How to Focus And Get Work Done
Episode 108: How to Focus And Get Work Done, with Stephen Woessner
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How to focus and get work done? Listen to this solocast to learn the secrets on how to focus and get work done.
Welcome to the Sell with Authority Podcast – I’m Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI. If we happen to be meeting for the first time — Predictive ROI helps agency owners and their teams sell more of what they do…typically for a higher fee. We do that by helping our clients build an authority position in the niche they’ve decided to serve — and then — monetize that position by creating a steady stream of right-fit prospects flowing into their sales pipeline.
If learning proven strategies, tactics, and best practices to help you sell more of what you do aligns with where you want to take your agency — you’re in the right place.
Today’s episode is going to be a solocast—just you and me. We’ll explore a topic at both a high level and an eye level so you and your team can take it and apply it. The goal is to answer the question, “How to focus and get work done?”
Back when Drew McLellan, CEO of Agency Management Institute, and I decided to write our Sell with Authority book — we knew we needed to include some very practical and tactical recipes and guides on how to get all the work done. And I will tell you — when he and I teach our “Build and Nurture Your Sales Funnel” workshop — we spend a chunk of time on Day 2 helping attendees calendar and map out who in the shop is going to do all of the work so their plan doesn’t fall apart when they get back home.
For today’s solocast, I’m going to take you behind the curtain into Appendices A and B in the back of our Sell with Authority book and share more about how to focus and get work done here at Predictive so you can take the same recipes and apply them to your shop.
What you will learn in this episode is about how to focus and get work done:
- How and why the WHO Framework and Transformational Triangle should serve as the foundation of your content strategy
- How to decide which form of cornerstone content is right for your gifts and talents
- How to leverage the cornerstone content to best grow your email list
- How do you decide on your cobblestones (they always come off the cornerstone, and the recipes in Appendix A will help) and the right cadence
- How to apply advanced strategies like knitting together your cobblestones to create a new and different cornerstone
- How to focus and get work done for your agency too
Resources:
- Website: www.predictiveroi.com
- Check out this similar podcast about how to focus and get work done with our guest, Kellie Hill
- Visit our newly expanded Resource Library
- Join us in our free How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline Facebook Group
- Stephen’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/
- Order your free paperback or Kindle copy of our Book: Sell with Authority
- Build a Better Agency Summit 2024: https://agencymanagementinstitute.com/babasummit/
- Continue your journey on how to focus and get work done by clicking here
How to Focus And Get Work Done: Full Episode Transcript
Welcome to the Sell With Authority podcast. I’m Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI, and my team and I created this podcast specifically for you. So if you’re an agency owner looking to sell more of what you do so you can grow a thriving, profitable shop that can weather the constant change that seems to be our world’s reality, then you’re in the right place.
So today’s episode is going to be a little bit different. It’s going to be what we like to call a solar cast. So it is just you and me. I do not have a guest with me today. And you know, if you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while now, you know that maybe every 60 weeks or so, then I record one of the solar casts, and it’s a unique opportunity for you and I to explore a particular topic at both a high level and an eye level.
So why do we do that? So my goal is to take that topic, whatever that might be for today. It’s about how to get it all done, taking that topic and slicing it apart again at the strategic high level and then at the tactical eye level. So that you and your team can take it and apply it with the goal of being able to use all of the things that are going to be encapsulated into the solar cast, to be able to take it and apply it to help you sell more of what you do.
That’s our goal here at Predictive. We want to help you sell more of what you do. Typically for a higher fee. But for this, for this topic, the how to get it all done, I’m going to start with by going eye level first. So very tactically, if you happen to already have a copy of our book, Sell With Authority, the book that I wrote alongside my coauthor, Drew McLellan, CEO of Agency Management Institute.
So if you happen to have a copy of the book and it happens to be handy, grab it because we’re going to actually be working through appendices A and B. So appendix A starts on page 155. So again, if you happen to have a copy of the book, if it’s handy and you’re in a place where you can refer to it, go and grab it because it’ll be a useful tool as we step through this conversation.
If you don’t yet have a copy of our book, you can get one for free, by going to predictiveroi.com/free-book. Now, I promise you, it is truly 100% free. We’re not going to ask you to enter a credit card for shipping. None of that. Okay. So there are no hoops to jump through. Nothing. All you have to do is go to predictiveroi.com/free-book.
And then we’re happy to send you a paperback copy. Or if Kindle happens to be what you prefer, then we’re happy to send you a free Kindle copy, too. All right, so if you don’t have one, order it. If you do have one, then go ahead and grab it because it will be helpful for this conversation.
Check out this related podcast on how to focus and get work done here
How to Focus And Get Work Done: The Working Process of Predictive ROI
Okay. So the reason why I decided on this topic, the how to get it all done is because, you know, on a consistent basis, I mean, we’ve never tracked this, but on a consistent basis. So I don’t know, a couple times a week, you know, a handful of times a month, we’re hearing, like when we’re in conversation with agency owners and their teams, and these may be teams that we know really well or we might be meeting them for the first time.
