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June 28, 2024

876: Unlocking VISIONARIES and how to complement ideas with execution w/ Jon Allen

Embark on a journey in today's conversation with Jon Allen, a savvy former music industry maestro who's struck a chord in the entrepreneurial world. From globe-trotting tours to orchestrating business growth strategies, Jon's story is a symphony of transformation, rich with lessons on channeling creative energy into lucrative ventures. Tune in to hear how he's crafting harmonious work environments and empowering visionaries to scale their practices with his innovative company, Visionary Clarity.

Today's episode hits all the right notes as we explore 'The Synergist' philosophy, breaking down the vital roles within a business ensemble - visionaries, operators, and processors. We uncover the secret to avoiding burnout and fostering a collaborative workspace that amplifies each member's strengths. Plus, Jon shares his blueprint for creating a seamless customer journey that strikes a chord with simplicity, steering clear of the siren song of unnecessary tech and complex strategies.

Rounding off our session, Jon gives us a candid tour of his tech stack, singing praises for tools like Squarespace and Notion for their straightforward charm. We also riff on Daniel Kahneman's behavioral economics theories, adding a new tune to understanding the ebb and flow between intuition and reasoned responses. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur or a seasoned visionary, this episode is a masterclass in tuning your business strategies to find your rhythm in the entrepreneurial landscape.

ABOUT JON

Jon Allen, founder of Visionary Clarity, launched his whirlwind of a career in the music touring industry, taking on roles from audio engineer all the way to executive producer. His firsthand experience with the cycles of creativity and burnout among artists led him to recognize crucial patterns. To avoid his own burnout he shifted to the startup world, founding a software company, a marketing agency, and a consultancy, where he significantly increased the profitability of a large doctor coaching firm and taught over 200 doctors how to scale their businesses.

Today, at Visionary Clarity, Jon harnesses his observations from 100s of visionaries to address the challenges that often ensnare successful early-stage businesses. He has developed a unique process that helps visionaries escape these ruts and align their initial momentum with sustainable growth strategies.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Chapters

00:00 - Visionaries Conversations With John Allen

06:09 - The Three Roles for Business Success

14:15 - Perfect Path for Customer Journey

19:48 - Navigating the Visionary Entrepreneurial Journey

29:58 - John's Simplified Tech Stack Overview

35:06 - Understanding Kahneman and Behavioral Economics

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:00.261 --> 00:00:01.185
Hey, what is up?

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Welcome to this episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

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As always, I'm your host, brian Lofermento, and I am joined by, quite simply, an amazing person and entrepreneur here for today's episode.

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We were already riffing off screen before we even hit record, so I figured let's hit record so you all can get a taste of this entrepreneur's energy, all his wisdom, so much career background that he has brought into the work that he does today to serve so many other people.

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Let me tell you all about today's guest.

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His name is John Allen.

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John launched his whirlwind of a career in the music touring industry, taking on roles from audio engineer all the way to executive producer.

00:00:38.979 --> 00:00:47.286
His firsthand experience with the cycles of creativity and burnout among artists led to him recognizing crucial patterns.

00:00:47.286 --> 00:01:02.051
To avoid his own burnout, he shifted to the startup world, founding a software company, a marketing agency and a consultancy, where he significantly increased the profitability of a large doctor coaching firm and taught over 200 doctors how to scale their businesses.

00:01:02.051 --> 00:01:13.308
Now, under his own business, visionary Clarity, john harnesses his observations from hundreds of visionaries to address the challenges that often ensnare successful early stage businesses.

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He has developed a unique process that helps visionaries escape these ruts and align their initial momentum with sustainable growth strategies.

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I'll tell you what above and beyond just the nature of his work, you're going to hear so much into the mind of an entrepreneur that thinks like a visionary and understands visionaries and helps people to get clarity and actually take action, which is what the name of the game is.

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So we're all going to learn so much.

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I'm not going to say anything else.

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Let's dive straight into my interview with John Allen.

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All right, john, I see you rocking out to our pre-roll jams here on the show.

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I'm loving it.

00:01:50.284 --> 00:01:51.507
Dude, welcome to the show.

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I'm so excited to be here.

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Heck, yeah, honestly, this has been a conversation that has been long awaited and much anticipated on my end.

00:01:59.290 --> 00:02:00.701
But first things first.

00:02:00.701 --> 00:02:05.444
You got to take us behind the bio, because you have so much stuff that I could brag about who the heck is.

00:02:05.444 --> 00:02:07.611
John, how did you start doing all these cool things?

00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:17.127
You know it's funny, we're doing some recon on you doing the appropriate amount of Internet stalking and all the documents you sent over, which is fantastic, and we've actually had kind of a similar journey, you and I.

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I left college at 19, decided it wasn't for me and it was crazy.

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So I did about a semester worth of college and then I joined the circus, ie the music touring industry.

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I ended up living in Nashville for about 20 years.

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I spent 15 years touring the planet, audio engineer, production manager, tour manager, show designer, producer, executive producer.

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I designed some huge shows At one point at, I think, about 20 or 22,.

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I decided to create tour management as a service, which was exciting and had some decent sized clients.

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I saw the same repeating patterns over and over again as some of the visionary artists 37 countries, airline status, all over the place.

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It was a blast.

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And then I quit.

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Cold turkey Started a software company called Aware Amazing product crap partner.

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Ran out of money, moved on, started a podcast about processing the difficulties of the modern church.

00:03:04.165 --> 00:03:06.010
Don't want to go into that because it was crazy.

00:03:06.010 --> 00:03:09.129
I learned a lot about people transitioning out of one phase of life into another.

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Marketing agency one marketing agency.

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Two.

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Started as a freelance integrator.

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That's when I started to realize I was kind of a visionary whisperer to some extent and joined a large company doing doctor coaching, built a viable product out of the founder, which I didn't think that was possible because he was essentially selling his own time, which everybody wants to sell their own time in the beginning.

00:03:28.207 --> 00:03:40.507
But then you're stuck in the time for money equation which you can't get out of and yeah, so we started at nine clients and a negative P&L and when I left we had 200 plus clients, nearly 3 million in revenue and about 20% profit margin, which is incredible.

00:03:40.507 --> 00:03:51.225
That's when I founded Visionary Clarity as a side hustle because I realized, working with these 200 crazy visionary doctors, a lot of the theories of how to focus that incredible visionary energy was starting to come to.

00:03:51.225 --> 00:04:01.383
So Visionary Clarity side hustle co-founded a startup doing certification for short-term rentals called ClearStay, got funded, made it into the validation stage, did not validate out.

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Short-term rentals do not want a big light shine on their moldy, dark corners.

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That's how it works.

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There's a recurring theme here with me trying to take on large industries.

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At that point I sold 95% of my worldly possessions and turned into a full nomad.

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So I own two suitcases and a backpack and that is all.

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And then I co-founded a platform to try to help fix Medicare insurance because my parents are becoming of that age and I thought I would jump in and we got shot down by the giant monopoly powers and almost got sued, so I gave up on that.

00:04:27.262 --> 00:04:36.711
The point I try to go as fast as possible is that all of that taught me focused, crazy visionary energy can save the world, is my strong opinion.

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Unhealthy, unfocused visionaries are the death of so many great ideas that could have made a big impact on the planet.

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That's when I realized the greatest impact I could have for humanity was helping focus visionary energy.

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With all the madness that I had learned and all those different experiences, that's as fast as I could go.

00:04:52.939 --> 00:04:53.240
John.

00:04:53.240 --> 00:05:01.687
No, I love that overview for so many reasons, especially because I know that my team had sent you our document for preparations and your team sent us a Notion document.

00:05:01.687 --> 00:05:09.459
We're both suckers for Notion and I saw that, and it is crazy how much you and I have that the close ties, even as far as timeline goes.

00:05:09.459 --> 00:05:11.584
I mean, I started my first business when I was 19.

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You talk about your journey as a 19 year old leaving school which kudos to you, gosh, in hindsight, do I wish that I did that at the time as well.

00:05:18.449 --> 00:05:27.709
And so, john, I love that overview, especially because there's so many things that we're all involved in, and you said the words.

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It's two words.

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I didn't expect us to get into so quickly here, but you talk about focused energy, and here we are in front of an audience of worldwide entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, and the term visionary, I think, is something that unites all of us as we are constantly daydreaming, we are constantly having visions of so many things, of what we want to do in the world, that oftentimes it actually becomes overwhelming.

