¶ Creating a Powerful Value Proposition
Welcome to One Insight . My name is Rich Litvin . I grew up in London and I now live in LA , and this is a podcast for extraordinary top performers and their coaches . You see , I've coached some of the most successful and talented people on the planet . I can see what most people cannot see and I dare to say what most people wouldn't dare to say .
And what I know about success is that on the other side of it , it can be incredibly lonely . You can feel more of an imposter the more successful you become , and when you're the most interesting person in the room , you're actually in the wrong room .
Clients who are more successful , more intelligent and wealthier than you need your support , more than they know and more than you can imagine . I coach around insight . Life looks one way , something happens and the world looks different and your entire world changes .
It can happen in an instant , and this podcast is called One Insight because a single insight can change everything . Hi , welcome to a new season of the podcast . For years , I've taught coaches how to build a word of mouth business . It's the prosperous coach approach . Sell the experience of coaching , not the idea of coaching approach .
Sell the experience of coaching , not the idea of coaching Create so much value for people when you spend time with them , they don't have to ask should I sign up for coaching ? They ask how can I not have more of this ? That's the prosperous coach approach . Now there's another level of coach , called an influential coach .
An influential coach is a thought leader . They share intellectual property , ip , tools , distinctions , scorecards . They write newsletters , they have a podcast , they share videos and they create a body of work that stands online for years after they've created it . It that's when you become a thought leader and people start knocking on your door .
And in this season , I'm going to work with a whole range of coaches on drawing out their IP , their intellectual property , to show how they and then you can become a thought leader . So people start knocking on your door . This was fun . You're going to hear me talking to Jason .
Jason's an extraordinary coach who's worked with business leaders , entrepreneurs and executives , helps them have a really massive impact on the money that they make and even the free time that they have .
But he hasn't got a great way to articulate this to get his dream clients to come through the door , and they help him create a really powerful value proposition that will have his clients sit up and we turn this into a tool so he can grab a napkin at any time and show people an equation so they can understand why they need him . Enjoy , hey , jason .
What's up Rich ?
Hey , let's jump straight in , because we have known each other for a significant amount of time . I know how you think . You know how I think We've been bouncing some ideas together . The premise for this podcast episode is let me help you create some IP .
And then what we realized what I realized is , as I was bouncing ideas with you last night over WhatsApp is that I don't think you need IP . I think what you need is a really powerful value proposition . I want to explain what that is out loud for anyone who's listening .
A value proposition describes your client's unique problems , how you solve them and why you stand out from the competition . After that , ip can come . But I think you need something that really distinguishes who you are in the world for you on the inside . So you feel like , oh yes , that's it , that's why I'm different . No wonder I feel good about who I am .
And for people to go , I got to call this guy . How does that sound ?
I think it sounds wonderful , okay , let's see what we can create .
So tell me what it is that you do with your clients .
What do I do with them ?
What's the result that happens when they work with you . Yeah , let me be clear , not the process . Yeah , that's the bit that I again . For anyone who's listening , what most coaches do is oh , what do I do ? Oh well , I do ontological coaching . I've been trained by the ICF . Nobody cares about your process , they care about . This is the problem I have .
This is the result I want when I say what do you do with them ?
I take them from here to here who are already highly successful . They've already achieved a high level of success in their business . Most of them are entrepreneurs . Sometimes they're like a C-level executive leader .
I help take them from where they are to experiencing 10 times the freedom that they currently experience in fulfillment , both in their work and outside their work , while growing their revenue in the process .
Nice , confident , you have results that you can say oh yeah , I've done this X amount of times , yeah , okay , I feel the solidity of that , yes . And then when you solidity of that yes . And then when you said lots of them , yeah .
So let me help you with this , because right now , the way you're phrasing it to me , you've put the one they're going to knock on your door for second and the one they really need first . So you said I help people successful entrepreneurs and executives 10x their freedom and fulfillment on the inside and the outside , while growing their revenue .
My sense is the number one reason they want to work with you is to grow their revenue , and anytime you're selling something that's going to have a result of making money , it's much easier for people to pay you money .
