How to Become More Valuable When Information Is Everywhere

Hey, good morning everybody, how are you? This is Chad Thibodeaux. Welcome to another Monday Morning Mentor. Today what I want to do is I want to talk with you about how to become more valuable in a world where information is everywhere. Okay, how to become more valuable in a world where information is everywhere. Now, What I mean by that is back when I first got into coaching, we wanted to get paid for what we know. In fact, that was the whole point and the whole premise of everything that we did was I know something and I just, I want to get paid for it. And for a long time, that was one of the easiest ways to become valuable was to know something that other people did not know. I mean, you had information, you had experience, you had access. You probably read the books, attended the conferences, you learned the system, you developed the skill, and you figured something out that your customer had not figured out yet. In fact, I remember when I first got into coaching, a buddy of mine by the name of James gave me a Michael Hyatt book, and it was a book that like radically transformed my life. It was called Platform: How to Get Noticed in a Noisy World. And I remember reading that and all these light bulbs just started coming on. I would take that information and I would apply it to my own life and to my own business. And like, man, this is what I can do. And so I packaged the information, I put it into a course, I created a coaching program, I even wrote a book. Okay. I hosted workshops, I built memberships, and people paid me a lot of money to learn what I knew. But unfortunately for so many of us, this model of teaching people what you know has sort of passed us by a little bit. And so many of you are still trying to make money trying to sell people what you know. But the model is changing. And it's not because information has stopped being important. It's always going to be important. But it's not that information has stopped being important. It's information has become abundant. And now your prospect or your customer can ask ChatGPT or Claude or any AI platform a question and they can receive an answer in seconds. They can search YouTube and find thousands of tutorials. They can listen to podcasts or download PDFs or buy inexpensive courses. They can follow experts. They consume more information in one week than previous generations could access in, in, in months. And so the problem is no longer where can I find the information? The problem now is what do I do with all of this information? And that changes where our value comes from because it used to be that if you were the smartest person in the room, you were offering the most amount of value as anyone in the room. But now because information is so readily available and there are people a lot smarter than you and AI that's a lot smarter than you that can produce that information, the people who remain valuable are, are going through 3 different levels. They're gonna have to do 3 different things. And so what I wanna do is I wanna share my screen., and I wanna show you how to remain valuable, how to become and remain valuable. So here's what it looks like, okay? So I'm gonna follow my good old buddy John Turner, and I'm gonna create a Venn diagram for you, okay? Now don't laugh at my Venn diagram, they're never any good, but you'll get the idea, okay? You'll get the idea of this. So what we know is right here in the middle of the Venn diagram is our sweet spot. Okay, this is our sweet spot right here, okay? And this ultimately is where, where what we're gonna call value, this is where the ultimate amount of value comes in right here, okay? Is the sweet spot. So we know for many years that information has been like the sweet spot of value, right? We just know that. In fact, we said that we live In the Information Age. But there's two other things, actually there's really three other things that I want to do with you this morning is I want to show you how to get paid a lot of money, not just for what you know. But the, the other two boxes, and then I'm going to transfer the outcome here, that I want you to know is what we call interpretation. Okay, I can't write all that in there. Interpretation, and then this box is what we call implementation. Okay, so you have here— let me just make this nice and clean. My— the Virgo in me is freaking out right now. Okay, and so we have what's called— this is implementation here. That's better. So you have information, interpretation, and and implementation. Okay, and then what happens is, is when these 3 things come together, now we're not trying to add value. What we're trying to do is we're trying to bring what's called a transformation. So tune me in here because I'm going to show you how to do this because value is what you used to have to provide to get paid. Now transformation is what you have to get, have to provide in order to get paid. And there's a combination of information interpretation and implementation. Okay, and what we know is that the information economy is really changing. Okay, how many of us have ever bought a course, watched a couple modules, and never finished it? Well, that's most people, right? Was it because the information was bad? Probably not. Some of the best courses in the world have terrible completion rates. The reason is, is because information was never the entire problem. Think about weight loss, okay? Most people already know some version of what they need to do. They need to eat better, they need to move more, they need to sleep, they need to drink water, they need to manage their calories, they need to lift weights. They don't necessarily need another 83-page PDF explaining carbohydrates or calorie deficit, okay? They don't need that. The gap is between knowing and doing. Think about business. Most entrepreneurs already know that they should create content. They already know that they should follow up. They already know that they should talk to prospects. They already know that they should improve the offer. They already know that they should ask for referrals or track the numbers or make sales calls. And so the problem is rarely that they, they've never heard of those things. The problem is deciding which one should I do or how should I do it or what should I do first? What applies to my specific situation? How do I know whether I'm doing it correctly or not? What do I change when it doesn't work? This is where the opportunity is. The opportunity is between the knowing and the doing, okay? So I just want you to show this, show you this. So you have the know and then you have the do, right? And so this is the knowing, is the information. Okay, so the old equation sort of was, we looked at it like this, okay? I know something you don't know, therefore you pay me to tell you. That was the old equation. The new value equation, the new transformation equation, increasingly looks like, you know, we both have access to information, but I know how to evaluate it, I know how to apply it, I know how to sequence it, I know how to customize it, and I know how to execute, okay? So I want you to look at this here. So when we're looking at interpretation, This is what I want you to think about, okay? Do you know how to evaluate it? Okay? Do you know how to evaluate the information in what you got? I'm gonna get a