00:05:46.108 --> 00:05:51.362
I remember as a teenager in my early 20s, I thought how do I channel all this stuff?

00:05:51.362 --> 00:05:58.456
So, john, I guess where I want to start in today's conversation is let's start with visionaries, because it's a word that's thrown around often.

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Every entrepreneur feels it to an extent, but what's it mean to you?

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Why is it?

00:06:00.764 --> 00:06:02.309
What is it about visionaries that drive so much of your work?

00:06:02.309 --> 00:06:03.192
It to an extent, but what's it mean to you?

00:06:03.192 --> 00:06:03.492
Why is it?

00:06:03.492 --> 00:06:06.622
What is it about visionaries that drives so much of your work?

00:06:06.622 --> 00:06:08.165
Great question.

00:06:08.266 --> 00:06:09.790
Okay I'm going to use.

00:06:09.790 --> 00:06:23.031
There's a book called the Synergist which is about as nerdy and early SNL synergy as it sounds, but it talks about a framework of three different types of people in a working group a visionary, an operator and a processor.

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And think about three separate people in this instance, but it also applies to larger groups.

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And, by the way, I'm stealing everything out of this book.

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None of this is original idea, but all of its theories have tested out.

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Proof for me over the years.

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The visionary big ideas that's their superpower.

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They pull ideas out of thin air.

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Nobody had also thought before.

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They saw patterns.

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They bring it all together.

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Their sin is they think the idea is the easiest part and they don't really like to do stuff.

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The operator I think in this side was what I used.

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The operator their superpower is they get stuff done faster than anybody's seen before.

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They're just like banging on keyboards all day and they just get it done and nobody can figure out how they got it done.

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Their sin is they tend to take on way too much and they sign up for way too much because they don't want to be without doing right.

00:07:06.380 --> 00:07:15.154
Okay, so a processor their superpower is to see patterns in what those two made and turn them into repeatable, scalable processes.

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Their sin is they would make process for its own sake if it was up to them, and nothing would ever get done.

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So in a healthy company you need all three of those things working together.

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If you're talking about an early stage company, it's usually one person and someone helping, or two founders, or it's not a very large team size, and so it's important to recognize which role at which moment out of those three things you might be playing.

00:07:38.940 --> 00:08:00.533
And almost every time we go through the visionary clarity process, we discover in their executive team because it's usually larger companies in their executive team they slant towards visionaries and operators and nobody's a processor, or they slant towards operator, and so the concept of a synergist is someone that is all three of those things and that's like 0.1% of the population.

00:08:00.533 --> 00:08:02.370
But does that answer your question?

00:08:02.370 --> 00:08:05.944
That's how I would define a visionary in that three person framework.

00:08:06.386 --> 00:08:07.067
Yeah for sure.

00:08:07.067 --> 00:08:11.908
Not only does it answer it, but I think it introduces so many threads that I already know we're going to be short on time here today.

00:08:11.908 --> 00:08:14.644
John, I think you and I both knew that before we even record.

00:08:14.644 --> 00:08:18.502
But I think that one thing that's fascinating is when we talk about the visionary.

00:08:18.502 --> 00:08:31.141
So much of your messaging and positioning and your message to the world, really of what you help people with, is.

00:08:31.141 --> 00:08:33.750
It's that interesting cycle and I don't know if it's a cycle or if these two are intertwined of creativity and burnout.

00:08:33.750 --> 00:08:34.592
How do those two, why do those two things?

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Why are they related to each other?

00:08:36.962 --> 00:08:38.085
Yeah, good, good question.

00:08:38.085 --> 00:08:50.432
Most people in that visionary operator processor framework, most people are strongly one and a little bit of the other, and probably none of the third, whatever that might be, and they fit in different places.

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And when you have to do things outside of your strengths it gets real exhausting.

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Because I don't like.

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If you're a visionary, you don't want to come up with a repeatable process.

00:09:01.351 --> 00:09:02.562
That kind of sounds like death to you.

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If you're a processor, sitting in a chair and dreaming all day and coming up with some incredible new product idea that changes the world sounds terrible because I can't put that into a process.

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So if you have a group large enough to have a decent amount of people, it's helpful to discuss how each role needs to look at the other with respect and dignity and understanding.

00:09:24.908 --> 00:09:31.666
Oh, you need to be a crazy visionary, you need to live outside the way of normal thinking, and that's okay because we have operators and processors to support it.

00:09:31.666 --> 00:09:37.221
Processors you don't get to get mad at the visionaries when they don't do the process because they might be coming up with something new.

00:09:37.221 --> 00:09:41.429
So when you have a smaller team, it's sort of mapping that out.

00:09:41.429 --> 00:09:56.630
So I draw a triangle and I have my clients put where people on their team are, and if it's all skewed one way, then either need to hire somebody or you need to polish that portion of your work to include those three things.

00:09:56.630 --> 00:09:57.373
Does that make sense?

00:09:57.820 --> 00:09:59.927
Yeah, not only does it make sense, but I guess the well.

00:09:59.927 --> 00:10:01.211
You and I can obviously see each other.

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Most of our listeners can't see us right now, but when you draw out these triangles, I'm similarly visual to you and I can obviously see each other.

00:10:05.035 --> 00:10:08.580
Most of our listeners can't see us right now, but when you draw these triangles, I'm similarly visual to you and I can see all of your post-it notes in the background.

00:10:08.580 --> 00:10:14.153
And I know how logical you are when it comes to visualizing.

00:10:14.153 --> 00:10:21.291
Yeah, I want to say literally, you visually map it out Workflows and the way that you actually view business and the way that you view the world.

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Is this something that is sequential?

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Is it cyclical?

00:10:25.164 --> 00:10:37.652
Is the goal of business for us to overcome our visionary tendencies, to get to the next maturity phase of growth, or how do you view all of those things coexisting together?

00:10:37.652 --> 00:10:38.821
Yeah, good.

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I would say our goal is to try to be as synergistic as possible in doing all three of those things and respecting the importance of it.

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However, if you don't want to be a visionary, you don't want to be an operator, then taking time to allow outside opinions that do fill those roles it just makes for such a happier work time and so much more enjoyment of work when you understand sort of where you fit and then not getting mad at yourself.

00:11:10.649 --> 00:11:12.592
I'm not a crazy visionary.

00:11:12.592 --> 00:11:20.669
Hey, that's completely okay, because I believe what I said at the beginning crazy visionaries who are healthy and focused in the right direction genuinely can change the world.

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I have faith in that and I've seen it happen many, many times.

00:11:23.864 --> 00:11:27.510
I've also seen it fall apart, so that's why I do what I do, did I?

00:11:27.530 --> 00:11:28.011
answer your question.

00:11:28.011 --> 00:11:36.988
Yeah, for sure, but it's fun for me because I'm layering our conversation with where we are currently knowing that we're being listened to by thousands of people all around the world.

00:11:36.988 --> 00:11:47.315
But also I have obviously my background, research, and what I think of hearing you talk about these things is now I'm starting to see the message that you put into the world of the business of business.

00:11:47.315 --> 00:12:14.851
I'm starting to see where that starts coming into all of this work, because for visionaries, they want to dream things up, they want to have ideas, but the reality is is that in business, we are in business and business comes with marketing and sales and accounting and workflows and processes, and all of those things Talk to us about the business of business, because I think it articulates a concept so well that so many people may not understand until they actually get into business and have some sort of growth.

00:12:16.059 --> 00:12:19.067
Well, it's different per visionary, operator or processor.

00:12:19.067 --> 00:12:24.368
In the weird little triangle I'm talking about, I specifically talk to visionaries.

00:12:24.368 --> 00:12:35.606
So a visionary doesn't think that process is well let me rephrase that An unhealthy visionary who hasn't necessarily gone through my process or has had education on this.

00:12:35.606 --> 00:12:41.783
They don't like doing process, they think it's stupid and it holds them down, and so visionaries don't tend to in the beginning.

00:12:41.783 --> 00:12:42.684
It holds them down, and so on.

00:12:42.705 --> 00:12:45.729
The visionaries don't tend to, in the beginning, respect operators.

00:12:45.729 --> 00:13:00.966
And so when, let's say, a crazy visionary started a business, they've hired an early team, they're getting early successes, it's going pretty well Once the business of business, which is what operators tend to do.

00:13:00.966 --> 00:13:08.842
But if you want to grow a business, it's got to be scalable, and so most businesses start with a visionary and an operator, somebody who dreams the dreams and somebody who does the stuff.

