
• 44:42
  I got a bunch of – Dan Martel?
• 44:44
  Oh, no.
• 44:44
  No, no.
• 44:45
  This is – Ryan Tracy?
• 44:48
  No.
• 44:49
  Dean Grazioso?
• 44:51
  No.
• 44:51
  No.
• 44:52
  What the heck?
• 44:54
  By the way, I've seen coach things coming from them in the past month from all three.
• 44:57
  That's why I mentioned them specifically.
• 44:59
  They're all selling something.
• 45:01
  that can help coaches.
• 45:05
  Oh my gosh.
• 45:05
  I don't know why I'm drawing a blank either way.
• 45:07
  And I'm looking at all of these just to look for his name.
• 45:12
  John C. Maxwell.
• 45:13
  Oh my God.
• 45:14
  Like that's a real brain cramp that I couldn't remember his name.
• 45:17
  So forgive me, John.
• 45:20
  So let's hit this answer and see what it says.
• 45:25
  All right.
• 45:25
  So scroll this down here.
• 45:28
  So they're living with it.
• 45:29
  Usually means they're hacking together a manual solution to survive.
• 45:33
  Are they using generic spreadsheets, a folder, or a Word docs, or a VA to handle the prep?
• 45:40
  I think most of them are handling it themselves and not using a VA.
• 45:42
  They're using Word docs, PowerPoint, spreadsheets, etc.
• 45:46
  Okay, I think we're all in agreement there.
• 45:48
  Yeah.
• 45:49
  Most are handling it themselves, and they're using generic spreadsheets, you know, Word docs, stuff like that.
• 45:54
  And I'd say probably most of them are starting to use some, whether it be Claude or Chad, they're using some entry-level AI.
• 46:02
  Some of them are starting to use some entry-level AI.
• 46:06
  Let's see what it says.
• 46:11
  All right.
• 46:13
  So urgency.
• 46:14
  What makes...
• 46:15
  So now we're on question six.
• 46:16
  This is good.
• 46:17
  So we're...
• 46:18
  It only moves you ahead to another question if you've answered the question sufficiently enough, which is, which is cool.
• 46:24
  So urgency, what, what would make them take a 15 minute conversation this week instead of someday?
• 46:32
  Is it money leaking, time leaking, a deadline, a scare or a specific goal with a date?
• 46:42
  I mean, my thought is within the next quarter,
• 46:50
  how, what, what, within the next quarter, we could add a couple, we could add at least, we could add two plus clients and get a lot more efficient.
• 46:58
  I'm thinking about how I want to phrase that, but again, just getting it out of my head, we're going to be able to add revenue and get them more efficient.
• 47:04
  So the time's going to become more available.
• 47:08
  They're going to have a system and they're going to be able to, so add revenue, increase efficiency, and plug into a system.
• 47:17
  Okay.
• 47:19
  But what's the urgency?
• 47:22
  There's no urgency in that, that I see.
• 47:24
  Well, they need that.
• 47:26
  They need that, but we've already talked about the cap.
• 47:28
  Okay.
• 47:29
  They have time caps and financial caps.
• 47:31
  Yeah.
• 47:31
  So this is going to help them break through that cap and then take that ceiling off because now they're part of a system.
• 47:40
  Right.
• 47:42
  I think from, and I agree with you there.
• 47:45
  I think from a coach's perspective,
• 47:49
  they should if they're a good coach they should already have goals and and they should be looking and saying all right i've got these huge goals i'm running up against the end of the year and because i mean we're today we're recording this on on october 1st this is the fourth quarter this this is you know win or lose this is this is the quarter for the year right this is going to make you break you and and so um
• 48:15
  And by the way, December is pretty much a shutdown month.
• 48:18
  A lot of December.
• 48:19
  Yeah.
• 48:20
  And they know that.
• 48:21
  Right.
• 48:22
  October.
• 48:22
  And really, a lot of times, half of November.
• 48:25
  Exactly.
• 48:25
  October 1 to November 15.
• 48:27
  Yeah.
• 48:29
  So they're thinking, all right, like, I've got these goals.
• 48:31
  I'm a ways away from this.