Now , what they may or may not realize is what they also need to do is increase the amount of freedom and the amount of fulfillment they have . That will happen either because you begin to let them see that in the first time you speak to them , or because you show them that over the time they work with you . My sense is revenue comes first .
You're probably right . In most cases . I think I've seen two different types of clients that come to me . That come to me .
One is the individual who wants to significantly grow their revenue , uh , and maybe doesn't yet realize that what's in the way is the lack of freedom they're experiencing and how they're grit and grinding all the way to try to what got them here . Can more of that won't get them there . They're not . They're not clear on that yet .
But the other person I talk to are clients who will say things like I don't even care if I make more money . I actually don't care if I make less money . If I could have my life back , that would be worth everything to me .
So I like helping someone in that situation too , where it's like I'm making way more money than I need and I don't even give a crap about it because it's not worth anything because of what I'm having to sacrifice in the moment in order to maintain that .
So if you're telling me that I could actually grow my freedom and fulfillment in my life inside and outside , the business improves .
I love what I do and I love my life , and I'm the type of father or husband or wife or mother that I want to be with my kids and how I'm showing up in the world changes , and I don't have to sacrifice my success to do it . That sounds incredible . So there's two different groups , I think , but you're right , most people come .
They want to make more money .
I love the distinction and let's separate them out because they're two different types of people . If you're trying to talk about the same thing to both of them , you're going to miss both of them because you're not going to touch the heart of it .
So what I heard then that really struck me was the phrase if I could have my life back , that would be everything to me , and you can feel that one .
As it's said out loud , it's like oh my God , like what does somebody's life and business and relationships have to be like than to sit down with a stranger and say , if I could have my life back , that would be everything to me . That's very powerful .
I'm always listening for book titles and that's maybe not a book title , but definitely a chapter title in a book that someday you're going to write . When you can write either a book title or a chapter title that has the words in the head of your dream clients and they go oh my God , I didn't know .
Anybody else knows that or anybody else thought that way they call you yeah that's good . Yeah , so that's really powerful . So let's stay with that for a second . If I could have my life back . So here's what I was thinking , because I've been playing with this idea overnight . I'm looking at my notes right now .
I came up with an equation for you Freedom's a massive driver for every entrepreneur and that's a huge value for you . And I came up with an equation for freedom . So I call it the true freedom equation . True freedom equals business revenue multiplied by discretionary time .
Business revenue times , discretionary time , discretionary time is the time you have to yourself . It's the time you have off , the time , the days when you can wake up and say what should I do today ? Because I have choice . If I want to go to the office , I want to write an article .
If I want to enroll a client , I want to speak to a client , I can , but I don't have to . Feels good when you say it out loud , right , like , oh , if If I had that , it'd be an amazing life . And then business revenue . We're all entrepreneurs . We want to build our businesses . If you're an executive , you're responsible for the bottom line .
That's there too . So how does that equation sound If we're trying to get to the heart of what you do ? Does that capture it ?
True freedom equals business revenue times , discretionary time yeah , because I can't .
I remember the look on my client's face when we had a one of our quarterly meetings a couple months ago when I said , because he was , he was all we've been talking about how to remove him out of the day to day of the business , and the last piece he needs to remove him from himself from is being the one that's selling all the homes to hire a salesperson
for his team . And I could see the look on his face of like I'm really good at this , I love sales , I don't want to have to give it up . And it's like , well , what if you didn't have to give it up ? What if you only stepped in and sold if you had to , but your business didn't require it of you ? What would that be like ?
And you could just see it in his face . That would be amazing . And that's that discretionary time . How I invest my time outside the business is how I choose to invest it , because it's not being handcuffed by my business . And how I invest my time in the business is also at my discretion , because I've created a business that can exist largely without me .
I've created a business that can exist largely without me . So I'm seeing a graph in my mind's eye right now of there's a distinction in the early part of growing a business the more time you spend , the more money you make . But there comes a moment when there's a shift and the less time you spend , the more money you make .
Yes , I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with individuals who are highly successful entrepreneurs and they're stuck in their way of thinking that , you know , x units of output gives me Y result , so I just need to continue to do more of that to get more results . And that's just not . I mean , that's not how leadership works .