00:13:08.842 --> 00:13:10.267
That would be a visionary and an operator.

00:13:10.267 --> 00:13:19.861
But to truly have a scalable business that continues to grow, you do need the processor angle of it and you need all three of those types to actually respect each other.

00:13:19.861 --> 00:13:26.826
So what I've seen over and over again is visionaries, big idea, they gather a team, they see early success, they get annoyed with the business of business.

00:13:26.826 --> 00:13:37.615
They go do other things that make them feel happy like the early days, and the business ends up suffering from their absence if it's grown large enough to sustain itself without them, but yeah does that help?

00:13:38.075 --> 00:13:45.400
because hearing you talk about processes, it really is.

00:13:45.400 --> 00:14:06.202
In so many ways, our conversation today is a dichotomy, because we are talking about kind of the ethereal things, but then you're also using business terms because, john, you personally have a ton of experience when it comes to navigating the world of growth-minded businesses, and so I wanna go into the process world, because it's something that your team cued me up on and I obviously can see the Post-it notes behind you the perfect path as far as processes go.

00:14:06.202 --> 00:14:06.804
Walk us through.

00:14:06.804 --> 00:14:12.989
One of these frameworks and exercises that you work with Exactly this is something I thought could be incredibly helpful for your listeners.

00:14:15.701 --> 00:14:16.361
There's a version of it.

00:14:16.361 --> 00:14:20.192
Wait, which side this version over here to the audio listeners?

00:14:20.192 --> 00:14:23.385
I am pointing to a large collection of multicolored stickies on a wall behind me.

00:14:23.385 --> 00:14:26.572
They are outlining kind of the perfect path.

00:14:26.572 --> 00:14:27.734
So I think this could help everybody.

00:14:27.734 --> 00:14:33.731
It doesn't matter the business size and I will start by saying it doesn't matter if you're a visionary operator or processor.

00:14:33.731 --> 00:14:40.735
Doing this is incredibly helpful because I don't want you to fall prey to the how do I say this?

00:14:40.735 --> 00:14:45.897
Never-ending big tech upsell, which that will make sense when I get to the end of the spiel.

00:14:46.897 --> 00:14:53.307
What we do and this is actually part of our visionary clarity process that I take CEOs and other C-suite members of large companies through.

00:14:53.307 --> 00:14:55.793
So we go through a ton of stuff.

00:14:55.793 --> 00:14:59.206
It's four days, it's like 10, 11 hour days.

00:14:59.206 --> 00:15:03.123
It's super intensive our process, but this is one out of many things that we go through.

00:15:03.123 --> 00:15:04.287
That's, I think, most helpful.

00:15:04.287 --> 00:15:10.788
So when I say perfect path, this is the perfect path you want your customer to take and this is from.

00:15:10.788 --> 00:15:12.081
They have no idea who they are.

00:15:12.081 --> 00:15:13.865
You are on one end to.

00:15:13.865 --> 00:15:20.033
They've done everything you've ever wanted them to do and brought, bought every product or service that you ever wanted them to do, Alright.

00:15:20.033 --> 00:15:31.389
So and I'm talking about sticky notes so to the audio listeners, start on one end and draw a line of stickies which, each step, you want everybody to take along the perfect path.

00:15:31.389 --> 00:15:40.342
So, from left to right, you're outlining the perfect path on the first row, first meeting, top to bottom, and then in that perfect path.

00:15:40.342 --> 00:15:45.686
So example would be and I've seen lots of businesses do this, it's a ad campaign into, let's say, like education courses.

00:15:45.686 --> 00:15:48.143
So it would be and I've seen lots of businesses do this it's a ad campaign into, let's say, like education courses.

00:15:48.143 --> 00:15:58.539
So it would be like an ad campaign from a couple sources into a webinar, into a Q and a call if they need it, into like a whatever phone call, If they have a sales team.

00:15:58.539 --> 00:16:04.322
They want to go that route into a I wish they would look at the offer page into I wish through.

00:16:04.322 --> 00:16:10.971
And so it sounds kind of like a funnel diagram, because it is to some extent, but I strongly recommend you keep going past the funnel.

00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:13.567
Okay, so let's say I did the thing and I bought your thing.

00:16:13.567 --> 00:16:14.389
What do you want me to do?

00:16:14.389 --> 00:16:18.212
And I've seen way too many companies sit.

00:16:18.212 --> 00:16:24.888
Let me pause and say this your customer does not care what system they're interacting with.

00:16:24.888 --> 00:16:26.318
They don't care if it's HubSpot.

00:16:26.318 --> 00:16:27.582
They don't care if it's Squarespace.

00:16:27.582 --> 00:16:31.102
They don't care if it's a blog you run off of your computer in your basement.

00:16:31.102 --> 00:16:33.135
They don't care if it's a larger company.

00:16:33.135 --> 00:16:36.125
They don't care which department they're dealing with.

00:16:36.125 --> 00:16:38.397
They don't care if it's marketing or sales or customer service.

00:16:38.397 --> 00:16:39.118
They don't care.

00:16:39.118 --> 00:16:42.201
They want results and they want it to take as little time as possible.

00:16:42.282 --> 00:16:52.725
So the goal of perfect path is to outline for the entire company what goes on, what needs to happen in that perfect path across the entire customer's journey.

00:16:52.725 --> 00:16:54.472
So I paused a second ago.

00:16:54.472 --> 00:16:56.398
Let's say they get into a purchase.

00:16:56.398 --> 00:16:58.604
Okay, what does customer service do?

00:16:58.604 --> 00:17:01.457
We welcome them, we want them to feel happy and excited.

00:17:01.457 --> 00:17:08.608
We take them into an onboarding process, we want them to complete courses, continuing with the online course thing.

00:17:09.151 --> 00:17:13.142
And then the second row below that, because no customer is going to take the perfect path.

00:17:13.142 --> 00:17:13.903
That's how it goes.

00:17:13.903 --> 00:17:16.777
And how do we follow up?

00:17:16.777 --> 00:17:20.444
So the row right under that, under each step, is follow up one.

00:17:20.444 --> 00:17:23.458
So let's say they go to the webinar, but they don't go to the sales page.

00:17:23.458 --> 00:17:26.842
Okay, well, we've gathered their email so we need to follow up with them.

00:17:26.842 --> 00:17:44.269
So you usually have one to four follow-ups in succession under each step and then below your one to four, because you don't need to do a lot of follow-ups early in the process because they haven't really bought in that much, but someone who's about to purchase, like the abandoned cart sequence in e-commerce.

00:17:44.269 --> 00:17:49.096
They're super high intent.

00:17:49.096 --> 00:17:51.123
So you should do as many follow-ups as you feel like you can do without being an annoying jerk.

00:17:51.143 --> 00:17:54.112
And then your third row, after the follow-ups, is incentive.

00:17:54.112 --> 00:17:57.382
So if traditional follow-ups haven't worked, how do I incentivize them?

00:17:57.382 --> 00:18:05.784
Give them discounts, give them a free phone call Like for coaching it's a free phone call with the founder or whatever to try to increase it.

00:18:05.784 --> 00:18:08.107
And then your fourth row is last chance.

00:18:08.107 --> 00:18:09.579
What do we do at last chance?

00:18:09.579 --> 00:18:17.785
So for traditional sales models, it's usually sales starts actually calling their phone directly and harassing them or whatever your sort of last resort is.

00:18:18.446 --> 00:18:24.647
And then, once you go through all of that, don't over-tech yourself.

00:18:24.647 --> 00:18:35.484
So if you're brand new and you're just getting started, write out the perfect path of exactly what I want the follow-ups, the incentives that come below that and then what am I doing last chance just for that specific step.

00:18:35.484 --> 00:18:41.282
And then, oh, by the way, if you have continued sales after that, let's say they buy one course, do you want them to buy another?

00:18:41.282 --> 00:18:42.797
Buy course.

00:18:42.797 --> 00:18:46.365
Number two comes further down in your perfect path steps.

00:18:46.365 --> 00:18:50.821
But the point is, big tech companies want to upsell you all kinds of stuff.

00:18:50.821 --> 00:18:56.303
They want you to be like oh, you need 14,000 lines of metrics and you need all these other things.

00:18:56.303 --> 00:19:04.210
When you know the perfect path for your customer, make the tech do that and that is all like.

00:19:04.210 --> 00:19:08.865
Don't be overwhelmed by all the stuff they want you to use and understanding how all these other things work.

