Thought I was going to be a McKenzie kind of guy, a Deloitte kind of guy, an Accenture kind of guy. That's what I thought I was going to be when I grew up. And long story short, that's not really what I wanted to do. But I liked the thought process. I like thinking through the problem, I like making clear recommendations. I like the idea of making a choice, and making the best choice you can and with ambiguity in the space, those
kind of ideas excite me. But the tactical everyday of being a consultant was less than my interest. So life took me in a different direction. So that's how I was trained. And that's why I've got started. That's what I knew how to do since I brought up coaching, because I like the advisory part better. I like being the ally of the business owner better. I like that better. I also began to realize how lonely that person
was, I just told my own story. I saw my loneliness, I look at other people go, Oh, you're sitting by yourself. Why are you doing that all by yourself? You need some help.
This is The MindShift Podcast where we share real stories, real strategies that will help you find real success. This is the place to hear from people just like you who have taken their ideas, goals and dreams from a point of inspiration to realization or when life knock them down from a point of breakdown to breakthrough. I'm your host Darrell Evans. Let's get started with today's episode.
Hey, my friend How you doing? Welcome to The MindShift Podcast where every week on this show. Our goal is to help you shift your mind so you can shift your results in your business and your life. If you've not done so already, hit the subscribe or follow button wherever you're listening to the show, so that you never miss an episode. And after you enjoy today's show, DM me on Instagram @MrDarrellEvans, and let me know your biggest mind shift from
today's show. Listen, if this is your first time here, my name is Darrell Evans. I'm a serial entrepreneur who started his first business at the age of 20. I've now gone on to build several successful businesses across the seven figure mark. And through my digital marketing agency, we've now helped clients generate over nine figures in revenue over the last 11 years. While the journey from inspiration to realization is
fun to talk about. It's actually when life knocked me down that I learned some of my biggest success lessons here at mind shift we call those breakdowns. Now it's those breakdowns that led me to develop a framework called the mind shift method. It's a four step framework I use anytime I get stuck. I need to overcome a major life challenge or a business challenge. Or if I want to pursue a new career path
or desire of any kind. You know, I use this when I was sleeping on my grandmother's couch living out of two duffel bags of clothes. When I was starting one of my first successful businesses, I used it when I faced the reality that I'd have to figure out how to be a good father to my two boys at the time, who were living 1075 miles away from me. I used it when my business collapsed in 2008. And I had to file bankruptcy and I lost everything and I had to
start over again. It wasn't until 2020 when something else happened. And someone asked me, How do you do it? How do you remain so calm through adversity? How do you keep a positive outlook when facing what would take most other people out. And what I didn't realize at that time was I've been using this framework unconsciously for like the last two decades. That conversation though, led me to break down that four step framework, and I share it with all of the members
of the mind shift community. The mind shift community is my free coaching community where you can gather with us every single month for free, live masterclass. You also get access to me for monthly q&a. And you even get exclusive discounts on merchant programs and events not available to the general public. The best part is, it's 100% free to join in another tap really quick. Go to mindshiftcommunity.com to join for free, and I'll see you inside the community.
I'm on YouTube one day and up pops this video about how to create content that generates consulting leads. Now I'm in the lead generation business in my marketing agency Yokel Local. I've been owning businesses now for about 30 years. So obviously, I'm keen to the topic of generating leads and increasing sales. But there was something about this video I couldn't leave alone. Not only did I watched that video, but I ended up in the YouTube University rabbit hole of Mr.
Alzay Calhoun. And for me, that's a big deal, because I very rarely find other experts in the lead generation and business sales coaching space that have the acumen with clarity and simplicity that I think I bring to my clients. Alzay has been a business coach since 2008. He's been helping boutique consulting firms scale their business without stress He's got a mantra He's like, imagine fewer proposals, easier sales calls, better behaved
clients and more days off. It all is kind of based around an idea that he says, we transform, intelligent, technically oriented, stalled leaders of consulting firms into insightful inspired business architects. And in his words, we help you translate your expertise into an experience your clients can consume. I reached out to alzette I'm like, I gotta have this gown to show. Not sure if he'll be on the show. But I've got to reach out of course, he
said, Yes. I don't have much else to say because this interview is going to blow your mind. Get ready to shift your mind and shift your results. Whether you're an owner of a consulting firm, small business owner, professional service provider, it doesn't matter. The simplicity of his frameworks are going to astonish you. Here's Alzay. My man Alzay. What's going on? Welcome to The MindShift Podcast.
We're here. I'm glad to be here. Thank you for having me.
We are here and a small aside, before we jump in, we had some challenges last time we got together, did we not?
Yes, we did.
Let me tell you, as Internet entrepreneurs, you are just facing all sorts of challenges from time to time and we hit three false starts the last time a week or two ago. And so it is absolutely a pleasure to have you here. I'm looking forward to it. Where are you joining us from?
I am in Atlanta, Georgia. The weather's behaving today, actually. So it rained a little bit so the pollen has settled down so I can breathe easy.It's a good day.
Amazing. Well, listen, let's jump right in. Alzay, I've invited you to the show for a number of reasons, a couple of which I'll highlight now. And then as we go through the conversation today, it's going to be present to the listening audience why I invited you to the show, I came across your YouTube channel, probably three months ago, I watched a couple of your videos. And I was like the way this guy teaches and the way this guy structures, his content with crystal clarity
in your message. And then there's this witty humor of directness that I just appreciate. And I hope the listeners hear that through our conversation today. We're going to jump into that I'm going to highlight we're gonna we're gonna unpack the greatness that is in Alzay Calhoun here today for sure. Before we do all that, once you jump in and give us a little bit of your backstory, and tell us about your business, your practice what you do to help people every single day.
