Exploring creative strategies to monetize skills through software, masterminds, and subscription models. Emphasizing trust in transparent pricing and innovative monetization tactics like licensing and high-end packages. Featuring insights on Stephen Pressfield's exclusive pricing strategies and potential for successful monetization of his work on resistance.

Explore how adapting to changing rules in business and sports is crucial for success. Learn about innovative pricing strategies for business growth and the shift from transactional pricing to value-based conversations. Discover the importance of staying in your 'genius zone' and continuously experimenting for business success. Challenge personal beliefs and values in business to align with core values for success.

What to do when the three “why” questions aren’t working—and what to do instead.How to get strategic insights into the niche of people you want to serve (we had a lot of fun using the craft beer industry as a jumping off point).The best way to build high value, low time commitment product and service options when your time is limited.How to think about commissions for referring work to decide whether they make sense for you.Quotables“There’s a hundred ways I can build this—I don’t want to build it in some way that’s oblivious to your larger goals. A good client will sit back and say, ‘yeah, let’s do it’. A bad client will say ‘Why do you need to know this?’”—JS“You’re giving them a preview of what it will be like to work with you.”—RM“If you’re in a conversation (with a potential client) and you can’t get them out of order giver mode, it’s not gonna work.”—JS“Working inside a business feels like a very labor-intensive way to get smart about a market niche…and you’re still only learning from one example.”—RM“Sometimes it’s helpful to have no knowledge because you can come in with completely fresh eyes and break new ground and change paradigms.”—JS“Going into courses and information products is the easiest way (to high revenue) in the sense of setting it up and forgetting about it—but in order to do this you really need an audience to sell it to.”—RM“Even if you’re the most ethical person on earth, people know that financial incentives affect behaviors.”—JS“It’s really hard to trust somebody who’s gonna get some money out of your recommendations, especially when it’s a lot of money.”—RMGot a question for us?Do you have a question that you'd like us to answer on the show? We'd love to hear from you! Email a voice recording to Jonathan at asktboa@jonathanstark.com and we'll add it to the queue.  

Transitioning from execution to strategy, including setting up the right boundaries (hint: it’s a process).Recognizing the warning signs that you’re sliding down the slope in the value chain—from strategy back into execution.Adopting the mindset required to fully make the shift from execution to strategy.Setting client expectations and managing boundaries.Positioning yourself in your client’s mind as the strategist. Quotables“A lot of the struggle is: how much strategy do I do, how much execution do I do and where do I find that balance for my own sanity?”—RM“Strategy can be very lucrative but you have to build that up—so how do you still keep putting Cheerios in the bowl between now and then?”—JS“In order to really steer clear of execution, we have to put some big ‘ole boundaries in place.”—RM“If you’re new to doing strategy it can feel like you’re not adding enough value because there’s so much profit.”—JS“Working as the architect (the strategist) is a different way of working—it’s a different mindset.”—RM“To shift out of (execution) and just deliver a strategy or an architecture or a migration plan and just leave is a hard shift for people and that can suck them back into implementation.”—JS“There are people out there who are loving doing the execution and you want to know those people. They’re not your competition—in fact they might be the ones that help you get out of having to do more execution...”—RM“Your positioning gives you a litmus test…it tells you what you should say yes to and what you should say no to.”—JS

How to attach rewards to your truly essential (but exceedingly distasteful) tasks to make them more likely to get done.The role of knowing—and accepting—the consequences of delaying action. Keeping the integrity of your list and why that powers your self-esteem and confidence.The tricks we use to convince ourselves that procrastination is working for us—and how to reprogram them.Discovering your danger zone—those things you genuinely can’t tolerate doing—and designing work-arounds so you can enjoy your life.Quotables“If stuff keeps staying on the (to do) list, it creates an anti-gravitational pull…the feeling of a death spiral.”—JS“You want to keep the integrity of your list—if you’re not tending to it, all of a sudden nothing on the list is important.”—RM“Get the stuff you’re never going to do off the list.”—JS“The way we end relationships is a really good indicator of how we begin the next one.”—RM“There’s a tendency to pour all of your time into the things (on your list) that you’re good at.”—JS“Sometimes we just don’t have clarity—we put the thing on our list but we haven’t bought into the idea that this needs to get done.”—RM“I know what my danger zone areas are, so I just make sure they’re covered.”—JS“If you’re the kind of person that likes to have a lot of balls in the air (and you want an excuse to procrastinate), you throw another ball in the air.”—RM

