Bill Gates – 1 week cabin to read & think about the future of things
It’s not a ‘social media break’ or vacation
- What’s the future of my business?
- And how do I hit a million per month in my business
Working on vs working in your business
- Working on = creating systems (documents, automation sequences, etc)
- Working in = doing the actual work (creating content, outreach, etc)
Lessons I learned…
Look at unintended consequences
- Definition = results/outcomes that weren’t intended to happen
- X creates a specific behavior…what’s the consequence of that behavior?
- Ex: MeToo movement – avoid women
- Neil Degrasse Tyson & Harvey Weinstein are different
- No mentoring, private meetings, etc
- Less hiring of good looking women
- It’s inevitable men will hit on them
- Ex: Screenshotting emails/messages
- Shift to more privacy (Mark Zuckerberg)
- WhatsApp instead of public posting like Facebook
- Ex: Sensitivity
- Hiding your personal thoughts
- Fear of people getting offended
- Hiding your personal thoughts
- Ex: 5G networks
- Speed is the new currency, what’s the unintended consequence?
- Instant gratification over delayed gratification
- More frustration for people who aren’t used to delayed gratification
Plan for the unplanned
- Allergies the second day b/ I was ready
Think beyond your initial thoughts
- Your first thoughts are ‘basic’…keep thinking to get real insights
- Use the internet to see what ideas others have
- Then go beyond their ideas
Think about the future of YOUR business, not business in general
Look to other industries & how they will affect yours
- Robocalls
- My phone is on silent so cold calling me will be hard/impossible
- Get good at leaving voicemails
- Laws will be put in place
- Only the U.S. gets robocalls b/c no laws are in place
- What are they doing in Europe?
- Consumer focused instead of Company focused
- GDPR?
- My phone is on silent so cold calling me will be hard/impossible
- Voice Assistants, VR, AR – still too early b/ you can think about it
- Instacart & UberEats
- Frees up people’s time = what will they fill it with?
- Only rich people could pay people to get their groceries, not anymore
- So how do extremely wealthy people act?
- Very direct – don’t waste my time
- So how do extremely wealthy people act?
- TONS of content
- Desensitized to content so what will capture/keep attention?
- Getting MORE personal & entertaining
- People love secrets – juicy gossip
- Desensitized to content so what will capture/keep attention?
Think about what stays the same, not just what’s going to change
- Impossible to predict the future
- Jeff Bezos & Warren Buffett’s strategy
- What’s staying the same in the marketing industry?
- Presentation skills & copywriting
- Must learn to present to get noticed
- Must learn to write persuasively to get buyers
- Presentation skills & copywriting
- Customer experience first – this will never change
- Bad experience – mobile pop-ups to sign up to list
- Speed
- Actually helping people
Keep Secrets
“The best entrepreneurs know this: every great business is built around a secret that’s hidden from the outside. A great company is a conspiracy to change the world; when you share your secret, the recipient becomes a fellow conspirator.”
- I won’t share my insights, I’ll just execute on them
- Magicians don’t share b/c it ruins the effect
Stay Focused
- Your mind WANTS to distract itself
- Checking your phone
- Moving objects around you desk, etc
- Pomodoro timer