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What should I do next? (Just kidding...)

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

I Am I Said

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Okay, so don't ban me, I won't really ask that question (on the other hand if you answer it, I'll listen and learn, I'm sure...).

So I read the two books and had my head spinning. I bookmarked the "Thou shalt read this first" thing, and the Things. Read the books, reviewed a bunch of GOLD and NOTABLE threads, introduced myself, searched my topic before posting (I'm interested in SAAS, right now), tried filtering by likes and followed some legendary contributors, didn't get banned (so far), and avoided locker room talk.

What? That's it? I'm still not rich! What comes next?

Okay, so I confess to digging around in the forum a bit looking for the next steps. Then it hit me. I'm action-faking! I'm looking for shortcuts!

Okay, so it's up to me. Okay, I knew that; that's why I'm here. Fine, fine. So what should I do? I guess I get to journal my journey here and hopefully, it'll spark some response from those wiser, so that's what I'll do until someone tells me to pull my head in.

Right. So that was decided upon. What pops into my head from the books is Kinetic Execution. I tend to spend 90% of the time available planning out the details, then doing the one or two things that matter. That works okay, but maybe I could cut to the chase? Just do the one or two things without blowing the 90%?

OK, so that's something I could do right away. I had the idea, partway through The Millionnaire Fastlane that I should learn to code. I already can basically program my way out of a paper bag using VBA, C++, and SQL and I have a good grasp of WordPress. I build Excel-based apps at work to speed up other peoples' stuff. I have an employee who's a full-stack developer, so I asked him for advice. He said to learn html, javascript, php, java and mySQL. So I sat down and started planning...

Okay, whoa, stop, I've been down that path before. Let's do one action until it's done, and then select another. So I started an html course which got boring, started fiddling around in WordPress, read some more, installed Xampp on my PC, finished TMF , bought Unscripted , did some W3 Schools .... oh, look, there's a squirrel!

Geez.

I just had an F-This Event about myself, not about my job.

The funny thing is, at work, I'm a strategy-and-execution MAVEN. I'm like the CPA that expertly wields billions but can't balance his chequebook. So what would I do at work?

I'd make a simple table, and choose one thing at a time to do, somewhat thusly:

|AREA |Goal |Immediate Strategy |Next Steps |Action|

Area: Business

Goal: A systematic value-creating entity helping millions of people

Immediate Strategy: After a lot of thought, I know I'm good at small business, management, and employee coaching. I also have helped people get themselves into much better jobs than they thought possible. I have documented processes I use for helping people. There has to be a way to extend my reach. For any given type of coaching, could I either automate or semi-automate the process?

N: people who are motivated to achieve more but can't afford a coach

E: to me, this is hard to build. I will have to test that. There are only a couple of other similar products out there.

C: I will build a platform/product myself. I may prototype or even beta in WordPress, but eventually I will make sure I own the product.

S: There are two scaling paths I can think of at this point. Paid subscribers using the app, and teaching other coaches to sell subscriptions. I don't like the sleazy-coach industry that teaches you to coach others to teach coaches to coach others to teach etc, etc. I call bullshit. I have experienced the power of being coached and the enjoyment of having other people achieve more than they would have without me, and anyone involved in scaling would have to pursue that too. So maybe the app would be a set of training, prompts and records, sold with 1-on-1 followup, which I could train other coaches to do. We'll see.

T - at least some part of this would work 24/7/365, whether I own it or sell it.

Next Steps: Well, I think I just talked myself into prototyping in WordPress. So what do I need to know? I like the Google Ventures design sprint approach. It goes something like this, using a team of champions and a decision maker (in my case it'll just be me, so I'll kinda paraphrase):

Monday: Map the customer journey and figure out who the customer hypothetically is going to be

Tuesday: Brainstorm possible solutions and line up some actual prospects for a Friday demo

Wednesday: Defend each of the possible solutions, identify things that might be missing, and choose one

Thursday: build a working prototype ("working" can be a powerpoint with clickable links and dummy data, but it has to show the thing working)

Friday: Test drive with actual prospects (GV uses a camera to allow the rest of the team to observe and note reactions; I might record a video call for later review, or something)
This ties in and complements the Unscripted 7Ps of Process within the Kinetic Execution section, soalll of those things are part of my Immediate Strategy.

Next Steps: it looks like I need to map my customer journey, figure out what a prototype might look like, go through thhe 7P stuff.