Yeah, how I got here, right. So when I started my business 2008/2009, I started out as a consultant. And when I began that journey, I already had a undergrad degree in business, I had a grad degree in business, I have an MBA degree. And I already had a fortune 500 client I already had. So I thought I was starting my business with good bones, you know, solid framework, I knew what I was doing, quote, unquote. And six months later, a year later, 18 months later, I got absolutely overwhelmed. And
I didn't see that coming. And I hadn't never taken a course or got any mentorship, etc, around the number of details that a business owner is responsible for. I assumed that being a technical expert was good enough, and I was wrong. And it wasn't until after the feast and famine of revenue wasn't till after the depression, worry and anxiety. It wasn't till after couldn't go on trips, can't afford to eat meals with your
friends. I mean, just these embarrassing moments that we don't talk about that I realized that I'm out of control. And even though I've made money here made money there, I got some clients good for me, I'm out of control. And long story short, my life did not get better, until my plans got simpler. I had to do fewer things, too many things are happening. And this is a step by step process. There's not some magic wave the wand, but incrementally, I
simplify things. And now I'm able to work a lot less than I ever have before. And that is the specific leverage I offer my clients. So we we simplify things down to a set, of course, color systems. And those systems provide us time leveraging money leverage. And from there, you can do all kinds of fancy things. But I'm trying to get you down to some pillar ideas that will allow you time leveraging money.
I love it, man after my own heart. So a couple things you said there, I want to unpack a little bit before we dive in deeper. And that is this idea of the worry, the fear the doubt that's happening behind the scenes, when you think you're going in, you said you're out of control. And you say we don't talk about these things. And that's interesting, because what we do on this show is we talk about two journeys in this
world of entrepreneurship. And that is that journey from inspiration to realization right, you take the goal, the dream, the idea, let's get to work, let's get after it. You know, but there's this irrational exuberance that sometimes happens out of the gate.
Yes.
And then all of a sudden life does that little thing that it seems to do and it seems to knock us down. I call it that season a break down to breakthrough and it's an evolutionary process as well. So we actually do talk about it here and I will probably have you dig into some of that because it is the real story.
Entrepreneurship, everyone looks at magazine covers and Instagram feeds and YouTube, you know, subscriber numbers and someone's got 80,000 comments on, you know, that's just not the real story.
Right.
Hopefully we'll unpack some of that. Let me ask you this question, how did you get involved in the world of consulting,
Consulting, so we got to draw a bright line here between consulting and coaching, they are often used interchangeably, they're not quite the same thing. I got started as a consultant, because in my background, as academically, I was trained as a management consultant. That's what I thought I was going to be a McKinsey kind of guy, a Deloitte kind of guy, an Accenture kind of guy. That's what I thought I was going to be when I grew up. And long story short, that's not really what I
wanted to do. But I liked the thought process. I like thinking through the problem, I like making clear recommendations. I like the idea of making a choice, and making the best choice you can and with ambiguity in the space, those kind of ideas excite me. But the tactical everyday of being a consultant was less of my interest. So life took me in a different direction. So that's how I was trained. And that's why I've got started. That's what I knew how to do, since I
brought up coaching. Because I like the advisory part better. I like being the ally of the business owner better, I like that better. I also began to realize how lonely that person was, I just told my own story. I saw my loneliness, I look at other people, though, oh, you're sitting by yourself? Why are you doing that all by yourself, you
need some help. And so when you begin to interact with that person from that perspective, now, your partners, and I like that role better now you've got to level up to serve in that way. You can't just throw ideas at people and be a quote unquote, coach, that's for other people. So if you're gonna be helpful, you got to really be helpful. But I have moved away from the Send me the 40 page PowerPoint deck of recommendations to what exactly is going on, sir, what do we do
tomorrow to fix it? And I just prefer that conversation. And so that's how I got here. And that's where the line is drawn between those two.
I love it. And I love the distinction, right? It's not just a bunch of ideas, but it's get there be partners, and the word partner can be interesting, because we think about the legalities of a partnership. But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about a vested interest.
Right.
In the outcomes in the success, right?
Absolutely.
It's interesting, tell us a little bit about who you coach, and who is really the company, the target audience of who you serve.
So I have chosen to work with consultants. And that's a decision that I made some years ago, somewhere around 2013. I kind of you know, because there's all kinds of business owners, where do I belong? etc? Well, listen, for most of us, it's easiest to serve people like us. For most of us, that's just easier to do. Can you do other things? Yes, you can. But it's easier, because you have empathy. That's the point you made Darrell before we went live here, the
importance of empathy. So I understand the life of a consultant, I understand let me kind of get that some layers, I understand the life of living in your head. Because as a consultant, that is your life. It is all about your thoughts. Now, that's fine, you're a brilliant person, but it's your thoughts, plus the client's thoughts, plus your family's thoughts, plus your children's thoughts, etc, etc. All those thoughts are all in your head, they're written down nowhere.
Right
They live all in your head. And on any given day, at any given time, you can miss calibrate all those wonderful things, and you make somebody unhappy. And then that creates this thing called stress, which I forgot why am I so stressed when I feel so much pressure? Because there are too many doggone thoughts, and they're all in there at the same time. So I understand I know that's real. Now there's someone listening right now going, No, I have a command of mindset, you're great, you're amazing.
