How to Sell Advice

Kevin C. Whelan: Hello my
friends and welcome to another

episode of Mindshare Radio.

It's been a little while since I've
been on the mic, and I'm really

grateful to have you with me here today.

Uh, I've got some cool
stuff lined up for you.

I've been doing a few interviews in
the background, so I'll expect a few

of those to drop over the coming weeks.

Uh, I'm gonna introduce a
little bit more interview style

content into the future because.

Frankly, I don't want you to get bored
of just hearing me rant and talk.

However, in the meantime, I'm gonna
share with you something I came across on

Twitter in an answer that I replied to,
and it's just something to keep in mind.

Another mindset, something that sets
the frame for the entire conversation.

Uh, with my content and everything I.

I help people do, which is
ultimately packaging and selling your

expertise and not just your hands.

So not just deliverables and due
dates and deadlines, but moving

toward knowledge products, advisory
work, and access to your brain.

How do you get, how do you sell?

The knowledge that's in your head,
and not just the, your ability to code

a website, not just your ability to
create full scale graphic designs.

So this was a tweet that I saw
and I wanted to reply to, uh, or

at least share, I replied to it.

And I just wanna share the idea with you
because it's valuable and it's, it's kind

of core to what I'm, what I'm teaching.

So this was from Rob bu, uh, Berker, a
friend of mine on Twitter is handle is at.

Berker, B U R K E R T.

And so he basically said from a
recent Joe Polish email, leverage

his maximum results least amount of.

productivity is maximum
results least amount of time.

My question, he says, what is the
right next best thing you should do

to create the biggest leverage and
productivity boost for your practice?

So Rob helps B V F L S professionals
turn practices they have

into the ones that they want.

And I believe that's something to do
with business valuation and stuff.

Don't hold me to that, but
different, different industry,

but the same, similar applic.

. So I replied to Rod saying, taking
the expertise in your head and putting

it into writing, audio and video.

Then organizing it into some
sort of system or framework so

others can learn from you without
having to repeat yourself forever.

So why is this valuable?

Well, number one is you can sell
access to your thinking and.

Number two is you don't have to be
the one to deliver that thinking

each and every time someone asks you.

So when you're consulting, because most
of you are consultants and freelancers

of some sort, it's nice to be able to
explain something to a client at a high

level and then point them to an additional
resource if they want to dive in deeper

to learn more nuances around your idea.

This is especially helpful for advisors
who, or coaches or mentors who want to.

What they know and have to convey.

Just the knowledge.

It's not, it's not just about,
okay, I don't really want to

learn how to optimize my website.

I just want you to do it for me.

It's not that this is for scenarios where
you're advising clients in particular,

or maybe you're doing the work for your
client, but you need to give them the

background, context needed for them
to really buy in and understand why

you're taking the approach that they do.

So imagine I just said to you,
well, I think you should do this.

and com and so then the clients left
saying, well, I get, yeah, sure.

I, you know, I trust your advice and
yeah, we'll, we'll do it that way.

I suppose without fully understanding
it, even though you've maybe

described it or explained it, you
can say, here's what I recommend.

I actually have a name for it.

An example might be my Golden Goose
strategy, which is leveraging other

people's aggregated audiences to get in
front of them with value so that you.

Essentially, you know, get your
value proposition in front of

people and sell more stuff.

Versus looking for the golden,
the golden Ag, which is a direct

end client or customer, which is
really hard and and expensive.

So a strategy might be, well,
who are the audience aggregators

of my particular niche?

And then how do I partner with
them or add value to them in

some way that is contributory.

gets me in front of them so that I
can drive awareness, uh, to my site.

For example, I've been featured on
trends.vc several times, and that

points a bunch of traffic over to
me for a little period of time.

Every time they, they publish
something and then it kind of

trickles in after that, after a while.

So that would be an example of a golden
goose where, you know, they have an

aggregated audience, some of whom are.

Marketers and creative professionals
who want to get into consulting.

And so that's a perfect example of a
golden goose where I, I was featured

in there once or three or four times,
maybe three times, and now I sort of

get people trickling over to my website,
and that's a research report, by the

way, if you're not familiar with it,
head over to trends.vc anyway, so

I'm taking it down her rabbit hole.

But that's an example of, I
can say that to my client and

then now, instead of having to.

all of what I just said and
even go into greater detail cuz

that's just one example of many.

