The role of your mindset in breaking through set points and powering past income plateaus.Deciding when it’s time to change your revenue model to provide your business with greater leverage—and larger earnings potential.How to think about and reframe limiting beliefs that keep you from making big leaps in your business.When your past experiences are powering decisions today that don’t serve you or your business growth (and how to re-wire them).Quotables“There's a certain point where you've found all the leverage you're going to find with this model and you need to find a bigger lever.”—JS“I'd like to be a best-selling author. But guess what? If I don't write a book, it's not going to happen.”—RM“One of the things that can be the moment of a huge breakthrough for people is the first time they say no to a client.”—JS“Maybe there's a voice in your head that says you don't deserve any better than this. That this is the best you get.”—RM“Lightning round of three limiting beliefs: I can never call myself an expert if I’m not the world’s greatest; Oh, these are all great ideas, but they won't work; I can't stop coding because then I wouldn't be able to consult.”—JS“There are all these different experiences that impact how we think about money and therefore what we allow ourselves to achieve in our business.”—RM“You can go back and find out what your particular contribution was worth to the client and then try and extrapolate into the future. So when you talk to someone who's similar, you can get better at guesstimating what your contribution might be worth to this kind of a client.”— JS“Once you're past the bootstrap stage and your business is truly launched, then there are certain things that are going to move you faster. You have to believe your business is worth investing in them.”—RM 

The two main reasons to write a book for your expertise or authority business.The pros and cons of self-publishing vs. seeking out a traditional publisher.Positioning and pricing your self-published book—and whether to sell it on your website and/or amazon.How to find and vet the right editor(s) for your situation.The role of e-books vs. physical books and why you probably want both.Quotables“The two main reasons to write a book for business: there's the 300 page business card and there's the revenue stream… it really helps going into it to know which one you're writing.”—JS“You might make different strategic and tactical decisions depending on whether you want direct or indirect revenue from your book .”—RM“If you want to reach a broader audience, then it does make sense to go through a more traditional publishing channel or at least something closer to that.”—JS“The irony (with traditional publishers) is when you want them, when you need them, they usually don't want you—because they want you to have enough name recognition that you're helping to drive the sales of the book.”—RM“When I published Hourly Billing Is Nuts, since it was so much about pricing, I was like, I want to price this right. And I don't want it to be next to a whole bunch of direct competitors that are cheaper. It'd be like putting myself on Upwork.”—JS “I wanted really good editors because all of my (client) book experiences up to now have been with really top-notch people at big publishing houses and I wanted somebody as good as that for my book.”—RM“I think everybody should write a book—the experience is fabulous. It's so good to have to think that hard about something and have a project that's that big.”—JS“How hard is it to create a physical book on Amazon? It is so freaking easy if you're already doing the e-book on amazon.”—RMRELATED LINKSTim Grahl's interview with Dan PinkThe Authority Code by Rochelle MoultonBlurbReedsy

How “selling” your work completely changes once you’ve positioned yourself and monetized your expertise.Building your business in “white space” and a new way to think about your big idea (hint: we’re talking revolution).Why your genius zone is a pivotal element of your authority positioning.Rethinking your business and revenue model to more closely match your positioning (and your genius zone).Getting comfortable with publishing—testing your point of view—until you’re ready to start playing on other people’s platforms.Quotables“If you like this show, you're going to love the book.”—JS“What thinking about your big idea as a revolution does for you is it allows you to think bigger than you would otherwise—as in who am I to think this big?”—RM“I just see it as we're fellow travelers, we're on the same mission. We're in the same revolution and I don't care who leads it, as long as someone's doing it.”—JS“It's so important that you discover your genius zone. We started our own businesses—we took a lot of risk. Why shouldn't we be doing what we really love to do?”—RM“Once you flip your mindset from I do rails or I do price consulting to I know how  to build rails apps—then you can start disconnecting your expertise from your labor.”—JS“You're going to start with an email list, but then the question becomes, what should you do first in terms of publishing? I like writing and podcasting because they feed each other and they've got long tails.”—RM“Sales conversations are always fun, ‘cause they’re very consultative—it’s like I’m getting to know them.”—JS“Selling authority is three things: it's publishing, it’s developing your authority circle and it's having sales conversations. It's selling without selling.” –RMLink: The Authority Code  

