Sketchy Ideas

By Sketchy Ideas Show

Sketchy Ideas is a video podcast where Michael and Brad illustrate and debate concepts surrounding leadership, business, and personal achievement in a way that'll make you think twice before you imple... more

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FAQs about Sketchy Ideas:

How many episodes does Sketchy Ideas have?

The podcast currently has 95 episodes available.

Sketchy Ideas episodes:

August 18, 2021Sketchy Ideas Episode 56: Start Your Engines
:30 Intro
3:00 Sponsors and recap of data analysis
If you are a sales rep then you will be tracking your sales activity

Every step of your business has a point value

Generate metrics around revenue

Need to layer on value metrics in order to achieve conversions

Value engines: customer value journey

“Sales activity is not the same as revenue” -M
6:00 Know what is working /what is not in business (Adding value)
“If I didn’t give you something valuable in that meeting why would you come back” -M

Need to know what is working so it can lead to results

6:40 “At every step of the journey you need to be adding value to the customer”-B

Customers needs need to always be on your mind and make it better
9:12 sales processes
What is your key takeaway from a conversation

Question to ask: “Which part of this conversation has been most helpful to you”

Customers will WANT to come back

Many conversations are not actually adding value -B

There is unseen value in many things, including ads and a campaigns
It is a mental shift

Causes remembrance

12:20 value engine and repurposing
“If you’re creating the content they have more chance connect with it since you are creating so much”

Value engines are so important to small businesses
Value comes from the business

Adds on with processes

Accountability helps

You need to know the metric you must add in order to move you to the next step
15:13 need to follow process
Michael had a lot of sales activity but not a lot of revenue...had to go back and follow process
Had 5 contracts out in a week once he followed his sales process

All about the data

How to find those metrics…
Need to look at successes and failures

There is always a trend-M

Requires having enough data to understand how it works

18:25 steps to analyze
Need to ask what the desired outcome is from step to step

Focus more on successes because they work

If you give away everything all at once you will get more people who come to you knowing you will give them the answers
21:37 defying balance
People do not notice it but it is happening
Hot dog and buns example

Mcdonalds french fry example

The business knows that you will not not get a burger without fries, most of the time
23:28 accountability
You won’t know if you process isn’t working if you are not accountable

Accountability is built in when you build the engine

“It should put you back on track”

You can build accountability into the metrics but having a person is important
28:50 - Overview/End remarks
Topics/concepts others have disagreed on, send them our way

Look out for sketchy soiree

[email protected]
Full Show Notes Here
...more
30min
August 16, 2021Sketchy Ideas Episode 55: Vanity Metrics Vs. Value Metrics
4:14 Intro
Opening remarks

Recap of gut decisions
8:00 Into to vanity metrics
They look like positive patterns

“Most bad habits feel good, it might even look good at the time like cookies.” -B

Constantly getting fed information and your gut check and vanity metrics become less valuable when that happens

“There are ways to simplify and measure the value of your data”-B

Vanity metrics allow you to begin tracking the wealth of that certain activity
Have to ask yourself are your vanity metrics converting to the data that you’re looking for.

3 layers

12:00 Brad Gif
“If you’re a sports fan like I am”

Baseball example of getting data
15:03
Giving example of having a 66 batting average, 2 out of three bats
15:14 Michael Gif
“Let’s go one out of three that’s a realistic number” -B
16:00 Are your vanity metrics leading to value metrics
Likes and loves are great but are they leading to activity

“Are people taking action based on your content” -M

Being an influencer has changed meaning.
Has everything to do with vanity and nothing to do with value

“If you're awesome like michael he’s growing a huge following on social media you should all go follow him on instagram” -B

“A lot of you who are doing sales are not evaluating the level of your activity in sales the right way” -B
20: 38 checkpoints and conversions
If you are not fast enough to get to one point you will not be fast enough to get to the next

It can be challenging to look at profit loss or cash flow
Easy to focus on initial activity

But you need to focus on conversions

Ask how much money is coming in and going out every week

22:49 importance of collecting data
“Data is extremely important and it is almost more important right now in a world of gut check data” -B

At the root of any business you have money coming in and money coming out, it is important to learn how to measure that.
24:00 collecting data
“When in doubt collect more data” -M

The delusion gap
Gap between your reality

You are going to make a decision based on how you perceive the world

“Good data reduces delusion gaps. It brings your perception closer to reality and wouldn’t you like to make a decision based on a better understanding of reality?” -M

26:14 Brad Gif
“Are you saying my delusion gap is like the grand canyon” B
28:Vanity metrics
They do not give you all the story