We hear things like, how does predictive create so much content? I mean, how in the world do you guys do that? And then, you know, we talk through the system and that kind of stuff. But, you know, and I think that we give the impression that we create so much more than we actually do, which is, again, one of the secrets that we talk about in the book.
So when you get your cornerstone right, and that’s what we’re going to talk about today, when you get your cornerstone, content. Right. And then you slice and dice it in such a way into the smaller cobblestones, and you really lean into a few channels, you absolutely give the impression that you’re everywhere, when in reality you’re not. Okay.
So this question that we get often, how does predictive create so much content? You know, I thought this might be an interesting thing to lean into. To take you behind the curtain is to how we do what it is that we do. Because that might be helpful. Okay.
And then the other day, I was recording with one of our guests for the show and you know, as soon as I dialed into Zoom, we’re connected into zoom, can’t believe I said dialed. Connected into zoom, to meet up with the guest. The guest then also said to me, for Pete’s sake, Stephen, every time I turn around on LinkedIn, there you are. Like, you guys create so much content and so candidly, I mean, it’s wonderful to hear things like that because we are truly, consistently looking for ways to raise the bar of excellence and how we exemplify how best to implement are so with the methodology, no doubt.
Check out this related podcast on how to focus and get work done here
How to Focus And Get Work Done: The Sell With Authority Methodology
But here’s the reality. And the reason why we do that is because of this, is that the reality is that no one hires an out of shape personal trainer. So if we’re going to be in the business of helping agencies sell more of what they do, and one of those ways and the best way to do that, in our opinion, is to build your authority position and then monetize that authority position in the form of a steady stream of right fit prospects flowing into your sales pipeline.
That is the Sell With Authority methodology. Then we need to be a shining example. We need to be in tip top shape when it comes to how best to implement the Sell With Authority methodology, right? It wouldn’t make any sense if we had this methodology, but then we didn’t use it for ourselves. Now we will save the importance of eating your own dog food.
Like that’s a big conversation and it’s a discussion for a different day. But part of the reason why we lean so heavily into the Sell With Authority methodology one, is it works. And two, we need to be a shining example of that. But I think there’s also maybe another layer to the statement of or the question or the compliment or the whatever.
When somebody says, gosh, you know, it looks like Predictive creates so much content. Every time you turn around, there you are with a piece of content. So on the surface, it feels like a compliment. And no doubt, I think that there is certainly a compliment in that piece or in that statement. But if we peel it back, I wonder if there’s also an expression of the desire to kind of match that same level of content, or if the agency has tried to do that, maybe there’s a little bit of frustration in those words, too, because they tried it and for whatever reason, felt like they couldn’t keep up with the pace. And then they stopped.
Check out this related podcast on how to focus and get work done here
How to Focus And Get Work Done: Introduction Of This Episode’s Topic
So again, for today’s solocast, that’s why I really want you and me to lean into this. How do we get it all done? Because I’m going to take you behind the curtain into appendix A and then appendix B in the back. And Sell With Authority, in the back of the book, and then we’re going to talk through those examples.
We’re going to talk through those very specific recipes. And then that’s what’s in appendix A, the very specific recipes. And then in appendix B are the tools. Now granted the little asterisk or disclaimer here, no doubt that this set of tools, or maybe the best tools to perform a certain task may have changed, right? I mean, tools change very quickly, software changes very quickly.
So no doubt some of the tools, in, in appendix B are outdated. There’s something better, maybe faster, cheaper, you know, whatever. So I get that, so we’ll take that sort of with a grain of salt that some of those things may need to be updated. The toolbox might need to be upgraded, I get that.
But the reason why Drew and I felt so strongly about needing to include appendix A in that appendix B was because we wanted to give you a roadmap. We wanted to give you a roadmap for how to get it all done. And when Drew and I teach our workshop, the Build and Nurture Your Sales Funnel Workshop, they were teaching again in Denver in October.
We are there consistently I mean, in fact, this is the reason why we kick off the workshop this way. Yes, we’re going to go through the macro micro nano existing. We’re going to go through all the stages of the sales funnel. We’re going to talk about all of the content that needs to go into the stages. And we talked about Legion using tools like LinkedIn and building lists and all of that.
Check out this related podcast on how to focus and get work done here
How to Focus And Get Work Done: The Inclusion of The Two Appendices in The Book
But I will tell you that a chunk of the second day is spent on how to get it all done. So not only do our attendees of the workshop walk out with the content strategy and a plan and so forth. But then there’s also an assignment or a task list, if you will, of how when they get home, they’re going to get it all done.