Action: Okay, having done a sort of gestalt therapy on myself, I will stop jacking around with technology (today I stopped working to try to map steve.dev to xampp on localhost:81 just because it would be cool to hand someone my laptop and say, "okay, go to steve dot dev and you'll see what I mean...).

I will choose one of my coaching processes and map a hypothetical customer's journey through it going from needing help to getting help.

I will just write it in text format in Evernote and will not try to go crazy in XSOL just because my employer paid for some sick software nobody ever uses.

I will not do anything else until that is done, and then I will come back here and decide on the next step.
 
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sparechange

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you are going to coach people? there are tons of coaches out there. why go down the beaten path?
 

I Am I Said

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you are going to coach people? there are tons of coaches out there. why go down the beaten path?

Great question. In coaching, the barrier to entry is very low, agreed. All you have to do is say "I are a coach!" and, boume, you am one.

However, GOOD coaches are few and far between, and very expensive. And a good coach can have an enormous impact on your level of achievement. I have good coaches at work, which may be why I stay on task and execute so well in that venue.

No, I already am a coach, and it doesn't scale well. I'm not trying to just raise the dollar value of my hours, or sell more of them before / after work.

In the end, all a coach does is help you to help yourself. All s/he does, to that end, is guide you through a process of thought that challenges your limiting beliefs and helps you to get decisively motivated to take action with extreme prejudice.

Well, couldn't a SAAS tool that combined some training in self-management principles, some goal setting and some recordkeeping / journaling do that too? And I have a dozen processes tailored for specific circumstances; couldn't I choose one and find people who would be helped by it?

Why not? Anyways, you got me. I'm now going to NOT sit waiting to see if anyone (yay!) responds to my first forum post...

I'll come back when I have done the action i set myself. F'reals, this time.
 

I Am I Said

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I finished something, I actually freaking finished something!

That is horribly rare, but here I am. I reviewed my coaching experiences from the past few years and found there are 13 distinct categories of coaching I have actually written down and used.

I chose the job-hunter's coaching process because people need it, it's relatively rare (thanks @sparechange for making me think of that angle a little more deeply) and it has concrete, measurable results. It is for coaching managers and office staff who would expect to earn between $80K and $150K and who have lost their jobs. If you've every tried applying for that kind of position in a large company, you know it's a broken system out there.

So I took my process and laid out its steps, and imagined a series of journaling forms and training videos I could build based on the meeting agendas and training I would when people ask for help finding work.

It might look something like this (each title is fleshed out more in my own notes). I don't really mind sharing it because if it's as hard as I think, there's plenty of market to go round; and if it isn't, the barrier to entry is too low. I haven't written the scripts for these videos, but I have notes to start on based on a few years of doing this one-on-one.

So: the job hunter's journey through my app

  1. landing page, ad, email, post, etc
  2. free PLF video series
  3. create account and pay
  4. fill in "start here" form
  5. watch intro video
  6. fill in tried/expected/learned form
  7. watch swot video
  8. fill in swot top-4 form
  9. fill in try next/expect form
  10. watch execution / iteration video
  11. fill in how soon form
  12. watch vision/position of certainty/polarization video
  13. fill in what I want form
  14. watch benefit / transformation video
  15. fill in dragon-slaying form
  16. watch marketing video
  17. fill in pain fixer form
  18. watch selling video
  19. fill in sales funnel form
  20. fill in tried / expected / learned so far form
  21. fill in try next / expect / how soon
  22. repeat 20 and 21 for up to 90 days from purchase
  23. report job acquired for a partial refund
I know it doesn't look like much, but it was a lot of work and digging through old notes. My next task

My next action is going to have to be figuring out my next action. So, my next action will be to review the Kinetic execution chapters and the 7P process, and decide on a clear next step. This customer journey looks like a lot to bite off as far as prototyping goes.

Feedback welcome, both on what I'm doing in this journal and details; but I also get it that until the marketmind speaks, I'll have no idea.
 
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I Am I Said

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Okay, this seems like a tiny little action, but it's an action I know has to be done.

Tomorrow I am going to manually storyboard my app idea on pieces of paper, and see what it looks like in scribble format.

I have done this on many desktop apps at work and although my programming training has been a bit informal, it seems to help bring some process to the process.

I pledge to not touch Xampp, Wordpress, Udemy, etc until that is done (weeps quietly).
 

MJ DeMarco

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Goal: A systematic value-creating entity helping millions of people

Good long-game view, but I'd start with just one customer.