“Vanity metrics will save the world” -B

Just because it’s a sketchy idea does not mean it’s not worth exploring” -M
29:50 - Overview/End remarks
Topics/concepts others have disagreed on, send them our way

Look out for sketchy soiree

[email protected]
Full Show Notes Here
...more
31min
August 16, 2021Sketchy Ideas Episode 54: Don't Trust Your Gut
: 30 Intro
Opening remarks
2:00 Intro to Topic
You are responsible for success of your organization
Trusting your gut has gotten you this far

Trusting your gut can lead to wrong decisions

Dive into decision making and understanding importance of what is going on when making those decisions
4:24 Jump into “gut feelings” and science behind topic
“Trusting your gut can lead you astray”- B

Gut and brain are connected in different ways

Importance of digestive health
People who were working out still not healthy

Emotional and mental health

Your gut has 500 million neurons and that is why you get butterflies and strong emotions

GABA: helps control your feelings of fear and anxiety

Getting back into shape is just as much nutrition as it is exercise
8:00 perspective on topic for business owners
“Do a gut check on yourself to understand the importance of why gut decisions are good” - B

A lot of people make gut decisions but not making solid ones because their gut is not healthy

“Intuition comes from making pattern recognition”-M
Comes from patterns we recognize and make decision from

12:24 Common Sense
“Common sense is a myth”-M

Common sense is based on experience

Intuition is based and calibrated on your experiences the same way mine is based and calibrated on mine and the more experiences I’ve had and the better I paid attention to those the better and more accurate my patterns is going to be.

It is important to pay attention to patterns above subconscious
That is how we can improve our gut health

Understanding that intuition is a compilation of historical data
16:34 Understanding why gut health is harder to understand now
We are experiencing conditions and operating under new conditions
Because of pandemic

No familiar experiences to this that we can draw from

If we are self aware then we would notice this is a different condition
17:30 inbound info
In the 90s only getting hundreds of ads

10,000 a day and that was from 2017 study
This is skewing pattern recognition

Our gut decision is less effective because of all the noise and inbound info we are experiencing

“Trust your gut if you calibrate it” -M
20:27 Age of internet
Previous to the age of internet, gut decisions worked

Now that there is internet we are loaded with trillions of ads skewing our gut decision and intuition

How to calibrate gut:
Awareness of the problem

Be aware of the decisions you are trying to make and evaluate them. Articulate, stop and figure out why you got there

Check assumptions to see if it is really like the situation you thought of
Can stop if not working or proceed with decision making

Make a decision based on the objective of reality now that you’ve gathered facts

28:10
Relate to scientific method and college self
30:29 - Overview/End remarks
Sketchy Soiree

Sketchyideashow.com to send interesting lines or comments
Full Show Notes Here
...more
33min
July 29, 2021Sketchy Ideas Episode 53: Will it Scale?
0:56 Intro
Intro/Opening remarks

The topic is: Will it Scale?
1:45 Sponsors
SPEARity (SPEARity.com)

Cream City Marketing (creamcitymarketing.com)
3:20 The logistics
1. Idea

2. Proof of concept
Mix of: Feasible, Buyable, Desirable

Is it something we can continue to make and make profit on?

3. Proof of Model
Systems and processes are very important

Supply chain

Delegation

8:04 One size does not fit all
A closet cereal entrepreneur acquiring multiple business
Learned that selling online and selling services can be very different

All business are not created the same

The 4 C’s are fundamental but there isn’t one way to achieve them

“You can’t scale anything you’re doing without a process” -B
16:50 Q’s to ask about scalability
Can I increase the size of my market?

Do I have access to another market?

Does it solve a problem?
21:55 Am I the first?
“There’s another similar model out there that you can emulate to grow your business” -B

You are not the first person to solve this problem

There are very few “novel business models” out there

Proof of concept does not equal proof of model

The reason google works (the function) is because someone has had your problem before

“Try googling it” -M
31:25 Sneak peek of Sketchy Soirée
Business models identified by SPEARity
Franchise

Ecommerce

Retail/Restaurant

Catering

Real Estate/Insurance

Dentist

Law Firm

SAS and Software

Manufacturing

Find the model that works for you

Odds are you’ll fit into one of the models
34:12 Closing remarks
Farewell to the Sketchy Ideas Producer, Brian

The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, & Anchor

Check out SketchyIdeasshow.com

If you have any sketchy ideas, email us at [email protected]