Specifically, this person is going to tackle this, and this person is going to tackle that so that they actually have something that they can implement, you know, starting, you know, the beginning of that next week. So again, that’s why we felt Drew and I felt so strongly that’s how we teach the workshop. And then that’s why we included the two appendices in the back of the book, so that you had a map for how to get all of this done.
Okay. So the content recipes, as well as the tools. Okay. So let’s start diving in. Really big topic. And I’m hopeful that this is helpful. Right. So I’m hopeful that this is helpful. So that you can really look behind the curtain here at Predictive in how we get things done. Now, I am not trying to imply that this is some sort of magic, you know, or some sort of, you know, mystic, voodoo or something that we don’t work hard at this.
We absolutely work hard at this. Nothing happens by accident. Absolutely. We have a plan. There’s intention. There are teammates assigned and all of that in getting that done. There are dedicated resources. So I am not at all trying to downplay the effort and the hard work that my team puts into it. It does not happen by happenstance.
It does not happen by chance. We are executing on that work every single day because we know the value of it. And so again, I want to take you behind the curtain and share more about the mechanics and then tie it back to the recipe in particular that you’ll find in appendix A. Okay. All right. So first I think there’s a couple of tools, in some conversation that we need to have before we dive into appendix A.
Check out this related podcast on how to focus and get work done here
How to Focus And Get Work Done: The Two Frameworks
So the first is I guess is really twofold in this first kind of section of our discussion here, two frameworks that I want to point out to you. They’re both free. You can go to our website and download them. And also when you go to the URLs I’m going to give you here in just a second. Those include training.
There’s about a 10 to 15 minute training video on each one of these pages to kind of give you an orientation on how best to use the framework, and the tool. And then you can download the tool and of course, both of those are free. So the two tools that I want to highlight here in this first section of our conversation, the first is the Who framework.
So no framework. Second is transformational triangle okay. So I’m going to give you two URLs where you and your team can go and download those again for free. So the whole framework you can find at predictiveroi.com/who. All right. predictiveroi.com/who. And then the transformational triangle very simply as a predictiveroi.com/triangle. All right. So slash triangle you can down both of them or download both of them.
Excuse me. And of course both are free. And then each of those pages has their own respective training video that I recorded for the respective frameworks. Okay. So here’s why. This is the first step. The WHO framework is going to very simply help you identify your right fit client avatar. I think oftentimes it is really easy to lose traction in a content strategy when you don’t know who you’re creating content for.
If you’re trying to create a piece of generalized content that is going to appeal to the masses, you are, you’re most likely going to miss way more times, and you connect it just it is like standing in the batter’s box in trying to hit a grand slam homerun with one arm tied behind your back. You just limit your opportunity for success.
But the more you lean into the Who framework, the more you look at column one, which is find and identify and you’re talking about or will work you through niche demographics, psychographics, the middle column, which is about emotionally and logically connecting both in the, logically connecting in the head and then emotionally connecting in the heart and knowing that we need to connect in the heart first before we ever have an opportunity to connect logically with the head.
And then the far right column, which is the niche deep dive. What are the problems? What are the solutions? What are the stories? So you’re going to talk about and then what are the patterns that you’re going to try to be inside? In order to tell those stories and lean into those problems so that you can actually connect with the right who, the WHO framework will keep you from aimlessly wandering through the wilderness and making sure you’re speaking to the correct audience in the correct way, saying the correct thanks.
Check out this related podcast on how to focus and get work done here
How to Focus And Get Work Done: The Transformational Triangle
Okay, WHO framework got to have it? It is absolutely the foundation, or at least it should be the foundation of your content strategy. Second, the transformational triangle essentially lays over top of the Who framework. Or maybe that’s the reverse. The Who framework lays over top of the transformational triangle. Here’s what I mean. So when you look at the transformational triangle the first time, it’s going to seem very abstract.
It’s like, wait a minute, why is there a triangle and center? And what are these, you know, kind of arcs on the outside of each of the sides. And then what are those prongs of the outer layers, or rings? Totally get it. It looks a little bit weird when you first look at it, but in the center of the triangle, if you happen to have already downloaded, print it out and have it in front of you.
I want you to write the word boo on the inside of the triangle, because the inside of the triangle represents your audience. Now the three sides of the triangle, left, right, and the base. I want you to write the three problems that you identified when you’re working through the Who framework. What are the three problems that you know, that your audience, you’re who struggles with over and over and over again?
What are those three things I want you to write on the outer sides of the triangle? So in between the triangle and the arc, I want you to write one and then two on the left and then three on the base. One, two, three. Now again, the training video that you’re going to find on predictiveroi.com/triangle is going to walk you through how to complete this.