00:19:08.865 --> 00:19:11.536
Uh, hopefully that makes sense.

00:19:11.856 --> 00:19:20.644
Yeah, john, it's funny for me to picture the nature of your work, because when we talk about visionaries it gets me excited, honestly, even just.

00:19:20.644 --> 00:19:21.996
And of course I can see you here today.

00:19:21.996 --> 00:19:27.487
But even seeing you lay this out visually makes me want to do it across all of my businesses.

00:19:27.487 --> 00:19:47.709
And I've seen, obviously I've crawled deep through your work with Visionary Clarity, and the overarching testimonial that I see is people are just like this is not normal coaching, this is not the way that other coaching services exist, and so part of me wants to understand the dynamics of these exercises, because that's a real life exercise that you just did in front of and for all of us here today.

00:19:48.189 --> 00:19:49.715
How much of that is?

00:19:49.715 --> 00:19:56.183
Because I'm picturing kind of the operators and they're going to be saying well, if we're going to do that, then we're going to need this in place and we're going to need this.

00:19:56.183 --> 00:20:02.769
How much of this work is saying forget all the butts, forget all the mechanics of how we're going to make this a reality.

00:20:02.769 --> 00:20:11.028
Are those things you worry about in these processes, or is it more just let's ideate and then let's worry about executing after?

00:20:11.028 --> 00:20:12.961
I'd love to hear how you navigate that.

00:20:12.961 --> 00:20:14.164
Yeah great.

00:20:14.474 --> 00:20:17.464
Keep in mind that my clients are crazy visionaries, whom I love, by the way.

00:20:17.464 --> 00:20:19.702
When I say crazy visionary, that is a term of endearment.

00:20:19.702 --> 00:20:21.160
I absolutely love them.

00:20:21.160 --> 00:20:29.523
And if you're a visionary and it sounds like I've ever downplayed you, no, you're my people, I like you.

00:20:29.944 --> 00:20:43.049
The process that we go through for the visionary specifically helps them to see the complexity of a thing, because, remember, I said visionaries and again I'm vastly generalizing all of our clients.

00:20:43.049 --> 00:20:45.297
We do unbelievable deep dive research on them.

00:20:45.297 --> 00:20:51.703
We talk to their team members, we talk to other people, so our process is incredibly custom molded for that specific person.

00:20:51.703 --> 00:21:05.189
So I'm making hasty generalizations for the sake of speed, but a visionary doesn't particularly like the process, right, they're like I have a big idea and I'm going to do a thing and it's going to be incredible, and then just do it, and then and then done a couple of the visionaries I've worked with.

00:21:05.189 --> 00:21:08.994
They go from extremely high level and they dive straight into the weeds and they skip all the steps in the middle.

00:21:09.656 --> 00:21:13.325
And what mapping out the perfect path helps everybody?

00:21:13.325 --> 00:21:13.586
It is.

00:21:13.586 --> 00:21:14.587
It helps the visionary go.

00:21:14.587 --> 00:21:16.721
Oh, okay, this is actually kind of complex.

00:21:16.721 --> 00:21:17.864
Okay, yeah, we're going to need some time.

00:21:17.864 --> 00:21:18.286
I can't.

00:21:18.286 --> 00:21:25.259
My team will not be able to do this in five minutes.

00:21:25.259 --> 00:21:26.039
It's going to take a second.

00:21:26.039 --> 00:21:28.465
Operators go hey, I actually know what I'm building, or I know what I need to do.

00:21:28.465 --> 00:21:34.336
And processors go ooh, I could automate this thing with this thing and I could turn this into a process and I could do this thing.

00:21:34.336 --> 00:21:42.441
And mapping out the perfect path for your customer journey genuinely helps everyone be on the same page, no matter where they are, on that synergist scale.

00:21:43.442 --> 00:22:12.525
Yeah, john, it's interesting for me because obviously in the nature of my work wantrepreneurs and entrepreneurs I'm hearing people at all different steps of the process and to the uninformed wantrepreneurs and actually even people outside of the world of entrepreneurship entirely the knockback that I hear so frequently is oh well, I don't have any ideas, I don't even know what my business is, that I would start, and so I think you and I are more reliant in the fact that visionaries have not a shortage of ideas, but in excess, way too many ideas.

00:22:13.276 --> 00:22:30.824
So the more that I get to talk with incredibly successful entrepreneurs just like yourself, John we are so fortunate to have so many entrepreneurs at all different stages here on the show the more I realize that they just have incredible filters of ideas, and those filters have come through reps, those filters have come through successes.

00:22:30.824 --> 00:22:39.395
They've also very much come through failures, and they're just really good at knowing how to filter those ideas as they inevitably pop up hundreds of ideas a day.

00:22:39.395 --> 00:22:43.224
Put me in the shower for 30 minutes and I'll walk out with at least 30 ideas.

00:22:43.224 --> 00:22:50.999
And so, john, talk to me about what that filter looks like, because our listeners, who are entrepreneurs, they know that they got ideas.

00:22:50.999 --> 00:22:52.482
How the heck do we filter?

00:22:52.482 --> 00:22:54.086
This is a good one, worth pursuing.

00:22:54.086 --> 00:22:57.384
Let's just throw this one to the side, either for now or forever.

00:22:58.835 --> 00:23:02.897
Yeah, first of all, understanding the other roles.

00:23:02.897 --> 00:23:08.721
So if you feel like you're entirely visionary, then also think about how you're going to have to do all the tasks to do it.

00:23:08.721 --> 00:23:15.406
And if it's a solopreneur, just a single person, imagine like have the idea For the love of all, that is holy.

00:23:15.406 --> 00:23:16.748
Have the idea, please.

00:23:16.748 --> 00:23:17.508
Enjoy it.

00:23:17.508 --> 00:23:22.531
Bring emotional happiness to your body by having a giant idea.

00:23:22.531 --> 00:23:23.392
Don't stifle it.

00:23:23.392 --> 00:23:24.113
Let it happen.

00:23:24.835 --> 00:23:31.160
But and it does take a little bit of hubris, a certain amount of visionary energy takes a little bit of yeah, this is going to work.

00:23:31.160 --> 00:23:33.375
I don't know how at the moment, but it's going to work.

00:23:33.375 --> 00:23:36.683
I live and die by a healthy amount of hubris.

00:23:36.683 --> 00:23:38.067
Too much, you turn into a crazy person.

00:23:38.067 --> 00:23:39.718
But have the ideas.

00:23:39.718 --> 00:23:43.046
But then, as soon as you have the ideas, don't be afraid of going.

00:23:43.046 --> 00:23:44.469
Okay, have the ideas.

00:23:44.469 --> 00:23:46.933
But then, as soon as you have the ideas, don't be afraid of going.

00:23:46.954 --> 00:23:50.357
Okay, how would I actually do it?

00:23:50.357 --> 00:23:51.261
Let me map out what my customer would do.

00:23:51.261 --> 00:23:52.126
Oh, you know what, I'm missing a step here.

00:23:52.126 --> 00:23:52.730
Okay, let me plug this in.

00:23:52.730 --> 00:23:53.071
Oh, you know what?

00:23:53.071 --> 00:23:53.433
I skipped a step.

00:23:53.433 --> 00:23:54.096
Okay, let's do this.

00:23:54.096 --> 00:23:57.821
And then you've given yourself a task list.

00:23:57.821 --> 00:24:01.929
I need to do these things in this perfect path that I want my customers to take.

00:24:01.929 --> 00:24:08.260
And then most visionaries don't want to turn on processors, so my strong suggestion is hire one.

00:24:08.260 --> 00:24:14.096
Hire a processor off of Upwork, but most of the time, in the beginning of a business, you can get away with just a visionary and an operator.

00:24:14.096 --> 00:24:19.159
The point in which you want to start becoming repeatable and scalable, that's when you need to bring in the processor army.

00:24:19.799 --> 00:24:21.303
Yeah, really well said.

00:24:21.303 --> 00:24:23.827
This is real strategic and tactical.

00:24:23.827 --> 00:24:27.082
I think we're really marrying those two here in today's session, john.

00:24:27.082 --> 00:24:34.919
So I so appreciate the way that your mind works in such a logical flow so that you can put it out for all of us, whether it's audio, whether it's video listeners.

00:24:34.919 --> 00:24:45.067
You get the chance to really tap into the way that John's mind works, which I just want to really quickly say that at the end of today's episode we're going to talk about John's website, which is at visionaryclaritycom.

