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Lessons & Ideas

Lessons & Ideas

By Bryan Harris

Get an unfiltered look behind the scenes of a 7-figure online business. Follow along as I learn how to grow the company and become a better leader.

The episodes range from my personal lessons and ideas to private team meetings and recorded calls with other business leaders.

If you want to peek inside the brain and business of someone in the trenches of marketing, leadership and hiring, this podcast might be for you.
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8 ways to get me to hire you

Lessons & IdeasSep 04, 2019

00:00
10:25
More Of What Works

More Of What Works

There’s a simple principle I have to make a conscious effort to remind myself of on a regular basis.

Keep. It. Simple.

Too often we add complexity to our lives instead of doing more of what’s working.

It’s a simple concept that so many of us forget but is so important for not only personal happiness, but success in business as well.

We’re actually bringing something back business-wise that worked really well a few years ago…because it WORKED.  


I’ve outlined how I’m personally applying it to life and business along with some ideas of how you can too on today’s podcast episode.

Oct 18, 202304:13
Math vs. Mystery

Math vs. Mystery

When you’re faced with hurdles or problems in your business (a common one we hear is “I can’t figure out how to get new clients), how do you respond?

I know many times in life, even sometimes today, I go into what I call the “mystery box”.

The mystery box is that sort of emotional place you go to when you feel a bit helpless and anxious about a problem and the solution is seemingly a mystery.

It’s a sucky place to be.

But anytime I find myself there, I quickly re-orient, and put myself in the “math box”.

THIS is where solutions present themselves.

I recorded a short podcast episode about how I leverage the “math box” to find solutions to nearly every problem or hurdle in business…including getting new clients.


Get our free resource of the month for getting new high-paying coaching clients! growthtools.com/free

Oct 16, 202304:30
2 ways to lead

2 ways to lead

2 ways to lead
Nov 19, 202006:37
2007 letter from IRS

2007 letter from IRS

2007 letter from IRS
Nov 16, 202005:50
Library of Alexandria

Library of Alexandria

Library of Alexandria
Nov 13, 202013:04
Amazing Facebook ads?

Amazing Facebook ads?

Amazing Facebook ads?
Nov 09, 202003:42
6 ways to persuade
Nov 02, 202013:17
3 ways to build creativity

3 ways to build creativity

3 ways to build creativity
Oct 02, 202003:13
1 per week

1 per week

Marketing plan = Teach 1 new audience per week
Sep 25, 202004:16
$100m webinar funnel

$100m webinar funnel

$100m webinar funnel
Sep 22, 202006:07
Write a 3 year vision in 90 minutes

Write a 3 year vision in 90 minutes

Write a 3 year vision in 90 minutes
Sep 18, 202004:32
Prevent the 3 most popular objections to buying your product

Prevent the 3 most popular objections to buying your product

Your product most likely has one of these 3 problems:

1. Seems to complicated

2. Problem isn’t acute enough

3. Price seems too high

These 3 problems create the vast majority of buying objections that your prospects will have. And most products have 1 of if not all of these problems. In fact, some products have such strong resistance that it will all but stop buyers if they are not addressed head on.

How do you fix this?

Redefine the product.

Redefine by rearranging your prospects perspective of the product. When executed well the problem naturally dissolves.

Chapter 10 of Breakthrough Advertising covers this technique in depth. It outlines a custom tailored solution for each of these three problems.

Here is a brief rundown of how to handle each problem:

1. When the product seems too complicated?

Simplification: When the product seems too complicated or hard to use it needs to be redefined. Simplify the product by taking them from hard to easy with a few simple ideas strung together so that what seems complicated to them becomes brain dead simple and obvious.

2. When the problem isn’t acute for enough people?

Escalation: When the problem is not important enough or appeals to too small of a market it needs to be redefined. Escalate it’s importance with one of these 3 approaches: a) shifting to higher level area of their life b) showing how something else they want depends on it c) show how they’ll really need to use it more often than they think.

3. When the price seems too high compared to the alternatives?

Price Reduction: When the problem is that the product costs too much.compared to typical alternatives the product needs to be redefined. “Reduce” the price in your prospects eyes by one of 2 methods  a) show the cost of not fixing problem b) change the comparison to another class of product.

