The difference between “dumb” and smart risks.The two questions to ask yourself when evaluating any risk.The role of the lizard brain in how you react to risk and how to move beyond it.Why having a clear strategy allows you to quickly assess risk and separate real opportunity from distraction.How to recognize and deal with the emotions risk taking arouses in you.Quotables“If you’re not placing some bets that have a big pay-off, then you’re not taking risks or you’re taking dumb risks.”—JS“We ought to have a few sleepless nights or we’re not working hard enough on taking risks.”—RM“It’s very common for people to be scared to do something and they interpret that as the thing is risky, but... the impact is a mildly bruised ego and it’s even a private bruising.”—JS“Sometimes what we’re looking for (when evaluating risk) is an excuse not to do it.”—RM“You need to stand out from the crowd. You need to. And it feels risky.”—JS“We choose the vetting (of our partners) based on our perceived risk.”—RM“It’s important to know what failure and success look like.”—JS“If you’ve got a strategy it makes it easier to figure out who to say yes to.”—RM

How to think about your business as an experiment and failures as practice.The value of postmortems to understand—and rebound from—failure.How to put failure in service to your story, your audience and the change you want to make in the world. Reframing failures (after you’ve worked through the emotions around them) and the role of resilience.Why being willing to fail is part of the mindset of an authority.Quotables“My philosophy (on failure) for years has been that everything is practice for the next time.”—JS“When you have a big failure…you’ve got to go through that experience of feeling the pain, feeling the crap and then you come out the other side.”—RM“What’s the worst that could possibly happen—what’s really at risk?”—JS“Most of our failures are not nearly so public as they feel to us.”—RM“Have lots of little failures instead of betting the farm on one big thing.”—JS“It’s about getting comfortable that all those external things—your job, your bank account, what people think of you—if they all go away, you’ll still be OK.”—RM“If you have a catastrophic failure, you can’t come back and play again tomorrow—you’re more or less forced into a pivot.”—JS “You have to find the right support from the right people in the right places. We all know who NOT to go to.”—RM

The difference between sales and marketing—and why both are necessary to run a sustainable authority business.How aligning sales with your values allows you to sell in line with who you are (and avoid those slimy sales tactics we all hate).Why one part of successful consultative selling is reserving your right to say no—that this client, this work is not the right fit.When your prospective clients arrive with different mindsets about their presenting problem that have nothing to do with you.How successful consultative selling makes your ego disappear as you put yourself in service to the client’s vision of the future.Quotables“You don’t have a business if you don’t sell stuff.”—JS“Marketing is creating demand. Selling is closing the deal.”—RM“If you don’t like sales, then you’re gonna have a problem running your own business.”—JS“Are you reacting to what’s coming in or are you going out and killing what you eat?”—RM“Sales mode is not synonymous with trying to close the deal. We’re talking about a potential engagement here, but either one of us can walk away from it.”—JS“Know that they (people who enter your sales stream) come in with ideas and expectations that have nothing to do with you…along with what they think might be possible with what they’ve seen of you.”—RM“I’m the type of “shopkeeper” that is perfectly happy to send somebody to the shop across the street if I think they’ll find what they want over there.”—JS“In the best consultative selling, your ego goes away. Your client feels that you are there for them to succeed.”—RM

