Ditching Hourly
Jonathan Stark
Recent Episodes
Author, founder, and CEO Barry LaBov joined me on Ditching Hourly to geek out about niching down - while walking me through the five-step process he describes in his book The Power of Differentiation.
Barry's Bio:
Barry LaBov is the founder and CEO of LABOV Marketing Communications and Training. He is a two-time Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year recipient and an inductee into the Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame. He is also a Better Business Bureau Torch Awards for Ethics recipient. Under his leadership, LABOV Marketing Communications and Training has received the Indiana Growth 100 Award six times, was named Small Business of the Year and recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in Indiana. Additionally, LABOV’s client work has been honored with nearly 100 national and regional awards.
Barry's links:
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What if your ideal buyers looked forward to getting an email from you. every. single. day?
That’d be pretty sweet, right? But how would you get started...
Email365 will show you the way.
Sign up to get notified about the next session before "life happens" and you forget:
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Guest Russ Waddell joined me on Ditching Hourly to explain how he successfully went out on his own for the first time after more than a decade as a full-time employee.
Guest Links:
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What if your ideal buyers looked forward to getting an email from you. every. single. day?
That’d be pretty sweet, right? But how would you get started...
Email365 will show you the way.
Sign up to get notified about the next session before "life happens" and you forget:
I hope to see you in the next session of Email365!
Zach Stevens, co-founder of Conversion Factory, came back on Ditching Hourly to give an update about how things are going with his “all-you-can-eat” subscription-based service business after two years in business.
Zach's Links
Other Links
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What if your ideal buyers looked forward to getting an email from you. every. single. day?
That’d be pretty sweet, right? But how would you get started...
Email365 will show you the way.
Sign up to get notified about the next session before "life happens" and you forget:
I hope to see you in the next session of Email365!
Author of Ditch The Billable Hour!, Shaun Jardine, joined me on Ditching Hourly to explain how he transitioned his 240-person law firm off the billable hour.
Shaun's Links
- Shaun's Book
- Shaun's Website
- Shaun's LinkedIn
- Shaun's Twitter
- The book Shaun mentioned: Our Iceberg Is Melting by John Kotter
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What if your ideal buyers looked forward to getting an email from you. every. single. day?
That’d be pretty sweet, right? But how would you get started...
Email365 will show you the way.
Sign up to get notified about the next session before "life happens" and you forget:
I hope to see you in the next session of Email365!
The author of No Bullsh*t Strategy and founder of Basic Arts, Alex M H Smith, joined me on Ditching Hourly to discuss what business strategy is, why it matters, and how to get started.
Chapters
- 00:00 Introduction and Background
- 03:00 Defining Strategy and the Importance of Unique Value
- 07:53 Trade-Offs: Creating Space for Unique Value
- 13:36 Strategy vs. Being Better than the Competition
- 19:26 Applying Strategy at Different Levels
- 33:32 Creating Unique Value: Double Down on Your Strengths
- 36:22 The Role of Strategy in Motivating Action
- 49:22 Using LinkedIn as a Marketing Tool for Service-Based Businesses
- 56:18 Sharing Your Unique Point of View through Writing and Speaking
- 01:00:26 The Importance of Marketing and Innovation in Business
Alex's Links:
AI-Generated Notes:
In this conversation, Jonathan and Alex discuss the concept of strategy and how it applies to businesses. They explore the importance of delivering unique value and finding a white space in the market.
Alex emphasizes that strategy is not about being better than the competition but about offering something different and making trade-offs.
They also touch on the relationship between strategy and positioning and how strategy can be applied at different levels, from businesses to individual employees.
In this conversation, Jonathan and Alex discuss the importance of creating unique value in business.
They explore how companies like Southwest Airlines and Domino's Pizza have successfully differentiated themselves by removing certain aspects of their industry and focusing on their strengths.
They emphasize the need to identify what sets you apart and double down on those strengths.
They also discuss the role of strategy, marketing, and innovation in creating unique value.
Alex shares his insights on strategy and how it is half about deciding what to do and half about motivating people to do it.
They also touch on the importance of LinkedIn as a marketing tool for solopreneurs and service-based businesses.
Takeaways
- Strategy is about delivering unique value and finding a white space in the market.
- Being better than the competition is not a strategy; it's important to offer something different.
- Trade-offs are necessary to create space for unique value.
- Strategy can be applied at different levels, from businesses to individual employees.
- To create unique value, identify what sets you apart and double down on your strengths.
- Strategy is half about deciding what to do and half about motivating people to do it.
Sound Bites
- "Strategy is the unique value that your business puts out there into the world."
- "Better equals the same. Better simply means we do the same as everyone else, but a little bit more."
- "Strategy is when you draw a circle around everything and you have a set blueprint that tells you what to do with the product, what to do with the distribution, what to do with the marketing."
- "They pulled away every single thing that is necessary to serve business customers adequately, which no one would ever do because business customers are the most lucrative type of customer."
- "Look around at your competitors and pick the things that you're not that good at anyway and just stop doing them. Double down on the things that are already your superpower."
- "Strategy is half about deciding what you're going to do and half about motivating people to do it."
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What if your ideal buyers looked forward to getting an email from you. every. single. day?
That’d be pretty sweet, right? But how would you get started...
Email365 will show you the way.
Sign up to get notified about the next session before "life happens" and you forget:
I hope to see you in the next session of Email365!