In this episode I’ll walk you through 3 Facebook ads that show these techniques in action:

Sep 15, 202016:01
Our mission

Our mission

Our mission
Sep 04, 202014:36
20 weeks in a row

20 weeks in a row

20 weeks in a row
Sep 01, 202003:59
8.5# lost in 16 days

8.5# lost in 16 days

My OMAD story
Aug 28, 202003:35
Magic of SpaceX

Magic of SpaceX

Tool thinking vs Problem Thinking
Aug 25, 202011:26
What worked 6mo ago?

What worked 6mo ago?

What worked 6mo ago?
Aug 21, 202002:19
3 marketing wins from Q2

3 marketing wins from Q2

3 marketing wins from Q2
Aug 18, 202034:34
Better question = $1m+

Better question = $1m+

Our #1 marketing tweak of Q2
Aug 14, 202020:30
How to write a FB ad like Eugene Schwartz

How to write a FB ad like Eugene Schwartz

4 steps to theme and create the headline:

1. Who is your best fit client?
2. What desire are you satisfying for them?
3. What product result does that?
4. Awareness of your BFC?


Answer for my product (marketing coaching progrma)

1. Course creator with some traction
2. To have clarity and focus on a plan im confident in to grow the business
3. Simple plan with a few tweaks that will unlock them (aka: marketing plan)
4. Know they need help but not sure where to turn. Have tried lots of stuff. A coach they trust sounds good, but who is that and where do i find them?

A few sample headlines and themes:

6x Faster Than Facebook ads
How would you sell 28 online courses per month?
How many course sales hit 50k per month?
Sell 100 courses per month
Want to stop advertising your courses on Facebook?
Tried to sell your course or coaching w/ FB ads?
2x your FB ad spend
How to 2x your FB ad ROI with partnerships
When you’re course sales stagnate, try this…
Try one of these 5 tweaks to increase your course sales
Can you send an email? Then you can sell your online course.
If you haven’t sold 10k of your course, dont read this
How to 2x your FB ad roi by not using FB ads.
To the course creator that needs help marketing
Aug 11, 202004:40
Clarity > Quality

Clarity > Quality

A friend hired a writing service recently. The clarity in their offer and the process was the #1 reason he chose them over someone who would have done a better job.
Aug 07, 202003:14
Who is your best fit client?

Who is your best fit client?

Defining who are best fit client is has moved the needle in a significant way.

In this episode I interview Drew Breaux, the Growth Tools director of marketing. And he outlines the process he uses to do this.

High level outline:

1. Survey existing clients
2. Study results of biggest fans
3. Pull out before / after emotions
4. Write the 2 part BFC profile
5 immediately update website and marketing assets to attract more BFCs
Aug 04, 202048:48
8 actions to be happier

8 actions to be happier

1. Drink giant glass of water now 2. Text 1 friend that you love them 3. Drop and do 25 push-ups 4. Go for 10m walk outside 5. Help someome this morning 6. Take 5m to imagine a 5 star future 7. Eat < 50 carbs today 8. Get > 7 hours of sleep tonight
Jul 31, 202003:58
Ask this question ASAP

Ask this question ASAP

What is a problem so interesting and inspiring that you could dedicate the next 3 decades to solving?
Jul 27, 202002:42
Podcast Update

Podcast Update

Podcast Update
Jun 15, 202001:22
$1k per email

$1k per email

‪🤔interesting...‬

‪Economics of @tldrdan ‘s daily newsletter. Runs on sponsorships. ‬

‪- 118,000 subscribers‬
‪- 36% open and 8% click‬
‪- Tech audience ‬

‪Charges $1,000 per email. ‬

‪Details: https://www.tldrnewsletter.com/sponsor‬
May 11, 202002:22
What kind of company are you?

What kind of company are you?

Got big questions about your career or company?

Good. You should.

Exhibit A: Phil Knight started Nike in 1964. Twelve years in he still had major questions about Nike...

“What are we trying to build here?”

“What kind of company do we want to be?”
May 08, 202003:21
Simple way to catch issues with an employee before it becomes a big deal

Simple way to catch issues with an employee before it becomes a big deal

Simple way to catch issues on your team before they spiral...

Track these 4 metrics:

1. Hours
2. Stress
3. Happiness
4. Education

Monitor weekly. Meet if any are out of whack.
May 05, 202003:03
Are you a bad leader? Take this test.