So I read the two books and had my head spinning. I bookmarked the "Thou shalt read this first" thing, and the Things. Read the books, reviewed a bunch of GOLD and NOTABLE threads, introduced myself, searched my topic before posting (I'm interested in SAAS, right now), tried filtering by likes and followed some legendary contributors, didn't get banned (so far), and avoided locker room talk.

You've been fine, enjoyed your posts thus far. Will watch your thread closely, although I'm a bit sour on the "coaching" space.

Although it sounds like you're trying to automate consulting.
 

I Am I Said

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@MJ DeMarco, thanks so much for the feedback, greatly appreciated.

Your two comments tie together to make many peoples' sourness about the coaching space into a possible opportunity to be tested.

In my industry "Consulting" gets you an expert (or not, sometimes!) who you can plug into your problem temporarily. For example, we have to produce and act on a thing called a PFMEA for an automotive customer, and I didn't know which end of a PFMEA you blow on. So we found a consulting Engineer who successfully and expensively stepped us through the process of development and implementation, and then walked away. She did a good job and we didn't have to get her on staff.

"Coaching" on the other hand, around here, is more like having a shrink who's willing to set concrete goals as to your development. For example, years ago, after I missed a promotion in my Slowlane, an anonymous survey of my peers revealed that I was not very adaptable, intolerant of ambiguity, unaware that office politics even was a thing, and generally unfriendly; but too intelligent and entrenched in the company's systems to fire, which is what they really would have liked to do. In other words, a high-performing jerk. So the company hired me an expensive coach who met me monthly and challenged my thinking, all the while collecting feedback from my team. Harsh but effective. I would go so far as to say that not many could handle the process, but boy, what a difference it has made.

Enough that I decided to adopt coaching as my management style and dig into its science and methods, and have found an inordinate thrill in knowing that people have achieved more as a result of knowing me than they would have otherwise. Lest you think I'm bragging, as an introverted geek it took me a long time to be able to say that, even to myself. I also see that mindset as the dividing line between a lot of coaches out there. You have to be willing to have a bit of skin in the customer's game, hence my last planned step being "report getting a job and get a partial refund".

Whether coaching can be automated remains to be seen; but I have used a couple of examples out there and I think I have an inkling as to what is and isn't good about them. But they're aimed at coaches simply making better use of their time; and I believe I can make a tool that doesn't depend on an individual's schedule.

On the other hand, you're right - this has to start with one customer - touching a million is just a long-term vision. I am bound to say that I understand the link between value and income, but I definitely want the income.

Thanks again and I'll check back in when I have some progress. I started storyboarding on paper and had a minor FTE. I'm back on PowerPoint.
 
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I Am I Said

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Progress: I flowcharted my idea, mapped it in terms of the database / action forms it would need, and have wireframed 4 out of 24 screens.

This doesn't seem like much, but looking at my notes I have been fantasizing about this idea for almost two years, in one form or another, and "working" on it by fiddling with databases and wordpress and stuff.

This is the first time I have actually decided "this is the next step" and then done it. Two days in a row.

So, next step is 1/6 done.
 

Interesting Life

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It's like the old metaphor of the car driving down the dark road and can only see so far in front of it. You go as far as you can see and then once you get there you can see a little further and so on. You can't always see the whole road.
 

AndrewNC

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Okay, so don't ban me, I won't really ask that question (on the other hand if you answer it, I'll listen and learn, I'm sure...).

So I read the two books and had my head spinning. I bookmarked the "Thou shalt read this first" thing, and the Things. Read the books, reviewed a bunch of GOLD and NOTABLE threads, introduced myself, searched my topic before posting (I'm interested in SAAS, right now), tried filtering by likes and followed some legendary contributors, didn't get banned (so far), and avoided locker room talk.

What? That's it? I'm still not rich! What comes next?

Okay, so I confess to digging around in the forum a bit looking for the next steps. Then it hit me. I'm action-faking! I'm looking for shortcuts!

Okay, so it's up to me. Okay, I knew that; that's why I'm here. Fine, fine. So what should I do? I guess I get to journal my journey here and hopefully, it'll spark some response from those wiser, so that's what I'll do until someone tells me to pull my head in.

Right. So that was decided upon. What pops into my head from the books is Kinetic Execution. I tend to spend 90% of the time available planning out the details, then doing the one or two things that matter. That works okay, but maybe I could cut to the chase? Just do the one or two things without blowing the 90%?

