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Find & Test Your Key Insight

Well, we are going to continue with our thirteenth step process of making sure that the product that your building is actually built to sell and we're going to talk about one of my favorite things next which is your key insight and the reason it's one of my favorite things is because it's all about your unique point of view it's about what you know as an expert it's about what you know as someone who makes the stuff happen on a daily basis and it's really your opportunity to bring your expertise and your leadership to bear on the offer that you are creating here and it's essentially the answer to the question isn't what I have to offer just like everything else out there we've gotten this question in a couple different forms already throughout this process and I'm really excited that by the end of this particular lesson lesson fifteen you're going to feel like new my idea is not just like everything else out there in fact, I know exactly how it's different and why that's a unique selli...

ng point for the product that I'm building I think that's really, really exciting I mean, I'm thinking about our panellists right here and they all sell things that you know, lots of other people are selling jell jen has a conference there's lots of conferences, what makes what if special, you know bridget there's lots of pr agencies, there's, lots of pr information products. What makes your workshop special? Marie there's? Lots of people teaching how to be a website designer what makes your product special? It all comes down to your key insight on how your key insight, you know, reflects back on you're unfair advantage, and so we're going to figure that out today so that you know exactly that unique point that you can use to make sure that people know that your product is the right product for them. So that's, what we're going to do, we're going to find your key insight, so the first thing we need to do when we're thinking about finding your key insight is to examine all the other options, and this gets sticky for people because largely, you're not competing with people who offer the exact same thing as you, because you most people don't go out and actually just go and create the exact same thing as you, but there could be so that's the first place to start actually is are there other people offering either the exact same thing? Is you or something very, very similar? So like for jen, for instance, with conferences, she could absolutely look at all of the other conferences that air geared to create of entrepreneurs, right that's where she wants to start for me, I can look at all the other business building courses and produce programmes that are also out there when I'm thinking about what my key insight is for quiet power strategy. But then there are all sorts of other options. There are other ways that people try to solve their problem for me, another one of those things is one toe, one coaching you're right, people hire a business coach or a consultant to help give them the path that they need to be on to build their businesses. That's another option that people use a supposed to just what I offer for jen, it might be networking events instead of going to conferences, maybe they go teo, the monthly networking of that in their local community. Uh, or it could be, you know, monthly workshops that somebody is putting on in their local community, those air also competitive options, and then you can start looking for things that don't look anything like what you're offering on, and this is where it does start to get a little tricky think in terms of books think in terms of d I y solutions think in terms of things that are completely outside of your industry but are still designed to scratch the same itch eso jennifer, your offer comes to mind for me with that where people might be looking for other types of ways that they can engage their hobbies and find more time for doing the things that they love to dio you know it could be a cz divers as you know, someone booking a monthly massage because that's their me time right? I think that's absolutely a competitive option tio what you have to offer and so if you're asking someone to spend money with you you might be asking them to cut back on their massage budget which is sad no s o you know so that's something to think about too what are all the different ways that people are trying to scratch the itch that you're scratching with your product look for things that look like your product look for things that are kind of similar to your product and then look for things that are completely different look for all different price points look for all different formats and look in all sorts of different industries try and come up with his many different options as you can here because it's going to help you get more creative with this later on and better understand how your product can be designed to stand out then you can ask yourself why they're not getting the best results for the people who are buying them. So look at all those other options and ask yourself what's the problem why aren't these things actually scratching the itch now? Obviously what I'm not suggesting is that all these other products programs courses options are bad or ineffective but what you might find is that they've been ineffective for your people right? So one thing that I notice with my clients is that they've largely tried other business courses before they've largely tried even one to one coaching before and they come to me for something different and that's where they find their solution and that client tends to look very very similar when I look at my client base I'm continually wowed even though I know what I'm doing on I like im engineering it this way I'm still continually floored how similar the mindset is the background is the experience is among my clients many of them are in the room right now and they've been talking amongst themselves we broke from the last lesson and there's in here talking to each