Motivated by Boredom

Business brain episode 602 for Wednesday, November 27th. Drinks giving 2024. Greetings, folks, and welcome to Business Brain, the show where we take a few ideas, we dissect them, we crunch them, we use them to tune our business brains, making it a little bit easier each week to live those charmed lives we love. Sponsors for this episode include incogni.com brain that's where you can go. And use Code brain to get 60% off an annual plan. We'll talk more about that in a little bit. For now, here as usual in Durham, New Hampshire, I'm Dave Hamilton and I'm.

Out here in Northern California still. I'm Shannon Jean and I'm happy to be here, man.

Yeah, happy. Cheers to drinks giving here.

So I love that.

Sure.

We had our friend. Friends giving last Friday night, which was terrific. It was great. It was really cool. Yeah, it was good.

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Sweet Josh.

Yeah, Amazing Josh.

That's cool.

And businessbrain.com review, that's where you can go. And it's as easy as Josh made it sound. So thank you for that.

Terrific, man.

Yep.

Hey, I. I came across, I'm working on this new project.

Okay.

And it's. It's a course teaching, you know, it's. I've done a bunch of guides, but this is really the most kind of robust course I've ever developed.

Okay.

Fair.

Yeah.

Very different. The guides are quicker put up and all this kind of stuff. And as part of the process, you know, I need to build a landing page to send people to, like, learn about the course, sign up and all this kind of stuff. And as I mentioned to you before, we did the show, it learning about landing pages or this, maybe a sales page, I don't know what you call it. It's totally different than any other sort of design I've ever done it. I mean, it is so uncomfortable for me to build this thing this way yet every other course and Successful teacher, entrepreneur. They build them very similar to this method.

Are you like telling a story in the page and then eventually giving people a place to sign up or.

Here's the way it works, okay? You have this top section, right? And that's kind of your hero section. So there's a video there that talks about, course, that's me. I'm talking yada, yada, yada, that's you. And then there's a button that says, great, but get it now. And then you scroll down the next section and it's like, oh, convince me a little bit more. And there's a little bit more about it. And there's another button that says, buy it now. And then you scroll down the page a little more and it says, well, maybe I need a little more information about this, this and that. There's another button and it's over and over and over and it's like, so.

You don't just have one buy now button, but you're. You're walking people. You're letting people go as far as they need to go.

Yes, exactly.

And every turn you are offering them the opportunity to. Now the buy button goes to the same place every time.

It goes to the bottom of the page where you can buy the thing, right?

And I would never design a page that way.

So I ask some people that, you know, that I know. I'm like, hey, what do you guys think of this? Just like, oh, it's. It's so busy. And it's that and it's this. I'm like, that's what I thought. I'm all, I've done. This is not right. But then I had someone chime in that says, hey, this is exactly the way. He had, you know, some comments, you should I suggest you change this or whatever the color scheme, which I'm still working on. But he said, I went to a conference that was all about lead generation and landing pages.

Oh, wow.

Exactly the way. This is like. It's like science. And the methodology is you get some people that come in, they're going to watch my video and they're going to say, oh, I want this now. But there'll be other people that say, well, I want to learn a little bit more. And then they'll buy it. And then the next group will say, I still don't believe it. I want some testimonials. And then they'll buy it and it all the way down the page to the, to the end, where you're just like, hey, here's everything. If you've had it all. You've had it all, but it is scrolling through your phone. I feel like it never ends.

And this, I think that might be the point.

Yes. That's his comment. He's like, oh, yeah, it's as much as you want or as little as you want. And he's like, you're going to get. And we track the, the call to action buttons each have their own tracking, of course, so you could see who's, you know, how many people are buying in the first section and the second and the third and the fourth and the fifth and the sixth and seventh and eighth. And I, I, it's so weird.

I can't wait to hear about your metrics on this.

Yeah, it's.

No, I mean, it makes sense, right? You know, we, I guess we were having a conversation. It was actually with one of our agency partners. They're bringing on a new client that's new to the agency, and we're. One of the first shows, you know, one, one or more of our shows is, is, you know, the first things that they're pitching because they know our shows perform and we, you know, we're, we're gonna, we're gonna put on a good face that's gonna make the agency look good to their client. Right. So, but it's very early in the relationship between the agency and this client. And so it's like we give them all the information and they come back and it's like, oh, well, what about this? And what about this? And what is the job description of the people that listen to this show? And finally I said, you know, it reminded me of many other things in life, but one of them specifically was the whole mortgage process where I, they will just keep asking for information until, I mean, until the day the note is supposed to close. Right. Like, that's, that's because then they, they have no reason to ask after that date. And I've learned with mortgage brokers or banks, lenders in general, that, that they'll, I tell them right up front, you have until this day, which is usually like two weeks before it's supposed to close, to Ask me for anything you want.