 Why providing services (vs. products) may be where you start your business, but not where you necessarily stay.The impact of turning services into products—leverage—on your business and revenue models.How to package your expertise in new ways so that the delivery is inexpensive—and morph your client/audience base to reflect the change.Dealing with the identity shift that happens as you morph your role away from 100% supplying services.Thinking about your business model when you’re starting “clean” with a brand new idea.Quotables“The fundamental proposition here is that services are really expensive to deliver…you’re forced as the seller to set your price high enough that it’s worth doing.”—JS“If you’re selling expensive services—maybe you have 3-5 clients in any given year. But to do something where you’re selling a $300 product or a $700 product, you’ve got to have a lot more people in your pipeline who can buy this, so it changes…who you reach out to and how you deliver.”—RM“You write your first book and…monthly or quarterly out of nowhere you get a check—it’s a completely different kind of money.”—JS“You might find you’re making trivial income from a book, but it’s powering non-trivial income from speaking—which makes you look at your revenue mix (how you’ll make money).”—RM“Package your expertise in a completely different way—it’s the same expertise—but you’re packaging it in such a way that the delivery is inexpensive.”—JS“As you as you do each “thing” you’re gonna learn who is your ideal audience for this thing. What do they have in common? What about this makes it really attractive to them?”—RM “Part of the benefit of doing these little experiments…is it gives you time for your identity to catch up with your brain.”—JS“Once you start to see leverage, it’s kind of hard to unsee it.”—RM

Why getting clear on the critical path your clients and buyers travel with you may be the single most important thing you do.Defining the singular purpose of your emails and automation.Not getting ahead of yourself with “fancy” automation and why keeping it simple will pay dividends.Making more sales through your email automation by meeting your buyers where they are and helping them solve their problems.Another way to think about your “cold” subscribers and when/how to let them go.Quotables“There are two trigger points in any purchase: one is the intent and the other is motivation.”—JR“The faster you can understand your audience base and who your customer is, the faster you can make a sale, the faster you can help them and the faster they become repeat customers.”—JR“Segmentation is understanding a group of people and who they are at the level where they’re all the same…and being able to tailor their experience according to that.”—JR“What’s your critical path? When somebody comes in, what do you want them to go to next, what do you want them to buy first, what do you want them to buy second, what do you want them to buy third…then figure out what those conversion points are.”—JR“That daily (or weekly) blast or broadcast or newsletter has a single purpose: and that’s to offshoot people into your next step…I always call it the “tell me more” campaign.”—JR“If you’re selling virtual workouts, don’t give recipes as your lead magnet.”—JR“It’s best to write all of these things (how you want the automation to flow) out in a document first and then apply them into the platform second.”—JRLinksNurtureKit Jason on Twitter 

Exploring the benefits of podcasting for lead generation and business growth, strategies for building audience engagement, long-term impact and invitations, building relationships through in-person podcasting, and the strategic value of podcasting for business in the creative agency industry.

 Why being the Pharmacist is a frequent first stop when you start a business (but needn’t be the last).When operating as the Nurse is the perfect fit—working on a standardish process with clients who want to understand what’s happening and participate in the outcomes.How combining high levels of creativity and innovation with very little client interaction makes for the unique marketing and branding challenges of the Brain Surgeon.Why operating as a Psychotherapist means balancing some Brain Surgeon wisdom with serious collaboration skills—and how to market to clients who want to be intimately involved in the problem solving process.How to decide which engagement style makes the most sense and whether switching your focus might be the right next move. Quotables“Compare the interaction you’ve had between a nurse and a pharmacist…the level of attention they bring to bear is noticeably different.”—JS“I don’t think there is any one profession that always falls into one of these buckets, it’s how the professional decides to position themselves and work.”—RMThe nurse will understand a whole bunch of lingo but hopefully they won’t deploy that on the patient and the patient can speak their normal sort of non-medical terms.”—JS“If you have the misfortune to need a pediatric neurosurgeon, you probably don’t care so much whether they talk to you in the way that you want—you probably care more that they’ve done the kind of surgery your child needs.”—RM“When you kind of just care about your craft—you’re consumed with your craft—then the positioning is to be recognized as the best in the world at this thing that somebody cares about but doesn’t want to do themselves.”—JS“Depending on where you fall (in this model), you’ll want to design everything else around that—your marketing, your branding, how you make money within your business model...”—RM“A brain surgeon is not going to send direct mail postcards and blanket a neighborhood or put flyers under your windshield wiper.”—JS“You want your voice—which is part of your brand and your marketing—to match your engagement model. You don’t want to sell someone on being a pharmacist and then oops—you’re acting like a brain surgeon.”—RMLinksThe Anatomy of a Consulting Firm Managing The Professional Service Firm True ProfessionalismThe Trusted Advisor