other because you know they're instant connections there because they have so much in common they have so many things to talk about which is so much fun I love watching that but so I've had I've gotten to ask myself what is it about these people that aren't getting the results from other options and how can I make my option b the one that they get the results from and I could talk about then how I've done that but there's one more step to this and that is to ask yourself how your product is going to solve the problem that the other options pose so the the reasons that those other products aren't getting the results that you believe your product can get how is it that your product is going to actually go about doing that how does it work? What makes it work? What makes it more effective? What makes it get better results for the people that you're selling it teo and so that's the first big question that we have to ask here why does your product work and these questions are all in your workbook we're on page fourteen right now if you don't have the workbook you can r s v p to the class to download it for free so why does your product work don't overthink this just tell me why your product works when someone else doesn't bridget why does your product work when someone else's doesn't um it marries your point of view with what your people are looking for perfect jen, why does your conference work when other conference does dose unauthentic non judgmental place that empowers creatives forward perfect marie, why does your product works another stone uh there's a lot of mentoring and community support that I don't think a lot of other courses have perfect, so we've got a variety of answers here sometimes it's format related sometimes it's point of view related sometimes it's like the content the the spirits itself your you know why your product works could be all sorts of different things it could be a unique philosophy that you have it could be a different approach that you have it could be the unique way that you connect with the particular type of person you've invited to it I think that's part of what works for jen's product as well on dso you khun come up with a whole lot of different things there's no right or wrong answer here you might actually come up with a few different things but figuring out why your product works when others doesn't is the first step here then ask yourself what you know that your prospects don't what do you know that your prospects don't know this is really your opportunity to be the expert pretty much up until this point I have asked you to take your customer's perspective over and over and over again, right? I have asked youto write down their words I've asked you to think about their feelings, their thoughts, the behaviors that you see them taking this is your opportunity to say I know this right this is you being an expert what do you know that your prospects don't and then finally how could you structure your product to make it more effective than the competition? So take those first two answers and think about how that evolves the structure of your product what is it about how your product is going to be built, which we are getting teo and just a little bit finally, what is it about how your product is going to be built that will allow you to really take advantage of your key insight, your expert perspective? What you know that your customers don't know and make it more effective? So once you know that you need to test it because you think you might know you might not? No, so we need to test these things we need to see what resonates in terms of a key insight with your audience. Is it the fort? Isn't the unique format? Is it the unique message? Is that the unique approach to the experience what's your key insight? So I've done this in a couple of different ways. This is a block post I wrote about why it was that people weren't getting the traction or they were why it was that people felt like they were constantly wasting their time with marketing, and I talked about how I felt they were wasting their time with marketing because they were paying attention to the wrong things they were paying attention to metrics instead of resonance um, and so this is a key insight that I'm actually working on right now, it's not really associated with a product yet. But it's a thing that I'm trying to see what's the best way to talk about it in a way that's going to create residence that's really going to connect with people so that then as they build out a marketing product, I know you know where I'm starting from so I wrote this block post and again this did really, really well with my audience they could very much see themselves in that that they were paying attention to metrics instead of, you know, really paying attention, teo, if they were creating residence and how that was leading to sales or growth of their community. And so that it's a simple is that I don't want to make it sound like it's it's something bigger than it isthe it's simply taking this idea that I think I know what I have to offer that's different I think I know why you're not getting us good results as you think you should ah, and put it in and putting it in a block post you could do this in a webinar you could do it in a free local workshop, you could do it in see one, two, one sales conversation so if you offer, you know, free consulting calls, free consultations before you actually book somebody you could test it out there, I think content marketing is a great way to do it social media works though is well you can do this kind of in short form but basically you just want to make sure that what you think it is different about your product different about your knowledge different about you know what you know that your customers don't and why they're not getting the results that they should make sure that resonates with people it's that simple um we're going to get to actually constructing a key insight and just a little bit but I want to move on to the next step because we can really bring these things all