Why profit is the most important measure of how your business is doing—even when profits are not your purpose.The difference between relying on vanity metrics and your bottom line to show you how you’re doing.Measuring impact vs. measuring revenue and what you need to build so they grow in tandem.How to avoid short-term thinking while still keeping your eye on your profit line.The value of reliability in your profit generation—and what that buys you in your business and your ability to make an impact.Quotables“You can’t buy Cheerios with likes on Twitter.”—JS“My concern sometimes with these giant lists is that they don't have this commonality in the audience that is going to help you grow your business.”—RM“You can measure impact. And that's a great thing to measure, but you can't eat it for dinner.”—JS“Once you run the long-term profit numbers, then you can make a wise-for-you investment decision. This is a good idea, a bad idea, or I'm not sure. Maybe I need to test it more.”—RM“I always notice when businesses basically tank because some cost cutter becomes the CEO—like the COO or the CFO becomes the CEO—and they stop investing in innovation.”—JS“You can't cut your way to innovation. You can't cut your way to being the industry leader. It just doesn't work that way.”—RM“If you're going to call yourself a business, then you need to have profits. Even though profits aren't your purpose, they still need to be there.”—JS“Until there's some kind of reliability built into your revenue model, your business is really hard to sustain.”—RM

A new way to think about big projects based on how you work best—and the value of absolute clarity with your plan.What happens when you fall into flow on a big project that needs room to breathe.The unintended consequences of changing your environment.How to find the system(s) that will work for you—and why you don’t need to worry if they look entirely different than what works for someone else.Adopting the mindset of a creator—and aligning it with your daily habits.Quotables“It's as if you're going into battle, but you're going to battle against yourself.”—RM“I felt like I was on this path that I had wanted to be on for so long and I was finally doing it. So it was its own energy source.”—RM“I left this environment where I had lots of uninterrupted time. Switched to an environment where I'm interrupted all the time and didn't recognize or take into consideration the effect that would have on things that I already had in motion.”—JS“I don't want to stop. I want to just keep it, once you get into the zone and get over that resistance, fear, and you're in the zone, it's like a drug.”—JS“Once you have the boundary, you can all work with and around the boundary. But if it's not set, we're not going to work around it.”—RM“The thing that does motivate me is streaks and being able to tick off a check box next to the thing I was supposed to do today.”—JS “We all deserve to be able to carve out a space to produce this kind of work. It goes with the authority space.”—RM“It's a big undertaking and it's not something that you can just imagine is going to work itself out.”—JS 

What’s an Authority Circle and why you need one.The role of your rat pack, apostles and tribal leaders and how to enlist them in your cause.Earning apostles for your work and connecting with influential tribal leaders.How selling your authority becomes more focused and simple once you clearly identify your circle. How to think about your Authority Circle and enlist them in spreading your vision, even if you’ve always thought of them as competitors.Quotables“It's a wild process, writing a book. It's a marathon for sure.”—JS“The big problem that an authority circle solves is you have somebody else working on your behalf all the time.”—RM“A good friend will bail you out of jail. A great friend will be in jail with you.”—JS“Apostles are the people who are spreading the word on your vision, the revolution you're seeing for the world, because they believe.”—RM“The thing with the apostles that is different than super fans is apostles will occasionally challenge you in a good, polite, constructive way.”—JS“You're looking for a way to take what you know, and apply it to the tribal leader’s specific audience.”—RM“If you're really thinking about making a big cultural change, you better have these apostles and tribal leaders who - at least partially - agree with the mission.”—JS“When you have your authority circle, what you're doing in a very small but important way is that you're connecting; you’re building connective tissue with all these different people and they're going to help you.”—RM

How to set expectations and boundaries in the initial sales meeting (and why that’s critical to the progression of your project).Why the client isn’t always right or always wrong—and how to adopt a mindset that allows you to keep the outcomes front and center.Finding socially acceptable ways to push back when the client(s) starts leading down a path that doesn’t serve the outcome.Getting to the point where you believe you don’t need this client, this project—and why having a safety net is crucial.Why sales interviews are auditions for the client where you get to be the casting director.Quotables“You've got two different kinds of expertise that are coming together in this sales interview to see if there's a good fit between where you want to go.”—JS“You're teaching them (in the sales meeting) how to think strategically about your area of expertise and how it applies to their business.”—RM“You want to open their eyes to the fact that there's a reason they're calling an expert and it could be that they made a fundamentally bad decision way up front.”—JS“Our job is to hold the vision for the project…When you do that, it gets a lot easier to deal with things that are really more of a personality conflict, or a power play.”—RM“It's about finding socially acceptable ways to say no—to push back. And it's all in their best interest…it's all about the success of the project.”—JS“You have to get to that point where you say okay, if this is not the right fit client, I'm not going to do this.”—RM“These sales interviews—you could think of them as an audition for the client. That's how I look at them, like an audition for the client, which frames it with me in the judge seat.”—JS“Everybody needs a safety net. I promise you the second you truly get to that headspace, your meetings start to change and you get better.”—RM