Check out this related podcast on how to focus and get work done here
How to Focus And Get Work Done: Working on The Who, What, And How in Your Conversations
But the reason for those three pieces there’s three problems. There’s three pain points that are so important as you’ll hear in the video. Then when you reverse that and go the opposite direction 180 degrees in the opposite direction. So essentially flipping to the other side of the arc, this is the strategy that solves the problem. So here Predictive ROI.
And when you download the guide from predictiveroi.com/triangle, when you download the guide it’s going to include a blank version of the transformational triangle and also the Predictive version of the transformational triangle like completed. So you can see. So here at Predictive we know that our audience agency owners and their teams typically struggle with not sure who to sell to, not sure what to sell and not sure how to sell it and for how much.
Right. So we’re always working through the who, the what and the how in our conversations, whether we’re talking about strategy or whether we’re producing content on behalf of one of our clients who what, how so? And we have that dialed into the basis of our content strategy. So you and I right now we’re having a conversation about how to get it all done, so that you can see the way that I’ve architected this conversation.
It’s touching on who, and it’s touching on how. Right. So I can go back to our content blueprint, which is something more complex, more kind of sophisticated. We’re not going to talk about that today, but the next sort of iteration and beyond then the transformational triangle is the content blueprint. So before I ever sit down to record a solo cast or step in with a guest, I know that that piece of content is going to lean into one of our three pillar strategies, or one of our nine tactics, or the way that they intersect.
Otherwise, we don’t record it. So part of how to get it all done is making sure that what you’re creating is always connected back to what your content, the greater purpose and the who that your content is serving. Because when we sit down and we stare at the, you know, flashing cursor in the blank word document, you’re like, okay, well, I need to write a blog post or, okay, well, I need to record or whatever.
Check out this related podcast on how to focus and get work done here
How to Focus And Get Work Done: Building The Foundation
What am I going to talk about without having the Who framework, without having the transformational triangle, without having the content blueprint, you know, it can be a real head scratcher. And then it feels like a heavier lift than it needs to. But when you have this foundation, it’s really easy to sit down and say, oh, all right, well, I’m going to help our audience figure out how to get it all done.
And that’s totally in alignment with our transformational triangle, our content blueprint, and of course, our Who framework. So that’s going to be pretty easy, right. So that’s where this foundation I promise you, if you create the foundation using who the Who framework in the transformational triangle, it is going to already feel lighter as far as your content strategy, because you will no longer be having the conversations of, okay, team, we need five ideas for some great blog posts.
I promise you that you just won’t even have to have that conversation anymore, okay? Because you will have a, you know, if you want to call it North Star, a compass. So, you know, whatever. The foundation to build upon will already be set. All right. So that’s the first thing. The second thing is now let’s assume that you have the foundation done.
Check out this related podcast on how to focus and get work done here
How to Focus And Get Work Done: Deciding On Your Cornerstone Content
The next is you actually need to decide what your cornerstone is going to be. So here again, if you have the book, this is where I want to take you. Just to point as far as reference back to, we’re not going to walk through these chapters, but I want to point you back to chapter six in chapter seven and, and I’m and I’m pointing you back to six and seven for one very specific reason.
If you don’t select a piece of cornerstone content or a type of cornerstone content that is aligned with your gifts and talents, it’ll be really easy to quit. I mean, candidly, it’ll just be really easy to quit. Like, if you don’t like being, you know, on video and somebody says to you, you know what? What we’re going to do here is we’re going to launch a weekly or biweekly video series, and you’re going to teach on video for 15 to 20 minutes for each one of those things.
And it’s going to be awesome because video is where it’s at, and you hate the idea of being on video. Every single one of those videos is going to feel like a chore and heavy and all of that. Okay, don’t create videos, right? Instead, have a podcast, write a book, do your research. I mean, we outline a number of different contents.
Excuse me, forms of cornerstone content. In chapter six and seven. It’s important to get alignment around one. Do you like to talk or do you like to write? Neither is better than the other. So choose a form of cornerstone content that absolutely aligns with your gifts and talents and feels less. It feels more effortless when you lean into that form of cornerstone content.
If you like to write a magazine, if you like to talk, amazing. There are many different forms of cornerstone content. Choose one that is aligned with your gifts and talents. And if you’re already creating content right now and happens to be aligned with a great foundation, like who in the triangle? Amazing, awesome. But if it’s feeling incongruent with your gifts and talents, make a change, right?
So just because you happen to have recorded 40 podcast episodes and each one of those has felt like a grind, retire the podcast. Like if you are starting to doubt your consistency or ability to be consistent, then switch it to something else that is going to be truly aligned with your gifts and talents. Okay, or maybe if the podcast has felt like a total grind because you didn’t have the foundation of Who and triangle and you build that foundation, maybe then the podcast feels pretty effortless.