How to use empathy and consultative driven sales to fast-track growing your authority footprint and your revenue.Learning what your people care most about—including how they talk about it, act and buy—so you can meet them where they are.Why sales is mostly listening vs. talking—and why introverts can be natural masters of selling.Developing a sales mindset that not only tightly serves your target market, but also reflects who you are and how you work best.Why the need for connection and human relationships remains unchanged—and how “selling” fills that need. Quotables“There’s no shortage of bad examples of selling.”—JS“The core question we ask ourselves is: how do I (sell) in a way that uses my time in the right ways and is still giving value to my audience?”—RM“The key word is empathy. You need to have empathy with your ideal buyer.”—JS“The “game” isn’t to sell this thing, the game is to get the person’s wants and/or needs met and to have a meeting of the minds about what that outcome is going to be.”—RM“There’s a type of person I relate to better than other types of people I relate to, so it’s way easier to produce desirable outcomes for people I have a natural affinity for.”—JS“What you’re trying to do when you’re selling is you’re trying to make a connection.”—RM“Having conversations, building empathy (with your ideal buyer) and helping them achieve their goals—to me, that’s selling.”—JS“We want someone who gets us, who understands us—whether it’s a product, a service or a productized service, we want something that really speaks to us.”—RM “If you don’t like the idea of sales you’re probably thinking of it as talking, but really, it’s mostly listening.”—JS LinksThe Secret of Selling AnythingNever Split The Difference

How to pinpoint the intersection of your talents and passions with a demonstrated market of people ready to buy.Identifying your superpower talent (and why it’s sometimes challenging to see it for yourself).Why your goal is to create white space in your market—and how to use your talents and passions to carve it out.Engaging your target market in unique ways that tie to your brand, your positioning.The power of research and why we don’t do it nearly often enough (and how to change that).Quotables“A lot of times our greatest talent comes so easily to us that we don’t even think of it as a talent.”—RM “You could do an exercise with sticky notes where you write down a bunch of things you’re good at—not just business things, but every thing—and a bunch of things you really love doing. You look for the overlaps.”—JS“We don’t hire cardboard cutouts—we hire real people and real people have talents and passions.”—RM“Since we’re no longer limited to the accidental geography we find ourselves in…there’s no reason for you to be limited by your immediate vicinity. Your market is global, almost certainly.”—JS“You have to research who’s in your space: what are they saying, what are they doing, what are they selling—because you want to carve out white space that no one else owns.”—RM“If you’re putting yourself out there, being an entrepreneur, starting your own business, why not start one that makes you jump out of bed?”—JS“Building authority requires confidence.”—RM“Go “painstorming” in the watering holes of the people you want to help. Find a place where they hang out on-line—find places where they vent…to give you a crash course into this market.”—JSLinksHow To Work A Room: The Ultimate Guide to Making Lasting Connections 

Expanding your knowledge through books, podcasts, programs and even coaching from those in your market-adjacent space (or completely outside it).The connection between moving and feeding your body with your mindset (and sometimes your spirit).What to do when your ideal routine gets whacked sideways—by COVID, a change in work schedule or your home life.Wiring your habits—including your physical space—to support your goals and minimize relying on discipline (hint, hint: reduce friction). Understanding the relationship between spirituality, being of service, contentment and confidence. Quotables“It’s pretty reliable that you can read a book that has been a business best seller for 40 years, 50 years and be like ‘Wow, that is really good.’”—JS“Sometimes we just have to find the right combination of messages to get to us—and it doesn’t come with the first things you read or the first thing you buy.”—RM“It’s almost like you need a surrogate brain to figure stuff out.”—JS“There’s something about that flow of energy where everything is firing on all cylinders—that once you experience it, it’s really hard to go back to not having it.”—RM“You add a little bit of friction in front of the bad habits and take away a little of the friction in front of the good habits—put the apples on the counter and the Oreos in the cabinets.”—JS“If you don’t put the temptation in front of you, you don’t need discipline.”—RM“No one is in charge of you anymore—so you have to be in charge of you.”—JS“If your spirit or your spiritual practice is working for you, you’re going to be more comfortable putting yourself out there and putting your ideas out there.”—RM

Exploring the challenges of transitioning clients from hourly to value pricing, setting boundaries, establishing communication standards, and retraining clients for successful relationships and business dynamics.

The signs it’s time to systematize components of your business—and which to tackle first.How to find the right balance between building automations and developing manual tools like checklists and reminders.Using any friction in your business processes as a signpost to ask yourself: Is this necessary and if so, what’s the best way to deal with it? The role of triggers—business and personal—in deciding what needs systematizing.How to delegate to external partners and still sleep at night (hint: think mutual documentation pact).Quotables“I don’t rush to program stuff just because I can. My experience when I do that…is that it creates an inertia for me to not want to change the system.”—JS“I tend to err on the side of I wanting to know what is being done by any system…I want to know what it’s doing, how it works and how it interacts with anything else.”—RM“I collapsed an hour of stressful scrambling into 10 minutes of successful execution.”—JS“We only have so much attention…to think and interact at our highest level. So take all this “stuff” that you really don’t need to worry about and put it in a checklist or procedural outline so you don’t have to waste your brain space on it.”—RM “Structure is freeing. It allows you to focus your brain on stuff your brain is good at and not burn your brain out on stuff that’s a waste of time.”—JS“There is power in writing down every procedure that you outsource.”—RM“You can’t go on vacation if you’re the only one who knows how to do everything.”—JS“The time to hire a VA is when you decide your time is more valuable than money.”—RM