The definition of authority and the challenges in building it.How to think about and price different products and services based on how they contribute to your overall business model.The challenges of bringing new ideas to market and developing sustainable habits to keep growing your business.The role of trust in building authority (and your business).Why clients value outcomes above all else.Quotables“The McKinsey trap is you're getting paid X number of dollars at McKinsey, and you realize they're marking you up for X. So you quit McKinsey and go out on your own and you can't even get paid a quarter.”—Seth Godin“I don't worry so much about the revenue from the books. What I look at is how it supports the other things that I do. I'm being paid to do it (webinars) because I'm an expert in this field. And so I have an entire business model that is set on giving away stuff for free and making good money doing it”—Jill Konrath“I only want to release things that seem like they can gain traction quickly without putting a ton of work or doing like paid acquisition for them.”—Paul Jarvis“We do not rise to the level of our goals.  We fall to the level of our systems.”—James Clear“You should see how picky I am about taking on a client. It's crazy…I was just doing the generic thing that all clients look like good clients. But now I do this really specialized thing. And I only take you on if you fit my target perfectly.”—April Dunford“The I, the last factor in the numerator (of the trust equation) stands for intimacy, which is an interesting and unusual word in the business context, but it goes to…do I feel safe and secure sharing things with you?”—Charles Green“You have to bring rigor to it (your passion business). You have to bring discipline. You have to work really hard. Honestly, a lot of it can be less easy because when you're doing something you really care about, it's going to be maybe even harder than doing a job that someone else told you to do.”—Adam Davidson“Having a small child, I said, I cannot take any more unpaid work. I have no more time left in my calendar. So I put a call out for sponsors (of my podcast). I asked, four people to sponsor the show, all four said, yes. And that's the moment when I looked at my husband and I said, so people are paying me money to do a thing.”—Sarah Peck“It really is the outcomes that people want. That's the way it is with all transformations. Inputs don't matter—only outcomes.”—Joe Pine

When outsourcing is freeing vs. when it simply adds more friction to your life.How to tell the difference between good friction and bad friction (hint: it’s not the same for everyone).Why it makes perfect sense to outsource critical functions that are not core to your business—think taxes, legal, payroll.The surprising benefits from documenting what you do and how you do it.The human side of heavy outsourcing—and how to decide if it’s for you. Quotables“I don't really care about search. I care about word of mouth. So if people aren't searching for my name, I'm doing something wrong.”—JS“After that first week (without my VA) I literally wanted to gouge my eyes out.”—RM“When it's literally done, it's different than knowing it's going to get done.”—JS“I'd like to not do it (the outsourced task), but I love the feeling that it's done and I don't have to worry anymore.”—RM“It would be silly to do your own books or legal…things that are just not core to your business.”—JS“I want to outsource the things that bring me comfort or bring me to a different level.”—RM“I can't stress enough how important it is to have the steps of any of your processes written down.”—JS“Having that checklist means not having to dedicate a space of your brain to anything routine.”—RM

The questions to ask yourself if you want to start or stop providing a particular service to a particular client.Breaking up with your client: when to do it, how to do it and what to watch out for.Why you always want to build a time constraint when transitioning clients—and how to think about the transition process.When retainer scope creep is your fault—think guilt around doing less for a bigger retainer—and what to do about it.Why the consultant’s job is to hold the vision for the project (and who is always THE client).Quotables“Here's the thing, it's your business. If you want to stop doing tactical work, you do more strategic work.”—JS“Breakups don't have to be ugly, but the other thing is that sometimes what we think might lead to a breakup doesn't at all.”—RM“Once you start doing that (extra pair of hands work), then it's a slippery slope. All of a sudden it's like the architect is cleaning the bathrooms.”—JS“The client asks because they don't think about our business model. They assume if they ask us for something that doesn't make sense, we'll say no .”—RM“The perfect time to say no…is the first time, like when the first ask happens or when you first think you're going to do it of your own volition. The second best time to do it is right now.”—JS“It's really important to be clear about your timeline so that your clients understand that there's a limited timeframe and if they don't move, they're not going to get support.”—RM“But if you have one foot out the door, it totally changes the framing (of your message). And then they're like, wait, maybe there's something we can work out.”—JS“Holding the vision for the project, that's our job. And if I want to get dramatic, I would say it's a sacred obligation.”—RM