Check out this related podcast on how to focus and get work done here
How to Focus And Get Work Done: Planting Your Flag of Authority
Okay, awesome. Lots of flexibility here. You get to choose, but it should be a choice that is aligned with your gifts and talents that you can walk through chapter six and chapter seven, and it will help you work through the pros and cons of all of that and decide what is best for you. Okay, so set that aside for a second.
Now let’s talk about the importance of cornerstone. So when Drew and I wrote, you know, the earlier chapters in the book about how to plant your flag of authority and how to actually build an authority position, we felt like there were three ingredients in that, that kind of act like coordinates, if you will. The first is niche.
You know, who we’re going to serve. And there’s four different lenses in that. And we’re going to set that aside. In fact, the very first video in our brand new video series that is available exclusively on LinkedIn, thanks to our friends at Agency Analytics. And if you want to check that out, I think we aired the first one maybe, last week.
So let me think of the calendar here. We’re actually airing this episode pretty closely. So I think it was maybe Monday, April 15th, and it’s labeled as episode one of the new video series. So in that video series, we really leaned into our I really leaned into the four lenses, of niche. Right. The four ways to really get clear on who you’re serving in niche, which is also going to tie into the Who framework that we talked about just a few minutes ago.
So niche is one, one ingredient is planting your flag of authority. The next is having a unique point of view that really sets you apart from competitors. So a niche point of view. And then the third is don’t be a one trick pony, meaning creating consistent cornerstone content that you then slice into consistent cobblestones. So your cornerstone begets everything.
Everything downstream should come from your cornerstone. So instead of thinking, oh geez, I need to create that little, you know, the 3 or 4 minute video that has to go to LinkedIn. And I’m trying to do, you know, x number of those a week. And then if you’re recording individual one off videos, you’re making the burden harder than it needs to.
Check out this related podcast on how to focus and get work done here
How to Focus And Get Work Done: The Golden Nugget Videos
If you’ve seen any of our videos on LinkedIn now, this new series that we’re doing with Agency Analytics, yes, I’m recording those specifically for that purpose of that series because that’s in collaboration with Agency Analytics. So I need to do that. But if you’ve seen any of our other what we call Golden Nugget videos where we’re highlighting the guest, well, it’s probably pretty obvious those come from the recordings of our podcast.
Right? So when I sit down to record an episode with a guest, that episode we know Inside Predictive is going to turn into 5 or 6, what we call golden nugget videos. We’re going to get more into this and when we talk into the cobblestone piece, but that episode is going to turn into 5 or 6 golden nugget videos, which are then going to turn into LinkedIn posts and so forth.
It starts with the episode, and the episode begets everything else downstream. And we’ll talk more about that when we get into the cobblestone pieces. But that’s why chapter six and seven are so important. And this is where you can absolutely create so much leverage and save so much time candidly inside the shop. So when you get your cornerstone right, it feeds everything else downstream.
Check out this related podcast on how to focus and get work done here
How to Focus And Get Work Done: Consistent Creation of Cornerstone Content
So when you find alignment with chapter six and seven in the book, and you lean into creating a cornerstone consistently that you know is aligned with your gifts and talents, and it doesn’t feel like a big heavy lift, amazing, because it feeds everything else downstream. Now, the next piece before we move on to cobblestones with cornerstone is you need to have a consistent cadence, right?
If it’s a podcast, it’s weekly. If it’s YouTube, it’s weekly. If it’s a book, let’s call it every 12 to 18 months. If it’s research, maybe it’s every year or two, every 18 months. Right. So, you want to be consistent in your cadence so that you always have enough meat and potatoes to share with your audience at that macro level, the addressable audience.
And then enough content downstream that you can slice and dice into smaller cobblestones. Okay, so last piece before we move to cobblestone, and that is how to leverage the cornerstone content in such a way that even at that macro level, the unaddressed audience, you’re giving them opportunities to step into community with you and and growing your list is a great way to do that.
Check out this related podcast on how to focus and get work done here
How to Focus And Get Work Done: Give Your Audience an Opportunity
So I’m going to be super transparent here. So some of you have already downloaded it. Maybe you have downloaded the framework. Maybe you’ve downloaded our transformational triangle. And if you are awesome. Thank you. And I hope that has been helpful. One of the reasons another just again behind the curtain of including assets like that out of our resource library where there’s 20 different things that you can download, is because that gives us an opportunity to move closer in relationship with our audience.
You want to be doing that same thing with your audience, whether it’s in a podcast, a book, a video series, whatever. Give them an opportunity. Not in a salesy way or some sort of that feels like coercion to step into your list because that feels yucky. Nobody likes that. You don’t like it when people do it to you. We would never suggest that you do it to your audience.
Feels gross. But when you’ve established enough trust, when your audience hears you say, hey, we’ve got this cool thing. It’s called the Who framework is a predictiveroi.com/who, and they’ve been listening to you for a while and the tool will be helpful. Then there’s very little friction for them to say, all right, well, I know that if I download that thing I’m stepping into the list.
