How To Launch Something Different

How to identify your target market and create just enough of a description of the new offering to test it with them.Different ways to construct a “listening tour” for feedback and constructive criticism depending on your idea and your goal.Why you want to prepare a throughline—the compelling story that connects what you’ve been doing to your new thing.The value in embracing imperfection and adopting an experimental mindset. LINKSRochelle | Email List | Soloist Women | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

How To Name Your Baby

Which is best: using your name or creating a company name for your expertise business (hint: what’s your end game)?How to deal with an unusual, unpronounceable (to your audience) or too-common name.Why your company name matters less than you think (but your URL is gold).Naming your books, products and services and why that’s different than naming your firm.The non-intuitive question to ask yourself when naming each of your babies. LINKSRochelle | Email List | Soloist Women | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Kicking Off 2024

Why you can’t let what’s going on in the world keep you from playing your game, serving your niche.How to decide your themes for the year (and a sneak peek into ours).The role of energy in deciding how you want to spend this moment/this day/this month/this year.Why how you feel about your to-do list is a leading indicator of what you’ll actually accomplish (spoiler alert: delete/offload the low energy stuff).How to identify small changes to remove draining tasks and add energizing ones—AKA genius zone work—to your schedule.LINKSJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | TwitterRochelle | Email List | Soloist Women | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram LINKSRochelle | Email List | Soloist Women | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Is Work Life Balance A Myth?

Why we tend to think “balance” is a single point where we remain forever (even though that’s not how life usually works).The role boundaries play in how happy you feel with your choices.How your genius zone factors into structuring your work and your life.Choosing to keep your work and your life in an upward spiral—and why that sometimes means letting go of your past self.LINKSRochelle | Email List | Soloist Women | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter

The Real Reason You Started A Business

You started a business to help people - and you do help people! - but let’s be honest... you could help people as an employee working for someone else.The real reason you started a business was for the freedom.  The freedom of doing what you want, when you want, where you want, with whom you want.So, if you’ve been running your business for a while, but the freedom just hasn’t come yet, I have something that might help.Get your freedom without compromising your business successFolks often ask how I can possibly maintain...a daily mailing lista weekly podcastmonthly course launchesa coaching community with 700+ membersa group of private coaching clientsand more......all completely on my own without a single employee or VA or anything.I know it seems like I must be working all the time, but the reality is that I get all this done in just a few hours per week.Most weeks, it feels like I spend more time at karate and the gym than doing anything work-related.Heck, I recently took the kids to Disney World for a week, and my business output didn’t miss a beat.Go behind-the-scenesIf you’ve ever wondered how I sustain such a high level of productivity year after year, you’re in luck.On Thursday, December 7th, 2023 at 1:00pm ET, I am giving a behind-the-scenes look at the ruthlessly simple time management system I use to run my solo practice.The webinar is NOT open to the public.If you want to attend, you must be a member of my Ditcherville coaching community.Here’s a sample of what to expect:How I process my inbox in five minutes or lessHow I use my calendar differently than most peopleHow I use my todo lists to prevent getting overwhelmedHow I use SOPs to supercharge my productivity and conserve creative energyHow my systems work together to keep me focused, not distractedLive Q&AThere will be plenty of time for Q&A, so if there’s something I don’t cover that you’re interested in, ask. I’ll answer every question, even if I have to stay late to do it.Will it be recorded?Yes, the presentation will be recorded, but the replay will only be available for 48 hours. After that, it’s gone for good.This is the first time I’ve shared this info anywhere. I don’t know if I’ll do it again. So, this might be your only chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at how I run my business.See you there?If you feel like you’re working so hard that you can’t get ahead and desperately want to get back to running your business instead of it running you, I hope to see you on Thursday, December 7 at 1:00pm ET.Click below to become a member of Ditcherville and get access to this private presentation:JOIN NOW »Monthly, annual, and lifetime memberships are available.The Benefits of MembershipOf course, the webinar access is just the beginning.When you join more than 700 of your colleagues in Ditcherville, you’ll get instant access to the following:💬 24/7 asynchronous discussion and support in the Ditcherville Slack🎟️ Invitations to all future Ditcherville LIVE Q&A sessions🔦 A searchable database of 700+ individual questions with answers in audio and video format (more than 150 hours!)📚 My library of email sequences, business templates, coaching questions, daily emails, and more👂 A private audio podcast feed of past Q&A sessions so you can binge-listen to the back catalog hands-freeIf not now, when?Don’t waste another year moving one inch in every direction.Join my group coaching community today and get the answers you need to start moving forward again.Here’s the link again:JOIN NOW »I hope to see you in Ditcherville soon!Yours,—J

Planning Your Bets For Next Year

How to blend both analytical and feelings-based reviews into your planning (and the key questions to ask yourself before making any final decisions).Translating your bets into systems to lock-and-load your goals into your recurring (daily, weekly, monthly) actions.How adding a paper—yes paper!—calendar to your planning routine might pay off for you.Why you want to choose a theme for the year—and how to think about yours.The most important factor to consider when evaluating multiple bets.

Changing Your Perception of Risk

How to know if your next move is all that risky—or just feels risky?Why it’s worth doing an analytical assessment of a specific risk before just saying no (or yes).How to reduce the uncertainty in any action(s) you’re considering.When your fear is more about the qualitative experience than about how you’ll look/how much money is at stake.LINKSRochelle | Email List | Soloist Women | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter

Interesting Ways To Monetize Your Expertise

Licensing your intellectual property into tools and assessments.Translating your reputation (and personality) into live events with tiered pricing.Leveraging books beyond the book sale into significant revenue streams.Designing creative pricing for memberships.Using contractors to deliver fixed-price services for value-priced projects.LINKSJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | TwitterRochelle | Email List | Soloist Women | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

What To Do When The Rules Change

How you’ll know the rules of the game you’ve been playing have changed.Why creating a new service or product is a better solution than cutting prices on existing offerings.An alternative that will increase your insight (not to mention your revenue) into why demand is softening.How to test if you’re following “rules” that no longer apply.LINKSRochelle | Email List | Soloist Women | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter

Can You Re-train Clients?

The “Secret” Benefit of Podcasting

Inverting the podcasting pyramid to have a faster impact on your business (and waste less time promoting in social media).When how many listeners you have really doesn’t matter as a success metric.Why you might conduct some interviews in person (and how to leverage your attendance at industry conferences).When podcast hosting is a relationship builder between you and your ideal potential clients and buyers.How you’ll get the most benefit from podcasting (hint: clearly aligning your podcast with already proven positioning is an excellent start).LINKSRochelle | Email List | Soloist Women | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter

Ask Us Anything 6

How to make the final decision to let challenging clients go.Making spending more time in your genius zone a reality.Substack vs. ConvertKit.What to say when clients ask about your costs.Is it time to give up on my business and go back to being an employee?What do you say to creative people in their 20’s who feel like their only viable career choice is building an on-line creative business?How do I create recurring revenue from support or advisory options without talking about hours?Should I be immediately value pricing my services in my brand new expertise business?LINKSJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | TwitterRochelle | Email List | Soloist Women | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

How Much Is Enough?

What happens when we get unconsciously caught up in lifestyle inflation (and how to escape that trap).How to think about your two primary buckets of “enough”.The handful of markers to know you’re taking the right risks and protecting your downside (even though your “enough” number will be unique).How spending fits into your personal equation and when to consider flexing (stepping on the gas or the brake) your business.LINKSRochelle | Email List | Soloist Women | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | Twitter

Luck vs. Skill

Why the stories we tell ourselves about our luck vs. skill aren’t always true.Why most of your business bets will be small-ish stakes (a series of pivots) vs. flinging yourself into the volcano.The early signs your bet is working—or not—and why we tend to ignore them.How to make your feedback loops shorter to increase your longer-term likelihood of success.Why it’s helpful to determine the roles luck vs. skill played in past big decisions (and the factors we consider).LINKSJonathan | Daily List | Website  | Ditcherville | LinkedIn | TwitterRochelle | Email List | Soloist Women | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

Making Better Decisions with Annie Duke

“There are only two things that determine the way your life turns out. Luck and the quality of your decisions. That's it.” Annie DukeWhen we won’t quit a bad idea because we hear a unicorn success story—instead of making the smarter move to invest “our treasure” (talents, time and energy) elsewhere.Why we never have ALL the facts when making decisions (and how luck swings outcomes more than we think).When we have to ignore how much money we’ve “put in the pot” and fold instead (and why pre-bet kill criteria will be your friend).Thinking in bets: how to calculate your expected value from a decision (and why horses are more dangerous than sharks).How soloists can establish truth-seeking groups to get the value of constructive advice (and why this is so critical to high performance).Be sure to stick around to the very end for a lightning round of Q+A on making better decisions.LINKSAnnie Duke | Substack | Website | Quit | Thinking in Bets BIOAnnie loves to dive deep into decision making under uncertainty. Her latest obsession is on the topic of quitting. In particular, she is on a mission to rehabilitate the term and get people to be proud of walking away from things.Annie is an author, speaker, and consultant in the decision-making space, as well as Special Partner focused on Decision Science at First Round Capital Partners, a seed stage venture fund. Annie’s latest book, Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away, was released in 2022 from Portfolio, a Penguin Random House imprint. Her previous book, Thinking in Bets, is a national bestseller. As a former professional poker player, she has won more than $4 million in tournament poker. During her career, Annie won a World Series of Poker bracelet and is the only woman to have won the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions and the NBC National Poker Heads-Up Championship. She retired from the game in 2012. Prior to becoming a professional poker player, Annie was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship to study Cognitive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.Annie is the co-founder of The Alliance for Decision Education, a non-profit whose mission is to improve lives by empowering students through decision skills education. She is a member of the National Board of After-School All-Stars and the Board of Directors of the Franklin Institute and serves on the board of the Renew Democracy Initiative.