OK, so that's something I could do right away. I had the idea, partway through The Millionnaire Fastlane that I should learn to code. I already can basically program my way out of a paper bag using VBA, C++, and SQL and I have a good grasp of WordPress. I build Excel-based apps at work to speed up other peoples' stuff. I have an employee who's a full-stack developer, so I asked him for advice. He said to learn html, javascript, php, java and mySQL. So I sat down and started planning...

Okay, whoa, stop, I've been down that path before. Let's do one action until it's done, and then select another. So I started an html course which got boring, started fiddling around in WordPress, read some more, installed Xampp on my PC, finished TMF , bought Unscripted , did some W3 Schools .... oh, look, there's a squirrel!

Geez.

I just had an F-This Event about myself, not about my job.

The funny thing is, at work, I'm a strategy-and-execution MAVEN. I'm like the CPA that expertly wields billions but can't balance his chequebook. So what would I do at work?

I'd make a simple table, and choose one thing at a time to do, somewhat thusly:

|AREA |Goal |Immediate Strategy |Next Steps |Action|

Area: Business

Goal: A systematic value-creating entity helping millions of people

Immediate Strategy: After a lot of thought, I know I'm good at small business, management, and employee coaching. I also have helped people get themselves into much better jobs than they thought possible. I have documented processes I use for helping people. There has to be a way to extend my reach. For any given type of coaching, could I either automate or semi-automate the process?

N: people who are motivated to achieve more but can't afford a coach

E: to me, this is hard to build. I will have to test that. There are only a couple of other similar products out there.

C: I will build a platform/product myself. I may prototype or even beta in WordPress, but eventually I will make sure I own the product.

S: There are two scaling paths I can think of at this point. Paid subscribers using the app, and teaching other coaches to sell subscriptions. I don't like the sleazy-coach industry that teaches you to coach others to teach coaches to coach others to teach etc, etc. I call bullshit. I have experienced the power of being coached and the enjoyment of having other people achieve more than they would have without me, and anyone involved in scaling would have to pursue that too. So maybe the app would be a set of training, prompts and records, sold with 1-on-1 followup, which I could train other coaches to do. We'll see.

T - at least some part of this would work 24/7/365, whether I own it or sell it.

Next Steps: Well, I think I just talked myself into prototyping in WordPress. So what do I need to know? I like the Google Ventures design sprint approach. It goes something like this, using a team of champions and a decision maker (in my case it'll just be me, so I'll kinda paraphrase):

Monday: Map the customer journey and figure out who the customer hypothetically is going to be

Tuesday: Brainstorm possible solutions and line up some actual prospects for a Friday demo

Wednesday: Defend each of the possible solutions, identify things that might be missing, and choose one

Thursday: build a working prototype ("working" can be a powerpoint with clickable links and dummy data, but it has to show the thing working)

Friday: Test drive with actual prospects (GV uses a camera to allow the rest of the team to observe and note reactions; I might record a video call for later review, or something)
This ties in and complements the Unscripted 7Ps of Process within the Kinetic Execution section, soalll of those things are part of my Immediate Strategy.

Next Steps: it looks like I need to map my customer journey, figure out what a prototype might look like, go through thhe 7P stuff.

Action: Okay, having done a sort of gestalt therapy on myself, I will stop jacking around with technology (today I stopped working to try to map steve.dev to xampp on localhost:81 just because it would be cool to hand someone my laptop and say, "okay, go to steve dot dev and you'll see what I mean...).

I will choose one of my coaching processes and map a hypothetical customer's journey through it going from needing help to getting help.

I will just write it in text format in Evernote and will not try to go crazy in XSOL just because my employer paid for some sick software nobody ever uses.

I will not do anything else until that is done, and then I will come back here and decide on the next step.

Although it sounds like you're new to the fastlane, it appears that you have a lot of experience on the service side of your solution through your slowlane job for years, so this will give you a major leg-up on getting your fastlane business up and running.

This is my process for doing the same thing with my business:

I never use the term "coach" because I hate the term and I do so much more than just that...but my business helps first-time entrepreneurs get their business up and running. I help them find a product or service to sell, I help them get a sales process to turn leads into paying customers, and I help them establish their first marketing source where their ideal customers can be reached - all solving a specific problem for that ideal customer. My USP is my training and years of experience in transformation/psychology - able to solve things such as lack of clarity, procrastination, fear of cold calling, and all that inner game stuff.

For years on end, I've been helping people through these problems one-on-one.