But I also trust them enough to know they’re not going to pounce on me like I’m some sort of new deer in the backyard, which is a scenario, a story that Drew tells in the book, in our services audiobook. Right. So you want to do the same thing in your cornerstone content, because you never know that when somebody reads it, watches it, hears it, whatever it is, they’re in the right spot to say, yup.
Sarah said something really smart there and I do believe that that’s going to be helpful. So I want to download that thing. So you want to make sure that you include opportunities inside your cornerstone content, where somebody can raise their hand and say, yep, I think I do want that thing. Okay. And then you treat that with so much respect.
Check out this related podcast on how to focus and get work done here
How to Focus And Get Work Done: Slicing And Dicing Your Cornerstone Content
When somebody steps into your list, you do not pounce on them. For the reasons that I just shared two minutes ago. Okay. Because that’s gross. All right. Now let’s step into the corner or excuse me, cobblestone content. So once you have your cornerstone and this is where I want you to grab, again, if you happen to have it, and go to page 155.
So let’s jump into appendix A because what Dew and I did was we took three. I think it was 3 or 4 big pieces of cornerstone content. I’m actually going to refer to the book as I’m stepping through this piece. So we took 3 or 4 big pieces of cornerstone content, and then we broke that into specific examples of how you can slice and dice it.
So, for example, if you happen to have the book and you go to page 155, you’ll see cornerstone, the cornerstone and then colon one book. And so we talk about, okay, let’s say that you decided that writing was for you. Awesome. And you decided to write a book. Great. So then we wanted to give you the typical workout of a book.
And then give you the specific recipe. So, for example, here’s what you can create from one book. All right. So I’m just going to go through the list of 60 blog posts for your agency’s website, 60 blog posts. Because and then the mass and sort of the introduction to this piece is that a typical business book is about 60,000 words.
It’s about 10 to 12 chapters, 60,000 words. A good meaty blog post is Google friendly, is about 800 to 1000 words. So if we take 60,000 words, we divide it by a thousand. And obviously that gives you 60 blog posts for your agency’s website. Awesome. Next 60 videos, for the blog or YouTube. Right? So you’re going to record a video based on each one of those blog posts.
So you’ve already written the content for the video. Now you just need to obviously kind of narrate or act it out for the video. Awesome. 12 to 25 articles in my own media, right? So the 60 blog posts, maybe you combine a couple of them to blend them together to form an article. Now you probably have 15 to 25 articles in your own media.
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How to Focus And Get Work Done: Example Of Posting a Great Content
Fantastic. Next 60 email campaigns, each one of those blog posts easily. I mean, this is on the light side. Oftentimes we’ll take a blog post and we’ll cut it up into 3 or 4 emails because there’s so much meat in a blog post. So at the bare minimum, you can at least get 60 emails out of the 60 blog posts.
And that’s an email a week. Amazing 60 videos for Facebook. So same thing, right? Like if you’re recording videos you’re going to put into the blog post or better yet, you’re going to put it out on to your YouTube channel and then embed them into your blog post to make them even more Google friendly. We’ll take those same videos and put them into a Facebook group or your Facebook page or whatever.
Next, 60 videos for LinkedIn. Great. So as long as those videos are ten minutes or less, now you’ve got that same video that you put out on YouTube that you embed into your blog posts, that you then post on Facebook. As long as it’s ten minutes or less. Now you’ve got great content, 60 videos for LinkedIn, one a week at least, right now.
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How to Focus And Get Work Done: eBook As a Cornerstone Content
One of the things that we do, with a podcast episode, for example, is we take and we write, you know, LinkedIn posts, Facebook posts, and then, you know, some content for X. And so then what we’ll do is we’ll take those and we’ll cut that into probably 10 or 12 of these smaller little nuggets that turn into social media posts.
So the master, Drew and I we’re working through is that, you know, each one of those gives us 8 to 9, or ten that’s, you know, between 500 and 600 smaller social media posts over the course of a year, 60 long form LinkedIn posts. So if you took those videos and then, you know, had them transcribed or something like that.
Yeah. If you took those 60 LinkedIn videos, had them transcribed, you could write a long form LinkedIn post 1300 characters or less. Now you’ve already got the video, now you’ve got the long form post. Amazing. You could take and create three ebooks out of those 60 blog posts, right? So typically when we write an ebook, it might be, 1800 words or so with some graphics, illustrations, maybe an infographic or something like that or whatever, you know, is what our team or is how our team will knit those together.
We’ve got several, I think there’s 8 or 9 ebooks in our resource library. You can download those and I will tell you about those 8 or 9 ebooks in our resource library, the source content of those videos, right, how to race at clients university. So we literally took the transcripts of the modules, the video training that we put in right away, clients, university.
