Intermezzo Solo Episode - The “all or nothing” fallacy, To Sell is Human and an ask of my audience

Show Notes:

Podcast reviews can be made here: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/the-first-10-podcast/id1540063248

My website contact form: https://www.conormccarthy.me/contact 

To Sell is Human by Dan Pink

Transcription

Hello there podcast listeners,

I thought I would experiment and mix things up a little. I have a ton of great guests still to interview on the podcast, but I thought I would do a short solo episode to share some things that normally wouldn’t make it onto the podcast.  The first is mindset-related, then a short book review, and then I also have an ask to make of you!

As I said, the first thing I want to talk about is more mindset-related than tactical. I want to mention it because it’s come up a few times on the podcast, but I haven’t spent much time on it, even though it’s a trap I have often fallen into myself. It’s the “all or nothing” fallacy.

When you're starting out on a new venture, it can feel like “this is it, this is THE ONE, this has to be THE ONE”. You invest all your emotional energy into the idea that whatever you are working on will be the last thing you will work on, even if it’s your first foray into business building. And because we think this is THE ONE, we must therefore make it perfect. And as we all know, perfect is the enemy of done. We place enormous pressure on ourselves with this type of thinking, and that extra weight doesn’t help us move forward.

So, if you're starting out, I would encourage you to consider the fact that this project, this business, might be a stepping stone to somewhere else. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it your all, but it might help bring a little clearer perspective on what is usually a part of your career, not your entire career. Always having in the back of your mind that this might be a stepping stone to something else might also help to frame some of the more difficult decisions you might have to make on the way.

A good percentage of my guests so far have had, let’s call them, “hop, skip and jump” journeys, where starting project X meant that they met person Y and began project Z or specific learning from Project A spurred them to start Project B. Some even had their greatest lessons through failures. 

And yes, the classic Steve Jobs quote applies here, where he said: “You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”

Your current business is usually not an endpoint. In Steve Jobs rearview mirror, they often end up being starting points, the place where you learned that skill or met that person that change the trajectory of your life. Even if it fails, the smart business builder will treat that as a learning experience, and fold the lessons learned into the next business.  

Entrepreneur and author Tim Ferriss often talks about his decision-making criteria for starting new projects. He says that even if the project doesn’t pan out, he feels he has succeeded if he either learns some new skill or develops some new relationships. It’s a helpful reframe, and I would add to that that starting a business can also be a great calling card for finding new communities, where you can be exposed to more people like you.

Elon didn’t start by building rockets. He started at Paypal. He used the stepping stones of his business ventures to grow his bank balance, his skills, his reputation and his network until at one point he said - lets go to Mars. 

For all the news of VC-backed unicorns and billion-dollar exits that we hear, it can be as much a feeling of success to get a small business to profitability, to be able to pay your bills and be on a path to serving your ideal customers well, doing work you love.  

This may be your first rodeo, it may not be your first rodeo but chances are, it wont be your last rodeo. I'll stop talking about rodeos now.

To Sell is Human by Dan Pink

I'll read anything Dan Pink writes and his newsletter is brilliant. 

Ive been on a sales-books binge recently, and read his book To Sell is Human.

Towards the end of the book, he has some thoughts that sum up more broadly some of the points he made in the book, In particular, he says:

“Always ask—and answer—these two questions:

1. If the person you’re selling to agrees to buy, will his or her life improve?

2. When your interaction is over, will the world be a better place than when you began?”

I love this first point, about only engaging with someone when you can add value to their life. It requires honesty on the part of the seller, and a willingness to truly understand how the product or service fits within this customers worldview.

He goes on to say: 

“Instead of upsell, upserve. Upserving means doing more for the other person than he expects or you initially intended, taking the extra steps that transform a mundane interaction into a memorable experience. This simple move—from upselling to upserving—has the obvious advantage of being the right thing to do. But it also carries the hidden advantage of being extraordinarily effective.”

This is brilliant and often really easy to do! Giving an extra 10%, the bakers dozen, to an interaction can make all the difference. And it doesnt have to cost you either - it could be a really great follow up, or a surprise introduction to someone you think they should meet. Its not the extra mile, just the extra few yards that can add the most memorable value of all.     

Lastly, he says, “the purpose of a pitch isn’t necessarily to move others immediately to adopt your idea. The purpose is to offer something so compelling that it begins a conversation, brings the other person in as a participant, and eventually arrives at an outcome that appeals to both of you.”

This to me falls under the heading of great storytelling. If you have to pitch outright, make it clear, make it compelling. These are the 2 things I bear in mind when I write for example, my landing pages. Pique their interest by saying something that resonates with them and you are off to a great start.  

Let me know your favourite books on sales!

Lastly my ask :)

Feedback and Reviews 

When you launch a podcast, it can feel mostly like a one-way street. You publish an episode, share on social media etc and then the only real way to know what the engagement with the material looks like is through the hosting platform dashboard. They tell you a number of downloads, in what countries etc. Its mostly quantitative which is useful but whats harder to come by is qualitative feedback. Even if I get some likes, or a short note to say someone is looking forward to listening, it’s hard to know whats really working. For instance:

• Which episodes resonated with you, and why? Was it freelancers like Rick Kitagawa talking about pitching their services, or SaaS businesses such as Ryan Doyle talking about building in public?

• What type of information do you find most useful? 

• Is there something you feel would valuable for me to explore in future episodes?  

My goal with The First 10 Podcast is to provide as much value as I can in those early days of starting a business, to help people who are in that boat by exposing the stories of those who have gone before. And in the process of finding those First 10 customers, as we have discovered again and again in these interviews, feedback is a crucial part to learning what your customers really want, and what you can offer. In the vein, your feedback would be appreciated! You can leave feedback or a rating on iTunes or email me on my website conormccarthy.me. I’ve included the links to the podcast on my website contact form in the shownotes. And thank you.

Ok that’s it for this solo episode! Thanks for listening and I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback.