(Audio) Who have you helped?

[Andy Black]

I had a chat with Tony who describes how:

• One simple question got him unstuck.
• He's only been on Quora for 30 days helping people.
• He's only posted 29 times but is now top ranked for his subject matter.
• His bio sends people to a survey where he asks opened ended questions (as per the Ask book by Ryan Levesque).
• He's had 300 surveys and email addresses.
• He's done 5 free 30 minute coaching calls.
• One free coaching call converted on the spot to a $400 coaching package.
• His advice to people who want to start by building a website and autoresponder series.

What he's done is such a short space of time is inspiring.

I spent over 2 hours personally chopping this call down to only 25 minutes so it's no fluff and actionable. Do yourself a favour and give it a listen.

Well done @arobinson04


> Click here to access the recording <


What were your takeaways?

What will you do differently going forward?

​

(For other recordings click HERE.)

 

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[Fastlane Liam]

Oh hey I actually spoke to someone who does this last weekend. He answers questions on Quora and Facebook in a Subject Matter they are a specialist in. They said they made $5000 in 14 hours of work, I think the hard part is becoming the expert.

 

[SEOguy]

Good listen. I might try the free 30 minute call strategy.

 

[The-J]

Some takeaways

1) Find people you can help

How do you do that? They're everywhere. For professionals, quora, linkedin, facebook, reddit are good options. Or go out and meet people! Go to a board of trade event and get plugged into the scene. Ask people what they want to get out of the board, and that will help you drill down what their business problems might be.

2) Don't sit around and ask how you can help people: just do it

It's better to just go out and answer people who need help, it might be as simple as googling your question lol



Find a question you can answer. "what's the best way to advertise on facebook" i can answer that in three sentences.



Start with your business goal. Know your target audience. Advertise to them in a way that makes them want to consume your content and take your offer.

It's nebulous but hey, it's about as good as i can give to such a shitty question. lol

"What's the best way to advertise on google" i'd probably say 'give them what they're searching for'

'plumber in dublin' something tells me that they probably want a plumber in dublin + you should make an ad that makes it clear that you are that plumber + you are available + you can fix their problem.

3) If they want more help, give it to them for a price.

Your time isn't free and neither is theirs. Neither is mine, for that matter.

4) if you've gotten nowhere, helping people should be your first priority.

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

Well worth your time. A good reminder that your job isn't just to finish some project but to help someone. For example, don't just make a beautiful website, make a website that solves a problem for others. Like you mention on the call, you can do a lot when you develop the reputation for being a problem solver.

This call also provides another example of Pareto principle at work. That one person who gives you a mountain of information when describing their problem can be worth more than all of your other feedback combined.

I am also curious about Ask by Ryan Levesque. Has anyone else here read it? My reading list is already very long so I am curious if it is worth bumping another book down the list to read.

 

[Andy Black]

I am also curious about Ask by Ryan Levesque. Has anyone else here read it? My reading list is already very long so I am curious if it is worth bumping another book down the list to read.

I've got it on the Kindle and on Audible. It was recommended that I read it from Chapter 12 onwards (because the first half of the book is stories and from 12 it's the nuts and bolts). I've not got too far into it, but I think I already know the first deep-dive survey having studied Dr Glenn Livingston's stuff back in 2009. (Ryan has other surveys too.) I'll be surveying folks shortly, then might go back and continue reading/listening.

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

I've got it on the Kindle and on Audible. It was recommended that I read it from Chapter 12 onwards (because the first half of the book is stories and from 12 it's the nuts and bolts). I've not got too far into it, but I think I already know the first deep-dive survey having studied Dr Glenn Livingston's stuff back in 2009. (Ryan has other surveys too.) I'll be surveying folks shortly, then might go back and continue reading/listening.

That was my takeaway from Amazon. A few reviews showed that some people weren't interested in the first half.

 

[Andy Black]

Ryan has his "Ask/Survey funnels" where he finds out what people are stuck on and how to help them (plus more I'm sure).

As discussed in this call, my main takeaway from Dr Glenn Livingston's stuff was to be more interested in the hyper-responsives. However, I decided not to survey people, but to engage them in PM immediately. Not so I can sell them anything, but so I can figure out what people are stuck on, and how I can help them get unstuck. I also want to help people immediately, and not assume I know what help they need.

I'll move to the surveys in good time, especially when I run Google Ads campaigns to opt-in pages. Currently I'm "doing things that don't scale".

 

[roguehillbilly]

I've got it on the Kindle and on Audible. It was recommended that I read it from Chapter 12 onwards (because the first half of the book is stories and from 12 it's the nuts and bolts). I've not got too far into it, but I think I already know the first deep-dive survey having studied Dr Glenn Livingston's stuff back in 2009. (Ryan has other surveys too.) I'll be surveying folks shortly, then might go back and continue reading/listening.

I was recommended this book to help me with building my Facebook communities. I'll be checking it out soon.

 

[RoadTrip]

I actually listened to this call based on your recommendation in our email conversation. Thanks for sharing!

The main takeaway for me is that nothing really matters unless you start helping a real person. No fancy websites, funnels or tripwires, just plain old helping fellow humans with their pain points. After that, the rest will follow automatically. It's pretty similar to what MJ refers to as a productcracy.

Also, the part about short vs long responses in surveys is interesting. I have conducted some surveys in the past in the health niche but never really made the connection. Looking back, the people with the longer responses definitely had bigger unsolved problems.

 

[Andy Black]

This call also provides another example of Pareto principle at work. That one person who gives you a mountain of information when describing their problem can be worth more than all of your other feedback combined.

100%.

This was my biggest Aha moment from going through Dr Glenn Livingston’s $2k course back in 2009.

The people all giving us the same short answers to what they want and why are giving us what’s required to *enter* the market.

The tiny % of hyper-responsive are giving us the points of difference for our offer.


The most common objection to focusing on the hyper-responsives is that they’re a small % of the market.

However, because they are the most educated and frustrated about their problem, then helping the hyper-responsives means you automatically have the sales page/offer and solution that helps everyone else.


Think about what I do in TFLF.

I send a short PM to people who follow me, thanking them and asking how things are going.

I get into conversation with people who reply.

I try to figure out what they’re stuck on, why they’re stuck on it, and why it’s important to them.

I try and help them to the best of my ability ... there and then!

If the conversation continues for a long time then I don’t begrudge giving lots of free advice. I see this as a sign this person is frustrated, likely from trying many different things and not getting the results they want.

Some people aren’t frustrated enough yet to ask in depth questions. Some people I can already help by pointing them to content I’ve already created in TFLF. In either case it doesn’t take much of my time to help them, and it wears a deeper groove for that particular path from “need to solution”.

Sometimes the problem is too new or the PM back and forth is too slow. I offer to jump on a call. If they agree this is a big sign they’re a hyper-responsive. Not already of course, but they’re willing to spend some of their precious time to chat about their problems with some dude they’ve not met in person.

Make sense?


If you want to watch a good example of a call where I’m trying to help a fellow forum member then check out this one:

• A chat with a consultant about escaping the time for money trap

 

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[arobinson04]

4) if you've gotten nowhere, helping people should be your first priority.

This is the biggest lesson. I ran a blog/fledgling business in the personal development space. I started the blog to try & help people live happier lives.

And I wrote all these blog posts...

And I created all these lead magnets...

And I tried to sell different products...

But after two years, I hadn't really gained much traction.

I realize now, that even though the goal of my blog was to help people, I wasn't really helping anyone.

Instead, I was focused on what to sell next.

My whole perspective was warped. Helping should be everyone's first priority.

Because, if you're not helping anyone, you're probably not making any money either.

 

[arobinson04]

I actually listened to this call based on your recommendation in our email conversation. Thanks for sharing!

The main takeaway for me is that nothing really matters unless you start helping a real person. No fancy websites, funnels or tripwires, just plain old helping fellow humans with their pain points. After that, the rest will follow automatically. It's pretty similar to what MJ refers to as a productcracy.

Also, the part about short vs long responses in surveys is interesting. I have conducted some surveys in the past in the health niche but never really made the connection. Looking back, the people with the longer responses definitely had bigger unsolved problems.

++++

 

[Andy Black]

if you're not helping anyone, you're probably not making any money either.

Bingo.

"Money is proof you helped your fellow man." MJ DeMarco

 

[Sampath]

Thanks Andy for pointing to this book. Just now, I bought it on Amazon!