And then Alex on our team took those transcripts and visualized them essentially into the books. And then within a few hours, for each one of those, we had 8 or 9 downloadable books, ebooks that we could put into our resource library, but those came off of the training modules. Same thing here, right? So now the source content in this example or blog posts, but you could absolutely knit together three blog posts and now you’ve got wonderful content for ebooks, right?
So your cornerstone was the ebook. But so far we’re not done yet. So far that book has generated cobblestones or excuse me, cobblestones in the form of blog posts in the form of videos. For your blog or YouTube articles for your own media, 60 email campaigns, 60 videos for Facebook, 60 videos for LinkedIn, 500 to 600 social media posts, 60 long form LinkedIn posts based on the videos for LinkedIn now three ebooks on the light side, three ebooks now webinars.
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How to Focus And Get Work Done: Growing And Serving a Community
So you could take each one of those chapters and turn it into a webinar, or turn it into an open mic Q&A. You’ve already written the content. The content is already there in the chapter. Now all you need to do is open it up and ask people to come and attend. For the open mic Q&A. You see us do this here at Predictive.
Maybe you see us do this here at predictive on a consistent basis. So seven times a year we’re hosting an open mic Q&A. Three times a year we’re doing more like two days, intensive every March, July and November. And then we skip December for Christmas and New Year’s. So but if we’re not doing an open mike Q&A, we’re doing a two day intensive.
All of that content comes right out of the book. All of that content comes out of our content blueprint. So, for example, the content blueprint, the three pillar strategies are to grow the audience, nurture leads and increase sales. So the March intensive that we just delivered, you know, a couple months ago was all about sales. And so the first day we taught, all about community, Drew was our guest expert on day one about how to build and nurture and grow and serve a community in the next.
And the next day was all about, okay. Having a community is amazing and totally is. How do we generate revenue, you know, from all of that content and all of that engagement and all of that in the right way without, you know, being squirmy because it’s super important to never seem and be sure you never, ever, ever want your prospect to feel like a prospect.
So that’s what we focused on day two. That comes right out of our content blueprint, which is built on the book. So again, if your cornerstone content is a book, you have so many opportunities to stand in front of your audience and the content is already done. Okay. So that’s why I wanted to point you to appendix A starting on page 155.
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How to Focus And Get Work Done: A Highlight on The Cornerstone
So if you have the book in front of you, I’m not going to go through the other examples in that granularity, but I will just highlight them here quickly. And then we’re going to go back to our overall agenda for this conversation. So the next piece of cornerstone content that you and I highlight is if the cornerstone happens to be 52 videos, like if it’s a weekly series, how do you slice and dice that into specific cobblestoned?
And then the other cornerstone is 52 episodes, like a weekly podcast, you know, like the Sell With Authority podcast. And I already shared a few examples of how we do that, which I need to come back to with a little bit more granularity, but then also the other piece of cornerstone that we highlight are the four keynote.
Let’s say you’re going to do keynote speeches. So four keynote speeches, essentially the cadence of one per quarter. How would you slice and dice that? So the what I will say, just a little bit of additional granularity, kind of looping back to where I was going maybe 15, 20 minutes ago with our podcast as podcast is so was this story podcast when a guest joins me in sometimes I’ve done this when I’ve recorded a solocast, both video and audio.
This one I’m just recording audio. But sometimes when I’m doing video and audio, we will pull golden nuggets out of the podcast episode, whether we’re worth a guest or if I’m, you know, flying solo in a solocast.
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How to Focus And Get Work Done: Slicing and Dicing a Podcast Episode
So when we’re with a guest, the Golden Nugget is the guest. We are not in the video. And so, one of our teammates here, Predictive, will slice and dice that golden nugget into essentially a Golden Nugget in 3 to 4 minutes.
A really great idea shared by the guest. And we will cut that out of the overall video. And then it goes to someone else on our team who creates a transcript, and then that gets turned into, you know, a LinkedIn post. And then I go in and review it and make a couple of tweaks just to make sure that it fully sounds like me, because, you know, it needs to be in my voice.
And then we post it. So my time involves about ten minutes, you know, for each one of those, and then, you know, our team is, you know, cutting the golden nuggets, creating the transcript and so forth and captions and all of that. And, you know, so that’s what we’re doing out of the podcast episode. And then, you know, we typically will send an email every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday something helpful.
So here’s a little bit, again behind the curtain as far as like when we’re sharing and I’m doing air quotes right now promoting a podcast episode. So like when we have a podcast episode with a guest and we’re going to share that with our audience via email, literally what I’m doing to write that email in full transparency, literally what I’m doing is I’m going back into the script that I use to introduce the guest, and I’m pulling a piece of, you know, that content that I wrote as far as how I wanted to introduce the guests, I’m pulling that I massage it a little bit, and that becomes literally the email that we use to share the episode with our audience.