But there's a lot of us therefore honest, there's a challenge associated with trying to be amazing, top notch thinking at every single opportunity. So I understand I know what that's like. I also understand how you begin to relieve that and while I'm on the path here, but one of the first places you can relieve all of those thoughts, is taking your expertise, and productize it. So before we go too far, if nothing else lands today, there's this word called
productizing. This idea called productizing is one of the first things you can do to simplify some of the complexity that's happening in your brain. I'll stop there. please direct me Yes, sir.
No, let's actually it's a great stopping point. But let's define it from your perspective to the person who is this consultant on the other side, who is this expert in their field? I see it every single day. Let's define productizing your business from your perspective.
Okay, so let's begin with again, we call ourselves experts. And so what does that mean? So let's fast forward that you have a PhD in your thing. Now, it might not be a formal PhD, you didn't you didn't write a full dissertation. But you've been doing it for a long time. You know, you've been doing it for a long time and you haven't on command. If someone brings it up, you just start talking. That's what I mean by having a PhD. By framing PhD, we can admit how many things we have in
our heads. Okay? So part of what happens as really smart people is we sit down with our clientele, and we unload the PhD on them, man, I mean, he just they say one trigger word. And that's all it takes. And we are just, we're a movie all by ourselves.
Two hours later.
hour and a half just going all by ourselves.
Right.
We have to find a way to make that brilliance more palatable to someone else.
I love that
We have to do that. Otherwise, we're flying over people's heads, they'll never Connect, I'll never understand they'll never buy they'll never value what we do you ever had somebody buy what you do, they pay the good money and still don't value it. They still ask you 100 more questions, they still question everything you done, you get to the end of the project, they're still asking you more questions, how come you didn't, okay, they never bought into it, because it
was just too doggone complex. So then. So here's a quick kind of sound bite here. scope, time price. So this wonderful this PhD level stuff you've got in your head, it starts with the beginning of time and ends with the future, right? All that stuff, we got to simplify that down to a understandable scope, time and price. Now, there's some details and how that gets done. But there's some part of what you do that can be made
that palatable. And if you're just willing to start there, just begin there, then you can get to the other fantastic complex things. And again, you can always add more layers of complexity. But some of us are smart people, we push against the idea of productizing. Because I want to play in my world of knowledge, I want to play into my highest thoughts, I understand. But for the other person you're talking to your your highest minded thoughts do
not land either. Even if they're nodding, I love to be where I stopped. Just because someone is nodding, does not mean they understand. So you sit in front of people, and you talk your face off, and they nod at you and they smile, and they do the whole professional thing. They are being nice. They're being nice, they do not understand. So the show the only way. So if you really want understanding and therefore commitment, because I can't commit to a thing I don't understand.
That's right.
I cannot commit to an idea I don't understand. So if you want me to commit to it with time, energy and money, you want money from me, I have to understand and productize it becomes a vehicle by which you can earn the understanding, and therefore earn the commitment.
I love that man. Just because they're nodding doesn't mean they understand. And you know what, and oftentimes when they're nodding, that's actually means they don't understand. I know in your experience, I know I can speak for mine. The more dialogue I get back, the more they actually understand. The less dialogue I get back.
Right.
Questions, objections, whatever it may be, the less they understand.
Yes, sir. That's right.
If I get off the call, and I've done all the talking, I lost.
That's right. Oh, you broke it. Yes, indeed. And I've done this. So I recognize the issue. I've done this. Yeah.
Yeah, great points. You know, so many ideas that come to mind from that. Let's talk for example. So when we say the word productize. And I love the scope, say it again, scope, scope, time, price, time and price. Got it.
So what's being done? How long does it take? How much does it cost? Get there as fast as you can, please?
So you're talking to someone or someone's listening to us right now. And they're still in the world of their expertise, service, whether it's service, whether it's product, whether it's leadership, management, and they're not yet a consultant.
Okay.
Can you elaborate a little further as to how they make the leap to this idea of productizing? Because so often, as you mentioned, and said extremely well, that they live at their PhD level in what they do every day. And is this unconscious competence level that they talk about in psychology?
Yes.
That just like you said, it just happens. It rattles the trigger word goes off, and that could be there for two hours, and they'll run you over like a Mack truck. It's with good intention, but you get hammered. Right, right.
Right.
So how does one begin the thought process to go from that world of expertise? A lot of times we say what you're about to do for this client, or this customer or in the world of productizing is actually teaching and or working to yourself? 10 years ago? Yeah, more five years ago. Is that is that a assessment that you believe in?
Yes, I do. Yes, I do.
So let's talk a little bit about how does one begin the thought process if they're not a consultant yet.
Right.
Without getting crazy to think about productizing talk them through that for just a hot minute.
Okay, so slowly, is the first words you need to hear slowly. So again, we are used to functioning at that high minded clip. That's fast. Our thoughts are fast. And so I say productizing and look in your brain,scope, time, Price, got it. And so then you want to just run to this beautiful, elegant thing that you've now "productized" when you have understand the concept, and I understand the desire For speed, but I gotta warn us against ourselves that we can get in our
own way here. Okay, so slowly, slowly. Okay. So what are we doing with this idea of productizing? Again, we're trying to make this complex idea palatable for someone else that has the intention. The intention is not to write the dissertation you never wrote, we're not trying to put everything into the book. That's not what we're doing. We're trying to make this idea palatable for someone else. Okay. So then, and he defines what's palatable for him, she defines what's palatable for
her. So the way I kind of help folks visualize this is look at his desk, go to his office, and look at his desk and look at all of what's on his desk, and see what on his desk you can take
off of it. Give me that thing, that problem, that stack of papers, that person that keeps coming in this office, those emails that keep coming through that vendor that walks in here and talk to you to death, because they got a PhD in their thing, whatever it is that troubles them on their desk, look on their desk and see if you can take something off.