The role of your strategy in deciding whether something is a distraction or an opportunity.Why it’s worth your time to determine the motivation and mindset behind the people approaching you with ideas.Aligning your goals with the ongoing decisions you need to make to keep delivering and funding your mission.When saying yes to distractions becomes a form of procrastination (and how to kick the habit).Knowing what’s a good use of your time and convincing yourself to stick to your own rules.Quotables“At the end of the day, strategy is the litmus test that would separate…distraction and opportunity.”—JS“If you feel like someone is sweet-talking you..look to their materials—their website, social media handles—and get a sense of whether they’re me-focused or other-focused.”—RM“If it can’t fail, it’s not a strategy.”—JS“You have to decide what you’re going to get out of this so you’ll know if it’s a distraction or an opportunity.”—RM“You have a goal, you decide how you’re gonna get there—and if you change how you’re gonna get there, then you’re making a strategic change and that should be a big deal.”—JS “You have to allow yourself the ability to stick to your path.”—RM 

Getting hyper-clear on what you most value from each specific relationship.Considering the degree of collaboration you’re looking for (and how to avoid micro-managing).Choosing wisely when you have a high risk/high reward, bet the business situation.Ensuring the people on your team “get” your business and your vision while sharing your essential values. Quotables“The best way to see how nuts hourly billing is is to pay someone hourly for a little while.”—JS“Part of being the client is getting clear on how you want to work and how you’re going to measure your happiness.”—RM“The way to be the leader is to act like the leader…a leader would say no to way more customers than you’re taking on. A leader would be the most expensive—by 50% at least—that’s going to make you look like the leader.”—JS“When you are the client, you still have the responsibility to choose someone who’s going to work well with you. You’ve got to use your spidey sense.”—RM“The danger is when the risk is very high the person who is taking the risk can get very hands on at…the worst possible time.”—JS“It’s really important that you know that they (your providers) know what you want.”—RM“If you want someone to hit a home run for you, you need to define where the wall is so they can aim for it.” —JS“It’s relatively easy on the front end to decide if you could trust someone. You can look at their website, you can see how they talk, their testimonials…and you get that sense for how their values and their style connect with yours.”—RM 

Why getting to selling transformations is a process and the multiple ways to move yourself further along the curve.The elements of selling transformation—from positioning the outcomes you deliver, understanding your client’s definition of a home run and ensuring their buy-in to the process.Moving from being a master of your craft to fostering transformational outcomes in your ideal client base (including mustering up the courage to make the shift).Mapping what satisfies your clients to what satisfies you—and vice versa.Building transformations into your business model—how you work, what you deliver and how you get paid.Quotables“When you get to the phase where you’re focusing on  transformations, not coincidentally you’re also to the point where you can start value pricing for projects.”—JS“It’s really tough to get to transformations if the client is telling you what to do.”—RM“It’s a mindset shift…where all of a sudden you start to notice what’s happening in the other people involved and you aren’t just thinking ok, here’s my punch list of to-do’s for today.”—JS“We think ‘I’m gonna sell you on how smart I am’ but really what we’re selling is the transformation of the client—the outcome.”—RM“Saying ‘here are all the answers, see ya later, bye’ doesn’t work.”—JS“You start to say oh—so I did that, I did this great thing but that client put it on a shelf. But this client used it and then told me how great it was. What’s the difference between those two?”—RM “It’s more likely you’ll produce raving fans if you know what the outcome is that they’re looking for.”—JS“Helping a client think through all the strategic “stuff”—the picture of where they’re going and the why plus all the outcomes—is a gift you give the client. Even if they don’t hire you.”—RM