together into a really, really effective, clear and distinct way to talk about what you d'oh which is one of the big goals for today so step aid then is to form your hypothesis and your hypothesis combines your key insight with the story of the after in essence the results that you're able to promise to your customers so you're combining your can sight with results to create a very sissy stinks way to talk about not only what your products can help someone achieve but why your product is the best product for that job and it's simply something like you know when you get hands on support in creating a personalized strategic plan for your business you could make more money cut back on your on your workload and create a greater impact in your community that's the hypothesis for quiet power strategy marie I'm going to put you on the spot what would the key insight be or what would the hypothesis b for digital strategy goes just talking about mine I yeah very similar like design is not enough and so I think uh creating a more strategic approach and having like a a formula our framework that you can fall back on allows you to start you know, bidding on bigger projects have more confidence you know, streamline your workflow nice nice another way I like to form hypotheses as sort of most people think that web design is about making something beautiful but what I know is that it's a strategic process of helping your clients get the best results and when you leverage a strategic across us like that you can close bigger deals you can streamline your workflow what was the last thing I think there's lots of different ways that you kind of construct this idea that you want to point out this is why what I'm offering is different and here's why that difference is key to getting those results another way to think about your key insight is that if you've got your before and your after there's a locked door in between it your your customers or clients your prospects I don't understand why they're not able to move from before to after on their own they've tried all these different things they tried it out on their own but they still bang up against this locked door your key insight is the thing that unlocks that door and allows them to see that the after is even possible if you just say you know here's the here's where you're at now here's what is possible do you want that people say sure I want that but how do I know that I can trust you to get me those results how do I know that that's you know that I could really do that your key insight is what allows them to believe you it's what allows them to see that what you have to offer is different so good all right, I need a volunteer let's let's see what this actually looks like uh couldn't get flipboard and then I need a volunteer melissa well we're getting the flipboard why don't you go on ahead and tell us who you are? What you d'oh where we can find you online I am melissa did woody you confined me at melissa did woody dot com m e l I s s a d as in david eye and is a nancy dell'olio I d d I e dot com it's easy to miss smell ah what I do is I help people turn their creative taps toe on so that they could go from living lives of low grade black white and gray misery two full color lives of happiness and joy perfect on dh you're still working on the products that we kind of identified yesterday so why didn't she tell us what that isthe? So the idea is um well ultimately I like the idea of having a physical product but probably to start probably working with artists trading card size papers and give people a one word prompt everyday so everybody would be working on would be creating something whether it uh written just a tiny little piece of writing to fill out a little three by four card or some kind of visual creation or they could these music or something like that on posted on instagram with the hashtag and s o s so that they would be developing a daily creative practice uh tiny little imperfection ist creative practice and also practicing sharing their work okay, so the before our things like low grade misery that you mentioned on dh it's a lot of the before on this one specifically is probably around perfectionism right? So feeling like you can't start on a project until you know how it's going to be perfect feeling like you can't finish a product project until it feels perfect write things like that and so you know all those creative starts and stops that come from the problem of perfectionists right and also feeling very afraid to share because because it's not perfect right yes exactly and what does the after look like for you after looks like um so the word that shouldn't be used his confidence thing after looks like they r enjoying wow I'm creating every day I wake up in the morning I'm looking forward to doing this thing and I now feel I might still feel a little bit of anxiety or fear before I share something but I don't let that stop me and I know that when I share something and I get feedback it's goingto it's going to allow me to take off my own hypercritical glasses and put on somebody else's glasses and see my work through their eyes so I like my work better now than I did before okay perfect and for the record I don't mind if you use the word confidence you just also have to describe it right okay confidence is a great word um so yeah just make sure you describe it so what do you think your key insight as you have an idea yet uh that makes your product work when others have failed okay you know key insight as I see it yeah that you're asking people to share things yes you're not just asking people to start really process you're asking people to share things in a community right and the other thing is I know that people often come to me and they say well I've been taking this online class I'm learning all these are techniques but I'm just copying the teacher on and I wantto I mean, it's great I'm learning this techniques but I want to make my own thing I wantto I want to find my own voice so okay, that would be an ideal after a swell that they feel