00:24:45.067 --> 00:25:06.622
Of course you'll find that link down below in the show notes, but for sure, compliment today's episode with a trip to John's business website, because if you think his mind works logically and he can articulate all this stuff so well here on the air, when you see his website you're going to see the way that he maps it all out from his customer's perspective, from the understanding of not only how they think.

00:25:06.622 --> 00:25:14.097
But there's so many points in your website, john, that I'm like you mapped it out from how we all feel, like it's so powerful the way that you line all that up.

00:25:14.178 --> 00:25:24.214
But I do want to go back because I'm trying to fit everything into today's episode and I appreciate the fact that you're trying to do the exact same thing, but you talk about scale and you talked before about don't over systematize things.

00:25:24.214 --> 00:25:28.145
Don't buy into all these things that tech companies are trying to sell to us.

00:25:28.145 --> 00:25:35.564
As an AppSumo addict, I have a heck of a lot of software tools, so, john, I know you can relate to that.

00:25:35.564 --> 00:25:39.522
So when it comes to that, you and I obviously both have a love for Notion.

00:25:39.522 --> 00:25:50.837
But talk to us about the systems that you use, because you have mapped out so much of your own service, which is an incredible high ticket deep dive service with incredible clients of yours.

00:25:50.837 --> 00:25:54.385
What does that look like when you say don't over systematize it?

00:25:54.385 --> 00:25:56.718
How simple can we actually make it?

00:25:57.720 --> 00:26:02.719
Okay, well, I got to give you context to that comment and you asked this earlier and I actually don't think I answered it.

00:26:02.719 --> 00:26:06.277
You can grow into being different things.

00:26:06.277 --> 00:26:17.162
So when I first understood the synergist framework, I was probably mostly processor and a little bit visionary, and it wasn't a whole lot of operator.

00:26:17.162 --> 00:26:37.307
So you can improve your understanding and your skill set in these different areas by, first of all, reading the book and understanding what they are and, similar to any of the other personality, like Enneagram or whatever, it's always better for you to take the test, but then to have a significant other or a family member or somebody who knows you well test the results and be like no honey.

00:26:37.307 --> 00:26:38.576
You think you're a visionary.

00:26:38.576 --> 00:26:39.038
You're not.

00:26:39.038 --> 00:26:41.143
You're just barely a processor with good ideas.

00:26:41.143 --> 00:26:50.998
So be sure to have somebody filter speaking of filters, to filter what you think you are.

00:26:50.998 --> 00:26:53.443
But I grew into being a synergist, so I'm actually all three and it took me a long time to do that.

00:26:53.443 --> 00:26:57.618
So my don't over systematize comes from when I started as a processor, if you remember.

00:26:58.058 --> 00:27:18.255
Their sin is everything would be process for process sake, and so I would build infinitely complex, masterful HubSpot implementations where I burned through so much money and I gave it all to HubSpot or to some other platform and then I plugged in this platform and I plugged in this platform.

00:27:18.255 --> 00:27:25.865
This is why I'm such an advocate for the perfect path idea Draw it out, do it with the cheapest tools possible until you have market validation.

00:27:25.865 --> 00:27:40.326
Once you feel like it's good and you have market validation and you got those fat stacks of cash coming in or just enough to pay the bills, then think about something fancy that has year-long contracts, like HubSpot or Salesforce or one of the other giant ones.

00:27:40.326 --> 00:27:43.900
But yeah, to be clear, I like HubSpot, I'm not against them.

00:27:43.900 --> 00:27:54.061
It's just going after solopreneurs with a giant year-long contract for HubSpot is not a great idea, especially in the world of AI.

00:27:54.061 --> 00:27:56.226
It knows stuff.

00:27:56.226 --> 00:27:58.674
Man, like the website that you like so much.

00:27:58.994 --> 00:28:02.037
Guess who wrote most of that AI?

00:28:02.037 --> 00:28:06.160
I built a chat GPT-4 bot.

00:28:06.160 --> 00:28:15.747
I trained it on the definition of a visionary, I fed it all of our services and products and in three days we cranked out the original version of that website.

00:28:15.747 --> 00:28:20.089
It since, of course, had lots of edits and revisions to it, and I did it on Squarespace.

00:28:20.089 --> 00:28:21.931
I don't care if there's stigma.

00:28:21.931 --> 00:28:22.391
You know why?

00:28:22.391 --> 00:28:31.888
Because it's cheap and it's easy to use and I don't need to implement a giant Elementor custom WordPress implementation where I don't understand how freaking plugins work.

00:28:31.888 --> 00:28:33.961
I did it on Squarespace.

00:28:33.961 --> 00:28:36.723
So all I'm saying is you don't have to go crazy.

00:28:36.723 --> 00:28:40.901
Spend as little money as possible until you validate, then you can go nuts.

00:28:41.855 --> 00:28:48.222
Yeah, john, I'll tell you what this is a public confession I've literally never made, and I'm going to do it here in today's episode.

00:28:48.222 --> 00:29:04.942
So three years ago, for the first probably 400 some odd episodes of this show, I used to love asking guests and other entrepreneurs about their tech stack, because it's something that you don't know what you don't know and I remember something as simple as Calendly changed the game for me.

00:29:04.942 --> 00:29:08.218
When I freaking learned about Calendly, I was like how the heck was?

00:29:08.218 --> 00:29:13.141
I mean, I was actually paying someone off of Upwork, which back then it was Elance, I think, was the name of it.

00:29:13.542 --> 00:29:16.875
And so I was paying someone from there to manage my scheduling for me.

00:29:16.875 --> 00:29:23.644
And then I came across Calendly and I was like this is a total game changer and it's something so simple and it's free and it's just an amazing tool.

00:29:23.644 --> 00:29:25.827
So I used to love asking people about tools.

00:29:25.827 --> 00:29:41.215
But, john, three years ago I made the very conscious decision to stop asking about tech stacks, because there are so many freaking softwares out there these days that it just you get lost the more you look into tools when the reality is it's not tools that actually do any of the work for us.

00:29:41.215 --> 00:29:42.777
It and the reality is it's not tools that actually do any of the work for us.

00:29:42.777 --> 00:29:44.358
It's not tools that make or break our businesses.

00:29:44.358 --> 00:29:46.040
It's, of course, how we use them.

00:29:46.221 --> 00:29:50.846
And I'll accept the HubSpot slander as a native Bostonian because I agree with you.

00:29:50.846 --> 00:29:52.047
I think that it's bloated.

00:29:52.047 --> 00:29:56.352
We used to use the term bloatware in the 90s when you bought a new computer or a new phone.

00:29:56.352 --> 00:29:58.317
It was loaded with bloatware.

00:29:58.317 --> 00:30:10.659
So, john, in three years I've not asked anyone to walk us through their tech stack, but with you, your team has laid out your tech stack to me and I've gotten my eyes on it and I think there's so much power in the simplicity of it.

00:30:10.659 --> 00:30:12.723
You use Squarespace as an example.

00:30:12.723 --> 00:30:16.161
There, gosh, I wish everyone who needed a website just use Squarespace.

00:30:16.161 --> 00:30:20.538
Wordpress too complicated ClickFunnels, way too complicated for you.

00:30:20.538 --> 00:30:22.468
So, john, I'm trusting you here.

00:30:22.468 --> 00:30:25.644
Walk us through your tech stack with our listeners, cause I think they're in good hands.

00:30:25.644 --> 00:30:26.990
Well, and the tip on.

00:30:27.010 --> 00:30:27.614
Squarespace is.

00:30:27.614 --> 00:30:32.797
Just watch anybody on YouTube and you'll get a code like every creator I've ever seen on YouTube about Squarespace ads.

00:30:32.797 --> 00:30:33.901
So don't pay full price.

00:30:33.901 --> 00:30:35.405
You can get a discount for however many months.

00:30:35.405 --> 00:30:40.983
But yeah, so our tech stack is a Squarespace because it's drag and drop thing is super easy to use.

00:30:40.983 --> 00:30:41.805
Anybody can use it.

00:30:41.805 --> 00:30:47.463
I don't I can bring on a team member that doesn't understand it and I'm like drag thing to other thing done.

00:30:47.463 --> 00:30:48.317
It's super easy.

00:30:48.317 --> 00:30:51.281
It also does really good with like brand standards.

00:30:51.694 --> 00:30:53.101
People can't break the design.

00:30:53.101 --> 00:30:56.077
You get into Elementor or one of these other like full WYSIWYG.

