Drop and Give Me 20
To wrap up this year of many changes and experiments along with assorted hits and misses, I am heading into a month of deep work to focus on what I’ve learned, what I still need to learn and how best to use both to serve you.
First up: my positioning. My XY positioning statement has taken a few turns in the last 12 months, and it still appears differently in different places, so I wanted to settle on one.
The front runner:
I help experts build scalable and saleable businesses by turning their expertise into intellectual property.
It hits all of the beats that I drum on about creating a scalable and saleable expertise-based business.
To test the strength of my positioning, I took David C. Baker’s “Drop and Give Me 20” challenge.
In brief, he asks whether you can list 20 insights, nearly off the top of your head, that emerge from your expertise as applied to your particular focus. Out of the list, will the audience have some aha moments? Will they learn something? Per David: “If you struggle to assemble those insights, then it’s quite possible that your positioning isn’t deep enough and you’ll be easily interchanged.”
Okay. My expertise is intellectual property. The application is turning expertise into intellectual property.
So here are my 21 😊 insights from this application:
Decouples income from time
Creates leverage
IP is a legal monopoly, meaning the only way anyone else can use it is to buy it from you or get a license from you
Basis for SOPs and team building
Business operates independently from founder
Founder can get out of implementation to focus on strategy
Business moves from expert (time) based to expertise (IP) based
Diversifies revenue
Enhances revenue visibility
Decreases client concentration
Increases reach and impact
Provides the foundation for a signature solution
Elevates reputation from expert to authority
Enhances positioning
Reduces performance risk
Reduces collection risk
Increases profitability
Simplifies sales process
Business stability from repeatable processes for delivery and operations
IP are saleable assets
Transforms business from income producing to wealth building
So…did you have any aha moments?
You know that I am eager to create valuable resources and trainings to move you along the Hourly to Exit journey. Finding the right balance between useful and overwhelming is challenging! And I can’t do it without you.
As you do your end of year deep work, if any of the above issues arise for you, please send me a note with your questions. What resources or information would be helpful? Where are you stuck? What have you tried but didn’t quite fit the bill?
As always, all input is welcome and appreciated.