Yeah.
Now, here's a hard admission that we can do it now because we're not present and no one gets embarrassed. You don't know what his desk looks like. He never went to his office, he came to the office and yelled at you. What's on my person who hasn't been consultant yet? Right? So they came into your office and they yelled at you, they invited you to a conference room, right? And hijacked you right scares you with a new idea, right? That's the way we're used to functioning in these corporate
spaces. So you've never actually gone into his desk, gone into his office and looked at his desk before? Or if you did you set so far away, you couldn't see you get the point that I'm making here. So so we have to be there's an extra effort extra step, we have to take to really envision what that guy or what that lady is going through in their world. And it's actually very different is what I'm saying, fellow smart person. I'm saying it's very different than what's going on in your world.
It's not the same thing. So I'm trying to break that assumption with a picture here. I know that what you're going through is not what I'm going through. So I'm stopping myself. What are you going through? What on your desk? Do you want? Remove? Give it to me? And please hear those words. Give it to me, I want it. You want this big, nasty thing? Yes, I do. And to take that firms will cost you $25,000. Do you still want to give it to me? Yeah. Here's 25 grand and the
ugly thing. Right? So there's so step one is a matter of empathy. It's a step of empathy. I mean, that literally go to that person's office.
Yes.
Go to their desk and stare at it. and see which stack is the highest, see which corner of their desk is the most unorganized.
True.
And that begins to highlight for you the things that they don't like what's bothering them the most, etc, etc.
True.
All right, I'll stop there. Please. Take me to the next place.
No, you know what, you man job fire man. So well, I don't want to stop a guy that's on fire like that. But I'll just echo one thing that you said that I'll see if I can summarize. And that is, if you don't go meet them where they are, you won't understand how to solve that problem. I've said for I don't know, in the neighborhood of 30 years of in the world of sales. And at the end of the day, that's what you're going to be doing as a consultant.
That's right.
And if you're an entrepreneur, it doesn't matter what your first job and priority is to sell your product and service. But you've got to have something worth selling.
That's right.
But it has to be something that'll solve a problem. And I've often said if you meet people empathetically, first, you'll never sell a thing in the world because you will understand where they are.
That's right.
And whether or not your solution will solve the problem, which is basically Will you be able to take that thing off their desks that's bugging them. And they will want to give you whatever the fee is, or whatever the trade is.
Yes.
And it's not even a fee. If you think about it, it's an opportunity for them to stop losing money and whatever that...
That's right.
...weight is that sitting on their desk?
That's right.
It was just beautifully said, I love couple things you've said, slow. I know from listening to some of your videos, you're really focused, you have a dedicated pattern of talking about simplicity. You just said the word slow. And I know that you're all about focus. I watched the video some time ago, and I don't remember the title of the video. I just remember something that just made me laugh to no end. I'm going to share it right now and
then get your feedback on. And it's about this area of focus. Somewhere in the video. And I don't even know what year it was because you've been online for a minute. And you may not even know cuz you probably got hundreds or if not 1000s of videos by now. You said something like choose one. And you said if you go to a restaurant, and you look at the menu, you can only choose one, you have to eat that meal first. Or you can eat the next meal and
you can only choose one. Can you remember the video that you were talking about and how it relates to this again, this idea of simplicity focus. Do you recall what video I'm talking about?
I don't recall the exact video but I do use that statement more than once. So I'd definitely know what you're talking about.
Okay.
Again, in that PhD thinking, we love to offer clients a list, and we assume that choice is good. I want to give my clients the option of selecting any of these things that might be good to them. And we say it in that voice. I want to give my clients the option of choosing right, get well intended. how overwhelming is it to walk into a Walmart? how overwhelming is it to walk into
a target? You know, for the men in the room for just a minute, you know that if you walk into that target with your wife, you're going to be there for a while, because she's going to walk the store. That's how shoppers shop. I'm not arguing with that. That's just how people operate. That's fine. You don't want your six figures or seven figures determined by someone wandering through a store. It's an overwhelming
experience. So on the other side, when you walk into that target knew exactly what do you want, you walk in you go get it and you walk out.
That's what we do.
It's typically how men shop, right? Okay, if we can play the stereotypes for a minute, right? Okay. So the idea here, I'm trying to draw a picture here. So we can see that by offering your client Oh, and by the way, everything in Walmart is a product you already understand toothpaste, soda, even the tires and the windshield wipers, and whatever else you bought at Walmart, you will understand those products. But when you're a consultant talking to a client, you are talking about something they
don't understand. They have they have such little recognition, they don't recognize the words the framings, etc, that you're offering. So not only are you offering them 19 choices, they don't recognize any of them.
Great point.
How overwhelming is that?
Great point. Oh, my goodness,
that's so overwhelming.
Wow.
