134 - A peek inside the Banana Stand

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the making it in Asheville podcast. This is your friendly neighborhood podcast, where each week typically we sit down with an Asheville based business owner. We ask them what they're making and how they are making it in Asheville. And admittedly, today's third episode in a row where it is going to be me flying solo, in part because I'm in the middle of this really fantastic launch of a community here in Asheville. It's almost entirely local small business owners. It is a twelve week program where we're reimagining just their approach to business and their execution inside of their businesses. We're looking to align who they say they are, who they are being with the actions that they are doing, with what they show up and do on a daily basis, so that their outcomes, what they earn, what the business provides them, what is received by way of reciprocity for the value they're creating in the world, aligns with what their goals are, what their stated intentions of work are. And so practically, what does that look like? That looks like each week for the twelve weeks, we're doing a training, and then on Tuesdays, hour long training finishes with Q and A. On Wednesdays we do a workshop. We take the training and practically apply it into their lives and into their businesses. And it's been fantastic. The feedback has been, you know, tremendous, humbling, amazing, better than I can hope to have received. And so, um, to kind of keep with that momentum to, to, to champion even, I guess, further this, this promise of the entire entrepreneur, that's what the community is called, the entire entrepreneur system. These, um, first members are part of the launch cohort. Um, but to champion this idea a bit further, I want to share what's coming down the pike. So the next two trainings are going to be, uh, in the earning phase. If there are three phases in this community, in this entire entrepreneur system. One focuses on identity, on who you're being, and we implement what I call the authored identity framework. The other focuses on what you're doing. We call that the entire entrepreneur operating system. And then this third, you know, bucket of content and transformation happens with how we are running our businesses, what we are earning through our businesses. I like to say that you have some level of control over the surface area of your luck. And so by changing what we focus on in our business, by changing how we approach our business, our luckiness can increase. And I call all of the work that has to do with increasing the luckiness in our business. I call it the banana Stand strategy. And I that concept is based off of a really fun tv show called Arrested Development, where one of the characters would say regularly that, you know, don't worry if you're feeling stressed. There's always money in the banana stand. And the banana stand. Let me jump ahead. Is this, like, little Rinky Dinkye? If you're following on YouTube, I have an image right now on screen, Rinky Dinky Banana vending space. So that frozen banana drinks or slushies or ice creams, whatever. And yeah, it made some money, but no one understood, like, how it's not even that profitable. It's not that good. Why should I not be stressed? You're telling me that there's money in the banana stand? I think that that parallels the average business owner's experience of running a business, because all of the sage advice that you might hear, if it doesn't click, it's like hearing there's always money in the banana stand. And so hearing there's always money in the banana stand and thinking that somehow you're going to sell enough but frozen banana slushies to, you know, change your life, that could be frustrating. The truth in the statement of there's always money in the banana stand is that in this particular show, the walls of the banana stand were lined with cash. And so, similarly, in your business, more than likely, there is money hiding in plain sight. It's being overlooked in part because you're working so hard in your business, doing the work that you have done to grow your business to where it is right now, you're likely just too close to notice where the largest opportunities lie within your business. And so the quick overview, the quick training that I want to do on this podcast that will be further explained in the live trainings for the cohort is it's just this idea of, like, how different businesses can feel when they're being run with the banana stand frame. So if you're looking through the lens of banana stand and, like, having fun, and it should be simple and there's cash is lying around, and I can create something that's high value, what does it look like relative to the alternative? And so the first idea is that a business that's run with the banana stand and looked at through the banana stand frame should be a lean business. It should not be bloated. It should not have tons of cost baked into the business. A bloated business is a hard business. In the same vein, a profitable business. Right? So per unit of value delivered, you know, value is received in kind. Profitability is a beautiful thing. There are a lot of folks who say revenue cures all ills. I'd argue that profitability is really the goal. It's not a matter of how much money can you make, it's how much money stays in your business. That really speaks to running a business that feels like a banana stand. And so one way that you can capture more value is by being luxury, is by being the high priced option or one of the high price options in your marketplace. If you are a commodity, it's a downward spiral, and eventually AI is going to take your job, or I, you know, it's going to be offered at Walmart for less than you can make it. We need to be priced on the luxury side, and we do that in part by the stories that we tell and the brand that we build. But those are other lessons. I'll say. One way to feel luxury without necessarily being, you know, Louis Vuitton is to make a