There's associations, there are other
non-competitive consultants, there are

software providers for your, the industry
that you're trying to to focus on.

So there's a million different
places that aggregate the audience

that you're trying to sell to.

So that's the golden go strategy.

But so rather than me
explaining, All those details.

What I can do is I can either point
them to an article on my website or

I can point them to more deep dive
training if I have something like that.

And because they're a client
of mine, they unlock access

to most or all of my training.

Where my mind is at right now is taking
all these ideas, putting them into my,

into my learning management system,
cajabi, and putting that as part of

the membership and really just saying,
Hey members, here's all the good stuff

you need to know, and if you need.

implementing it, or if you need help
contextualizing it or you need help

deciding what's gonna be the right next
step for you, come talk to me and I

can help point you in some directions
that'll, that'll work very well.

Or you can guide yourself through
the, the maze of content and figure

out what's most important to you now
based on the topics of the courses

and training and that kind of stuff.

So that's kinda my mindset.

and I don't know how it's all gonna
play out, but essentially that's

where I'm going is taking these
ideas, giving them names, organizing

them into some kind of a framework.

I currently do this with my Trello board,
so if you're a member, uh, of Mindshare,

you'll see that I have part of it as
you get my advisor os, uh, which is an

operating system for marketing advisors.

But in there is, and this will apply
to non marketers and others as well, in

there is a Trello board that basically
stores and organizes my ideas so that

I can remember during the course of my
consulting engagements, all the good ideas

that I had, all the things, and sometimes
they're ideas that other people had.

So if I found that someone shared this
really great tactic for growing an

email newsletter, I might save that in.

give it attribution and say, here
are some additional resources on

growing your email newsletter.

And maybe one or two of them
are mine and maybe five or 10 of

them are someone else's that I
recommended and and believe in.

And at some point, maybe I'll go
and I'll take the best parts of

that and I'll put it together and
give credit where credit is due.

It's not about ripping people off, it's
just about being a curator of good ideas

and giving attribution wherever you can.

And so that's kind of the mindset
I'm in right now is how do I.

These ideas outta my head.

Teach them, put them into a
documented system or method, some

kind of information architecture.

Anytime you're dealing with, and this
comes from my web design days, but anytime

you're dealing with a lot of information,
the key is, okay, how do we organize the

information so I isolate the variables?

What are we selling, what are we doing?

You know, et cetera, et cetera.

In the case of your methodology
or your system or your framework,

how do I organize all these ideas
into some kind of a bucket or a

system so that someone looking.

ideas for marketing or ideas for business
model design or ideas for their method,

developing their intellectual property.

There's a place to go and
explore all those ideas.

And so that's kind of my framework is the
method model, and, uh, and marketing.

So what's your methodology?

What's your business model and
how are you marketing yourself?

You could say that mindset is a
part of it, but I really think

that's folded into all of it.

But that's one example of a framework that
would, can theoretically house everything.

It's, is this a marketing tactic?

Is this a business model
and revenue model thing?

Is this a way that I'm gonna package my
expertise or and deliver it, or is this a.

marketing thing, I, I don't remember
if I said that in the first place.

Is it one of those three
market method or model?

And so, you know, having a
place to store all those ideas

in one place is, is really key.

So I'm just gonna close
this off and summarize.

If you are looking to create leverage,
whether you're just getting started as

a freelancer, Or you are a full-time
marketing advisor or even an educator

or non marketer, but advisor,
educator, these principles still apply.

It is leveraged to take your
ideas outta your head because

then you can share access to them.

You can sell it as individual workshops,
individual courses, or, or do that.

And what I do, which is then
package that all up and put into

my membership, sell it as a hybrid
membership thing, which is what I do.

And so they can learn, students can
learn and get all the information

and then ask me on our calls.

For advice or if, depending on which
plan you're on, you can DM me and and

in Slack and we can talk about it.

So there's a lot of components
to it, but the key thing is that

you don't have to repeat yourself
over and over and over again.

You've got your ideas and your expertise
organized and the stuff you've curated

and really, It's okay to be a curator.

Part of my methodology training
is about having a swipe file.

It's about having examples.

We learn through examples.

That's one of the things that I
picked up in a book called Make Users

Badass, I believe, by Kathy Sierra.

Really great book if
you're into, uh, learning.

