The Business of Authority (youtube feed)

Do you know how to position your product or service? Talking Points April’s background Why positioning is important What positioning is Email for lawyers Problems caused by weak positioning How solos can identify positioning problems Choosing criteria that ensures clients will be happy in the end Positioning the business itself versus individual offerings How publishing a book affected April’s inb...

Are you in the transformation business? Talking Points Applying the concepts in The Experience Economy to small authority businesses Moving from economies to experiences and transformations How better experiences can lead to worse service How acting factors into your business model Why acting isn’t equivalent to being fake or phony Pricing transformations The stages of transformation Choosing who...

You’re not on the radar of your ideal clients, so you’re not making their short list. Your ideal buyers are aware of you, but don’t recognize your offerings as a solution to their problem. Your buyers recognize that you offer a potential solution to their problem, but they don’t find your claims credible—they don’t trust you (yet). Your ideal people trust your solution to their potential problem,...

Why you want to learn how to business—the craft of building a profitable, sustainable business for yourself. The three most critical areas to master (delivery, sales and marketing) and how to start practicing each immediately. What to do now to avoid the “sophomore slump”—your second year when referrals tend to dry up. Why speaking and writing—even at the very beginning of your business—are worth...

The value of having an externally focused mission—and why it may take some time and exploration to find yours.  Thinking like an investor—how to make bets with high upside potential while minimizing your risk. The role of experimentation in building your business—even when it feels risky or vulnerable. Why you want to discover your genius zone—and become brave enough to align every aspect of your...

The ideal number of competitors and target clients in your niche to ensure it’s big enough to keep you profitably in business and small enough that you’re memorable. Why fishing in the right barrel vs. trying to cover the ocean is an ideal strategy for a soloist. The importance of finding your "unfair advantage”. How to find and analyze a potential market niche, including government statistics, tr...

The role of leverage in scaling your expertise business. Building a solo business model without leverage from products or employees. Growing as a solo but adding leverage to scale: products (books, memberships, workshops, licensing) and/or people (contractors). Building a firm with traditional W-2 employees—and the two key activities you’ve got to love to make this work. The challenges—and opportu...

The leap of faith required to act generously right from the start of any promising relationship. Moving transactional interactions—like say guesting on a podcast—into relational ones. How to find the right watering holes for other leaders in your niche—without limiting yourself to social media. The one invitation you can offer new contacts that is often a hard yes. The sometimes hidden value from...

Is it a good idea to have multiple themes or strategies in a single year? Why running your business—prospecting, closing deals, delivery—always has to be a top priority (hint: nothing good happens when you don’t have cash flow). The natural progression from starting a business to defining your value proposition to earning serious revenue—and how a single focus will move you faster. How to think ab...

Deciding what checklists, systems and automation make the most sense for you. How to determine where your time has the most value (and let go of what you can). Knowing if/when you’re ready to outsource any tasks—and why you want to understand the process and potential outcomes before you hand them off. How to think about and plan the financial side of your business so it’s serving you (vs. the oth...

Why frictionless publishing and distribution is usually the way to go (and what to do when it isn’t). One publishing tech stack suggestion for low friction daily posting and sharing. Working around the downside of automation, AKA how to make sure your posts aren’t riddled with typos. Evaluating alternative social media distribution options. Quotables “It's really important to make this stuff as fr...

How your target audience can guide how much you reveal about yourself and/or your politics. Deciding which boundaries and guardrails make sense for you, your work and how you want to roll.  The advantage we have as soloists—but don’t always use—when deciding how much of ourselves to share. One technique to deal with clients who have disclosed something distasteful to your core values (but you can’...

When automating or outsourcing tasks makes it clear that they don’t need to be done at all . How to evaluate contractors and advisors for signs that they’re saving—vs. costing—you time and money. How to think about out-of-pocket cost vs. your time and the complexity of your business operation. Why you want to periodically re-evaluate your existing leverage and how it’s working for you. The role of...

Why profitability is the ultimate anti-vanity metric that will give you a quick read on the health of your business. How to start thinking about your time as part of your profit equation. One way to value your business that will rewire how you think about its profitability.  The thrills of desire-based planning—and learning to consider and manage opportunity cost. Quotables “It's so easy to get wr...

How do you/they disclose that there will be real-time training happening? Your role as the buyer when your seller isn’t coming to you with full disclosure and pricing options. Assessing the impact on your authority when you tell your client you’re not an expert (and the surprisingly positive view most buyers will take). How not to fall into the employee mindset trap—and what to do instead. Using n...

How the emotions they’re experiencing impact how they perceive you and the choices you’re offering. Why you can charge more (and sell faster) when you’re referred by someone your buyer trusts. Why your buyer compares your price to something totally different (a car, a trip, a fill-in-the-blank). How your buyer thinks about the increments between your price tags (and how to apply that to your prici...

The four aspects of being a soloist that you’ll want to consciously examine now—and revisit over time. How to discover whether you’re a good candidate to hire employees for your business. Setting financial goals for your business and deciding where your “enough” lies. Incorporating time off into your work life (and the magic of boundary setting) in a way that fits your personal vision. Building th...

Shifting your mindset from “I must be a guru” to “I want to contribute to the conversation”. Battling imposter syndrome and perfectionism by thinking about expertise from your prospective clients’ point of view. Adopting the consulting mindset of “I’m here to help” vs. “I’m awesome at this”. How to speak up and contribute to your ideal audience long before you feel like an expert or an authority....

How years of conditioning have wired our brains to believe that more and/or harder work is always better than “sloth”. What happens when you move away from billable hours, where more work=more money. The importance of building some structure—for example a system for lead generation—so you’re always “gardening” whether your business is in a peak or valley. Why you want to hold a big picture vision...

Three ways to scale your business with employees (and when it makes sense for them to be contractors instead). How to think about and map your monetization strategy when you have employees—and why cash flow is queen. What to do instead when you think it’s time to hire your first salesperson.  The four steps to create personal leverage in your core business—with or without employees. Why your busin...

How to think about email as a tool to spread your ideas and share your expertise. Why simple is often best—and what to focus on to keep it that way. Basic automations that will allow you to help more people at scale (without overcomplicating your life). Creating the client and buyer experience that stays true to your brand and message (hint: you’ll want to test how it’s working). Quotables “If you...