So empathy, a projection of their situation. So I know you got to meet in 15 minutes from now you're talking to me right now at nine o'clock, and you have a meeting at 915. And I am in the way between you and your 915. What I'm trying to help you do is make an efficient decision right now in 15 minutes, let's do it together. Let me look at your desk. The highest axis seems to be the stack on the right hand side. Can I have the right hand side, please? How much is that
$17,000? I will remove that whole right hand side for you.
Right? Right.
Okay, we'll talk about it tomorrow then now. So maybe he doesn't buy in that in that exchange. But now you have a second meeting where you can discuss that in more detail, you have his attention, and you're focused on making his life a little bit better. The idea of choosing one, because will default to a long list of things that our client cannot comprehend not because they're unintelligent, but because they don't have a PhD and what we
have a PhD in. So I've said all of that, let me just offer one more support to that idea. One is simpler to manage than two now I don't have children. But what I've heard is that having one child is easier to manage than having two children. So inside our own business, because our products or our children,
our services or our children. So if we just have one service that's easier for us to manage, easier for us to understand easier for us to deploy and deliver, easier for us to manage and maintain, easier for us to build a clientele around from the management of our own business. One is simpler than two and definitely simpler than 19.
Man, I love it. Have you ever read the book 8020 principle? Richard cots
I have not read the book. I definitely know the concept. I definitely know concept.
You know, you know the concept. Like you know the concept. But there's no question about you know, the concept because a lot of what we are talking about today, and what I appreciate about what you're describing, just it's gonna there are some listening to this that are afraid to miss out on all
Yes, sir.
They're afraid to miss out on all.
Thank you. Thank you for saying that.
And the issue is, is that whenever we start something we have to be good at the first thing first, I think about sports when I played sports growing up, and I think about the way we coached the kids as I grew out of playing sports, when in the world of coaching, I think about what we do in the world of marketing. And Vince Lombardi is I think credited as saying this is that every year he would show up to training camp with the Green Bay
Packers back in the day. I'm not a Green Bay Packer fan shout out to those who are. I'm a Rams fan shout out to the Rams fan. A shout out to the Falcons down where you're at Vince Lombardi would show up with a football. This is what I heard. I wasn't there that even with grown professionals, whether they're rookie or veterans, he would start every season with training camp by standing up in front of them with the football and say, gentlemen, this is a football.
Now why would a legendary coach stand up with seasoned professionals, veterans PhD players and say, gentlemen, this is a football and I think that's what I'm hearing you say I think about you know, this idea that you've got to be good at the little things I remember in football used to kind of remember this is just one of those other Simplicity's, we had to start with how to get into a proper three point stance.
Yes, sir.
It started with how to position Your feet before you get to the ground. So is this all the same stuff? Right, but we feel like, well, we're gonna run the place.
Yes, right?
Well, we got to run the place.
Right?
So I love what you're talking about that let's go a little deeper into your business model. I know that from following you online a little bit that you work with your clients in the area of blind acquisition. And tell a little bit about the process you teach? And the channel you prefer? And why?
Okay, so there's actually three parts to that question. So this idea of simplicity, I want you to see your entire business all up front. So some of us are guilty of over focusing on client acquisition, we swear that the the issue in our business is because we don't have enough clients. Maybe, maybe, but I'll say I don't have any clients. So I need 100 clients, don't I?
Maybe, okay, so the three pillar systems, client acquisition, client service and client retention, I'd argue that your service based business is based around those three pillars, that is your 8020. If you get those three pillars, right, the other things are much easier to manage whatever those big ideas are. But boy, please get something in those three pillars. So I do I do focus on client acquisition, because it is important. You have a rhythm there. But let's start here, though, about client
acquisition. There's no rhythm. So many of us have no process. We're not working a process. There's no base discipline.
Yes.
So before we go create fancy funnels and do 100 content pieces, and I'd love to play that game. We can go all day long about that. I got a PhD in
Hey, you do it all day.
We do it all set, right, my gosh. But if I asked you what happened over the last week, and you told me Well, I talked to one guy about one thing, that's not we haven't done enough, we're not giving ourselves a rhythm. So we think about client acquisition, not as a magic marketing hack, but instead a process to put in place. What I believe for experts to sell it really expensive things. The easiest place to begin a process is with LinkedIn, LinkedIn as a first place to go other platforms.
Absolutely. Can we talk about those? Absolutely. But boy, LinkedIn is just easier why. And a simple idea is that LinkedIn will give you a dashboard to have these conversations from to begin this rhythm. LinkedIn presents you with a dashboard. Now, here's a bit of the rub, though. LinkedIn is a clunky tool, amen. I complain about LinkedIn, how clunky it is recommend LinkedIn as a tool to use I do. But I also acknowledge that LinkedIn by itself is not
elegant, it's clunky. So this dashboard that I'm describing needs to be you need to understand how to create it, there's some steps you got to take to build it for yourself. But once you have that dashboard, it becomes like when you sit in your car and turn the key, there's a dashboard sitting right in front that tells you the status of your car. Now you can guide yourself, now you're oriented because you have that dashboard, it is the simplest
thing to do. And no other things are possible with you no way to attract clients. LinkedIn, its dashboard and the fact that darner every professional, you know, is on the platform. So you can get access to people you need part one, part two, you can do with my dashboard level thinking. And that's so I want folks to have the dashboard.
I love it. And you nailed it. LinkedIn. I've been on LinkedIn since 2006. first started using it to grow my personal brand and was an early adopter. And it is frustratingly clunky.
Oh my gosh, yeah.
And even a Microsoft bought it. What is it two and a half, three years ago now?