product that is essential. Right? We, if. If you had to choose, you'd want to be a band aid or like a tourniquet rather than a vitamin. Because when something is broken or when something is bleeding, we need to figure out how to stop it. It is essential that we stop it. Whereas a nice to have an extra a. This should do some good, um, over time like that, it's a better proposition to be on the essential side. Another thing that you'll find in banana stand type businesses is that they're really speaking to an audience. They're speaking to a specific person. They're speaking to a singular person. And the copy that they use on their website, the way that they speak in Instagram stories, is to a singular person versus about me. The messaging on the website won't be about how great I am. It's about how impact, like what level of impact or what might show up in your world if we collaborate, or if you do the things that my product affords you. Similarly, you'll find that banana stand businesses have systems in place. They have processes in the place. They have a level of consistency that is baked in to the essence of what it is that they're doing. So systems versus spontaneity is one of the superpowers of a banana stand business. And in a lot of ways, systems allow for levels of spontaneity, because we know that our attent, you know, our Yden bases will all be covered, the critical work will all get done, the value will be delivered, that you then get to be slightly more creative or free or fun in the ways that you can show up and add additional value. But purely spontaneous business running is a recipe for disaster. Heroic businesses answer the question of why more than how. And so as a big part of what I'm doing in this entire entrepreneur system is I spend a lot more time on why we are focusing on these areas and why you should focus on these areas, and sometimes what those areas, even specifically are and how to differentiate them. But the how is often less important, unless somehow or another there is, you know, service baked in. So it's like, how will you do it with us? Join us, or I'll do it with you. Or the how in a lot of ways can be pointed to as the easy part, but it's really getting clear on why. As another distinction, you'll see that business owners, specifically who are running banana stand type businesses are really focused on how they're being, who they show up as in the world, versus what outcomes they get. There's a neediness that's baked in with being focused on having or earning or taking. It's a zero sum game when we're focused on what we have. But when we identify who it is that we want to be, where our business wants to be identified or positioned strategically as a brand, nothing can affect that. There's no way to lose when we're focused on who we're being as a business owner or as a brand. In that same vein, you can give abundantly when you know who you are. You can give abundantly when there's no fear of not having enough. And when you show up in the world as like a taker versus a giver, all of a sudden you start to play games where you can lose and there's fear that shows up and there's, you know, it's a downward spiral. And so whenever possible, we want to be on the generous end. We want to give. We want to make it so clear how much value that we have that we can give a ton away. So then when we ask, it shows up in a big way for us. One of the ways that banana stand type businesses will lean in on this generous, identity based who am I being? Is just by showing up with a sense of curiosity versus indifference, or versus being callous or versus this lack of humanity. There is something really beautiful in a thumbprint, in this heartbeat of a business. How does that show up as a brand or as a person? Well, it's typically in the form of curiosity. Say, what are we asking questions about? How can we learn more about who our customer is? How can we uncover what they really value? How can we create something that becomes and feels essential in their world or that they start to identify with? And that is from curiosity. That's the output of curiosity, not from a lack of humanity as a business or a brand. But what that doesn't necessarily mean as we go down this curiosity rabbit hole is that things get more complex. What we'll find with a lot of thought and a lot of consideration is that complexity can sort of melt away and it becomes really clear what is the major driver in your business? What is the majority action that you as a business owner need to take to continue to grow your business or to move your business in the direction that feels better for you, that moves more in line with what your goal is? Almost always. That means simplicity. That always, almost always means finding the essence of what it is that you're doing or what you're working on. And so that essence almost always is moving you into this guide, positioning versus the hero. And so we make our audience, we make our customers the hero, we make ourselves the guide. And so rather than just like cheering on your fan, your customer as a fan in a fan role, we're thinking about how can we show that somehow or another, we are the sage wise advisor for them as they hope to move into a future that they're dreaming of. And what you'll find when you think about sage wise advisors is that typically they have a level of patience because they've been there before. There is no real sense of urgency. There is a generosity in their timing. There is a generosity in who they're being and how much, I guess, space they provide, the hero in the story. And so patience, a willingness to delay gratification, a willingness to delay even earning. Like the longer you can wait before you make money from a client or make money in service or through a product, you're in a power position. So patience is one of the many virtues of a banana stand type business and owner. Mirroring that, the patience versus urgency. There's a common thread that banana sand type businesses and business owners will ask questions. Well, a great