• 48:32
  I've got to figure out a better way.
• 48:34
  Now.
• 48:35
  Now.
• 48:35
  Right.
• 48:35
  Now.
• 48:36
  That's the urgency.
• 48:40
  I've got goals.
• 48:41
  Or they have goals.
• 48:43
  And they have to speak, figure out a better way because they are running out of time in year and in life.
• 48:55
  I think I tossed that in.
• 48:59
  So that next payment is going to be due to sooner rather than later.
• 49:04
  Yeah, exactly.
• 49:05
  That happens in every business.
• 49:07
  So so running out of time in life is too abstract for some chart test of what happened in their bank account or calendar.
• 49:12
  So again, it's challenging us.
• 49:15
  What happened in their bank account or calendar this week that makes them desperate for your specific roadmap right now?
• 49:23
  Is what they're doing, what they're doing isn't working.
• 49:31
  So to me, that's what happened is they realized that
• 49:36
  financially and from their current business system.
• 49:40
  It's not working to get them to where they need to.
• 49:43
  It's not gonna get them where they need to go.
• 49:44
  They're trapped.
• 49:48
  So what do they do?
• 49:51
  Because the status quo isn't gonna cover it.
• 49:53
  Any other thoughts there, Steven?
• 50:03
  I would say calendar's not full enough.
• 50:06
  Bank account's not big enough.
• 50:10
  Okay.
• 50:11
  So calendar is not full enough.
• 50:13
  Bank account is not full enough.
• 50:16
  Calendar is not full enough with income-producing activities.
• 50:21
  Yes.
• 50:21
  Bank account is definitely not full enough.
• 50:24
  The key thing is to focus on the income-producing.
• 50:27
  They need to have the time to book more income-producing activities, and they know it.
• 50:40
  The calendar is not full enough with income producing activities and the bank account is not full enough because they're spending too much time on non income producing activities.
• 50:51
  So they're looking at the calendar saying, I need to be doing stuff that makes me money.
• 50:59
  That work?
• 51:01
  Yep.
• 51:02
  Yes.
• 51:02
  By the way, Whisperflow does have a way to go back and copy what you just said, even if it's not inside the portal.
• 51:08
  I've seen that.
• 51:10
  And you should copy it, but not always.
• 51:14
  So question seven.
• 51:15
  So that was enough to move ahead.
• 51:17
  So the disqualified.
• 51:19
  Who looks like a customer but is a waste of the 72 hours?
• 51:23
  Name two people you will not call.
• 51:29
  John Smith and Tim Williams.
• 51:32
  John.
• 51:38
  I just thought it'd be funny to see the reactions.
• 51:47
  I just made up those names, John Smith and Tim Williams.
• 51:49
  The coach that is ready for retirement.
• 51:58
  Yep.
• 52:02
  And who would be the second one?
• 52:05
  Now they may be the most desperate, but they're,
• 52:08
  They're short-lived, right?
• 52:10
  So you got to think about that.
• 52:11
  And maybe that's not the right answer.
• 52:13
  I don't know.
• 52:14
  I'm thinking about that.
• 52:15
  See, this is the value of this, guys.
• 52:18
  I know we're sort of going through this, but as we think about these things, it's like if you're going to launch a business, if you're going to invest all kinds of money in time, time especially, because time is more valuable than money, quite frankly.
• 52:31
  We only have a set amount of it.
• 52:33
  So if you're going to invest your time in launching a business, growing a business,
• 52:39
  scaling a business, all of those things, you wanna make sure that you're serving the right client.
• 52:46
  And if you haven't had these deep thoughts, you haven't answered these types of questions for yourself yet for your business, even if you're in business now, this is a tool you need to utilize.
• 52:55
  You need to just go through it.
• 52:58
  And think about, maybe you pick one customer avatar, one customer direction, all right?
• 53:04
  Which is what we're talking about here.
• 53:05
  In this case, we talked about business coaches.
• 53:07
  But we could look at several different versions.
• 53:11
  What matters is we need to get down to who that person really is.
• 53:17
  And that's what this is taking us down through by asking us key questions, right?