Just because it’s a sketchy idea, doesn’t mean it’s not worth exploring!
Full Show Notes Here
...more
38min
July 22, 2021Sketchy Ideas Episode 52: Looking Back for the Future
00:40 Intro
Intro/Opening remarks

The topic is: Looking back for the future (Reflection)
1:45 Sponsors
SPEARity (SPEARity.com)

Cream City Marketing (creamcitymarketing.com)
3:47 What is reflection?
Looking back at what happened

Looking back as the process for continuous improvement

Reflection as a methodology or framework for taking the lessons of the past and applying them forward

Get insight from everyone working on a project

More insight = more data = more patterns

“People besides you have good thoughts too” - M

Why reflect?
To get better

5:48 Is it important?
Reflection supports an overall idea

Michael reflected his time teaching at summer camp
The goal is to develop the students there

While also developing the staff there

And actively trying to develop the curriculum

Meta-developing the development process

7:15 Is it time for you to reflect?
Are you tired of making the same mistakes?

“I just can’t figure that out”

Do you keep doing it the same way and you see no significant improvement or changes?
9:55 How do you do it?
Start with your feedback (See episode 51 on PINT-sized feedback)

Tag your feedback (+-!?)
Your feedback needs to have a value

Split your project into a timeline (days, modules, etc.)

What was your end objective?

“Your effort should have a goal” -M

When you reflect, did you or didn’t you accomplish your goal?
15:05 Practical Standpoint
Looking for trends

More positives than negatives

Are there a lot of questions?

Are there new ideas?

Does all of the feedback get you closer or farther away from your goal?
24:30 When to implement the new changes
Capture how you did in the moment

Let it sit emotionally a bit and come back fresh

Need to be able to distance your emotion from the process in order to implement the changes needed
30:55 Closing remarks
The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, & Anchor

Check out SketchyIdeasshow.com

If you have any sketchy ideas, email us at [email protected]

Just because it’s a sketchy idea, doesn’t mean it’s not worth exploring!
Full Show Notes Here
...more
34min
July 16, 2021Sketchy Ideas Episode 51: Pint-Sized Feedback
1:12 Intro
Intro/Opening remarks

The topic is: Pint-Sized Feedback (https://www.wasc.org/Leadership-Camp)
2:00 Sponsors
SPEARity (SPEARity.com)

Cream City Marketing (creamcitymarketing.com)
4:25 Mini session overview
Define the problem

Design a solution

Deliver and implement

See if it performs/working
If not, go back to the top

**Michael is teaching this to high-schoolers at summer camp, so you can learn it too!**

Students typically learn this faster since they don't have preconceived notions about how it’s supposed to be
“Our friend TTWWADI is back” -M

6:45 Getting the pint-sized feedback
Collecting feedback every day of summer camp
Before collecting feedback
Michael had to remember what worked and what didn’t 12 months prior at the last summer’s camp

After collecting feedback
Takes the cognitive load off his memory and it’s now documented and on the whiteboard on a sticky note

Iterative and significant improvements to the content

Leveraging the collective genius on 16 students

Collecting near real-time feedback will allow you to update your course
Doesn’t need to be perfect the first time and will only get better as you continue

11:10 How willing to give feedback?
Not a formal sheet
On a sticky note

“It’s minimal scary” -M

Not a weekly feedback sheet
Having to remember 5 days ago instead of in the moment

A lot can happen in 5 days, don’t wait until they forget everything

Lower the bar and make it smaller
Able to give feedback at any time and add it to the whiteboard

Each student is given a pack of sticky notes and a sharpie

Help us help you
13:00 How does this help?
Allows students(delegates) to provide feedback that didn’t always feel natural to give previously

“On a scale from 1-10, this has been an 11. A significant change” -Alex (staff at summer camp)

Is there more feedback now?
Opens the door for feedback all day, every day

Need to be comfortable receiving feedback

Start each day with feedback
Add it to the wall and say one of them outloud - validating your ideas

16:25 What is this called?
PINT +-!?
+P - Plusses
Things that are going well

What should we do again

Continue doing (Start-stop-continue)

Best part

-I - Issues
What went poorly

What can we change

What could be better

Stop doing (Start-stop-continue)

!N - New
New ideas

What could we add

We should try

Next time

Yes and’s

Start doing (Start-stop-continue)

Full Show Notes Here
...more
32min
July 08, 2021Sketchy Ideas Episode 50: 50 Shades of Sketchy
0:49 Intro
Intro/Opening remarks

The topic is: 50 Shades of Sketchy
2:00 Sponsors
SPEARity (SPEARity.com)

Cream City Marketing (creamcitymarketing.com)
3:15 Brad’s confusion
Why go over everything we’ve done so far?
Michael wanted something special to commemorate 50 episodes

There is a method to the madness!