So again, the podcast episode, in this case, someone’s already podcast. And I’m not suggesting that you, you know, launch a podcast so you can follow this exact recipe. Again, that’s the importance of chapter six and seven in the book. But we’re taking that episode in a begetting LinkedIn video. Are you golden nugget videos?
The long form LinkedIn posts email content. We tie that into our communities, which gets tied into our intensives. But it all comes back to the foundation of the Who framework in transformational training. Okay, so that’s why I started this conversation with the Transformational Triangle. And then before that, Who framework. Because those are the foundations okay. So the last piece and this is more kind of like an advanced I guess advanced strategy if you will.
There’s some nimbleness. So this is how I’m going to come in for a landing here. There’s some nimbleness or flexibility between Cornerstone Cobblestone when you and your team develop the muscle internally to be consistently producing the cornerstone content at the at the right cadence, and then you’re doing the cobblestones at the right cadence and the cobblestones come off of the cornerstone.
At some point you’re going to say, hey, we produced all of these cobblestones and yep, the cobblestones come off the cornerstone. But what if, you know, let’s say, for example, the podcast is let’s say you choose podcast instead of book, right? Like I was going through the book recipe. But if you go through the podcast recipe that’s in appendix A, you’ll see that there’s blog posts again.
They can hang off of each of those episodes, but you could take down those episodes and you the blog posts to come off those episodes and turn them around, combine them and create a book. So again, in full transparency behind the curtain here, Predictive ROI back in 2016, when I was writing the book Profitable Podcasting, or what would become Profitable Podcasting in a different title, a different working title.
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How to Focus And Get Work Done: Writing The Chapters in A Book
Before that. But when I was writing that book and then it was published in August of 2017, when I was writing that book, I was thinking of different types of efficiencies and whatnot, of how to build out those chapters. And I had just recorded several solocasts that as I was looking at the table and contents, I thought, I bet those solocasts could actually check a couple of these chapters off.
In actuality, once all the writing of that book was done, I wrote that entire book in three weeks, because I had seven podcast solocasts that were perfectly aligned with the table of contents. It was like, holy bananas. Praise God for that. And so now I certainly did not take the, you know, the solocast, scripting and all of that kind of stuff and then just copy paste and throw it in the book.
No, I still spent several hours massaging each other in editing each of the long solocast scripts and all of that content to make sure that it became a great chapter in that book, without a doubt. In, it certainly did not read like it was content that was originally recorded as a podcast, because that doesn’t read well for, you know, the readers of your book.
So I absolutely transformed it. But instead of taking me 20 or 30 hours to write a chapter, it took me like two. And so it had served its purpose as great content for the Onward Nation podcast, which is the podcast back then that we had, and then it transformed into wonderful chapters for profitable podcasting. That book went on to sell, I want to say like maybe 12,000 copies worldwide.
And so that was a way that we could take a cornerstone podcast, turn it into, solo cast blog posts or solo cast scripts. Then I could transform into book chapters that then rolled up into a brand new piece of cornerstone content. Okay, so that’s how cobbled. Excuse me. Cornerstone can be back. He got cobblestone and then, when you’re producing as many of those cobblestones, they can actually roll up into a brand new form of cornerstone content.
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How to Focus And Get Work Done: Closing Remarks
Okay, so I hope that that was helpful to how we get it all done. If you’re ever in our LinkedIn feed or you hear the emails from us or whatever, you think, holy bananas, this team creates a lot of content. Yes, we indeed do. However, because we lean so much into cool transformational triangles, creating the right cornerstone, slicing and dicing it in the right system and cadence and all of that, I think we give the impression that we’re in more places than we actually are, and I hope that you do have that impression.
And I hope, though more importantly, the impression is, wow, this is really helpful because that’s the goal. Every time someone in your audience turns around, you don’t want them going, wow, they created a lot of content. Instead, you want them thinking, wow! They created a lot of stuff. That is helpful for me because every time I turn around, they are, in this case, Predictive with something that’s helpful.
There they are with the answer to an important question. That’s the result that you want. Every time someone in your audience turns around, there you are with something helpful. And if you lean into a transformational triangle cornerstone that is aligned with your gifts and talents. You know, going back to chapter six and seven and you are consistent with that cornerstone.
You know, if it’s aligned with your gifts and talents, it feels less like an effort in your team slices and dice using appendix A, and they’re consistent with that. So the cornerstone begets all of these cobblestones that come downstream. You will grow your audience. You will help them step into a relationship with you. And they will never, ever feel like they were one of your prospects.
That’s how you sell more of what you do. And then in, as we’ve covered in many other conversations, you know, for a higher fee. So we’re not going to talk about pricing strategy today. Okay. So I hope that that was helpful. I look forward to you joining us next week for our next episode. If you have questions or concerns, you can always drop me an email at [email protected]. I am always happy to help, but until then, onward with gusto.
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