Everything. Yeah.

And I will get it to you. But after that day, the only thing you can call and tell me is that you will not be writing me the note. You don't have enough information.

Yeah. Yeah.

And that way I know I have time to go to somebody else because I can't have you dragging this along up until the end. And I know that's a Good.

I like that. That strategy. That's really smart.

Yeah, it's. Well, it stops the tire kicking, and that's what. You're actually encouraging the tire kicking with your funnel. But you don't get to. Well, the difference is you don't get to be there with them in the moment in an interactive conversation. So you have to set it up so that they feel comfortable with you. Like, when I tell the bank, I come in super confident. I know that this is going to work. I also know you need information. We're going to draw a line on this date that seems so far into the future, the day I say it, but when it happens, they're like, what do you mean? Like, oh, don't you remember? Oh, yeah, we do remember.

I'm going to use that trick.

Yeah, no, it's great. And it works most of the time. Sometimes you say, well, we can't do it without this. And. And then I get to decide, am I going to walk away or am I going to bend my own rules? And it's fine. Like, either way, I have no ego in this. It's just, I stop the. I need to know that it's gonna happen. I got other things to worry about. But you're encouraging that very natural human behavior of tire kicking. Right? And I say tire kicking because that's what people that are buying cars, they already have all the information they need, and then they kick the tires one more time to make sure that this is the right car. It's like, dude, you already freaking know everything.

It's fascinating. And I was so happy that I, you know, someone in my peer group that had, you know, has experience doing this stuff. It was like, oh, no, you're right. I was like, oh, okay. Because I was trying to use these best practices. And I was like, how can these be best practices? But they are. And. And some of the people that, you know, do millions of dollars in courses, when I go look at those pages, they look just like. Just like that. And so it's cool. So I'm learning something new, which is always really important to me. That's what I'm here for, man.

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Too often than I would like to admit.

It happens, you know.

Yeah.

It doesn't matter how much stuff you have going on, you can still fall into that. That boredom rut.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, I was thinking about this the other day and trying to. I tell my story a lot. I talk to a lot of young people, entrepreneurs, getting going, and I. I always try to preface when I tell the story, like, hey, I get to tell my story in reverse. So it makes me sound much smarter than I really am.

Right.

I mean, because it just doesn't.

Of course it does.

You.

Yeah, the way you skip. You skip the tangents, of course, that are immaterial and wasted your time. Yeah.

And you're jumping years. Right. Oh, and then I was this. And then I did this. So as I was thinking about, I'm trying to come up with a way to tell my story without, you know, I want to encourage them. Not, you know, where they. People feel intimidated or whatever or think, oh, that's unattainable. But. And a big thing I realized as I was driving the other day is I'm motivated by boredom. That's the biggest part that has got. Biggest issue that has propelled me forward. And I was like, man, that's kind of weird. We need to talk about this on the show.

I've. I've noticed it for me too. It. It's. Yeah. When I'm. I get everything kind of rolling and that's nice, because usually what precedes that is mayhem. Right. You know, you're going in 16 different directions, working late hours. May.

I like the mayhem.

I do, too. But it is.

It can't do it forever. It's not sustainable.

It's not sustainable all the time. You know, you do it for a period and. And you don't get to pick when the mayhem stops usually. Right.

You know, it.

You think it's going to stop, and then, oh, nope, got to put my foot back on the gas. Right. And then you get things to a point where it's like, all right, we're in maintenance mode. And that is attractive for a very brief period of time. Yeah, it is. It's like, okay, makes me feel good. Yeah. Wow. Seated. I got a plateau, right?

Yeah.

But then it's like, well, what's next? What's next?

Yes. And that's what. Looking back, you know, my first business, and it grew and it was all kinds of challenges. And we moved, you know, the first five years, I think we moved almost every year. We just kept growing and growing and growing. It was. It was chaos. It was mayhem. And I really thrive in there because I'm just like, look at this. This is amazing. Da, da, da, da.

And.

But it drives a lot of people, Other people crazy. But once we got to a certain size and hit that maintenance mode, I kind of found myself sitting in my office without much to do.

And that is. That is. You. You succeeded.

Yeah, but it's. It was kind of scary for me the first time because I was like, wow, is. Is that it? Is this. And I didn't really know or have the skill set yet, and enough knowledge that, okay, that was time to try something else. Experiment, either within the.

Within that business or a different.

Within that business.

Yeah.