“We do plan ahead a little bit” -M
4:25 Brad and Michael both storm off set
Stand by screen
5:06 Together at last
**Audio problems for 30 seconds**

Not necessarily a plan, but a method
5:55 Brad and Michael list off all of the episodes
Smart Goals

Agile Doing

Debate between SMART/Agile

Avatars 1

Avatars 2

Feedback

Avatar Deep Dive

VUCA

VUCA 2.0

Sales Process

Sales Process Cont.

Know Your Numbers

Sales Mindset

Navigating the 4 C's

Rounding the Bases of Conflict

Debating our Differences

Performance Analysis

COVID Classroom

Transforming Your Brain with Cyrina Talbott

Crazy Concepts

The Care and Feeding of Your Launch

Behind the Whiteboard

New Year, Same Me?

Personality Assessments

CYA Choose Your Assessment

Owning the Room with Consuela Munoz

Why Your Content Sucks

Framework of Frameworks

Leading By Definition

That's Not My Job

Sausage Making with Brad and Michael

Delegation

Team of Delegators

Skills Pay Bills

Upgrading Your Team

Upgrading Your Team P2

First Impressions

Your Employer Brand

Humanizing Your Social Media

Make Your Non Profit Profitable

Real World Case With Katy Corey

Where are we going? Back to the office

Measuring Your Mindsets

Applying Your Mindsets

Planning to Fail

Scheduling Your Priorities

The App Made Me Do It

Planning For Growth With Susie Moon
20:35 What’s the point?
It looks like madness, but it all fits together
People/organizing how you get your work done

Marketing

Goals

Processes

Mindsets

28:00 Closing remarks
The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, & Anchor

Check out SketchyIdeasshow.com

If you have any sketchy ideas, email us at [email protected]

Just because it’s a sketchy idea, doesn’t mean it’s not worth exploring!
Full Show Notes Here
...more
31min
July 01, 2021Sketchy Ideas Episode 49: Planning For Growth With Susie Moon
0:28 Intro
Intro/Opening remarks

The topic is: Planning for Growth with Susie Moon
1:25 Sponsors
SPEARity (SPEARity.com)

Cream City Marketing (creamcitymarketing.com)
3:00 Guest Introduction
Susie Moon

Worked in the corporate world for 25 years

Founded her business in December 2019

Was unsure of what kind of business she wanted to create
Knew she wanted to help people

Offer support

Get people to their numbers

Started working with SPEARity in second half of 2020
Working with Michael as her coach

Using the SPEAR app she was able to set goals

“He helped me reach my goals, doubling my revenue in the second half of the year” -SM

Support person for coaches, entrepreneurs
Focusing on the things that people were not very good at

Set more goals in 2021
Still working with SPEARity, now with Darren

“My word of the year is build” -SM

You can’t always do it by yourself

“I was so burnt out, I was so overwhelmed, and I decided that I need people” -SM

First half of 2021 she started building her team

“I started building a team to do all the things for me, so I could focus on my sketchy ideas” -SM
She now has 10 part-time contractors

~9 clients

“I really like my clients and I want to stick with them, but I also want to grow” -SM
Finding a balance in the direction she wants to go in

SPEARity keeps her on track

“I’m building the plane as I fly it -SM

10:23 GIF
11:02 Needing help when helping others
She had a mindset shift before starting the business bc she was holding off on starting the business
Didn't think she was worthy of having her own business after working for other people in the corporate world for so long

“Being an entrepreneur has been in my blood ever since I was little” -SM

Take the leap and try

Hanging out with people smarter than you makes you want to be them
Told herself she would never be the person to run a marathon
Has since completed 3 of them (in 16 months)14:30 Needing a coach

It’s all about mindset

Made her stop thinking small, and start thinking about the possibilities

Someone to push her out of her comfort zone
15:47 How a coach changed her business
It was uncomfortable at first

You build rapport with that person

Able to pick out those quarterly goals and seeing the steps you need to take to reach those goals
How much am I charging each person

How many clients do I need

How many prospects do I need to talk to each weekYou need to remove the emotional aspect from your business to see the perspective

Do you want to own this for the rest of your life or do you want to sell it at some point?