like they're creating in their own voice and they're valuing that voice okay helps you find your own creative voice and value it anything else that sharing helps you do uniquely well my personal experiences as I said it, it has enabled me to get over that fear like desensitized myself to that fear of sharing in perfect stuff you know what happened there desensitize yourself oh, jeez, theo the fear of sharing things that are in perfect yeah and it's also helped me to like my work better it's helped me to see the value rather than the lack because of course other people see your work for what it is where you say you work for what it isn't yeah eyes they're a point there about connecting with people. Teo yes, definitely. So what I see here is that they're not alone it's a big one. Yeah, okay, not lose. So what I see here actually is that you took a pretty general after it was fine after that was pretty general and now you've given us a much more specific after that's really really related to that key insight and is maybe something even in it of it self a little bit different than what people are used to seeing and that could be much more compelling for them especially if they've tried a lot of other solutions in the past. And I have a feeling that with your audience they have tried a lot of other things yeah, things and I think in your industry tend to be pretty accessible like in terms that you know you mentioned the artist's way often and then you know there's all sorts of other small classes and programs and ideas that are out there books on dso people do try a whole bunch of different things and you want your product to really be able to see stand out and so kind of offering a slightly different after with the key insight that supports that might be critical to your success yeah and I think that the really big thing that sticks out for me is the notion that sharing is going to help you like your work better and have more compassion for your work and for yourself as the imperfect creator great. So do you want to take a stab at a hypothesis with this? Sure so that would be in the form of when you yeah dot dot dot then yeah that's the easiest way I think just to do it so when you, uh create daily in uh supportive community then you and receive feedback then you uh desensitized herself to the fear of sharing your in perfect work um you like your work better you feel more connected to your own creative voice and you know that you're not alone beautiful that's it great yeah, I think the first part you could actually make a little bit shorter. I think it could be a simple as you know when you put yourself out there and you share your creative work with other people uh it helps you find your own creative voice that helps you desensitize yourself to the fear of sharing in perfect work and ultimately it helps you like your work better because you see the value of it through other people's eyes beautiful yeah, yeah it's good it's great, cool. I love the hypothesis. Thank you, melissa. I love the hypothesis because it can be that quick to a really game changing results do you feel like you know now what the value of melissa's product is? Do you feel like you know now why it's different that if you've tried something else in the past, this isn't going to be just the same thing over again? This is something new it's something different it's something that's built upon different principles uh, does anyone else want a practice with this feel like that was a pretty quick example rebecca, come up here, I'm gonna pick somebody uh remind us again who you are what you d'oh her where we can find you online sure I'm rebecca bass ching license marriage and family therapist and I run potentially a family therapy in san diego california you can find me on twitter at our basking and also potentials on instagram and potentially a therapy okay perfect and what is the product the idea that you kind of have in mind that you're working on right now yeah it's it's based on a talk that I've given that I've been asked to give again and again really formulated out of choosing respect um over body and story shame and what that comes are working a lot with the eating disorder community a big part of that community is moving from this self hatred paste place to just loving your body and after thirteen years of sharing that with my clients I just love your body and they go yeah but also perfectionist you know then they have shamed for not loving their body right away so what I realize is this place of and then thinking in my own story too that there were people in my life maybe family members may be professors or whomever but maybe didn't like them but I still treated them with respect as a human being so how do we do that to our own bodies and our own stories even if we're not liking them is a bridge to the love on so that's, really, the talk that I developed, and then I've been giving a lot for trying to figure out how to create that develop it into a product or something more substantial to really develop that practice. Yeah, so it's me. So how would you frame up that key insight that because it sounds like you know exactly what it is, because what you've identified is that, you know, you've been telling people to love your body all these years using to respect your body, even when you don't and your story, even when you don't like it as a bridge to getting to the place, because, again, it's that segway because there's, just a lot of disconnect, I think our expectation to not struggle and so love the heart of that is redefining struggle, that struggle isn't failure, I need to be fixed, and that part of being human is struggling, and so some of that even deeper is just getting to understand not just very own story, but this brain science, what resilience is and normalizing that process to sew again, I have a whole I've outlined the talk into different segments and it's just dense which is I was going to say this sounds like way too much stuff no I know and that's what I that's why I'm still back in the earlier parts trying to really