Maybe a little longer. But in that timeframe.
For some up to 20 $20 billion, or some nonsense?
Yeah.
And it's improved. I will say that in the last 12 months or so it has really started to improve. It's becoming a more social platform, not just a resume platform. Mm hmm. So it is coming along. So I enjoy LinkedIn. I love what you said about the three pillars, right client acquisition, client service, client retention. When you are working with your clients, what is the number one thing holding them back? Typically, of those three?
Oh, of those three, oh, man, I thought you're gonna go somewhere else of those three of those three?
What category? Are you finding that you have to dive in and help them with? ASAP?
Right.
I would imagine there's a common theme. I know in my world, there's a common theme. They'll think it's this but you know, it's that right?
Right? No, absolutely. Because you're asking the right question.
Take your time. Take your time.
And I want to give you a direct answer. But you're feeling the context already. Most new work consultants, if they're in the first, let's say, one, two or three years, are concerned about client acquisition, that's generally true, most newer consultants, those consultants that have been around for a little while, so years 3, 4, 5 and beyond are looking at client service. So that's a straightforward answer.
Well, what I was thinking about is...
go ahead, ask your next question. Take me to the next place there.
I know as a consultant, you are solving problems for consultants, and I'm trying to unpack a theme That I'm imagining is very similar to the world that I work in, which is experts, service providers, right. So they're generally those PhDs, they just happen to still be doing the work in their field. They haven't transitioned into the world of consulting or coaching. And I was just curious if there was a common theme, what I see in my world is, they come to me saying, hey, Darryl, I need x.
Yeah, yeah.
And I'm like, in the background, no, and no, you need Y. And so, and that was all it was wasn't really a, an area. But it does make sense. When you think about the earlier years, it's client acquisition, how do I get people to actually buy my stuff? And then it's servicing work? Do you find that people get stuck in service? Oh, you already said it. Right. They get stuck in service. And then they forget the other process of client acquisition? Because they do it once in a while.
Right, right. Okay. So I wanted to thank you. Let me put a point here that I wanted to point which was, what brings people to the cross of I need help now. So regardless of what advice I may offer, the what's the roadblock people hit. And so typically, the story is, you've earned your PhD, quote, unquote, you've done your work for a very long time you get the clients you get because of the
career you've built so far. So in other words, you've been doing what you've been doing naturally, you did it as an employee, you said, Hey, I'm gonna be a consultant now. And some of your former colleagues are now clients. And there's your business. And for some folks, that's half a million dollars a year. For some folks, that's $100,000 a year, but some people just want $25,000 a year, I'm not critiquing the number, but the dynamic is the same or
very, very similar. You used to do it as an employee, now you're doing as a consultant, folks just kind of pay you. Right? Okay. So then that next wall is you realize that I don't have any predictability or control over this business that I have. I have clients, I have some money, I've got some stuff. I've got a website, a LinkedIn profile, I got a, you know, some tweets, I got a Facebook page, whatever, you got some stuff, right. But I speak at a conference every now and again,
I got some stuff. But I can't predict when the next x is going to happen. And that's scary.
Yes.
And so because I can't predict the next x, I have to work to fill in that blank. So now I'm always at work, because I don't know when the next thing is going to happen. So I must serve this next client or it makes you over invest.
Yes.
So now I've got to serve these clients.
Yes. Yeah.
Do everything they possibly asked me to do That's what Alzay Calhoun, the business coach is there go scope creep, you just volunteered for it. I've got to do all this prospecting and hit everybody up that I've ever known, because I don't know what my next client is coming. See, now you're not gonna sales guy, he just volunteered for it. So you get forced into these poor behaviors, because you don't know how to make your business
predictable. There's a switch there, Darrell, folks come saying I want client acquisition, or I want some version of client service. But underneath that is a fundamental lack of predictability or consistency in the business. We have to solve for that first. saying, we have to get a picture of predictability first, before we deploy or throw ourselves into client acquisition of any kind or client service of any kind.
Great point, you know, it reminded me back to is roughly 20 ish years ago. And I remember a business coach at that time, who I was working with said, Darryl, what's your McDonald's formula?
That's right.
And, you know, we oftentimes get out here in the world of solopreneur. ship, call us a coach, a consultant, trainer, speaker, author, dadadada da. And all of a sudden, we left the corporate environment where there was structure, process, routine, rules, policies, regulations, there were boundaries. Yes, right. And we come out here as experts, and we think our smartness is gonna carry us to the land of success in business. And it is, I think, that's the
point you're making. And it was so you know, when I heard that back 20 years ago, and now it, of course, is a function, and some people will call it standard operating procedure as well. Okay. We don't have to get as fancy as McDonald's. But there is a blueprint for making french fries and McDonald's. And everybody is taught the blueprint. And it's visual, and it's crystal clear, and is repeatable.
Yes, sir.
Is not up for discussion. There is no discretion. It's not up for discussion how they want you to do it, right. And as simple as that concept is, I think everybody who whether you like McDonald's don't like McDonald's, it's it there is something to the fact that that organization is successful with the average age of an 18 year old.
Right, right, right.
Because there are rules and processes and what you're talking about Alzay is this idea that you need the clients, yes, you need the service, yes. But you've got what are the processes that land under those three big pillars? And so I love that because I also see the same thing in my world working in the world of marketing and things of that nature. What we do, they come in saying they want x and I'm like, if I gave you x, your whole world would break.
Absolutely.