19:12 Removing your feelings
Full Show Notes Here
...more
35min
June 24, 2021Sketchy Ideas Episode 48: The App Made Me Do It
1:18 Intro
Intro/Opening remarks

The topic is: The App Made Me Do It
2:05 Sponsors
SPEARity (SPEARity.com)

Cream City Marketing (creamcitymarketing.com)
3:30 Brad gives overview of last week
Using a calendar to keep your priorities straight

Hyping up Michael’s use of SPEARity’s software to help organize quarterly goals
7:00 Michael dives in
Start on paper, add in software, reach success

4 C’s refresh
Customer acquisition

Cash Flow

Customer retention

Company growth

Turn them into your goals
#1 being your spearhead (Customer acquisition)

SPEARity defines your spearhead as:
If I get this goal accomplished, nothing else really matters

If I don’t get this goal accomplished, nothing else really matters

“We can’t do all the things, it’s doing the most important things is how leaders win” -M

9:40 Michael gives SPEARity software demo
Goals (90/7/1)
90 days for the quarter

7 days for the week

1 day for the day

The app is designed to help guide you in the next direction

The dashboard shows
What are your goals for the quarter

What are your milestones for this week

What are your activities and tasks for the day

“When I can identify that my daily activities are aligned with my weekly milestones and my quarterly goals, I am productive, not just busy” -M

Busy does NOT equal productive

Your calendar can be full and does not produce any value because you haven’t defined their alignment

The tasks that put my spearhead at the top are of highest value

“Planning and preparation are the 20, that produce the 80” -M

Planning ahead is an investment in yourself
15:34 Planning out Brad’s goals
Sales goal: close $250k on his own

Daily tasks: Regular sales activity (1 hr/daily)

Daily tasks: build out offer funnel (1/monthly)

Goals can be connected using the software to show you your priorities
30:00 Unofficial 5th status
The status of forgotten
I didn’t do it or I didn’t account for what happened with it

36:00 Closing remarks
The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, & Anchor

Check out SketchyIdeasshow.com

If you have any sketchy ideas, email us at [email protected]

Just because it’s a sketchy idea, doesn’t mean it’s not worth exploring!
Full Show Notes Here
...more
39min
June 17, 2021Sketchy Ideas Episode 47: Schedule Your Priorities
0:52 Intro
Intro/Opening remarks

The topic is: Scheduling Your Priorities
1:37 Sponsors
SPEARity (SPEARity.com)

Cream City Marketing (creamcitymarketing.com)
3:40 SPEARity Event promo
SPEARity had their quarterly APEX event last week
Next one is in September

6:45 How SPEARity spearheads goals (refer to episodes 1-3 for SMART goals)
4 C’s
Customer Acquisition (Sales/Acquisition)

Cashflow

Customer Retention (Fulfillment)

Customer Growth

Brad used these buckets to list out his smart goals for the next quarter
10:32 Brad’s calendar
“I need to get better and more effective at scheduling my day” -B

Started with personal growth goals
Wake up time (everyday)

Sleep time (everyday)

By writing out each thing you need to do every morning and night, you’re building a cognitive memory and you’re able to use it as a measuring stick of success

Build on more to the calendar
He uses bookends to start and close out his “work day”
Prep for the day

Close and plan for tomorrow

Brad’s Day
Wake up time

Workout/eat/get ready

Prep for the day

~~work~~

Close and plan for tomorrow

Eat/relax/etc.

Sleep time

Without a daily schedule, you will forget day to day activities that you have to do

“My prep time helps me recalibrate for the day” -B

“If you don’t make the time for lunch, other people will take the time from you” -M (in regards to eating lunch)

By scheduling things for the same time every day, your brain will get into a rhythm

“The non-negotiables need to be blacked out not matter what” -B
BUT they are plans and may be booked over if needed, plans can change

22:40 Time blocks
Schedule your work blocks in hour chunks, but only work for 50 min of it
Built in breaks will help you not burn out during the week

Or work for 90 min and take a 15 min break

Find what works for you and adjust as needed

Either way, if you schedule out your week, it’s more likely to go well

Planning out in blocks reminds you of things you HAVE to do
28:00 What goes on the calendar
You don’t have to put everything on your calendar

You see what can be delegated off and what is non-negotiable

“Planning time is also deciding time” -M
Delegation episodes are 33-34

Don’t try to fit it all in
Put in the important things and fill in as time is available

Using a calendar is easy, sticking to it is the hard part

The stuff before work and after work are more important than anything during the day
80/20 rule

Planning and prep is in the 20%

Setting yourself up for success is the key to the success

36:00 Closing remarks
Full Show Notes Here
...more
38min

FAQs about Sketchy Ideas:

How many episodes does Sketchy Ideas have?

The podcast currently has 95 episodes available.