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

Here’s a recording of a chat I had with Tony who describes how:

• One simple question got him unstuck.
• He's only been on Quora for 30 days helping people.
• He's only posted 29 times but is now top ranked for his subject matter.
• His bio sends people to a survey where he asks opened ended questions (as per the Ask book by Ryan Levesque).
• He's had 300 surveys and email addresses.
• He's done 5 free 30 minute coaching calls.
• One free coaching call converted on the spot to a $400 coaching package.
• His advice to people who want to start by building a website and autoresponder series.

What he's done is such a short space of time is inspiring.

I spent over 2 hours personally chopping this call down to only 25 minutes so it's no fluff and actionable. Do yourself a favour and give it a listen.

Well done @arobinson04

> Click here to access the recording <


What were your takeaways?

What will you do differently going forward?



(For other recordings click HERE.)​

Maybe I'm missing something, but the numbers are inconclusive - and at the moment bad.

• 5 calls at 30 minutes = 2.5 hours of work.
  
• $400 coaching package
• A lot of extra time not counted for preparing for the call, etc; but let's exclude that for this example.

Now let's say the coaching package is for the following amount of hours, then that's how much you get paid per hour:

• 1 hour: $114
• 5 hours: $53.33
• 10 hours: $32

Any success is worth celebrating, but this model goes against what @MJ DeMarco 's books teach.

Until you pivot the model, you're not creating a scalable business, but a pipeline to trade time for money.

 

[Andy Black]

Maybe I'm missing something, but the numbers are inconclusive - and at the moment bad.

• 5 calls at 30 minutes = 2.5 hours of work.
  
• $400 coaching package
• A lot of extra time not counted for preparing for the call, etc; but let's exclude that for this example.

Now let's say the coaching package is for the following amount of hours, then that's how much you get paid per hour:

• 1 hour: $114
• 5 hours: $53.33
• 10 hours: $32

Any success is worth celebrating, but this model goes against what @MJ DeMarco 's books teach.

Until you pivot the model, you're not creating a scalable business, but a pipeline to trade time for money.

It’s a start. Engage people and find out what they want. Then figure out how to get paid. Then figure out what everyone who *pays* you is stuck on, how to continue helping them one-to-one, then at scale, then taking it from there.

 

[Andy Black]

Bump for the engineers who like building stuff, and never get round to “launching” or talking to people.

 

[maikooo]

Here’s a recording of a chat I had with Tony who describes how:

• One simple question got him unstuck.
• He's only been on Quora for 30 days helping people.
• He's only posted 29 times but is now top ranked for his subject matter.
• His bio sends people to a survey where he asks opened ended questions (as per the Ask book by Ryan Levesque).
• He's had 300 surveys and email addresses.
• He's done 5 free 30 minute coaching calls.
• One free coaching call converted on the spot to a $400 coaching package.
• His advice to people who want to start by building a website and autoresponder series.

What he's done is such a short space of time is inspiring.

I spent over 2 hours personally chopping this call down to only 25 minutes so it's no fluff and actionable. Do yourself a favour and give it a listen.

Well done @arobinson04

> Click here to access the recording <


What were your takeaways?

What will you do differently going forward?



(For other recordings click HERE.)​

This is GOLD @Andy Black !! Thanks for pointing me to this

 

[Timmy C]

Here’s a recording of a chat I had with Tony who describes how:

• One simple question got him unstuck.
• He's only been on Quora for 30 days helping people.
• He's only posted 29 times but is now top ranked for his subject matter.
• His bio sends people to a survey where he asks opened ended questions (as per the Ask book by Ryan Levesque).
• He's had 300 surveys and email addresses.
• He's done 5 free 30 minute coaching calls.
• One free coaching call converted on the spot to a $400 coaching package.
• His advice to people who want to start by building a website and autoresponder series.

What he's done is such a short space of time is inspiring.

I spent over 2 hours personally chopping this call down to only 25 minutes so it's no fluff and actionable. Do yourself a favour and give it a listen.

Well done @arobinson04

> Click here to access the recording <


What were your takeaways?

What will you do differently going forward?



(For other recordings click HERE.)​

Having a listen.

it's really helping my mindset change and adjust. It's a very foreign concept to me but this is great. Learning alot.

 

[Andy Black]

I think the name of the thread might be deterring people.

I may change it to “Who have you helped?”

For those who’ve listened, do you think that makes sense, or do you have a better suggestion?

 

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[Timmy C]

I think the name of the thread might be deterring people.

I may change it to “Who have you helped?”