Are you a bad leader? Take this test.

When was the last time your team convinced you not to do something that you wanted to do?

If you can’t remember, that’s a problem:

1. Everyone has ideas
2. Most get run through the filter
3. Yours probably bypass the filter

That’s a bad thing. Fix it.

Use “What do you think about…” to rephrase your mandates as question and give your team a way to filter you ideas.

May 01, 202002:24
How I’m ending each day

How I’m ending each day

Writing Tip: Split your writing ito two sessions.

1. End each day by writing for 15m
2. Start each day by writing for 45m
3. Publish by 8am

Leaving it mid sentence and letting my brain work on it over night works wonders.
Apr 27, 202003:09
How to set quarterly goals

How to set quarterly goals

How to set quarterly goals

Here is the simple framework I use:
1. Vision: want I want things to look like
2. Habits: Do task X times, use streaks
3. Projects: 1 time initiatives
4. Use basecamp to log it all

Listen to this episode for more details and examples.
Mar 31, 202005:01
What lie are you believing?

What lie are you believing?

Life lesson I learned recently
Mar 31, 202004:29
What to do when you disagree

What to do when you disagree

I've been thinking about this quote a lot...

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." -F. Scott Fitzgerald

When you encounter a thought that doesn't ring true (meaning that it doesn't reconcile with what you believe or how you view the world) you have two choices:

1. Dismiss the idea
2. Examine the idea

If you choose to dismiss it, that's ok. In that case, withstand the urge to disparage or form a straw man.

WARNING: Only disparage ideas that you fully understand.

You'll know if you fully understand the idea if you can recall it to someone that holds the view and they agree that it is an accurate representation of their view.

WARNING: Even then, disparaging idea is probably a bad idea.

If you choose to examine the idea, don't adopt the idea (yet) or dismiss your current view. Instead, hold the new idea in your hand and examine it.

A few potential outcomes of this examination:

1. Slight recalibration to your world view
2. Major recalibration to your world view
3. Wholesale dismissal of the new idea

If you are forced into discussing an idea you haven't fully examined, say so. And leave room for being off target in your view.

"Anybody who doesn’t change their mind a lot is dramatically underestimating the complexity of the world we live in.” — Jeff Bezos
Mar 23, 202003:23
2 gdocs to help with Corona stress

2 gdocs to help with Corona stress

I’m keeping two tabs open in my browser at all times durring this crazy Corona event.

1. Stress reducing protocol
2. Worst case scenario list

These 2 docs give me instructions for handling any anxiety or stress that creeps in and a place to put the anxiety and stress once it rears it’’s head.

Hope this helps you!
Mar 20, 202003:50
10-min leadership team meeting

10-min leadership team meeting

Recently the Growth Tools leadership team had a meeting to talk about how to encourage and incentivize everyone at the company to identify small tests with high upside and problems with simple fixes and then to empower them to go execute on them.
We even setup a large reward for the person with the simplest and most impactful project of this nature in Q1.
In this meeting we talk about the pros and cons of this. How to encourage it. And how to think about it.
This is a recording of a private internal meeting.
Enjoy!
Mar 19, 202014:27
5-minute reading: Share something small every day

5-minute reading: Share something small every day

I came across a fun chapter from Austin Klein’s boom, Show Your Work, today. The chapter Is entitled, Share something small everyday. It resonated with me. So in this episode I’ll read you the chapter and share why I liked it. Enjoy my beautiful reading ability! :)
Mar 16, 202006:02
My personal and business plan of action for COVID-19 lockdown

My personal and business plan of action for COVID-19 lockdown

This week has been the most bizarre and crazy week I can remember in multiple decades.

I just sent a video and update to our team sharing how I’m thinking through it on a personal and business level.

Two key points:

1. Take precautions
2. Take advantage (aka: turn it into a positive)

This was originally a video, but I stripped out the audio to post here.

I hope this is helpful for you!
Mar 13, 202029:02
4 rules of thumb
Mar 12, 202003:18
My Morning 10

My Morning 10

Each day starts the same for me. I sit down at my desk and do my Morning 10. These are 10 shot tasks that take 1 minute or less to do. These 10 things set my tday up well, prime me to be productive and ensure that the most important stuff in my life is being attended to.