It would just break so you know, let me ask you, you've been in the world now coaching consulting for a long time. What would you change one thing that really rubs you sideways About the world of coaching and consulting, and I know we're kind of intermixing those phrases, but they get a little gray out there in the market. What's one thing that rubs you just bad about what's happening out here?
We don't have enough time. I pitch one of these fits every day. Oh, my gosh, my wife is tired of hearing it. Where do we begin? Okay, if I knew this was coming, I'd be better prepared and less emotional. Okay. So one of them is this assumption that what you have a PhD in is inherently valuable, the way that you know what the way you have it, just because you want to offer it does not mean that he wants to receive it? Or that she wants to receive it, let alone buy it.
How about that. But there's an assumption that you can create a business around whatever you want, because you want to. And that's not fair. The real truth here is that, yes, there is expertise in it available in every possible field. Yes. But that expertise is valued differently to different people at different times in different industries. So you might be really, really good at something that folks just don't want to
pay a lot of money for. Now, you may still get clientele, but maybe your business is only half million dollars a year, that's as big as your business is going to be. Because you're an expert in pencil sharpening, I'm making that up. Right, right. But if you are an expert in crisis communication, well, you can make eight figures a year.
Exactly.
Right. That's just simply valued at more. But we get, you know, well, my expertise is worth his expertise. Don't do that. We don't appreciate that devalue what we offer, as defined by our clients, Oh, okay. There's one. Okay, here's a second while I'm trying to get him out of my head while they're here. Because these are classic mistakes that folks make as they're trying to grow their business. Okay. Number two is some version of I can just throw my expertise into a course and they will buy it.
There's all kinds of iterations on this particular statement, we've been sold the idea that folks buy courses, and I can just sell a course. And what's underneath that is our laziness and our greed. what's underneath that is, I don't want to work with these clients one on one, that's too hard. So what I'd rather do is make this course for $1,000, or 500 bucks or 200 bucks. And I'll just sell my course. And that'll be quote,
unquote, on autopilot. What we don't appreciate about that, and I'll stop here is I don't go too
far off this plane here. But what I want people to appreciate about creating content around your expertise is that number one, that content must be valuable to the person we're talking to, it can't just be, again, the book, you want to write the thing you want to make, it's gotta be useful to him, you sort of her one, two, is the skill of creating content is a skill, which you're probably not very good at. You're good at going to meetings, you're good at making PowerPoints, you're going to
talk about it. I don't challenge that. But creating usable content is actually a different skill. There are people who go to school just for that to learn how to shape other people's content, okay, it's called instructional design, you can look it up. Okay, so it's a whole skill. So you're probably not that good at. So again, throwing content into a course and selling it, it's not going
It's interesting. No, I echo your points on this to go the way you think that's number two. Number three last thing, the person you sell your course to, is still making a buying decision. So you have to learn to communicate about your content in such a way that your client can make a buying decision. And do you want to learn this? Don't you want to learn this, you should really know this are not appropriate. They don't put someone in a buying decision. That's you
trying to hard sell someone. So introducing content in a way where someone can make a buying decision is another skill. That's why you go to a guy like Darrell so you can accelerate your experience and not get this PhD. idea of creating content and having the ability to not just to spout your expertise, you have to be able to spout it in a way that's useful for the receiver. And you make great points, which actually is very
interesting to this day. Because when you combine the work that we do, in terms of search ability and brand awareness and visibility online, because that's what our company does. You know, we have a lot of experts both in all worlds book authors, coaches, speakers, experts, service providers, mechanics, you name it. The question is, is they are invisible. They're smart. They're successful. But today, they're invisible.
Yeah, right.
Right. And then what you just said, is this idea. Okay, I've heard about blogging. I've heard about starting a YouTube channel. I've heard about posting on LinkedIn, I've heard about I've heard about, I've heard about, yeah, and what I hear is this friction point of, but I bought the course.
Right?
I bought the tools.
And the course told me four steps. Yeah,
it told you four steps. I bought the tools. I got all this stuff, because they got a few dollars, so it's easy to buy the stuff.
That's right, right.
The problem is they lacked the process. Yeah, the problem is they're overwhelmed now because they didn't do what you were suggesting, which is start with one, right? What's the one thing you should be doing in the area of client acquisition? What is the one thing you should be doing in your productized service? Yeah, not for Courses one. Yeah, right? Or services one, what's that way you're going to retain that client just
right. I mean, so I love what you're saying, it's a great way for us to kind of wrap this up and start to bring this thing home. Alzay you have, and there are some people listening to this right now who are on the other side who've already done all of that they bought all the courses. If they see another automated webinar, they're gonna probably want to, you know, put
themselves to sleep. Yeah, to that person who has already "done it all," bought all the products, brought all the tools bought all the courses, and they're tired, and they still haven't got it working. And they still haven't figured it out. What do you say to that person? Because I know that I would believe that they should be connecting with you if they're listening on the other side of this right now. But what do you say to that person who's tired?
