How to move beyond magical thinking and get very specific about your dream clients and buyers.Why crystal clear positioning makes everything—including attracting your ideal clients—flow more easily.Improving your odds of successful matchmaking—allowing influential others to hook you up with “your people”. The relationship between taking calculated risks and achieving oversized outcomes (think drumming with the Foo Fighters).Matching your dream up to your business and revenue model—and why that’s so critical.Quotables“If you could just wave a magic wand and be working with your top 20 dream clients, what names would be on that list?”—JS“In most situations, success is hard work plus opportunity or as someone famously said, ‘The harder I work, the luckier I get.’”—RM“You can increase your luck surface area, meaning you can do things, you can do the work, put in the effort to make it much more likely that you're going to attract the right kind of opportunities.”—JS“We want to be a thoughtful matchmaker—it’s what we hope to receive from the people matchmaking us.”—RM“Books will have this tendency to give you a defacto positioning.”—JS“When we first start businesses, we're not always that clear about where we’re going—it’s like binoculars that you keep focusing.”—RM   “There's this outbound thing where you can take control of fate and say, okay, that's my dream. Tesla marketing. That's all I care about. And you put all of your resources into that for a period of time.”—JS“We want to see you succeed when you are the underdog…I want to see you strap on the cape and fly off into the air.”—RM

How the newsletter started and why it was a well-kept secret for years.Tying the newsletter to the core business without making it salesy or deadly dull—and positioning it differently than anyone else in the space.How he sets the flow of the newsletter—and his fear that eventually he’ll run out of stories (sound familiar?).His #1 rule before releasing any “What We’re Seeing” emails.Why typical business assumptions about corporate titans are wrong—and how to engage them.Quotables“I wanted it to be the kind of thing they would want to read while drinking their coffee in the morning or laying next to their spouse in bed, on their phone. That's the vibe I was going for.”—JD“I was quite apprehensive initially about even doing something weekly. Cause I was like I once you're on the ride, it’s hard to get off.”—JD“It's gotten harder because I've used up most of my good stories by now, like funny stories I have from my dad or my college or whatever and like all my best material, I worry sometimes that I've used it up.”—JD“An insight is significantly more valuable the more relatable you can make it.”—JD“When you can make the insight…it doesn't just allow us to connect with that person as a reader, but it allows them to actually use that insight to drive a decision that they have to make.”—JD“I do think there are the people who read that and they see I'm not exactly sure what this company does, but I want to do business with people like this.”—JD“My Saturday email gets to be a little bit of a sacred place where that (sales) stuff doesn't happen.”—JD“I can tell you without ever naming any names, the most senior people and powerful people on that list are the ones who are most likely to answer those frivolous poll questions at the end of the newsletter.”—JDLinksCivic Science Twitter

What it takes to put your first product out for the world to see (even if you’re not painting zombies on skateboards).The fears you may experience the first time you go public and how to push through them.Why publishing your price(s) attracts the right buyers and repels the bad-fits.Worried about leaving money on the table by quoting a flat price? How to think about that whole transaction differently.Why your prices for products and productized services are all experimental and deserve to change regularly.Quotables“I was aware of a sales guy who would routinely send out proposals with an extra zero. And if the client gasps, he's ‘oh, it's a typo. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. It's $60,000, not $600,000.’”—JS“The buyer's time is valuable too. Who's going to want to sit through three conversations with three unknowns to figure out what they're going to do?”—RM“Just put a price on your website and you'll automatically attract the right kind of people for you. It would save everyone time. You wouldn't have to negotiate.”—JS“That first time that you actually put a price on your website…all sorts of things come up in your head, including imposter syndrome.”—RM“There's this fear of leaving money on the table, but guess what? If somebody jumps at it, then you just raise the price for the next person.”—JS“If you don't ever try raising your prices, you won't know the upper limits of what you can charge.”—RM“That indifference to whether or not the client buys—generally that comes from being in demand.”—JS“There's just something about putting a price on your website—you’re making a statement, oh, this is not a cheap WordPress guy I can hire for a thousand dollars…That’s level setting.”—RMLinksCarl Richards on Ditching HourlyAsk us a question

How most freelancers and independent consultants monetize their expertise in their first year or two—and the signs when your revenue model might need an overhaul.The link between your positioning and monetizing your business—and why you want to be open to new ways of packaging your expertise.A “typical” consulting/speaking/book revenue model and how it can become a trap (and some ideas to avoid it altogether or get out while you can).What to do when your revenue model isn’t working.Quotables“It's very common for people to just go out on their own and do their job, but for clients instead of a boss, and the obvious business model is to just rent your hands out by the hour. And that's fine. That'll get you going.”—JS“And then at some point (after you’ve positioned yourself) you come smack dab up to your business and revenue model and you say, oh, these don't fit anymore.”—RM“The competition is increasing and you start to realize that you need to, you might not call it positioning, but you start to realize that you need to appear different in a meaningful way.”—JS“The real money is coming from the other two revenue streams (consulting and speaking), so he is on what I would call a gilded hamster wheel.”—RM“The typical business model for a consultant is write books, speak at conferences and make your money on consulting…He couldn't sell that business—he is the business.”—JS“This idea that you're stuck with this business and revenue model that you created for something you no longer do is insanity.”—RM“I love posting prices on your website because it puts you into a slot in the prospect's mind. So when new clients come along, they already have the expectation, at least in a ballpark way, of what it would mean to work together.”—JS“Of course, there are things you're going to do for free. But when you're working in your genius zone, delivering to your ideal audience, most of those should be paid.”—RMLINKSInequity aversion

Exploring work-life balance, setting boundaries, making career choices, navigating fear in digital spaces, balancing competence and incompetence, and prioritizing values for personal growth. Letting go of what no longer serves you for a fulfilling life.