It started off by going through the struggles myself with my first business. After that took off, I began dedicating my time to helping others in this field.

Where I started off, I was helping people for free - friends and associates who were just getting started. Through this experience, I learned the general structure of guiding them from:
  1. Where they are (problems), to
  2. Where they want to be (solutions)
So you identified your ideal type of client (laid off from $150k job) and you know where they want to be (a new $150k job), and from your past experience, you learned the general structure on how to help get them there.

Now it's time to take a real good look at your approach: Are you actually getting results for your clients?

If the answer is no - for the love of god - do NOT try to automate the process yet - because that will be serious time wasted on the product-development front. You have to answer this question honestly. If you're not already getting regular results for clients - start off less-automated and continue to get one-on-one experience until you do. It'll be the equivalent of building a software application that was doomed to fail from the start.

So when you can answer yes to the results you're getting your ideal customers through your one-on-one work....

You can begin to automate the process one step at a time.

For me, it's turning my services into a book/video course. That's my automation of the services I do. But I do so in a very specific way - When I write a chapter of the book, I write it to one very specific person who is currently going through the problem. It's through this flow state where the advice that comes out naturally (in a way that actually solves their problem, and not from some academic or past experience).

After that, I put the video/chapter together, and get their feedback to see if the automated version of this one piece of advice actually helped them, or not.

I continue until I can say yes, the automated content helped them through their problem (actually). This way, when you run person #2, 3, and 1,000,000 through the automated process - it is actually a high quality product that gets your customers results.

Summary:

Step 1 - Break it down to one first piece of advice, and help a person manually until you actually solve their problem.

Step 2- When you find yourself repeating your advice to multiple people, make it a goal of yours to never have to coach someone manually on that one area anymore - by creating the best piece of content (video/text) that you can, so it actually helps people who take the time to go through it.

Step 3 - Repeat for all the major issues.

Step 4 - Organize into a structure that people can follow.

Measure results, make adjustments...

And from there, your coaching service will be automated in a way that actually solves customers problems. This is important because by the time you want to scale (marketing and sales), you'll already have your product created in a way that will be product-centered:
  1. People will actually have their problems solved through the automation (which leads to customer referrals and more sales).
  2. You won't waste your time building out an elaborate system that is ineffective.
By taking this approach, of helping people individually first, and slowly automating one piece at a time - focusing on product before automation will save you so much time. And it also saves all the time you wasted in the past when you used to plan things. If you have a common problem you solved in the past by your coaching, you'll be confident that you can put it into your automated program and that it'll move you in the right direction.

The action step I would take if I were you right now: What's one common theme/piece of advice that you've helped people with over the years - where you can stop all the planning, and focusing on that one individual issue right now?
 
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I Am I Said

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It's like the old metaphor of the car driving down the dark road and can only see so far in front of it. You go as far as you can see and then once you get there you can see a little further and so on. You can't always see the whole road.

Yeah, exactly. Now that I'm getting into mocking up my app, I have learned something: I know nothing about design. I am very left-brained and think the best web design happened in the early '90s or look like an accountant's spreadsheets!

I always knew design wasn't my forte; but now I realize I am totally at sea. I have to think about that a bit. I have got about halfway through a storyboard that looks horrible.
 

I Am I Said

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Although it sounds like you're new to the fastlane, it appears that you have a lot of experience on the service side of your solution through your slowlane job for years

I'm new to even knowing the fastlane exists. Up until I read TMF I had a vague idea that entrepreneurship required either enough risk capital to try ideas out on a large scale or the balls to take out a big loan to do the same. I frankly have neither.

Now it's time to take a real good look at your approach: Are you actually getting results for your clients?

No, damn it.

I'm realizing that the vast majority of my coaching has been in helping employees be more effective, managers meet their goals, and small business owners to get ahead. I am guilty of reading the books, basically understanding them, and jumping on the forum and pontificating. Everything seems simple when you read it.

Now I am halfway through a storyboard exercise and I think you have hit the nail on the head. I don't mind pulling all-nighters to build this thing - I do that often enough for my slowlane job - but it would suck to do that and be off the mark

If you're not already getting regular results for clients - start off less-automated and continue to get one-on-one experience until you do

Oh...

For me, it's turning my services into a book/video course. That's my automation of the services I do. But I do so in a very specific way - When I write a chapter of the book, I write it to one very specific person who is currently going through the problem. It's through this flow state where the advice that comes out naturally (in a way that actually solves their problem, and not from some academic or past experience).