For those who’ve listened, do you think that makes sense, or do you have a better suggestion?

That's a good name I think yes.

Executing this as we speak I'll update my progress thread tomorrow for y'all on the inside.

 

[Timmy C]

Maybe " forget money! Who have you helped?"

 

[Andy Black]

Title changed from:

• 300 surveys & emails, 5 free calls, one $400 sale (in 30 days)

to:

• Who have you helped?

 

[Andy Black]

it's really helping my mindset change and adjust. It's a very foreign concept to me but this is great. Learning alot.

I'm curious. What was a very foreign concept?

What’s your main takeaway, and what will you do different going forward?

 

[Timmy C]

Giving Value for free, who have you helped? was foreign.

Not that it hasn't been said here many times but it's more the fact that entrepreneurship and starting a business is foreign to me as a whole. So i guess I have just been conditioned to think money first.

Even when you said the other day to cook someone a nice tasty lunch, i new what you where saying but at the same time thinking is this even gonna work? who does work for no money?

I guess it's just a mindset change i am going through, never had to think in this way before if that makes sense.

 

[Andy Black]

if you've gotten nowhere, helping people should be your first priority.

^^^ THIS.

For the love of God. Please just start already and stop with all the action faking and “building stuff”.

 

[maikooo]

Title changed from:

• 300 surveys & emails, 5 free calls, one $400 sale (in 30 days)

to:

• Who have you helped?

Good change! "Who have you helped/Who can you help/How can you help" Been in my mind since you sent me the PM and helped me figure out my next focus area! Thanks again

 

[maikooo]

Since @Andy Black wrote me a PM after I followed him (thx to his valuable posts on this forum), I have been pondering on "Who have I helped recently / Who can I help?"

This question has been in my head ever since he wrote me "Can you start sooner and simpler?" This was his answer to my elaborated plan of finding out real needs in the market with identifying some niche that interests me and following up with perfectly worked out cold calls.

It was one of those questions that just don't let go. I had to take action.

I went on to listen to his awesome recordings with TFLF members (still binge listening) Andy Black to understand better ...

This one was especially interesting because of the speed of execution - Who have you helped?

I wrote down everything I helped people with in the past year - tasks, goals, inspirations.

First hiccup in the analysis came up - I love executing, instead of just going to Quora and answering people's question. I just love making things happen, instead of long talks [I guess it's my hate for long and useless meetings I had to go through in my corporate career].

Not saying I don't stop in the beginning to come up with a proper strategy and plan, but I love making ideas happen! Insights, research, gathering as much info as possible in the shortest possible time frame and making it happen - throw it out there for the market mind to evaluate & reward you with value exchange. It's about learning on the go - very influenced by Lean Startup - build - measure - learn. Just to clarify, "build" doesn't mean building in the dark room for x days and then [fanfare] launching only to experience tumbleweeds [sad trombone sound]. It's about building MVP/S getting it in front of the market mind, get feedback, adjust and cycle goes on ...

So I decided to help people in my network who are small entrepreneurs, doing honest business, focusing on what they do best - helping their customers. Opened Linkedin and found at least 5 of them. All of them have a lot of room to improve in terms of getting quality leads and more sales so they can help even more people.

Instead of complicating things, like "what if they misuse my good will, what if they are the worst type of clients, what if there is nothing out of it", I'd rather say - "what do I have to lose?" I will do my best work, learn tons of new stuff in real market conditions and as a bonus I can get future referrals ... so get the f*ck out there and help somebody! You have tons of skills and knowledge to share!

 

[Primeperiwinkle]

While on this forum I typically feel overwhelmed or humbled by the knowledgeable advice OR I’m utterly annoyed by the massive flow of new people who ask stupid questions and pray to God I won’t be like them.

But this? This post made me happy. Since reading MJ’s books (I’m at 87% on Unscripted !!) I’ve thought over and over on how to help more people doing new stuff or how to inspire my children to be problem-solvers. But I never actually sat back and thought, “I belong here, I’m an entrepreneur.”

Because it’s kinda terrifying thinking that, for me, even though I own a business.

But. I help people every single day. My clients love me, they refuse to go to other people, they get on a waiting list to see me.. huh.

Anyhoo.. I had a bit of a eureka just now.. and I wanted to say thank you. It IS about helping people and doing that is a wonderful thing.

Hugs. (If you’re ok with hugs. Lol)