You’re spending considerable time thinking, writing, speaking, publishing and socializing your point of view.You discover the forms of publishing that fit with your talents and audience and produce regularly, no matter what.You’re building a niche that not only allows you to charge more for your specialty, but gives you the ideal audience to continually feed your curiosity and work from your genius zone.You’re positioning your business and expertise in white space—a target market that you don’t share with anyone else.You’re building a business model with seductive levels of flexibility: what and how you charge; how much and how often you work; and a suite of leveraged services and products that optimize how you spend your time.Quotables“If you are renting your hands out by the hour to do tasks for your clients, it can be difficult to carve out time (to build authority). That feels un-billable, it feels like you're losing money.”—JS“Authorities have a point of view: what is your belief system about how your expertise impacts your world?”—RM“Freelancers are basically selling their hands where authorities are selling their brains. It's all about the intellectual property."—JS“Obviously you can make a lot of money specializing, but in addition to that, you really can go where your curiosity takes you.”—RM“Since I've got a daily deadline to publish something…for a bunch of people who are waiting for it, my brain will gravitate to what I should consider for that vs. thinking about say what should I wear tomorrow.”—JS“If you're looking for ways to prime the (authority building) pump…read!”—RM“Writing is like the sort of cohesive, coherent long form. It’s the crucible almost that you go through to bake your idea into something.”—JS“A lot of us need to socialize things with other people to really get at all the things in the dusty corners of our brains.”—RM

Situations where designing an actual exit plan makes sense and how to think about it.The mindset required to move from trading time for money to creating assets with value independent of your presence.Client exit strategies and why they worked for their situations.Creating a business where the value isn’t 100% tied to your name—and when/how to start the shift.

Evergreen expertise and content vs. those with an expiration date.How to distinguish yourself with evergreen content—and why your voice and point of view are clear difference makers.Avoiding the purist view that we absolutely have to invent something that's never been thought of before—and what to do instead.Side-stepping the eventual conversion of your hot market knowledge into a commodity—or worse (our sympathy to Flash developers).The magic of moving up to a higher level topic that is relevant to your current audience—and how to do it.Quotables“Maybe you localize a topic about marketing or sales into the technology landscape that didn't exist five years ago. If you’re careful about how you straddle that divide, you could still create very evergreen, but up to date content that stands the test of time.”—JS“It's really easy to say let's go do evergreen content, but to distinguish yourself, you've got to really slice and dice it in such a way that you've got something new to say, or it’s new to a different audience.”—RM“I've probably read 200 books on sales and marketing. It's stuff that software developers would rather eat glass than read. So if I can bring that to them in a funny way, or a way that resonates with them, or using language that doesn't repel them, then that's super valuable.”—JS“We can't come from this purist view that we absolutely have to get something that's never been thought of before.”—RM“Some of these more evergreen topics are going to be like fundamental truths of human nature, human behavior.”—JS“It's a lot easier to get attention when you've got the newest sexiest whistle—everybody wants to go hear it.”—RM “When you’re being cutting edge, you're co-opting the hype that some product or technology has built up and you're just strapped to that horse.—JS“When your consulting is based on a new technology, over time more people are going to know what you know, so the price of your expertise goes down and eventually becomes commoditized.”—RM

Tackling the mindset that says you must be constantly busy or you’re not worthy of success.Busyness as a form of procrastination—and what to do instead.Why defining a clear goal and strategy (with pre-planned tactics) can help you side step unfocused busyness.The joys of creating leverage—and what to do with the time you’ve freed up.How intentional, goal-based action will naturally identify the most high impact moves to grow your business.Quotables“When you actually get productive instead of just busy, you're producing better output with less input.”—JS“There is busyness that is not productive in some way or creative, but that is really designed to take up space—it keeps you from facing decisions you need to make.”—RM“Strategy is what helps you understand the difference between an opportunity and a distraction.”—JS“Not checking or responding to email constantly really changed my life.”—RM“How do you get productive instead of busy?”—JS“Putting some limits on what you do in a day helps to improve productivity and outcomes.”—RM“If you find that you can't eliminate the busyness, you have to ask yourself: what's going on here? Am I hooked on it? Is it some kind of worldview? Is it my identity? Do I believe deep down that if I'm not toiling all at all times, then I'm a bad person?” —JS“If you recognize that maybe there's a little addiction going on with your busyness, before you start to shift gears, just stop and breathe for a moment and just ask: is this the best thing for me to be doing next?”—RM

How confidence plays out in growing your business—and the role of daring and initiative in your success.Why you need a handful of marketing processes built around your expertise and your market position—and a few examples of those that work. How to think about and design your selling systems with both fixed and fluid components. Ensuring your delivery processes support your selling and marketing and deliver your promised outcomes.Why your behind-the-scenes operations need processes too—including project management, invoicing and client/team communications.Quotables“It's not confidence that allows me to launch (something new). It's that if it doesn't work, I'll try something else.”—JS“Well-placed confidence says, listen, I've been through this before. I don't know if it's going to be successful, but I'm confident that I'm going to do my best to make this work.”—RM“What is the market telling me…is this thing I created not selling at this price? What am I learning from that? And how do you build a system around it?”—JS“It's hysterical how those checklists save us time, but they engineer confidence. Because you can focus on what's important vs. the miscellaneous stuff that has to get done.”—RM“If you have to learn the lesson every time…you're not engineering any confidence in your process.”—JS“When it comes to selling, you want to absolutely systematize every possible thing.”—RM“You’ve already burned the creative energy to come up with a really good way to say this—why reinvent the wheel?”—JS“Process is absolutely a critical part of being a believable, repeatable, successful consultant.”—RM