And we did a lot of that, Experimented, tried new things. And because it was technology, we were constantly chasing, you know, what was the next thing? What could we sell? You know, it was floppy drives, then super drives, then, you know, everything you could imagine in between. But once I. The first time I went and started another company because I just had time, you know, and I think, well, I'll use some of these resources here, and I'll go do something. Then I got kind of bored there after a while. And you made that comment earlier, which I think is really poignant, is you never know when it's going to happen. And one of my weaknesses is I often don't act quick enough. I stick around waiting, like, okay, no, it's going to get engaging again. Something's.

Yeah, it was engaging. Yeah. And I'm comfortable with this. I made this. It's not new, so I'm not scared of this.

It's fun to talk about. Yeah. You know, they said everything and then. But the first time. And I've said this on the show, I think, before, is my wife pointed out, was like, hey, number one, nobody wants to hear your entrepreneurial bs. Don't walk around freaking out the employees. Because I would be like, hey, don't you want my job? Let's do something different. And they look at me like, no.

No, I don't want your job, dude.

I 100% want a paycheck. Yeah. Correct. So I had. Okay, I have to stop that because I realized I was really talking to myself.

Right.

Because I was bored.

But it's like, there's a. I know we've done episodes on it. It's probably worth doing it again at some point. So the idea of. I always. When I started out, I. I wanted to treat my employees like I would want to be treated if I was in their shoes. Well, I mean, that's a. That's a noble position to take. It is a whole. It is wholly incorrect, however.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yes.

Because that's scary, people.

It is scary to them. Yeah. And then the other thing she told me one time, which I'll just never forget, was she was like, nobody needs you here anymore. And I was. I just thought, how can that be? I'm so important. You know, I came up with this. My me, my partner and I. This doesn't work without us.

Yeah.

She was like, it totally works without you. That's why you have time. That's why you're walking around.

Yes.

That's why you're in everybody else's, up in their grill, talking to them, and you're standing in my office right now instead of working some mayhem on the next thing, you know, so that.

Wait, there's something there. All the things you just described sort of casually in passing, those are all indicators that it's time to do the next thing. To stick in the framework of the topic we've chosen to call this. Those are all indicators that you are bored.

Yes.

And they are. Right.

Yeah.

And so when those things start happening routinely, that's when it's time to either grow, like you said, within the current business or start something outside of it.

Yeah. Yeah. Because, I mean, I'd be walking around the warehouse, and I could just see people looking at me like, what is he doing back here? Why Is he here? You know, is this a project? Yeah. Nobody wants the boss around. It's just the way it is. And nobody wants you there.

Yeah.

You try to, you know, barbecue for everybody on Friday so you can come together, they're fine. But if you're. Yeah. If you're looking over their shoulder, you know, they're like, hey, you know what. What's. What's the deal?

Am I doing something wrong? That's it. Am I doing something wrong?

Yeah. Am I doing something wrong? So I. I think that the. The key takeaway here from this episode is knowing what those symptoms of, quote, being bored and. Or that you need to go out. And. Like, in my case, I wanted to jump back into the mayhem, and I did it a bunch of times. I would say most of them didn't go anywhere. Sure. But enough of them went somewhere to make all the difference, and it was more engaging. It was. It was. That was my. That was the way I like to operate. I just had to learn that nobody else is crazy and has my lizard brain and wants to jump around to 50 different things.

I mean, unless. Well, you will occasionally, very occasionally find an employee who has that. That tendency. And that's great. You can. You can leverage that. Or they usually leave or encourage them to go start their own thing. Well, eventually, that's what will happen, and that's great.

It is.

Yeah. But. But, yeah. Yeah. It's just. It's a different mindset, and both are. I was going to say both are okay. Both are necessary. It's. It's what makes things work.

Yeah, I guess so. And it's not that it's unique to me. It's just my experience. And I thought, I'm going to use this concept more as I discuss, you know, the. The journey that I've been on and how it wasn't just like, I had this plan of, okay, I'm gonna start this business, and I'm gonna start that business, and I'm gon. That it was okay, this is working, or if it's not working, I have to double down and keep going or change it. But once it was working, it was kind of time for me to step aside to let everybody else do it, do it. That was better at maintenance and the management of it. I'm a way better leader than I am manager.

Oh, I feel like you stole my line. I love it.

I'm sure I stole it.

No, you definitely stole that from me. I love that. That's great.

Of course.

That's great.

That's awesome. That's what we. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know, if, if I'd love to get, you know, hear what you think feedback@businessbrain.show. how do you manage when this stuff starts happening for you? And has it paralyzed you, which sometimes it has for me, too. Or has it pushed you ahead to do the next thing and start something new?

Love it. And you've also inspired me. I added another topic to a for a future episode, but I am going to leave that unsaid right now because I think it will be better when framed. Keep Living that charmed life feedback at businessbrain show and businessbrain.com review help us all. Keep living that charmed life and we'll see you on Friday.