That's just how it works .
It's a great mindset to give your kids Kids . You got to work hard if you want to get results . What most parents forget to say to the kids is there's going to come a moment when you become very successful . You'll have to undo that way of thinking and it's very hard because most people don't tell them that in advance .
We're implanted with this chip , you and me both , where we were trained as a young kid to work really , really , really hard for all sorts of different reasons . Some of us are trying to prove ourselves . Some of us are trying to get out of a desperate situation , whatever it is . We train ourselves to really hustle to make a lot of money and be successful .
Nobody ever teaches us . There comes a moment where , if you don't stop that way of being , you will burn out . You'll be exhausted .
What do you think that moment is ? I'm curious .
Well , it's usually burnout . You realize you're paying a price you no longer want to pay . You're burnt out , you're exhausted , your husband or wife has left you , your kids have stopped speaking to you , all the old business model is not working anymore . There's something that cracks .
We sometimes call it a midlife crisis , right , except you don't need to hit rock bottom in order to get to the next level In business .
We call it the J-curve of business , and the purpose of the J-curve is to notice , when you get to the top , to turn it into another J-curve , so it actually becomes the S-curve before you get to the top and you crash down . So this is the J-curve or the S-curve of life .
There's a great piece of ip for you . I'm going to teach you about the s curve of life . This may not be part of what we're discussing today , but I'm makes me really curious about what are . How do you notice those things ? How do you catch it before you hit rock bottom right ? How do you ? Because , because I , I don't .
So here's how I'll answer that question . I'll answer it with a question . No , let me answer it this way what a great question .
¶ The Freedom Formula for Entrepreneurs
You now need to become a researcher into the J curve of life , let's call it . How do people some people get off that before they crash down and create a new J curve . So then now I'm like oh , what should I create next ? Become a researcher of that . When people say , what do you do ?
You say I'm researching the J curve of life and everyone's going to go . What ? Well familiar with the J curve of business ? If they're not , they're probably not your people , but entrepreneur and executive who's successful is going to go . Yep , yeah , of course . Well , I've noticed the same thing happens in life . Most people don't get off fast enough .
So their wife asked for the divorce . The kids stopped talking to them . Uh , they have this existential crisis or they have a health scare . Any one of those things are the four main things that happen . And then go quiet and then watch what happens , Cause they go . Oh , my God , that god , that was me . Or , yeah , my sister-in-law just gone through that .
And now you've got an interesting conversation . So we are , we are , we're creating your value proposition , but the ip is in here too . So let me come back to what I was thinking . So I gave you an equation , the true freedom equation . Again , you want to start interesting conversations . When somebody says what do you do , you say , hey , pass me that napkin .
I've noticed there's an equation that most people don't see in life and business that true freedom equals business revenue times , discretionary time , and then go quiet and watch what happens . And either they go oh , I get it , or what do you mean ? Now you're an interesting conversation and now you also get to . There's an assessment there . There's a tool .
Well , how do you use this ? Well , tell me your business revenue for the last 12 months . Now , the harder one actually is going to be to tell me your discretionary time , because most people don't track that . So , how many days did you have off last month , in the last quarter , in the last year ? How many hours do you work every single day ?
So I was thinking about well , what if you quantify that ? And I was trying to work out what would it look like to have more free time ? Coach has been an entrepreneurial coach for 50 years .
He's got this concept of free days , and a free day is 24 hours completely away from the business and I was thinking well , what if you help your entrepreneurs to have 30 to 50 days away from the business per quarter ? It's something very quantifiable . I mean , you can play with the numbers . But what if you give them a number ?
Because on the other side of the equation , you know you're really good at helping entrepreneurs 10x their business . You've told me that you didn't mention it today , but that's what you do . You know how to help somebody 10x their revenue . It's actually the reverse 10x their freedom fulfillment 2x their revenue .
Great , so you know how to help somebody . 10x their revenue . It's actually the reverse 10x their freedom fulfillment . 2x their revenue .