• 53:22
  And quite frankly, and I learned this a lot of years ago, you can be doing 10 different things at once and you're never gonna get anywhere.
• 53:30
  And it could all be great things.
• 53:32
  If you do one thing, you do it well to the point where it's profitable,
• 53:36
  now and you get it automated and it's running on its own now you can do that second one then you can do the third one then you can do the fourth you can get those 10 things going and profitable all right but you but in in a case like starting a business you want to figure out who that ideal target client is and and serve them serve them well when that's going well and you pretty much automated the process now you can add another
• 54:04
  Customer avatar, another ideal client.
• 54:08
  Because most businesses will have more than one.
• 54:12
  But you want to go for the top one first, right?
• 54:15
  That number one, because that's...
• 54:17
  If all you did was invest all of your time and efforts in that, you can become very profitable.
• 54:23
  Yep.
• 54:24
  So we would not call a coach who's in retirement.
• 54:26
  And then I would also say we would not call someone who does not collaborate.
• 54:30
  Who thinks that they have all the answers.
• 54:33
  Because those...
• 54:34
  I would not call a coach that thinks they have all the answers and they're not coachable themselves.
• 54:39
  Yep.
• 54:40
  So a coach that has a coach could be a good candidate.
• 54:48
  Let's see if it's going to challenge me on that one.
• 54:50
  It may.
• 54:51
  Let's see.
• 54:51
  It was a difficult question to answer, like who don't you want?
• 54:54
  Right.
• 54:55
  But it's an important question.
• 54:57
  It is.
• 54:57
  But how do you define it and how would they know someone has a difficult personality and you don't want to deal with them?
• 55:03
  Well, first time you talk to them.
• 55:06
  No, but they're asking ahead of time.
• 55:08
  Yeah.
• 55:08
  Right.
• 55:10
  Right.
• 55:10
  So you can only make an assumption initially.
• 55:13
  I mean, you're making an educated guess based off of who you think would be good.
• 55:17
  Now, it might be that retired, retiring coaches are our best client.
• 55:22
  I don't honestly know that answer.
• 55:24
  But in my head, I'm thinking, you know what?
• 55:27
  If they're about to retire, they may be more desperate.
• 55:33
  than willing to go through a process.
• 55:35
  Yeah.
• 55:36
  Right.
• 55:36
  And really grow a practice.
• 55:39
  So just.
• 55:40
  So I'd say for this, like, yeah, like groups, social media groups, LinkedIn, Facebook, et cetera.
• 55:44
  That's one place you could go look.
• 55:46
  Associations, definitely.
• 55:47
  But again, you're trying to turn this around quickly and get these seats.
• 55:50
  So I would definitely reach out to your network, see if they know people that they could recommend people that are great coaches that you're looking just to speak to them.
• 55:57
  So reach out to your network, check a Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups.
• 56:01
  That's where I'd start.
• 56:03
  Okay.
• 56:04
  And so the question was where they already are.
• 56:08
  So where can you find those 20, find 20 of these humans in 24 hours without buying ads.
• 56:14
  The idea is to be able to do the 72 hour test without all kinds of expenses.
• 56:19
  And is it groups?
• 56:21
  Is it associations?
• 56:22
  Is it existing customers?
• 56:24
  Is it LinkedIn titles?
• 56:25
  You know, searching on LinkedIn or a list that you already have or even a partner or a platform.
• 56:31
  Where are they?
• 56:33
  And you had a great point, Mike.
• 56:35
  For me, what I would do is, I mean, I use AI all the time, so I would search for, I'd actually create a bot to search for, actually, let me rephrase that, I've already done that.
• 56:44
  I've created a bot, a grog bot just to search for coaches, okay?
• 56:49
  And specific types of coaches.
• 56:51
  And so that's what I would do, because I can narrow that down quickly.
• 56:57
  But a lot of people aren't at that AI point yet.
• 57:02
  So I'm going to skip that for the moment.
• 57:05
  And so say yours in a condensed fashion, Mike.
• 57:11
  I would look through social media groups such as LinkedIn and Facebook, as well as reach out to my network for recommendation on coaches.