00:30:56.077 --> 00:30:57.221
What you see is what you get.

00:30:57.221 --> 00:30:57.682
Editors.

00:30:57.682 --> 00:31:00.118
You can have an intern just blow it up.

00:31:00.118 --> 00:31:03.066
So you can't really do that with Squarespace, which is great.

00:31:03.066 --> 00:31:03.728
When you lock it down.

00:31:04.154 --> 00:31:08.359
We use Calendly for call booking, so that's my go-to for that.

00:31:08.359 --> 00:31:11.980
And, by the way, everything I've been talking about so far has been customer-facing.

00:31:11.980 --> 00:31:14.384
Of course, there are tools that you need for internal stuff.

00:31:14.384 --> 00:31:20.403
So we actually use customer-facing side of Notion All of our internal project management, our calendars.

00:31:20.403 --> 00:31:37.779
My version of MyScript for this thing that we talked about was written up in a Notion page, but the brilliance of Notion is that you can turn any page and group of subpages under it into a web page and so we actually deliver some of our final products to the clients via a web page.

00:31:37.779 --> 00:31:46.431
On Notion, because I'm like I don't want a CRM system, I don't want to have to build out some wildly complicated like I don't want a CRM system, I don't want to have to build out some wildly complicated implementation thing.

00:31:46.431 --> 00:31:50.882
I don't have time for it right now Cause you know I need to spend time serving the clients and yeah.

00:31:50.882 --> 00:31:53.268
So Squarespace Calendly Paperform.

00:31:53.268 --> 00:31:56.361
To be clear, you can, you're fine with Squarespace's forms.

00:31:56.361 --> 00:32:01.400
I'm a design jerk and I really like the controls I have with Paperform.

00:32:01.400 --> 00:32:02.281
You can do one.

00:32:02.281 --> 00:32:04.247
Anyway, I enjoy that one for forms.

00:32:04.247 --> 00:32:09.660
So all the forms on our website are Paperform because you can embed them with a transparent background and so it looks really nice.

00:32:09.660 --> 00:32:14.005
On the thing For all of our invoicing Square, it's a piece of cake.

00:32:14.115 --> 00:32:18.884
They've turned on this really cool contracts plus invoicing sales pipeline thing recently.

00:32:18.884 --> 00:32:20.520
It's incredibly easy to use.

00:32:20.520 --> 00:32:22.720
I think if you get the extra features.

00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:25.426
It's like 20 bucks a month, but you don't have to have the extra features.

00:32:25.426 --> 00:32:34.317
They do allow ACH, which is great, because credit card payments on large billables is way too much money and I don't want to give up.

00:32:34.317 --> 00:32:37.027
So all my invoices are set to ACH only.

00:32:37.027 --> 00:32:37.990
No credit cards.

00:32:37.990 --> 00:32:40.057
You may not have my 3%.

00:32:40.057 --> 00:32:40.718
Thank you very much.

00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:43.063
And then a whole lot of chat, gpt bots.

00:32:43.063 --> 00:32:45.428
So we have a bot that helps us with our internal process.

00:32:45.428 --> 00:32:47.903
We have a bot that helps us with external copy.

00:32:47.903 --> 00:32:52.819
So much GPTing these days, especially with that recent announcement they just did.

00:32:52.819 --> 00:32:53.823
I'm so excited.

00:32:53.823 --> 00:32:54.925
Oh, it's nerd heaven.

00:32:54.925 --> 00:32:56.559
What a time to be a nerd.

00:32:57.455 --> 00:33:00.218
And then we use Google Voice because we're using Google Workspaces for our emails.

00:33:00.218 --> 00:33:01.439
D because we're using Google Workspaces for our emails.

00:33:01.439 --> 00:33:02.240
Duh, everybody does that.

00:33:02.240 --> 00:33:08.669
We actually got it through Squarespace, despite the fact that my processor integrator soul hurt.

00:33:08.669 --> 00:33:09.611
What do you mean?

00:33:09.611 --> 00:33:13.243
I didn't have to set up all this ridiculous and complicated DNS and all these other things.

00:33:13.243 --> 00:33:17.800
Oh, it's an affront to technology that I can just push a button and have an email address.

00:33:17.800 --> 00:33:18.845
So I did it.

00:33:18.845 --> 00:33:23.787
And then now we're using Google Voice in Google workspaces for our SMS for our clients.

00:33:23.787 --> 00:33:30.837
We don't take inbound phone calls, we do SMSs and then immediately ignore this if you're not ready for it yet.

00:33:30.837 --> 00:33:35.855
But because I'm a super mega integrator nerd guy, I use Zapier just because I like it.

00:33:35.855 --> 00:33:40.688
And Zapier short version is it's an if then statement for the entire internet.

00:33:40.688 --> 00:33:45.558
You can say, when this happens, translate the data and do these things to it.

00:33:45.558 --> 00:33:51.538
So, for example, someone fills out a form text me here, add it to Google Contacts, do these other things.

00:33:51.538 --> 00:33:54.704
That's the basis of my tech stack.

00:33:55.266 --> 00:33:56.635
John, I've got to say it's a good thing.

00:33:56.635 --> 00:34:05.919
My mic was muted the entire time because you had me absolutely laughing the entire time, and I'm going to call you out publicly because you audio snobs.

00:34:05.919 --> 00:34:16.016
You are snobs about many tech things, design included, so it doesn't surprise me about your love for other form solutions and I love the fact that you are so transparent about the tech stack.

00:34:16.016 --> 00:34:32.304
And I think that, aside from simply the tech tools because I just confess to listeners my attitude towards that I think that the simplistic thinking that you use in order to line these up and set yourself and your clients up for success, I think that is so valuable for every single person who's tuning in here today.

00:34:32.304 --> 00:34:37.275
And, john, like I said, you and I both knew we'd run out of time here today and we already are running over time.

00:34:37.376 --> 00:34:57.998
But I'm going to selfishly squeeze one more thing out of you before we get to my final question, because I know how much system one and system two thinking from thinking fast and slow factors into your work and I think it's so fascinating hearing your perspective on it, because the way that you think about the world, I know that it's rooted not just in your development and your commitment to your own personal development.

00:34:57.998 --> 00:35:03.735
But I'm thinking about the John who has worked with, whether it's musicians or doctors, all along the way.

00:35:03.735 --> 00:35:06.181
You're culminating all of that for our benefit here today.

00:35:06.181 --> 00:35:09.418
So what the heck is that framework?

00:35:09.418 --> 00:35:10.260
What does it look like?

00:35:10.260 --> 00:35:11.985
Why does it factor into your work so much?

00:35:11.985 --> 00:35:14.302
Are you familiar with Kahneman?

00:35:14.302 --> 00:35:15.416
Not much.

00:35:15.416 --> 00:35:17.483
No, that's why I'm trusting you to take us there.

00:35:18.275 --> 00:35:18.456
Okay.

00:35:18.456 --> 00:35:19.980
So Daniel Kahneman.

00:35:19.980 --> 00:35:26.788
He wrote a book called Thinking Fast and Slow and he was the first guy to develop behavioral economics.

00:35:26.788 --> 00:35:33.282
He was the first guy to take psychology and economics and cram them together and he ended up winning a Nobel Prize for it.

00:35:33.282 --> 00:35:34.981
So kudos to him, because it's really freaking smart.

00:35:34.981 --> 00:35:48.367
I would recommend, if you're going to read Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow, get the executive summary or Spark Notes or Cliffs Notes or whoever the heck notes it is nowadays, because the actual book is kind of a a tome it's.

00:35:48.367 --> 00:35:49.150
It's a little dense.

00:35:49.150 --> 00:35:52.300
You can get the concept out of the executive summary, or for me right now.

00:35:52.300 --> 00:35:55.367
So he covers a lot of subjects.

00:35:55.367 --> 00:36:00.887
This is only part of what the book is about, but he and I'm going to butcher this and it's in my own interpretation.

00:36:00.887 --> 00:36:09.557
So I don't know if Kahneman listens to this.

00:36:09.557 --> 00:36:09.858
I love you.

00:36:09.858 --> 00:36:10.599
Your work is brilliant.

00:36:10.599 --> 00:36:11.282
Please don't be insulted.

00:36:11.342 --> 00:36:13.266
If I had to surmise it, it is system one is your body and subconscious.

00:36:13.266 --> 00:36:18.101
System two is your higher level, processing consciousness, that type of thinking.