Great . So you know how to help somebody double their revenue . That's quantifiable . What was your revenue last year ? How would you like it to be doubled ? The only reason I'm thinking about 10x is doubling is doable . In our minds , 10x feels impossible . So by giving someone an impossible goal , they have to think completely differently .
So 2x might be a result of 10x thinking . But 10x thinking will get you to a 2x result much faster because you have to go to some really kind of crazy and outrageous and unusual and unorthodox ways to 10x your business . If you say to somebody , how do you double your revenue ? Well , we need twice as many clients . We need to half the cost of the expenses .
There's ways to get that using logic . So if you started to say I help entrepreneurs use 10x thinking to increase their revenue , now you've got something interesting On the other side of the equation with time . I wanted to get specific . That's why I said an extra 30 to 50 days a quarter . 30 days a quarter is a month off every quarter .
Yeah , yeah , that'd be four months off a year . So they're working . What is that ? A quarter of the year or no , a third of the year ?
Yeah , no no .
So I take four months off a year . They have off a third of the year , yeah , yeah .
I take four months off a year . I've just taken three months off this summer . I've taken a month off at Christmas .
I don't think there's an entrepreneur on the planet . The only pushback you'd get from some of these high achieving entrepreneurs about that type of a concept is what would I do with myself ? It's kind of that like I love work so much like I wouldn't want to leave it . You know that type of thing .
But here's the answer to that question yeah , that's a really cool problem for you to set your mind to . Much more fun problem than how do I spend more time in the office helping my senior team to improve their self-evaluations or helping my management team structure their meetings . Much more powerful question what would I do with my free time ?
More powerful question what would I do with my free time ? Or how about dreaming and scheming new business ideas ? That's okay , but do it on the golf course , do it on the beach .
So I help entrepreneurs have 30 to 50 days away and again the numbers are irrelevant , but it's a quantifiable thing away from the business per quarter .
Here's what I wrote down . My goal is to dramatically increase your business revenue up to 10x , whilst expanding your discretionary time up to 30 to 50 days away from the business per quarter , which will give you the freedom to live life on your own terms . If you listen to the podcast , you can't see jason's face .
He's just got this big grin on his face right now .
What's going on inside of you is that I mean it's it's what I love doing like this is . This is what I love doing .
I love helping people create that discretionary time in and outside the business so they can invest in the things that really matter most to them whether that's the relationships outside the business or it's the things that they love that light them up the most in the business and I love showing them a path that doesn't require them to sacrifice the amazing business
they've built in the process . Because most people think that I can't have both . It's going to be either the business I sustain , what we've built and grow it at the sacrifice of discretion , or I take discretion , but then that means I have to sacrifice everything that I work so hard for it's great .
I feel the emotion inside of you because you know this story too . Here's what we just did . I want to capture what we did for anyone who's listening . We created a formula . Not every coach has to have a formula , but when you do this , really simple to describe what you do . True freedom equals business revenue times , discretionary time .
It's simple , it's memorable and it's going to have an impact on people . You got specific targets 10x in business revenue . That's ambitious , that's a little bit attention grabbing , and 30 to 50 days away from the business per quarter . It's concrete because it's hard to measure time , but it's also attention grabbing .
It's balanced because it addresses the financial side of things and the personal side of things , which is what entrepreneurs want . Every entrepreneur comes into business because they want more freedom and you just give them the freedom formula and that line giving you the freedom to live life on your own terms . That's aspirational . That gets them .
Oh yeah , because we all know that feeling in our twenties , when we lived our life on our own terms , and then we're in our forties and f 50s and we've forgotten what that means . You said I'm going to take you back to that feeling you used to have .
¶ Unlocking True Freedom Formula for Businesses
Can I ask one quick question on this , because it's really important to me that this is , if I'm going to be communicating these things to people potential clients or people in conversation about , hey , what do you do and I know that's important to you as well Like there's gotta be an integrity piece that's aligned with what I'm saying , like , yeah , I actually do
this . So the 10 X in their profits , that's not something I've done in the past . I don't know that I have anybody outside of somebody who was fairly new in business right , that helped them 10 X , but that's because they were so new . I don't know if I've really worked with anybody who's already established and highly successful and got them to a 10X place .
