🎯 Work Smart Wednesday - September 25, 2024
Why I focus on opportunity cost not ROI, the outreach message checklist, and a quote on defining freedom
Work Smart Wednesday
👋 Hey there!
Here is your fortnightly dose of Work Smart Wednesday.
In these emails I will share with you 3 things to help you work smarter.
1. ⚖️ Why I focus on opportunity cost not ROI
I recently listened to an episode of the HBR IdeaCast podcast called “Grit is good. But quitting can be, too” and it reminded me about how I make decisions.
After burning out some years ago many years ago, I struggled with the societal view of failure. People default into thinking that quitting something is bad, that it is a failure. Many of the synonyms we have for quitting are also synonyms for failure.
However, quitting isn’t always bad. The trick is knowing what to quit.
If you’re doing something you hate that has little chance of making you happy or helping you achieve your wider goals, you should probably quit.
Quitting in that case looks like a success to me, not a failure. You stopped one thing so you could focus on something better. What isn’t a win about that?
It also doesn’t mean you made a “bad decision” earlier on. You likely made the best decision available to you based on the information you had available at the time. As we learn more we see more “variables” that affect whether a decision is good or bad. We should have the courage to adapt in light of new information. But this is harder than it seems.
I switched the way I make decisions in order to make it easier to quit when needed, and to make it easier to have grit when that option prevails.
Fundamentally, the switch in the way I make decisions boils down to this: Your goal should not be to get a positive Return On Investment (ROI). Your goal should be to minimise Opportunity Costs.
ROI = (Value created - Cost of investment) ÷ Cost of investment
Opportunity Cost = Value of optimal option - Value of chosen option
When people have an ROI mindset, they naturally gravitate towards decreasing cost. A task that has a tiny cost will have a very high ROI even if it creates low value.
Your customers may have this ROI thinking, leading them to try and reduce costs (your price) rather than focus on value (what you provide!).
Opportunity Cost thinking requires you to focus on the highest impact things you could possibly work on and then make those things happen. You focus not on cost, but value.
ROI thinking favors quick wins.
Opportunity Cost thinking favors big wins.
As an entrepreneur, you’re rarely short of things you could be doing to improve your business. You have loads of things that will provide a positive ROI (i.e. the value created is greater than the cost of your resources and time).
You should not be doing most of those things.
When your goal is to minimise opportunity cost, you are forced to focus on the highest leverage work.
What can you do today which will make the biggest difference?
2. ✅ The outreach message checklist
People who are just starting out with their business often ask what they should do in order to get clients. My responses are always the same, as the first stages are always the same for all service businesses:
Figure out who your target audience is
Create a kickass offer
Start with warm outreach
Please note that some things commonly regarded as “necessary” aren’t listed here. Because they aren’t necessary. People tend to waste their time on things that regular people think they need, rather than things they actually need, in the early stages - like building a website or social media marketing (both are unnecessary to get started or to make your first sales).
Whether you are doing marketing outreach for the first time, or the thousandth, it helps to clearly define what that marketing should include.
Before you send any more marketing outreach, here’s a quick outreach message checklist:
✅ Define your objective
What do you want the people to do after reading this message? Is that a reasonable request - if you were in their position, would you do it? Make sure you know what they are meant to do next before you write a single word.
✅ Identify the pain points
What’s the #1 problem you’re solving? What are the symptoms of that problem? Leverage these problems and symptoms to help the reader self-identify with your offer and to create action urgency.
✅ Personalise the benefits
Clearly communicate the benefits your offer brings and tailor this to your target audience. Consider their specific needs and goals and where you best fit in to make their life better.
✅ Highlight differentiation
Why should we choose you? Clearly articulate what sets your offer apart from competition. Whether it’s unique features, superior customer service, or even your own personality, emphasise what makes your offer stand out.
✅ Remove objections
What would stop someone from taking action to work with you? Help the reader overcome the top objection(s) as part of your ask. Show you understand their situation by identifying the blockers and removing them.
✅ Use strong language
Use power words and action verbs to make your value proposition more impactful. Make it visual, paint a picture, and create a sense of excitement.
✅ KISS
Keep It Super Simple. Make it so easy for people to understand what you are offering that they can understand the value with just a quick skim. Have only ONE clear call to action. What one thing should they do next?
There is a lot that goes into the first two stages, identifying your audience properly and creating a kickass offer. If you want my checklist to see if your offer is good enough, reply to this email (or email John@JohnJDMunn.com) with the subject line “KICKASS OFFER” and I will send the checklist to you.
🆕 This month’s resource for referrals has been updated - you can now earn my template “Warm Outreach Scripts, Sequences, and Examples”.
🎁 Receive rewards for referring your friends 🎁
📩 A document outlining exactly what to say, when, and to which kind of lead (e.g. past customer, lead magnet signup, friends and family, etc).
Includes full sequences plus real examples that I or my clients have successfully used and proven.This custom template is not sold anywhere, you can only get it by sending Work Smart Wednesday to your friend. I rotate these templates monthly. This template is only available in September.
3. 💡 Quote I'm pondering
"We seek freedom, but what we really want is opportunity for engaging activities” - Alex Hormozi
I optimise for my businesses to create my sense of freedom. That is the chief measurement of success for me - do I feel happy, wealthy, free?
Unfortunately, freedom is very loosely defined. I have yet to find a singular definition I completely agree with. The closest I have come to is “the ability to choose”, but ability to choose doesn’t help much if your options are poor or you are unaware of what options exist. As such, I often like to revisit my own definitions of freedom to make sure I am optimising for the right things.
This quote from Hormozi reminded me of an important facet of freedom - opportunity to be engaged.
Are you more free in an engaging job where you have little control or choice of direction, or being so rich that you could choose to do anything but nothing truly engages you or gives you pleasure?
As with everything, there are balances to be had. We need to remember what freedom means to us. We need to make sure our businesses are optimised to produce the freedom we truly desire.
👋 Want to work together?
When you’re ready, here are 2 ways I can help you:
🔍 Clarity Call - We will discuss your situation and create a step-by-step action plan together so you know exactly what you need to do next for maximum impact
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That's it! I can't wait to hear what you think. What did you find most useful? What do you want more or less of? Reply to this email now and let me know
Also, if you have anything interesting to share, I want to know about it😊
Have a great week,
John
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