• 57:20
  Just leave it at that.
• 57:24
  Okay.
• 57:26
  They would look through Facebook and LinkedIn.
• 57:31
  groups for coaches.
• 57:39
  And they would also reach out to their network to find out about coaches that might fit this persona.
• 57:51
  Something like that.
• 57:52
  Again, we're literally doing this on the fly, right?
• 57:56
  But, and I think it's gonna challenge us, but let's see what happens here.
• 58:00
  So looking through groups as a start, but do you have the names of 20 coaches ready to message right now?
• 58:08
  No.
• 58:09
  Okay.
• 58:09
  Or the name of one specific group where you can see their profiles today?
• 58:15
  No, that's why we're looking for guidance.
• 58:20
  No, that's why I'm looking for guidance.
• 58:22
  Let's see what it says.
• 58:32
  If you don't have a specific list or group, uh, you're already in the 72 hour test will stall pick one specific niche of executive coaches.
• 58:39
  Like those serving SAS founders or law firm partners.
• 58:44
  You and I talked about law firm part law firms yesterday, uh, Mike, um, where you can pull a list of 20 names from LinkedIn or an association.
• 58:55
  directory in the name in the next 60 minutes which niche are you picking so i love that it it answers the question gives you a a viable solution and makes you pick or gives you multiple solutions it makes you pick so so which one we going with guys do we like the sas founders or we want the law firm partners i don't see how either one of them i don't see how law firm
• 59:25
  I don't get how that would fit what we're looking for.
• 59:28
  The law ties into that ties into coaches to business coaches.
• 59:32
  Yeah.
• 59:32
  Coaches that are serving law firms or SAS founders.
• 59:39
  I think for our system, it has to be SaaS founders because law firm partners, they have rules and regulations and stipulations.
• 59:45
  And there could be things that could block the system from working until we've kind of built out or just kind of vetted it against the law firm.
• 59:52
  I think there's more work on our side we'd have to go through on that.
• 59:56
  I think SaaS founders fits better into the wheelhouse as it's currently built.
• 1:00:00
  So normally I would agree with you and I'll go with that for the answer, by the way.
• 1:00:04
  But I do want to state, so I met with a lawyer yesterday, an attorney firm.
• 1:00:08
  the owner, the partner, head partner, whatever, of a law firm yesterday.
• 1:00:16
  And we talked about Forge Fire.
• 1:00:20
  And he's like, yes, we need to be able to do that.
• 1:00:23
  And he's like, I'm going to connect you with this attorney in our office, and I want you to help her to get started.
• 1:00:32
  So law firms, we can definitely help.
• 1:00:35
  I believe we can.
• 1:00:36
  I was just trying to figure out how a coach serving a law firm, would that be a better fit than a SaaS?
• 1:00:43
  Because we have to pick one.
• 1:00:48
  I would agree.
• 1:00:48
  If we have to pick one, I personally think we can do either, and it would be fine.
• 1:00:54
  It's how we're going to present.
• 1:00:56
  But I think SaaS founders, I'll go with that completely.
• 1:01:00
  Any other thoughts on your side, Stephen?
• 1:01:01
  Yeah.
• 1:01:02
  I just asked for some assistance.
• 1:01:05
  Dale Carnegie, Nationwide Organization, Business Coaches.
• 1:01:09
  They have a directory.
• 1:01:12
  Of all Dale Carnegie coaches, though.
• 1:01:14
  Correct.
• 1:01:15
  But if you're asking for...
• 1:01:18
  You're asking to validate the test.
• 1:01:20
  Yeah, you're right.
• 1:01:21
  Because they're not going to, they're in their set program.
• 1:01:24
  They're not changing.
• 1:01:26
  I got it.
• 1:01:27
  And they could change, but yeah, they might not.
• 1:01:29
  So we'll go with the SaaS founders for now.
• 1:01:31
  Yes.
• 1:01:33
  Let's go with SaaS founders for 100, Alex.
• 1:01:41
  I'm sorry, it just came out.
• 1:01:43
  Right, let's do it in a second.
• 1:01:46
  So just to be clear, are you targeting coaches who serve staff founders, or are you switching to the target SaaS founders themselves?