Oh...

The action step I would take if I were you right now: What's one common theme/piece of advice that you've helped people with over the years - where you can stop all the planning, and focusing on that one individual issue right now?

Have to think about this and put it into words.
 
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AndrewNC

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I'm realizing that the vast majority of my coaching has been in helping employees be more effective, managers meet their goals, and small business owners to get ahead
Building your business will require a lot of elements...sales, marketing, finding validation in the market for needs, etc...

But from a services standpoint, you said you already have the results in this specific area; so perhaps you could find a self-employed way to fill this need (where organizations can hire out for the problems you solve here). Yes, you'll have to jump in manually first - and that's a good thing because most people try to jump strait into automation, and they skip the manual work.

As a long term approach, you could create training programs for organizations (employee coaching, managers goal setting, etc.). So this is how it could turn into a fastlane model in the future.

Just talking out of flow state here...hope it helps.
 

I Am I Said

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but from a services standpoint, you said you already have the results in this specific area

Yes, that's correct; and I think what's hitting me is of all the types of coaching I have done, I chose that one to develop further because it seems to match N.E.C.S.T., and I have got results... but I have not done it for payment. I have coached small manufacturers for payment, and managers and employees as part of my regular job, but the actual management job-hunter coaching has been pro bono.

I have read probably way too much about lean startups and minimum viable products, and in my slowlane field mvp still involves a lot of R&D... I'm just thinking out loud here but I guess I have to break it down further like you say.
 

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Thinking about this all day, need to think in print to get my head clear. Also appreciate the feedback I might get in here.

I would have to articulate the things I have helped people with and choose one, in order to follow @AndrewNC 's advice.

Step 1 - Break it down to one first piece of advice, and help a person manually until you actually solve their problem.

Step 2- When you find yourself repeating your advice to multiple people, make it a goal of yours to never have to coach someone manually on that one area anymore - by creating the best piece of content (video/text) that you can, so it actually helps people who take the time to go through it.

OK, so I came up with 13 separate areas I have been coaching people in, although most of them have just been done while working with other managers at the day job; a few have been with paying small business owners. Any I have done with job-hunters have been done for free.

Does "free" matter? I don't think so. A lot of the coach "certification" bullshit out there says, "stop coaching for free!" but as I'm trying to get going here, that hardly seems to be in line with the producer mindset.

Ok, what about results? Yes, definitely. There are several specific things I have helped people with in their job searches where I can definitely say I got people results they wouldn't have had without me.

I need to figure out a sort of framework to capture those in, like a why-how-what or maybe a result-solution-cause-problem or something, just so I can frame them up in my mind. Then choose one and build something that could help or convince someone. I'll stick to the idea of helping higher-end job-searchers.

I'll also finish my app storyboard just for the much-needed discipline of finishing what I start:duh:
 
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Well, I finished storyboarding my "Job Hunter App" and it's way too big to build without some proof. It ended up being some 30 web pages with a dozen videos and the choice of nutting it out in Wordpress or learning a framework like CakePHP. All are fun but not filling, necessarily, so more thought is needed. Also, I suspect that without the one-on-one coaching to push them, most people wouldn't actually go through the process.

However, progress is good. The fact is, the TMF and Unscripted books inspired me to actually do a task. Looking at my notes it looks like I tossed this idea around a year ago with no action. Now it's done and I learned some stuff and can make more decisions than I could before.

Within that mocked-up powerpoint are a whole bunch of possible smaller things I could automate. I'm sure I can build some form of content or journaling device that could inculcate the points I make into a user's head. And on LinkedIn there are many, many job-hunters (some estimates say 90% of the 400,000,000 users are "open to new opportunities").

I'm shooting for the "Internet, Innovation, Intentional Innovation" thing here. I think my next step is to take a little piece of my "App" and build the smallest iteration and do like @AndrewNC suggested, and then find people on LinkedIn who ask the questions it answers, and provide it as helpful input.

Alternately, I could take the processes I have been paid to help with, and do the same thing. I'm really just free-writing here, I'll have to think about it.
 

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Thinking out loud... despite the bad rep "coaching" may have around here, which may be more related to "guruing" than the 1-on-1 support I have been exposed to, I know I do well when I work with someone to help them get ahead. I also know I have helped people shoot higher and get better jobs (let's leave, for the moment, whether they'd have been better off starting businesses instead).