Hear more about it in this episode.

This is my current Morning 10:

1. Pray
2. Pre-log my food
3. Pull notes our of my phone
4. Write down tasks for the day
5. Text wife
6. Check Bank
7. Log Q1 goal progress
8. Journal core emotion wheel
9. Clean out Basecamp notifications
10. Look at weekly goals
Mar 09, 202004:33
Why Vision Is More Important Than Strategy
Mar 05, 202007:49
Challenge for my team ($2k prize)

Challenge for my team ($2k prize)

Every quarter we do a challenge on our team focused on encouraging and empowering each person to find problems and opportunities for the company (and fix them).

This quarter the person with the best project wins a $2k trip.

Listen to the episode for details.
Mar 02, 202006:53
Hello My Name Is Awesome
Feb 27, 202014:20
2 small scheduling adjustments

2 small scheduling adjustments

Recently I made two small adjustments to how I schedule lunch meetings.
Feb 24, 202001:57
$24k ARR from Linkedin w/ Marti Sanchez

$24k ARR from Linkedin w/ Marti Sanchez

A few smart people I know are hardcore into Linkedin for biz dev. I've mostly looked at Linkedin as a giant spam trap.
However, my curiously was piqued. So, I hoped on with Marti Sanchex who mentioned that he was using Linkedin succesfull (without spamming people). He shared his playbook for how he uses it to book 10+ sales calls per week. And how he used it in January (last month) to book $24k ARR of business.
Enjoy!
Feb 20, 202016:25
9-step process to name a product, company or podcast

9-step process to name a product, company or podcast

I struggle to name things. Product, companies, podcasts etc. It’s so bad that I struggle to name our dog. I picked up a book on naming recently to help. And I loved the book. It’s Hello My Name Is Awesome by Alexandra Watkins. In it she shares her method for naming things. In this episode I walk you through her 3-step process and and a 9-part brainstorming excercise. Process: Step 1: List 12 words related to it Step 2: Choose 1 & research for 60m Step 3: Repeat on each word Branstorming excercise: 1. Run the word through a Thesaurus 2. Image search the word 3. Look up industry related glossaries 4. Run the word through a dictionary 5. Search for cliches related to the word 6. Google the word 7. Look up movie titles with your keyword 8. Search iTunes for song titles with your keyword 9. Look up book titles with your keyword By the end of this you should have 100+ names. 10-15 should be ones you really like. If you want more examples and details go follow @eatmywords (on twitter) and grab her book Hello My Name Is Awesome: https://amzn.to/2U6FGR8 (I’ll be publishing my full notes and takeaways on Twitter soon)
Feb 17, 202006:24
Should I hire this person?

Should I hire this person?

I’m thinking of hiring someone to help answer 95% of my emails. Email and inbound messages have become a big problem and my slow response times is one of the biggest “weights around my neck”. Listen as I process through how to fix this.
Feb 14, 202002:50
The more a CEO does the weaker your business becomes

The more a CEO does the weaker your business becomes

My business coach shares a quote and post on Linkedin recently. Its been in my head ever since.

“The more a CEO does the weaker the business becomes”

In this podcast episode I read the rest of the post to you and share the 3 specific things he does in his business (and all the stuff he avoids).
Feb 12, 202002:01
10 letter phrase to de-escalate w/ team or spouse

10 letter phrase to de-escalate w/ team or spouse

Instead of asking, “What’s wrong?” Ask “What happened?”. That phrase is neutral, holds no baggage and will get the person in a more calm and logical state.
Feb 10, 202002:01
Want to go to a marketing conference with me?

Want to go to a marketing conference with me?

Want to go to a marketing conference with me? I have an extra ticket, thought it might be cool to see if anyone wanted to hang for a few days with me and some friends at a marketing conference in late March. Listen for details.
Feb 07, 202002:48
February 2020 Growth Tools Update

February 2020 Growth Tools Update

A quick update on what we’re working on this month at my company

1. Swipe 2 of my favorite email sequences for free
2. We’re hosting a “How to write your launch email sequence” class next week
3. We’re hiring a coach and I’m hiring an executive assistant
4. new tool we’re developing to predict how our promo’s and launches will go
5. A new book I’m reading and loving - 3 Minute Rule by Brant Pinvidic
Feb 06, 202023:35