• 1:01:55
  Coaches that serve SaaS founders.
• 1:02:04
  Okay, good.
• 1:02:05
  All right, so money and fit, we're almost there.
• 1:02:08
  Of the SaaS-focused coaches you just described, who has both the budget to invest in a tool and a reason to act right now?
• 1:02:16
  Cut the ones who just like the idea, but aren't actually feeling the financial ceiling.
• 1:02:25
  So of the SaaS focused coaches you just described, who has both the budget to invest in a tool and a reason to act right now?
• 1:02:36
  So think about that one.
• 1:02:37
  So I would say coaches that are not a tool
• 1:02:46
  have been in business for at least five years.
• 1:02:56
  And because they should have the budget, but they should also have a reason to act because they need to scale, right?
• 1:03:10
  So you guys good with that answer?
• 1:03:13
  Yep.
• 1:03:13
  And there should be a revenue cap.
• 1:03:15
  I mean, they should be probably pulling in minimum $150,000 just to even survive.
• 1:03:20
  Coaches that have been in business for a minimum of five years and billing $150,000 per year minimum in coaching fees are ones who would have the budget to invest in our tool.
• 1:03:34
  And they would have a reason to act because they want to scale higher.
• 1:03:45
  So this is something, and you can see this, right?
• 1:03:49
  So this is the last question, question 10.
• 1:03:51
  I believe it's gonna be the last question unless it challenges us.
• 1:03:54
  So the 20 calls, if you could only speak to 20 people in the next 72 hours, write the exact sentence you would use to describe who those 20 are.
• 1:04:02
  One sentence, no, and anyone else who, or no, anyone else who.
• 1:04:09
  So we wanna describe them based off of what we just went through.
• 1:04:12
  So I'm going to attempt this, and we can tweak it from there.
• 1:04:20
  I'm looking for coaches who coach SaaS founders that the coach is doing a minimum of $150,000 a year in billing, has been in business for five years or more.
• 1:04:42
  but is not ready to retire.
• 1:04:46
  They're looking to scale and grow their business.
• 1:04:51
  What are your thoughts guys?
• 1:04:53
  It's good.
• 1:04:55
  The only reason I came up with that is because of all the questions we've just answered.
• 1:04:57
  Right.
• 1:04:58
  Right.
• 1:04:59
  So it helped in that.
• 1:05:00
  So it helped us to sort of come to that point, but now what's it say?
• 1:05:05
  I don't know if it's going to challenge me or not here.
• 1:05:14
  Okay, so this gave us the answer.
• 1:05:19
  So I'm going to make this a little bit smaller so I can get more on the screen just to show you guys.
• 1:05:23
  But this is what it just gave us.
• 1:05:25
  So the final client brief.
• 1:05:28
  It's your ideal client one-liner.
• 1:05:30
  Solo executive coaches for SaaS founders who are billing $150,000 plus, but hit an income ceiling because they're drowning in manual client prep and spreadsheet-based roadmaps.
• 1:05:39
  All right, 72-hour test targets.
• 1:05:43
  So who to contact executive coaches with five plus years experience who specifically list SAS or founders in their LinkedIn profiles and are likely solo or small firm operators.
• 1:05:53
  All right.
• 1:05:53
  How many 15 to 20 conversations?
• 1:05:56
  How will you find them in 24 hours?
• 1:05:58
  LinkedIn sales navigator, filter by title, executive coach, plus keyword SAS and the SAS boss or similar founder coach focused Slack LinkedIn groups.
• 1:06:08
  So you can see it's going through, where is your opening line?
• 1:06:11
  Hey, I'm looking for two to three staff coaches who are tired of building custom exit roadmaps by hand and want a repeatable system to scale their practice.
• 1:06:18
  If you have 15 minutes to talk about how you're handling that right now, their primary pain, right?
• 1:06:24
  Drowning in non-income producing manual prep.
• 1:06:27
  So this summarized everything that we've answered, right?
• 1:06:31
  But it asked us- Great job, yes.
• 1:06:33
  And it made us think and come up with the actual solutions.