00:36:18.101 --> 00:36:26.360
So, for example, athletes spend so much time training system one because what in common condoms research?

00:36:26.360 --> 00:36:30.782
What he discovered was system one can process information about 100 times faster than system two can.

00:36:30.782 --> 00:36:37.447
So it is from the time you were born, system one, your body has been soaking up information and learning stuff.

00:36:37.447 --> 00:36:38.418
Right, and it's been.

00:36:38.418 --> 00:36:42.135
It's been looking at body postures and facial expressions.

00:36:42.135 --> 00:36:55.385
I'm sorry audio listeners, I'm making weird faces but your body has been learning that and when it sees a certain set of body postures or facial expressions, it thinks that all the combination of things has led to bad.

00:36:55.385 --> 00:36:59.842
Before I'm going to send up a vibe, have you ever walked into a room and got a weird vibe out of somebody?

00:36:59.842 --> 00:37:01.065
That's what was happening.

00:37:01.065 --> 00:37:09.677
System 1 was processing information incredibly fast and unfortunately, system one's only communication method is emotions and vibes.

00:37:09.677 --> 00:37:12.905
It is a very blurry communication method.

00:37:12.905 --> 00:37:24.742
It's not great, and so this is why one of our higher end things we do is this full mind and body retreat where one of a brilliant minds in embodiment, which is kind of what I'm talking about Her name is Jamie Lee Finch.

00:37:24.782 --> 00:37:30.101
Incredible, she comes along and actually helps teach the visionaries as well with some embodiment practices.

00:37:30.101 --> 00:37:35.027
But we go into that system one and system two language, so you can train system one to do things.

00:37:35.027 --> 00:37:36.251
System one drives your car.

00:37:36.251 --> 00:37:38.722
You ever been driving your car and you just show up somewhere.

00:37:38.722 --> 00:37:45.117
Well, system two, conscious level thinking, was thinking about whatever, or the groceries, or whatever's going on with the kids.

00:37:45.117 --> 00:37:50.501
And system one was driving the car, because you can train it and it can use all the same sensors you can.

00:37:50.501 --> 00:37:53.443
I think I got off the rails and went real nerdy there.

00:37:53.443 --> 00:37:54.324
Have I answered your?

00:37:54.344 --> 00:37:59.927
question like no, we want the John notes.

00:37:59.927 --> 00:38:02.309
That's why I'm selfishly squeezing this one in here today.

00:38:02.309 --> 00:38:03.389
And I think we got them.

00:38:03.389 --> 00:38:06.452
And of course, you're correct in the fact that there's so much more.

00:38:06.452 --> 00:38:13.911
And I imagine it's a slog of a book, john, which is why I've not personally read it just yet, but I think that there is so much learning in there.

00:38:13.931 --> 00:38:18.161
And when you talk about the vibes, it's something that I, a long time ago, I identify.

00:38:18.161 --> 00:38:28.797
I mean, being intuitive is such a core part of my being and I realized that intuition comes from somewhere and so I've always been fascinated.

00:38:28.797 --> 00:38:29.277
You're an audio guy.

00:38:29.277 --> 00:38:29.458
I mean.

00:38:29.458 --> 00:38:33.027
It's just like vibrations from a guitar, is that those vibrations we pick up on them and we sense them.

00:38:33.027 --> 00:38:37.248
Different, different vibrations can alter our mood and our thoughts and all of that.

00:38:37.248 --> 00:38:39.938
So it's really powerful stuff and I love that overview.

00:38:39.938 --> 00:38:48.132
And, of course, listeners, if you want to go deeper into it, thinking fast and slow is the book by Daniel Kahneman, and I love that overview.

00:38:48.132 --> 00:38:49.652
And, of course, listeners, if you want to go deeper into it, thinking Fast and Slow is the book by Daniel Kahneman.

00:38:49.652 --> 00:38:50.041
And you just got the John notes, so now go get the Cliff Notes or something else along the way.

00:38:49.976 --> 00:38:50.862
But, john, I'm going to pose you with this last question.

00:38:50.862 --> 00:38:59.208
You already know it's coming because you are an incredibly well-prepared entrepreneur and person, and so I'm excited to see where you take it, because I always love asking.

00:38:59.208 --> 00:39:03.030
We talk about so many different topics in the span of our conversations.

00:39:03.030 --> 00:39:04.170
It's super free flowing.

00:39:04.170 --> 00:39:09.512
Our listeners absolutely love that, but there's also so much that they could walk away from today's session with.

00:39:09.512 --> 00:39:10.333
So what's that?

00:39:10.333 --> 00:39:18.315
One takeaway for listeners who are thinking gosh, john, I want to exhibit this level of strategy and intention in my own life and in my own business.

00:39:18.315 --> 00:39:21.157
What's that thing that you want to leave them with here today?

00:39:22.237 --> 00:39:22.838
You know it's funny.

00:39:22.838 --> 00:39:30.844
I knew that it had to be one thing, and I think I have like five in my notes, and so I'm going to humbly request a quick bonus too.

00:39:30.844 --> 00:39:41.913
But my number one is to say this If you work for or with a crazy visionary, it took me forever working with music artists to come to this.

00:39:41.913 --> 00:39:43.161
I was like why are they so aloof?

00:39:43.161 --> 00:39:44.277
Why are they so?

00:39:44.277 --> 00:39:47.221
They don't know how to talk, but they can sing and write, incredibly.

00:39:47.221 --> 00:39:48.123
Here's the punchline.

00:39:48.135 --> 00:39:55.324
If you work for Crazy Visionary, they see the world differently than most and they have to To find new ideas outside of conventional thinking.

00:39:55.324 --> 00:40:03.347
They have to live outside of conventional thinking and try your darndest to support them in everything that is not their strengths.

00:40:03.347 --> 00:40:06.940
Try your darndest to support them in everything that is not their strengths.

00:40:06.940 --> 00:40:08.005
This is not your downfall, it is not their downfall.

00:40:08.005 --> 00:40:08.989
No one's doing anything wrong.

00:40:08.989 --> 00:40:11.818
Well, I mean, be fiscally responsible and pay taxes and all that.

00:40:11.818 --> 00:40:25.666
But if the crazy visionary is a responsible human being, back them up, man, back them up, support them in things that are not their strengths, and it will absolutely benefit everyone, including you, when you start to recognize like, Ooh, that is actually their superpower.

00:40:25.666 --> 00:40:27.028
I want to learn that.

00:40:27.028 --> 00:40:31.878
And then you're on your path to actually understanding visionary, operator and processor, uh, and being a synergist.

00:40:32.621 --> 00:40:33.784
Yeah, I absolutely love that.

00:40:33.784 --> 00:40:34.065
John.

00:40:34.065 --> 00:40:39.126
I'm also for the sake of listeners, for their benefit, I'm gonna take you up on those bonus to give us two more minutes.

00:40:40.208 --> 00:40:40.427
Okay.

00:40:40.427 --> 00:40:45.311
So this is a quote that a dear friend of mine told me I don't know, like 10 years ago, and it absolutely changed my life.

00:40:45.311 --> 00:40:48.338
I'm not the originator of this quote, neither was he.

00:40:48.338 --> 00:40:51.760
Some smart people in the comments section can please tell us where this came from.

00:40:53.025 --> 00:40:55.353
You are the average of your five closest friends.

00:40:55.353 --> 00:40:58.512
That shocked me.

00:40:58.512 --> 00:41:08.615
If you're around a bunch of sad, lonely, depressed, broke people, you're going to find yourself sad, lonely, depressed and broke and so, in the aspirational ways of thinking, be improving your five.

00:41:08.615 --> 00:41:14.177
Me and my buddy Mike, we're always talking about like how's your average doing, how's your five?

00:41:14.177 --> 00:41:17.813
So I'll say it again you are the average of your five closest friends.

00:41:17.813 --> 00:41:26.061
As best as I can tell, unfortunately, monkey see, monkey do is still in effect and we act and are like the things that we see around us.

00:41:26.061 --> 00:41:27.887
So you know what you want to be good at business and smart and stuff.

00:41:27.887 --> 00:41:31.556
Go hang out with smart business people and increase your five.

00:41:31.556 --> 00:41:39.061
And my other bonus one which I love is pessimists get to be right, optimists get to be rich.

00:41:39.061 --> 00:41:42.047
I have no idea if that's true, but it really worked for me.

00:41:42.047 --> 00:41:43.431
I really enjoyed it.

00:41:44.313 --> 00:41:47.608
John, I love those insights and I'm going to compliment the.