That's really awesome. That's an awesome question. Because that's real. The fatigue of all these things is very, very real. And by the way, when you get tired, you make
It's real. poor choices. So you get tired, your brains not functioning, right. And I have made really poor choices from my fatigue, which is a story for another day, but I know what that's like to be tired and go give me the blue one. And I didn't know I should never bought anything, let alone the blue one. So okay, so the question becomes, what do I do now? Okay, so I'm offering you a framework of three pillar systems, client acquisition, client service, and client
retention. And normally, for most of my clients, just seeing that picture is a revelation all to itself. Because right now your business is a blob, it's just one big category of things. And those things now have at least some basic category, so it feels more palatable. So I'd like you to take a deep breath
into that idea. First, the actions that I'm doing the things that are going on, the emails that are coming into my inbox, are generally categorized in client acquisition client service, the client retention, okay, if that picture is making just some basic sense to you, one of those three pillars is
the most underdeveloped. One of those three pillars is the one that every time you know, you walk into that room, you stubbed your toe, every time you bring up that conversation, you don't know what to say, every time, right, it's a one of those three things is causing you the most concern, and it's causing the most concern because it is underdeveloped. It's not predictable, it's not a process
in any way. So then get in a hurry about working with the person or the agency or buying the course, if it needs to be a course that will help you solve that particular problem. So if fatigue is present, because you've seen the 100 things, you've got nine tools, and they do the exact same thing, right? If that's where you are, let's find the problem. First is probably one of those three things. And then just be honest with yourself about the best way
you can articulate it. And now, if you need to go to a couple of different vendors, Hey, man, here's my business. Here's why I'm stuck. And you helped me fix this and look for an honest, direct response. And if you don't like the answer you hear but then you go to option number two, you may have to keep going through a few things. If you'd like to talk to me about that scenario. I'm happy to be available for that. But I appreciate that what Alzay Calhoun offers may not be what
solves your problem. That may also be real. But what is most appropriate is that you have some level of clarity around what you're currently facing. Simply buying more things does not get you home. Amen. You know, you have an opportunity for those listening to the show today, so that they can determine if what Alzay Calhoun offers is suitable for their
needs today in this world. And if you're listening to this right now, and you're maybe you're a consultant in your early one to three year window, maybe you're a little longer than that five to 10, or longer window. And maybe things just aren't quite where you'd like them to be. Right now we are coming off of the heels of lockdown and pandemic and the world has been turned upside down in the last 14 months. And now we're coming back to normal, but your normal could be new.
And it could be an adapted normal, it could be a new normal for you. It could be that you used to travel all over the globe. And maybe that isn't real for you today. Maybe it used to be that you spoke at conferences, right. And maybe you're in a moment of pivot.
That's right.
Alzay, share with them what you have for them as a free gift opportunity to explore a little deeper, if that so suits them today.
Thank you for asking about that covetedconsultant.com/free is the link. What's there, there is a webinar that's there that right now delivering the webinar weekly, the webinars about a weekly plan to help you accomplish the scalability that you're after. I would like to see you transition from expert consultants into a CEO from
service provider into CEO. It doesn't matter to me if you're CEO of one business again, or a one person business or five or 50, the number doesn't matter to me, what we find is that CEO thinking is the same no matter what level of company. So there's a new way that you need to be operating. The three pillar systems are one part of the evidence of this new way of thinking every day that webinars an opportunity for you to kind of see what that looks like you know from an academic
perspective. And then kind of get yourself sorted and see if that's the way you want to think that that's the way you want to operate. So that's covetedconsultant.com/free, it's a webinar, I deliver it live. And so then you know, we can dialogue in that format, you can just see if the if the approach we take is an approach that speaks to you.
And that is a great point from going from this expert knowledge, you know, consultant to thinking like a CEO, I find it is the number one challenge I'm solving in some of the world of thinking that I worked in, and it is getting outside of that. And it is it's okay, if you're a business of one, or a business of 100, or 1000. But a different shift in how you see the business, when you're at CEO level thinking doesn't mean you get to not do
the work. Because if you're a business of one, you're still doing the work, right. But you're thinking changes. And so I really love that. So appreciate you making that available. I appreciate your style, your approach your thinking, I always like to honor my guests by just really looking at the body of work they've put forth. We didn't talk a lot today about some of the roadblocks and hurdles and
stumbling blocks you've had. But you and I sat through three opportunities to try to put this show together you were extremely empathetic and and just generous with your understanding. So I want to commend you for that. I'm glad we got this together, you and I kind of joked and said there must be a phenomenal message coming out of That's right, the trouble that we ran into you share with me online another challenge you were
having. But this is the stuff that doesn't come to the scene when you see the YouTube video with 50,000 views or the LinkedIn profile with, you know, 125,000 comments, the real story of entrepreneurship and progress is pushing through those points of pain just right. And Alzay, you are helping individuals do this. There is a body of testimonials on your YouTube channel. And I really will link that up in the show notes. You listen to a guy today who isn't
just talk, he's not theory. I've listened to some of his clients testimony. He is getting the work done. He's making real changes.
Thank you.
And expert consultants live. So brother, I really appreciate you stopping by the show today. I would like to ask the final question that I typically asked which is, if for whatever reason, you are not able to be on this beautiful planet that we love and enjoy tomorrow. What would you want everyone to remember you for?
that I tried to leave it better than I found it. And that's not always what happens because sometimes you try things and you don't work out how you thought. But my intention my spirit was that I that person I worked with that thing. I was working on the people that I love that I tried to leave them and leave it better than I found it.
Beautiful Alzay, thanks for being on The MindShift Podcast. Really appreciate you.
Thank you I enjoyed it. Thanks.
Hey, my friend. Thanks again for listening to today's episode of the mind shift podcast. Listen, let's not have the conversation in here connect with me on social @MrDarrellEvans on almost all the platforms. Until next week, remember you're just one shift away from the breakthrough You're looking for.