In both cases, I do better asking questions than giving advice. Again, that's my definition of coaching. Am I off track thinking I could automate that? One thing I tried last year... I have a distribution license for a ridiculously expensive business "Coaching" app, and it got me one good customer through its shininess... but thousands of dollars of well-earned fees later, we both agree that the value is in our monthly 1-on-1 video calls. The app is nothing you couldn't do by keeping notes. Besides, he questions whether he's paying me enough - nice graviton, assuming he wants me back for another year.

But I already have a good slowlane job, I don't want to build another. I want to build something on the side that will eventually give me freedom, whether or not I actually decide to sever my slowlane ties.

So is the point figuring out where I have really helped people at a granular level, to come up with possibilities?

A few specific victories in the past 12 months:

Within my "Job Hunter" coaching,

  • Helped one manager realize that small business had more potential for him than big companies (job found)
  • Helped one executive realize that job hunting would take as many hours per week as a normal job, and deserved the same professional approach (job found)
  • Helped on manager simply find the necessary motivation to keep looking (job found)
  • Helped one manager give himself permission to figure out what he really wanted in a job, and therefore go into interviews simply looking for a good fit (job found)
  • Helped one executive to find a way to help multiple companies instead of a single one (consultancy launched)
Within my Manager coaching,
  • Helped one SBO take a strategy of hope and break it into actual company changes per product/market segment match
  • Helped that same SBO learn how to delegate
  • Helped a manager define KPIs for his customer service team, which was previously like a herd of cats
  • Helped one executive deal with job-threatening conflict with his CFO
  • Helped a project manager prioritize the things that were threatening his project, and get the resources needed
  • Helped an older employee go from completely stuck to determined to make personal progress
  • Helped a younger employee find direction for the next 6 months

But here's the thing: in none of these cases did I have answers, exactly. I can ask questions, talk about similar situations I have seen, and give people a dry shoulder if needed. The answers come from the people themselves; all I do is kind of open the tap. I firmly believe - almost obsessively - on peoples' potential. But absent an extensive automated journaling process (Think A.R. Morlan's "Guardsmen, Fed To Tigers" story), I'm actually struggling to come up with a way to automate/replicate this, or come up with a way to present smaller pieces of my work to potential customers.
 

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End of a week, that's when the self-doubt hits. I look at all the possibilities and steps I could take and I freak out a bit; I think about offering anything for the MarketMind's evaluation and I almost vomit with anxiety; who the hell do I think I am?

I have to believe I am able to help people; I know where I have got results before. I'm sure my slowlane employer wouldn't retain me for a high salary just because I'm a nice guy - especially as I'm generally not! But when I look at the people I have helped and realize they themselves did all the doing, I end up wondering what I really have to offer that can be encapsulated? I suppose that's why coaching, influence, and leadership appeal to me: I realize how little I actually know.

I have some kind of an inner imperative to build, but I really hate the idea of selling something people don't need. Maybe it's just that I haven't done enough one-on-one outside of my slowlane job. That's where I really do well. I listen and ask questions, and gradually get insights to help people. Is it really reasonable to expect that I could somehow package that up?

Well, it has to be. Even as I say it I know I can't let go of this. I have already had some excellent advice in this forum, and I'm going to read the Fastlane chapters again. I have to do some thinking, and just decide what the next step is.

I also have no idea how to show what I have to the marketmind. All my past sales experience has been B2B, product-centric. I'll have to learn a bit about social media I suppose. Be glad of input there.

</whine>
 
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I think about offering anything for the MarketMind's evaluation and I almost vomit with anxiety; who the hell do I think I am?

I hope quoting myself isn't dangerous.

Anyways, no. I think I am an obsessive-compulsive serial lifetime learner who has never yet been beaten by a technical problem. I also am damned fed up with my slowlane job, and from now on it has the status of a good research grant, not a career.

I will get this stuff together. After a weekend of working on my original idea (the job hunter helper app), I have come to one thing. I have to build some kind of useful tool to help people, and I have to build it myself, and I already know a fair bit of programming, so I have to work on that.

Read a lot in these pages, too, and I'm going to knuckle down and figure out the building of web apps that can be subscribed to, that can store data in databases, and produce an MVP based on the stuff I do and present it to existing customers for input. This will take me a while - weeks or months - but I have my direction now.

In the meantime, I know I can help people with work and management problems, and I will help anyone I can in these pages. My top specialty is continuous improvement/systematization, so once I have some traction with my MVP I will open an "Ask me anything" thread on that topic in here.