salesperson is not a great, can be confused with a great speaker, a great talker. A great salesperson is a great question asker. A great coach is a great question asker. It's not a matter of how much you're speaking. It's a matter of how much and how well you're listening. And in that vein, we want to be businesses that ask questions. We want to be brands that are asking our community for input, for engagement, versus strictly being one way, strictly being a teller, strictly being a, like a dialogue is a powerful, powerful thing. If we can have be in communication, be in conversation with our audience, then we're really doing something special. So the last bit is this idea of showing. So you're asking, you're not telling. Similarly you're showing and not telling. And so rather than say like, hey, there is such an incredible thing going on inside of this entire entrepreneurial community I've been working on just showing you. I'm going to open the trainings up to public. I'm going to invite you to join me. And so this, I called it heroic and zero Ik. It's a banana stand concept versus a traditional business or a broken business. And what it points to is a level of fun. And so in the next two weeks, I'm going to be diving into what I call the banana stand system. B a n a n a stand and system. And it has three main parts. First is this idea of sawdust. So what is your sawdust collection system inside of your business? Where's the lowest hanging, easiest opportunities for you to add value to your customers, for you to increase the profitability of your business? Then we're looking at the rapid, rapid revenue road map. So rapid revenue roadmap. And what that says is, of all of the stuff that you could potentially be doing and all the ways you could be potentially thinking about your business visually, matt, let's map this thing out and let's prioritize the ways that are going to capture the most value for you. And so I'm going to jump a little bit ahead. And this is not what those trainings are going to be, but I want to just give a quick speed round on expected value. It's something we've talked about in the past on this podcast, and what we're looking for when we run an expected value calculation is ease, simple ease, and then the power of the outcome. And so what I'll ask you to do is you take a bunch of the ideas. Whatever ideas you think might make an impact on your business, might make an impact on your marketing, might make an impact on your sales. All of it, any of it. You can focus in a specific area or another, or all of the ideas, and we list them out. And then there's a bunch of ways that you can add math to the equation. But I'll just say you're going to add three qualifiers for each idea. One is what is the likelihood or what is the overall impact of the outcome. And we're going to say one to three, where one is great and three is weak. So one tier, one idea, the other is effort, one to three. One, in that case is going to be very easy. It's going to be a light lift, and three is going to be a very complex build out. And then we're going to ask the question of what is the likelihood that if we put in the effort, do the thing, what is the likelihood that the outcome that we're predicting occurs? And we're going to rank that from one to three as well. Where one is, like, more than likely, more than the odds are that the outcome, I think, that it would be created, is created, and then three is less than likely, and then two is, call it 50 50, who knows? It's coin flip. Might work, might not work. And so idea number one might have, you know, a one, two, three. We're then going to multiply them together. So one times two is two, two times three is six. Six is okay. You might have a one, one, one is great, and you might have a two, two, three. That's four times 312. The rule of thumb here is that we're going to prioritize the ones. Two to six is good if you don't have any ones. And then seven plus is just table those ideas. Table the ideas. And so this, while it's not exactly the banana stand strategy, this points in the direction of what it is that I'll be teaching over the next two weeks to folks inside the entire entrepreneur system and to anyone who wants to join. I'm going to work on building opt ins for these trainings. Specifically, I think that the content inside the banana stand is probably the best content. I've created models that I've created so far. The last of the three pillars inside the banana stand, but I'm not teaching it for a while, is going to be on authentic audience engine. And the idea here is that a lot of people tend to think about audience. They tend to think about their social media strategy. They tend to think about how much more content and Instagram posts they need to make. And what they forget is where the value is inside of their business. And so what you'll find is that I am focused on creating easy opportunities inside our business, creating the most value possible for our customers. And then once those systems are in place, we can look at how to engage our audience in a way that if the value we create is tea, the audience and our brand and how we show up socially is just keeping water on a boil. And so the value is nothing necessarily our social content. It is something far more important than our social content. But having a heartbeat, having a pulse online, and all of the channels that your customers spend time in does make sense, especially when there are systems in place to deliver a lot of value to them when they raise their hand and say that they want it. Okay, that is this week's episode. It is a speed round on banana sand system, banana sand strategy, the difference between a heroic small business and a zeroic small business. And I hope that you'll join us in the next two weeks for the banana sand trainings. If you're listening to this sometime in the future, just reach out and I will help point you in the direction of where this content lives in 2025 or whatever. All right, I until next week, be well, and we'll talk soon. Bye.