The White Rabbit

In this episode, guest Jonathan Stark, the king of not billing hourly, goes into how he came to the realization that hourly billing is a huge mistake, how hourly rates are actually "corrosive" to your relationship with your client, and how moving past them ushers in a huge mindset change. 

Also, dear listeners, feel no inadequacy. Notice that Jonathan mentions he started this process in 2006, so he has been at it for years. Don't think you have to wake up tomorrow and be the world's most perfect and thorough implementer of all things not hourly. It's a process with numerous intermediate steps, and it might take you a while. That's fine.

Alper riffs on a subject a guest brought up recently, that maybe the pushback you get during your presentation isn't about you, it is legitimate questions about your idea. We tend to take things personally (after all, we're human, at least most of us), but as Alper says, it's "crucial" to separate pushback related to you from pushback related to your idea, and to not get caught in the trap of feeling the need to justify yourself.

This week business owner and industry organization board member Ebru Demirel goes into how to present an idea to a company or organization.

In particular, she talks about the need for transparency, the willingness to discuss the downside risks of an idea, the importance of training and preparation, and the value, for the leaders being pitched to, of making rapid decisions.

Almost every slide designer has heard the phrase, "But we can get this done in [insert country here] for a fraction of the price.

Slide designers aren't alone in feeling this pressure. So in the interests of hearing how another industry deals with this, today we talk to business coach Geraldine Carter to find out what Certified Public Accountants are doing about it.

On the docket for today, measuring the efficacy of a presentation. Can it be done? Our answer: Yes.

Actually, it's not so simple. Matt not-so-secretly suspects that the presentation itself has no value, and Alper suspects that it does. 

Matt and Alper revisit the low-hanging fruit, the clients' perennial favorite question: "I have a surprise presentation coming up in a few minutes, what are the quick things I should do first to get the biggest part of the improvement?"

Hint: They are: 1. Answer the Three Questions, 2. Follow a simple story structure like "man in hole," 3. Make sure your headlines match your message, and 4. Use the "build" animation.

And just to confirm, no actual horses were harmed in the making of this podcast.

Amidst all the solopreneur emphasis on the need to niche one's business, Matt mentions that his favorite clients, by far, are the ones who, months later, have evolved to something that has absolutely nothing to do with his niche. He highly recommends that the other solopreneurs out there follow the niching literature and consider niching a vital survival technique, but he urges them to, at the same time, be open to the idea that some of their favorite clients won't fit into that niche at all.

Alper goes into the traits he sees making for a successful client. They are 1. Recognizing the power of exceptional communications, 2. Understanding that this is not an overnight process, 3. Recognizing the fine line between persuasion and fit, and 4. Understanding that a "no" today is not a "no" forever.

Also, if someone knows how much a Lear Jet costs or what goes in a Mai Tai, please let us know.

Matt describes what he sees as the three traits of clients who get the most out of the training. The traits are: 1. A history of serial problem solving, 2. A frustration coming from one of life's slaps in the face, and 3. The fear of god (an external force that makes them want to solve the problem that #2 brought to the forefront).

Matt asks Alper for advice on how to handle a crisis of confidence his clients often face shortly after starting work.