How can I say that with integrity about this is what I do . I help businesses 10X .
Well , my language is clear . My goal is to dramatically increase your business revenue up to 10x Okay , all right . And the way I described it is 10x thinking gets you out of the 2x mindset that most people live in .
In fact , I think Dan Sullivan's got a book on this called 10x versus 2x , or something like that 10x is easier than 2x , and you're exactly right . Yeah , and read that book . It tells you why . So you're not promising . No coach can promise any result . But you're saying here's what I'm going to do .
The process involves messing with your thinking in a way that most business consultants can't , because they're going to come into all the logic and all the formulas to double your business . That's great , nothing wrong with that . But if your ambition is 2x and you hit 1.2 , you feel happy . If your ambition is 10x , who knows where you could go ?
I don't want to take myself off the hot seat , because I know that's a thing that I'm not allowed to do , but I kind of feel like we're there , unless there's another piece to this equation we need to put in here .
Yeah , for those of you who are watching or listening , jason's been a client of mine for a long time , so he knows if someone tries to take themselves off the hot seat too soon , I like I'll hold it . I'm going to hold your feet to the fire a bit longer , but I think we're there .
That that's why you have this feeling , and and this is the thing about the clients I work with they have a bias for action . I can tell you can't wait to start writing this , playing with this . I'll send you what I wrote so you don't have to worry about waiting for the recording to come to you and then start playing with this .
I could see this being the front of your website . This could be the title of a book the true freedom formula . There's something in here that you can really begin to play with . So , from a value proposition , that's really clear . Now you can look at the IP that will come later but start by speaking this to all of your clients .
Every client this week say hey , I want to tell you about a formula that I've been looking at . I created it . It's called the True Freedom Formula . It's business revenue multiplied by discretionary time . Let's do a review . Tell me about your business revenue in the last 30 days , the last 90 days , the last 12 months . How about your free time ?
That's the hard one . Most of them won't have even measured that . Now we've got something interesting to look at in the next 30 days , 90 days , 12 months .
Is there anything to the choice of multiplication versus addition in that equation as you were thinking about it ?
Yeah , I think because it makes it a bit more exponential , it has a much bigger impact than being additive . I spent some time thinking about this equation I was looking about is one divided by the other . You get to play with it . It's your equation , so sit with it and try it out , put some numbers in and watch what happens .
Actually , if I divide it by the free time , if I multiply , if I add , add it . You can play with that . My sense is , by multiplying it , it has a much bigger impact .
um , and I would like , as I think about what you came up with . I think about that like the revenue going first being intentional uh , because that's valuable , but the what allows the exponential like true freedom is the fact that whatever that revenue is , it's multiplied by something that's far more valuable .
So the reason why it's true freedom is because if it was just plus discretionary time or plus something , it would put those as almost . I know . Mathematically it doesn't work this way , but in my mind it works this way . Those are not equals . Revenue is great , but you multiply it by something that's exponentially bigger and more valuable .
Then that's when you get true freedom . I have a conversation with someone this afternoon . I will be using this formula to explain and to help help him see what I do that's great .
This is how you this is always in the testing right . You come back to me in three months and go . You know what ? Here's what didn't work , here's what did . I had to change it . It turns out it wasn't this . It was that beautiful , but what we've created is a powerful value proposition
¶ Coaching for Leadership and Growth
. Ip comes out of it , and so does an assessment . You've got an assessment tool right now , immediately , you can start to use it . In fact , you could do it with some of your current clients right now . Have a think about them and come up with a number for each of them . You start to get data .
I'm going to take you off the hot seat and leave you to your thinking . Jason can't wait to start writing notes , you guys . So thanks , man , thanks for trusting me , thanks for playing with me .
Yeah , thanks , rich .
For most of human history . It wasn't called coaching , it was called leadership , and it's what I love to do to coach people , to lead people and to mess with people's thinking . If you'd like more of this , or if you'd like to learn more about our community of extraordinary top performers , go to richlittmancom . Forward slash one insight you .