00:41:47.608 --> 00:41:49.355
You are the average of your five closest friends.

00:41:49.355 --> 00:42:03.835
This is a controversial topic within the world of behavioral economics, but there's a study where they showed obesity is contagious and when behavioral economists walk around saying that, it's obviously controversial and it has a little bit of the awe factor there.

00:42:03.835 --> 00:42:14.608
But the reality is it's true, whether it comes to health and nutrition, whether it comes to our income, whether it comes to the way that we see the world, John, it's why I'm so grateful to be surrounded by amazing entrepreneurs like yourself.

00:42:14.608 --> 00:42:15.528
It's incredible.

00:42:15.528 --> 00:42:15.708
Go ahead.

00:42:15.728 --> 00:42:16.771
What else you by amazing entrepreneurs like yourself.

00:42:16.771 --> 00:42:17.150
It's incredible.

00:42:17.150 --> 00:42:17.331
Go ahead.

00:42:17.331 --> 00:42:17.891
What else you know?

00:42:17.891 --> 00:42:18.673
Things about this quote?

00:42:18.673 --> 00:42:19.514
This quote changed my life.

00:42:19.514 --> 00:42:22.119
It may not work for everybody, but why are they poo-pooing it?

00:42:22.119 --> 00:42:22.639
Tell me.

00:42:24.945 --> 00:42:34.753
Yeah, well, just because of the nature of obesity is contagious, is people want to think, well, no, just because I hang out with someone who is a pessimist, someone who is overweight, someone who does this like I am impenetrable.

00:42:34.753 --> 00:42:35.978
It cannot possibly.

00:42:35.978 --> 00:42:41.731
And I think this is where I'm going to bring it back to the more ethereal thing of you talked about vibes.

00:42:41.731 --> 00:42:43.817
Man, those things, they're real.

00:42:43.817 --> 00:42:49.836
We can't see obesity, cannot, you know, go through the air like a virus and come into our bodies.

00:42:49.836 --> 00:42:54.652
But it's the vibes, it's, it's the real vibrational energy on this planet that you.

00:42:54.652 --> 00:42:57.135
You called it out very simply monkey, see, monkey, do we?

00:42:57.135 --> 00:42:59.860
At the end of the day, we're all human and that's how this stuff works.

00:43:01.342 --> 00:43:06.778
I mean, honestly, we could do an entire podcast on vibes and the concept of it and embodiment in general.

00:43:06.778 --> 00:43:12.396
Me getting to know my body has been, honestly, one of the most important things in my entire path In me recognizing that system.

00:43:12.396 --> 00:43:14.047
One wants to keep me alive.

00:43:14.047 --> 00:43:15.088
That's all it wants to do.

00:43:15.088 --> 00:43:23.090
It's unfortunately running off of an operating system that still thinks there's a tiger behind the bush, so it's a little outdated, it needs a firmware upgrade, but it's not going to get one anytime soon.

00:43:23.090 --> 00:43:29.128
And so when I respect it and it's like, oh, panic concern, I'm like, hey, man, I'm not joking, I talked to it.

00:43:29.128 --> 00:43:32.251
I'm like, hey, thank you, I recognize you're trying to keep me alive.

00:43:32.251 --> 00:43:37.237
You push the panic button about a wrong thing, so we're going to be okay.

00:43:37.237 --> 00:43:38.378
Thank you very much for trying.

00:43:38.378 --> 00:43:39.480
I got to move on now.

00:43:40.141 --> 00:43:41.181
Yes, amen to that.

00:43:41.181 --> 00:43:45.827
And that.

00:43:45.827 --> 00:43:57.114
Right there here you are, john, up until the very final whistle, imparting on us so much knowledge as well, because, entrepreneurs, if you're thinking, john is talking about evolution and the threats that our predecessors had to face with regards to tigers no, those things are still present.

00:43:57.114 --> 00:44:03.927
Fear is one of those false threats that John is alluding to that we all need to be cognizant of so that we can overcome.

00:44:03.927 --> 00:44:05.936
So, john, you're such a wealth of knowledge.

00:44:05.936 --> 00:44:08.568
I've teased your work and your website so much today.

00:44:08.568 --> 00:44:14.047
It's time for listeners who want to go deeper into your work and all the brilliant and amazing things that you're doing.

00:44:14.047 --> 00:44:15.510
Drop those links on us.

00:44:16.291 --> 00:44:18.076
Well, visionary and claritycom that's.

00:44:18.076 --> 00:44:18.856
That's the main one.

00:44:18.856 --> 00:44:21.643
I'm still, to this day, so happy I got thatcom.

00:44:21.643 --> 00:44:24.208
No idea how I got that lucky, thank you universe.

00:44:24.208 --> 00:44:34.534
And uh, if you happen to be a crazy, uh delightful visionary, uh, we have a great little assessment on the website you can go through and, uh, you and I can review it together and see where you're at and what's going on.

00:44:34.534 --> 00:44:38.139
And another note we're actually looking for some partners at the moment.

00:44:38.139 --> 00:44:46.514
So our brilliant visionaries almost always some new thing comes out of it, like a new product or a project or that type of thing.

00:44:46.514 --> 00:44:50.391
Or, of course, everybody wants referrals, so you're welcome to become a referral partner.

00:44:50.391 --> 00:44:52.251
We do fairly sizable payouts.

00:44:52.251 --> 00:44:54.432
I won't say it on air what it is, but it's not small.

00:44:54.432 --> 00:45:02.414
And then we also are looking for partners to help us build a network of people who can implement the crazy visionaries idea.

00:45:02.414 --> 00:45:05.411
So it's down in the footer it says become a partner on the website.

00:45:05.411 --> 00:45:11.771
And, yeah, looking forward to meeting everybody and hanging out and getting super nerdy, that's how we do.

00:45:12.353 --> 00:45:12.755
Heck.

00:45:12.755 --> 00:45:14.561
Yes, I absolutely love that, john.

00:45:14.561 --> 00:45:16.494
You are so speaking our language, I think.

00:45:16.494 --> 00:45:21.891
In so many ways, you embody everything that we exist for here at the Entrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

00:45:21.891 --> 00:45:23.552
So, listeners, you already know the drill.

00:45:23.552 --> 00:45:32.288
We're making it as easy as possible for you to find John's links down below in the show notes, wherever it is that you're tuning into today's episode, or you can go straight to visionaryclaritycom.

00:45:32.288 --> 00:45:32.967
John, I agree with you.

00:45:32.967 --> 00:45:34.070
I I don't know how you got that domain.

00:45:34.070 --> 00:45:38.753
There's no dashes, no anything, just straight up visionaryclaritycom.

00:45:38.753 --> 00:45:40.775
It's incredible, just like you are, john.

00:45:41.077 --> 00:45:46.001
So, on behalf of myself and all the listeners worldwide, thanks so much for joining us here on the show today.

00:45:46.001 --> 00:45:53.920
Thank you hey, it's Brian here and thanks for tuning in to yet another episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

00:45:53.920 --> 00:45:58.789
If you haven't checked us out online, there's so much good stuff there.

00:45:58.789 --> 00:46:04.731
Check out the show's website and all the show notes that we talked about in today's episode at the wantrepreneurshowcom.

00:46:04.731 --> 00:46:07.177
And I just want to give a shout out to our amazing guests.

00:46:07.465 --> 00:46:15.974
There's a reason why we are ad free and have produced so many incredible episodes five days a week for you, and it's because our guests step up to the plate.

00:46:15.974 --> 00:46:18.018
These are not sponsored episodes.

00:46:18.018 --> 00:46:24.668
These are not infomercials.

00:46:24.668 --> 00:46:26.213
Our guests help us cover the costs of our productions.

00:46:26.213 --> 00:46:34.076
They so deeply believe in the power of getting their message out in front of you Awesome entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, that they contribute to help us make these productions possible.

00:46:34.076 --> 00:46:42.556
So thank you to not only today's guests, but all of our guests in general, and I just want to invite you check out our website because you can send us a voicemail there.

00:46:42.556 --> 00:46:43.907
We also have live chat.

00:46:43.907 --> 00:46:47.715
If you want to interact directly with me, go to thewantrepreneurshowcom.

00:46:47.715 --> 00:46:49.927
Initiate a live chat.

00:46:49.927 --> 00:46:59.364
It's for real me and I'm excited because I'll see you, as always every Monday, wednesday, friday, saturday and Sunday here on the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.