Uh, teaching, you know, teaching and,
and how people learn and what he says.

What she says is that people
basically learn through examples,

good examples and bad examples.

So if you showed, just like ai, if you
show people a ton of good examples, that's

one of the fastest ways to really learn.

Aside from applied practice
and that kind of thing.

. But if you also show people bad examples,
they'll learn in inadvertently as well.

We're kind of memetic creatures.

We, we naturally take in information
and our brains are influenced by it,

whether we see good examples or bad
examples, but anyway, so examples

and curated content to support your
core methodology are all fair game.

As long as you give attribution to your
ex, to your references, and any examples

you have, you know, label it and whatever,
especially if you're not being critical.

It's not about being critical, it's about
finding good examples, not bad ones.

And then having that.

So you're a curator, you're a forager
of good information, and you aggregate

it and organize it in a way, in a system
that lets your clients get a result.

So I just wanted to share this with you.

I do believe it is the most
highest form of leverage you

can create, and that is through.

Packaging your expertise, getting it
outta your head, isolating the variables,

giving things names, organizing it into
a framework or a methodology or a system,

and then selling that alongside your
consulting or instead of your consulting.

And that's where courses come
into play and all that stuff.

But if you get into the habit
of isolating these ideas, you

can be a really great way to.

No longer need to repeat yourself over
and over again and to create leverage

around your expertise, and that
allows you to deliver better results

faster with less manual intervention.

And eventually, if you could theoretically
sell, Just your expertise and not be

involved at all and or be involved
asynchronously or whatever you want.

And so that's kind of the direction
I'm headed with with my work is really

thinking about training and content
and expertise and, and even not just my

expertise but other people's, and being
a curator and an aggregator of that.

That's another form of leverage
is aggregation and curation.

So if you can bring people and
things together and aggregate it

into one, That's a form of leverage.

If you think of all, any social media
network, YouTube, they aggregate attention

and they aggregate other people's
content to create more attention.

And this, this flywheel that continues.

And so you're not, YouTube's
not creating the content.

So that's another form of leverage.

They get the eyes and they can sell ads to
those eyes, but they're not creating it.

So that's a, a side version,
but, , this is where my head is at.

I think it's really critical to think
of yourself as experts, to isolate

the ideas and expertise that you have
to curate and forage, and to bring

it all together under one package.

One system that helps you create
leverage in your business.

So if you found this useful and you'd like
my help, head over to kevin.me/group.

I may change the domain again in the
future and make it a standalone thing,

but this is a membership for consultants,
particularly for creative consultants,

marketers, that kind of thing, although
there are some non marketers that sneak in

and get a lot of value out of it as well.

and, uh, yeah, in there we, we
talk, uh, twice a week, twice a

month rather, once every other week.

And we do a workshop of some kind,
either with me or a guest expert.

And that's the whole idea.

And then I share some audio files,
which are kind of raw thoughts,

kind of like this, but shorter and,
you know, less polished or less.

I, I just do it on my iPhone.

Uh, past recordings of all our
coaching calls, and there's a bunch

of learnings and stuff in there.

And, you know, all the past
trainings that we've got so far.

We've got a whole list of things from
copywriting for, uh, for consultants to

seo, for consultants to how to package
and sell custom consulting engagements.

How to create productized
services, website templates,

optimizing your website.

This is a bunch of content and
more being added every month.

So check it out if you want.

Kevin Domi slash.

to check it out.

It's called Mindshare, the community.

It's a hundred bucks a month
and, uh, at least for now.

So get it while the getting is good.

And, uh, there's some additional options
in there as well when you see the page.

But just wanted to share this with you.

I'm trying to walk my talk and
I'm trying to teach this vision,

this wave operating that I have.

It's this kind of a hybrid version of.

Teaching and doing, and the doing
creates the content for the teaching

and, and then, and for the advisory work.

So anyway, this is, this
is where we're all headed.

The more stuff you know, and the more
you focus on isolating it and extracting

that information, putting it into a
documented form, the more you'll earn

at the end of the day and the less
you'll work, which is kind of the goal,

or at least the more options you'll
have and the more leverage you'll have.

So I'll leave you right there, my friends.

You have yourselves a great day and.

Yeah, if you like this
content, share with a friend.

I'd really appreciate it.

Your word of mouth is how this
thing grows, and I'll see you

on the inside of the group.

Bye for now.