yes and this is why that this is the last step before we start building the product because when you've got a hypothesis you have a framework for what your products should be and what it should not be race right? Okay, so I think yeah, so your key insight is about finding respect even though you don't love your body fighting respect for your body versus you know, love and admiration for your body and I think part of that is really it's media literacy and really becoming a pain for me I think there's actually several things in this that's what I'm really trying to distill ok it's really becoming an informed consumer of media it's really understanding trust and in connection and community um and also that what I call the four horsemen minimize justify rationalized and I and using kind of our struggle as data and to get curious okay, so you're telling me that what of your process right now? So I want you to tell me why it works I know that just telling telling you hey just love your story love your body doesn't work okay? And so my clients have been saying, how do I do this because I've learned that forty the research is forty percent of change happens outside of the therapy office, not what I'm doing. So what? How do they do that? I think it's a mindset first and foremost and sometimes it's a catalyst to haven't go do some deeper soul work and that's where I'm tourney, you know, sometimes this insight leads to hey, because if they just spin, I'm gonna trying we get relief to my pain, trying to hide and present to the world on lee what I think is safe or trying navigate my body, shame, pain by dieting and negative self talk to get stuck really saying it's about something deeper? Why did they get stuck? Because that list they go in the dieting cycle, wait cycling and diets don't work, it actually leads to something darker there not being themselves when they're showing up in life anxiety, spikes, depression, spikes all right, so back teo the fort like there were there were like four pieces that you were kind of outlining media literacy, self talk, I think, was bringing that, but yeah, tell me again, why does that work? While my product works and this is where a housing a permission to get have a new way of looking at these issues and that's about as far as I got remember writing this down going? I need to dig deeper on this. All right? So then went, what do you know? I know it doesn't work, okay, I know what they've told me doesn't work. Okay, so now what do I know? What? Why don't those other products work? I mean, this is why I don't like the answers, though, because it's like, well, research shows, you know, ninety nine point five percent of diets don't work also, a lot of therapies don't work with trauma, okay, so so actually, maybe that's what we need to define first is, what are the other options? No diets are one of the other, yes, because you're when you're talking with someone who is ashamed of their body diet changes, lifestyle changes are part of what constitutes art to the macro to the big thesis is is people aren't showing up in their life, no matter what they do because they're so consumed by these issues, so they learn how to manage the struggle of these issues. They can then make a difference on this life and that's part of I think my unfair advantage is that that champion of issues and of people and so that's, what I'm trying to say is that stress showing up in a lot of different absolute areas, okay, absolutely okay, so so dress okay, but well they you know what do the other things that they're trying sure I mean they try and manage their bodies that try and manage what they're wearing they look they read blog's they read books they are big time social media consumers they try other ways of treatment whether it's therapists whether it's coaches listen to podcasts goto small group studies or like oh eh groups find a mentor do a lot of creativity stuff online workshop so they there consumers of a lot of other things and they're spinning they get a lot of insight but that inside isn't translating to sustain change okay um uh so why don't these work honestly because they're not addressing the deeper issue of trauma understanding the brain you can't think yourself out of your pain and it really is about building up resilience to tolerate the pain of being human at time okay no more okay? Um resilience and tolerance uh human because okay, so respect sounds really, really good uh and it to me and initially it sounded like yeah, that that's that's it and it but then it didn't it didn't land for me tolerance actually feels better why, um because to me yeah, you respect people that you don't like and you respect people that, um you know, but I think it's respect in that situation is about finding a way to tolerate them because of the value that that they offer you right yeah um or your own core values to yeah so I think tolerance might be it that it's not about learning to love your body it's about learning to tolerate what's painful so that you can make the changes that you want to make is that it sustained change outside just the day to day life because so many people do deep soul work and then and they make it incredible changes but then life happens and there's almost this expectation you should never struggle you should be fixed okay so you're always going to have the challenge of focussing on one message totally well away yes I know you are a very well I'm just going to keep continue mirroring not back to you until we get to the break through so I would say let me let me take a stab at your hypothesis when you understand when you everyone has always told you tow love your body on that that's the path away from the shame that you feel on a daily basis but instead when you stop trying to love your body see and learn how to tolerate what's riel you confined the path where you can walk the path to creating sustainable change in the way you show up in your family your work and your personal life does that sound good? Yeah, I think just working in story to it's just that you know it's