I will have more down days and periods of self-doubt; for now, it is kicked to the wall and can damned well pull its head in.
 

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Just popping in to say hello.

Re-read the section about the framework.

Did a lot of testing in WordPress and decided that in the long run, I need to build myself.

Got 20% through "php and mySQL : novice to ninja" and have learned enough that I reckon I'm on the right track.

So, smaller strategy chunk: build a working model and get a user.

Immediate action: finish php mySQL tutorial book.
 

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Still working on it.

Gotta get this done.

I don't really think my help is worth squat, but I don't think there's any other way to bring what little value I can create to enough people.

By the time I learn the technology I may find a different or altered idea, but I think this has to be step one.
 
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Still working...

Probably the longest i have stuck to one idea, haha
 

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Well, November, December, January and probably February got sacrificed to the day job, but on the other hand my extra hours and SQL chops got recognized in some decent bonuses. It's like getting a carpet on the slowlane!

Haven't worked on my project - just putting that out there so I'm not accused of action-faking. I have been action-not-at-all-ing!
 
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Well, back. End of 2017 I came across an old bankrupt retirement home that was such a weird building it had been years on the market. Long story short, I bought it, gutted it, and committed to doing it myself and doing my day job as best I could until done.

I worked on it every day after hours while still prioritizing family time, and 4 years later, have moved in and put my old house on the market.

It has taken every bloody minute while also working my slowlane futureless job, and while it's not a business, it puts me in a much better place financially. Also, employers are much more sympathetic with "I'm renovating a house on the side" than "I'm building an escape hatch on the side".

However, now it strikes me that thw slowlane is still here and I need to get on with it. Goal 1 was "a bigger house for family" and 2 was "ensure >50% family equity and affordable debt in case I die young" and both are done.

However, just since moving in I've had the mental bandwidth to realize my job sucks and my employers aren't going to improve, several times. Not quite FT but close.

So, I'm back. I have no idea what to do next, but I'll think of something.

In the meantime I've changed roles and learned all about ERP and become a developer in a leading Tier-2 ERP, and successfully turned around several business situations in my current job and elsewhere. I wonder if there's an opportunity in buying startup websites and improving them, but those available seem to be 99% bullshit. Hard to see what value I can bring to people.

Maybe others can comment. I recently told a friend asking what I did the following, which sounds like a self-centered diatribe until you realize I have no idea what I'm doing yet can generally help people with their problems.

"I can program in any mainstream computer language, can figure out any software at an advanced level quickly, can automate any imaginable analysis or report, all while fully understanding and keeping the focus on company goals instead of the technical side. I've built automated software to manage complex processes at almost no cost to the company that apparently has been presented to other companies as part of our core IP. I've been told I excel at learning hard complicated stuff and regurgitating it in simple terms so directors can make decisions without getting bogged down in details. I have managed individuals and teams effectively, and have focused on learning to get results from people who do not answer to me. I can be responsible for results without needing official authority, and I understand that reward has to come from the ability to achieve objectives regardless of other things going on.

Maybe the biggest thing I can offer is the ability to analyse and understand a situation, help people figure out what the options are, help stakeholders understand the options and select a course of action, and implement their decision both from a technical and a process/training perspective. I've also taken that a step further with train-the-trainer systems to deploy changes to multiple sites. I'd love to do this as a consultant, if somebody else sold my work.

On the flip side, I've also been told that when I get stuck into a project I'm not as accessible as some colleagues would like. I'm also not great at processing surprise changes to arrangements, and I have sometimes been too blunt when people don't keep commitments, rather than taking the opportunity to learn more about the situation. My head wants to be a good team player but my heart is a moody loner, and I have to constantly work on being there for my teammates. I'm also a bit cynical and sarcastic and have sometimes had to do a lot of damage control accordingly.
From a business side I've done well in all departments, but I really don't ever want to work in Sales or Marketing again, and I only have a smattering of Financial and Product Development knowledge. I'm basically most experienced in Manufacturing, Operations, Project Management, Supply Chain, aside from systems administration and IT."

Biggest question in my mind is, what the heck is all that and how do I use it!? I basically never have any forward-looking ideas of my own, but I'm a great problem solver.

Anyway yeah, I'm going to keep working now the house is done.

Feedback, criticism, home truths, comforting pats and kicks in the butt all welcome.

Edit: Also, NOT asking "what should I do next" just venting, getting back, and looking for input.
 

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