• 1:06:38
  So, you know, hey, do not call coaches nearing retirement, coaches who claim to have all the answers because they're uncoachable, or coaches who haven't yet reached the 150,000 on five-year stability mark.
• 1:06:48
  Marketing message, validation score filter, right, next action, you know, write the first 10 names or titles of SaaS-focused executive coaches you will reach out to in the next four hours.
• 1:07:00
  Again, everything we do, by the way, folks, is about action, right?
• 1:07:04
  We're giving you the tools so you can take action.
• 1:07:07
  This is a free tool that is in ForgeFire protocol for everybody using this.
• 1:07:13
  All right.
• 1:07:14
  Yeah, and I think it's important to do that, guys.
• 1:07:16
  We've got to wrap up here, but I think it's important that people understand that as they go into now that 72-hour market test, we've just defined, we just took away that barrier of paralysis by analysis of who do I reach out to.
• 1:07:28
  Right.
• 1:07:29
  Telling you how to get there.
• 1:07:30
  And we've also identified the problem that you can enter into the prompts.
• 1:07:33
  Yes.
• 1:07:35
  Call the action.
• 1:07:35
  Do it within the next four hours.
• 1:07:38
  It's not, oh, I'll do it tomorrow.
• 1:07:40
  Yeah.
• 1:07:42
  So we just did this on Forge Fire.
• 1:07:46
  But you all have ideas.
• 1:07:47
  You've got business ideas.
• 1:07:48
  Some of you are already in business.
• 1:07:50
  Now, we're in business.
• 1:07:54
  We're going concern.
• 1:07:56
  With us, it's very helpful to go through that.
• 1:08:01
  And I can tell you, I would go through this multiple times.
• 1:08:04
  All right.
• 1:08:05
  Not necessarily all, you know, one after another.
• 1:08:07
  I'm saying go through, find that target, what you believe is a target.
• 1:08:11
  Really define that person in your business, you know, that ideal client and how to reach them and then reach them.
• 1:08:21
  Right.
• 1:08:22
  This is this is so you can do the 72 hour market test.
• 1:08:25
  But look, if you're already in business, you still want to do that test.
• 1:08:28
  You'd be surprised the answers that you get.
• 1:08:30
  and the direction it can bring you in.
• 1:08:33
  So I don't care if you are a business owner that has been in business for a couple of decades, in the same business, go through these exercises, because it's going to blow your mind as what you're going to learn about your business, about your clients, and your ideal clients.
• 1:08:52
  All right.
• 1:08:53
  And it's going to help you to build a stronger, more profitable business and get you to that exit.
• 1:08:58
  That's my piece.
• 1:09:00
  I love what we're building here, guys, and it keeps getting better.
• 1:09:03
  Yep, just add value.
• 1:09:04
  How can we make your life easier and how can we get answers to questions that we would ask ourselves and we would want to use in building our businesses?
• 1:09:11
  As a matter of fact, I mentioned to you earlier, tomorrow I'm going to spend some time supporting myself, walking through it with one of my businesses and just have it as a proof of concept for something that I'm doing because I'd love to see what it's going to do.
• 1:09:23
  I don't have to bend it today, but I'm booking time tomorrow to do it.
• 1:09:26
  So...
• 1:09:27
  Awesome.
• 1:09:28
  Awesome.
• 1:09:28
  Well, I can tell you, I'm adding this because we just built this in.
• 1:09:32
  So I'm running all of my companies through this.
• 1:09:34
  I want to see it again.
• 1:09:35
  Exactly.
• 1:09:37
  All right.
• 1:09:38
  Well, hey, thanks for being here, guys.
• 1:09:40
  Don't wait for the next episode.
• 1:09:41
  Make sure that you watch the others coming up to this.
• 1:09:45
  But the next episode will be out shortly.
• 1:09:49
  And don't miss it because it's going to be phenomenal.
• 1:09:56
  That's it for this episode of the Forge Fire Protocol podcast.
• 1:09:59
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• 1:10:04
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• 1:10:07
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• 1:10:11
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• 1:10:23
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• 1:10:31
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• 1:10:37
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