not just the body piece really it's moving away from the constant spinning about obsessing about this and recognizing just the fear of being seen and at the heart of it is it's amazing what we do to avoid being misunderstood? Okay, yeah, so you have so much and like it's amazing what? Well, what we do to be misunderstood sounds like a great headline. However, I can't see a way to bring it back to this and you need to focus on one message and this may not be the exact perfect message yet. That's a good launching pad but it's a really good launching pad and I want you to make sure that every single thing that you think about from here on out over the course of these lessons relates back to tolerance in one way or another until you find something that fits better. Okay, okay that's, that is your biggest challenge. Everything has to come back to this and I want you to edit out of your product everything that doesn't help someone become more tolerant of their body or their obsessions whatever, whatever it is that they're having shame around okay, sounds good, alright, thanks for phoning, alright questions about finding your hypothesis or your key insight sasha that was just sparking so much for me, because I'm a coach who works on transformation too, and I've been through this process myself as a client, so I just think it's, incredibly challenging to product, dies. What is a very individual process? And I've talked to people a lot about this, about how real change happens over a long period of time, and you try lots of things, so I think that's part of what you are struggling with their and my personal insight is that it's about practice and repetition? Yes, that's part of the language, too, is developing a lifelong practice exactly because, like you're saying, life happens and the same stuff comes up over and again and it's about just having the resilience is to continue to come back to this practice. Is that bring you back? So I just yeah, it's such an interesting challenge to create a product about something that is, in fact so deep and a path absolutely. Would you say, maybe that it's it's a daily practice of finding tolerance instead of obsession, absolute tolerance versus obsession, not just tolerance, tolerance versus obsession as your as your key insight? Because thie obsession with loving your body or the imperative of loving your body could also be you mentioned that as part of the problem and that could be seen this obsession as well where respect came out of is this something just accept your story just accept your body but you said it to a perfectionist failure yeah is except so it felt trumpets respect felt more tolerant to the people I've been working with tolerance feels a little bit like accepting like I gotta take it someone who has had tough stuff in their story but I'll still play around and I think you're on to something for sure yeah, I like it being versus obsessions you know, if tolerance isn't the right word, maybe maybe respect still is the right word respect versus upset the obsession part I think yeah, I think that that could be that could be really enlightening because it gives you an opportunity to talk about all the different things that you can be obsessed with and the way than the daily practices how you break through each of those things yeah, and I think you know another thing to keep in mind you're at home and you're thinking like, wow, my product is absolutely is biggest rebecca's because I know that you're out there, you know, keep in mind that when we say product, what we're talking about is an asset it's intellectual property it's a methodology it's an idea it's something that you can put in a form that works it doesn't have to be, you know, a thirty day course that you go thrill right on dso you might find all sorts of different ways to construct an experience that holds an idea that bigger that holds an idea that deep but still make it very, very focused all right, bridget you're connecting your conversation to what you're talking about michelle with it's like look at my case of like a four week program and that's like four hours of instruction, right? And so like thinking about what is the thing that you can affect with somebody in four hours or in thirty days and thirty hours or fifteen yeah, and actually if you think about it in that if you have an idea of like what I know we're ahead of format but that's kind of how leading into its really humbled to think about like, oh, maybe I should strip away even like, keep stripping away because how much can you get people to and right? I mean, a lot of it is their own work, but I only have so much time to instruct yes, absolutely, absolutely yeah, and so rebecca is something you might want to consider that it might be easier for you to create a key insight and a hypothesis if you break it down into different realms, right? So you could have body image, you could have relationships you could have work. Onda dress the same idea in different contexts on dh. Create extra lee. Multiple products from it. That's still stem from the same method. Also saying too. Yeah. Awesome. Okay, let's, move on. Uh, your task now is to name your key insight and to test it with another piece of content marketing. Really? This whole process is about testing, testing, testing, testing, testing your writing block post anyhow, right? You're creating webinars anyhow, right? You're you're posting on social media anyhow, so you might as well be testing these ideas. Think about every block post you write every social media posts you put out as the opportunity to test something new or to test it in a new context. Stop just blogging for blogging sake. Stop just social media in for meetings sake and start testing. Test your key insight. Test your hypothesis hypothesis, see if it lands. See if it resonates with people. See if people say, wow, I never thought about it that way before. Wow, that's a a fresh new perspective. And I finally get it. I finally see how this is possible. You get that kind of response, you know, you're on the right track.