different color, I don't like red, okay? So do you know how to evaluate it? Do you know how to apply it? Do you know how to sequence it? Okay? Do you know how to customize it? Okay, and then do you know how to execute it? Okay, so these are the 5 things that you're looking for when you're trying to start a business that just makes a lot of sense for your ideal client. You want to ask yourself, okay, here's the information that we both have access to. Okay, I may be able to deliver the information a little bit different, but I know something that you don't, and that is I know how to evaluate it, I know how to apply it, I know how to sequence it, I know how to customize it, and I know how to execute. Okay, that's what you're looking for right there, is you can do those particular things with it. And if you can, now not only can you interpret, or excuse me, give them information, but now you can interpret the information, okay? And so the idea says this, okay? The idea is that there are 7 ways that you could solve this, and that's knowledge, okay? So the idea is, is you don't want to just give information, but you want to give knowledge, okay? Knowledge says there's 5, 6, 7 different ways that you could solve this. Judgment says, based upon your situation, I would choose number 3. That's where expertise comes in. So, so information would say, hey, there's 7 ways to solve this, but your particular judgment that you've acquired based upon years of acumen, say, based upon your situation, I would choose this particular way to do it. And that's where the expertise comes in. That's the key distinction. Because information will give people options, but expertise helps people make decisions. And most people don't need more options. What they need is they need better decisions. And so, what we're doing is we're moving from an information economy into a decision economy. I want you to write that down. Okay, if you're going to add value and ultimately transformation to your audience, you need to move them from an information economy, okay, into a decision economy. Information, yes, is good, but decision is better. So, it reminds me, there's a really big guru, his name is Peng Joon, and Peng is an awesome marketer. If you ever get a chance to learn from him and study from him, he's great. I bought a program from his, it was really expensive, it was like 10 grand. And when I got the program, I was so— I didn't buy the coaching with it. I just bought the program and it was expensive. It was expensive. It was like 10 grand. And I got this information and I opened up the portal and it just had, whoa, all this information in it. And it was overwhelming to be honest with you. But I didn't want to pay the $25,000, which is the information with a coach. I didn't want to do that. But as I look back at that, that was almost $10,000 wasted dollars because I still have access to all of that information, but it's given me 700 options. And what I really needed was I really needed a coach to come in and say, let me evaluate your current situation, and based upon your current situation, here's the decision that I would make. And so when you're beginning to move from, from, from information to transformation, then you have to be able to evaluate, apply, sequence, customize, and execute the information for your clients, and that helps them make a decision. Decision. And when they can make a better decision and they can make that decision faster, well, really good things are going to be on the forefront, okay? So, information says, "What do I need to know?" There's nothing wrong with it. You know, we still need to teach, we still need courses, we still need books, we still need frameworks, we still need all the explanations. But information is becoming the easiest layer of your expertise to replicate. If the entire value prop of your business is I'll teach you something, then you need to pay attention because your customers have more teachers available to them than ever before. Now, before I move on, what does information look like? Okay. So, because I'm running into this a lot with some of the newer people that we're coaching. Okay. So just so we're on the same page, information are things like modules, videos, lessons, checklists, books, podcasts, tutorials. Prompts, templates, webinar, those are the— that's information and all of it can be valuable. Yes, they're assets but they're not necessarily the highest form of expertise, okay? And you get in trouble when you create a program and think value means putting more information inside of it, okay? So, you don't need 27 videos, you don't need 14 worksheets, you don't need 6 bonus trainings, You don't need a vault, you don't need a resource center, you don't need another certification, you don't need another 90-minute training. They have all of that. Eventually, the offer becomes Netflix for education. We don't need that. There's more information than your client can consume, okay? That's not value. That's not value, okay? You need to be able to help them interpret that value. Okay, now let's look at interpretation. What does this mean for me? Is this where— this is where expertise starts becoming extremely valuable when you can do that. Now let's move to the third layer. Okay, we've tackled information and we've tackled, we've tackled interpretation. Now what I want to do is I want to go to the implementation model. Okay, implementation answers What are we exactly going to do? Okay. This is where the separation gets even bigger because people don't ultimately want information. They want movement. Okay. They want the website built. They want the offer launch. They want the sales conversion handled. They want the book written. They want the weight gone. They want the event filled. Okay. They want the business profitable. They want the relationship repaired. They want something to change. And information tells them, tells them what they need to do, interpretation helps them make a decision, but implementation helps them do it. Okay, so let me repeat that: information tells them what to do, interpretation helps them decide what they should do, but implementation helps them do it. And implementation is not always done for you, and that's important. When I say implementation, I'm not saying that you need to become an agency and and do everything for them. Okay, implementation can, can look like done with you, or it can look like accountability, or it can look like live working sessions, or it can look like templates, or it can look like reviews and feedback, or milestones, or deadlines. It can look like weekly priorities. It can look like personal roadmaps, or hot seats, or office hours, or project management, or scorecards. It can look like progress tracking. It also can look like AI support. It can look like real-time coaching. Implementation means your offer is designed around action instead of consumption. Okay? I want you to remember that. Okay? I want you to write that down. Okay? What you need to know is you're looking for, for action. Oops. You're looking for action over consumption. Consumption. Okay, you're looking for action over consumption. One of the worst questions that we can ask is, hey, did you watch that module? Honestly, who cares? Did they do the thing? Imagine hiring a personal trainer and the trainer says, hey, great news, you watched all 48 of my videos about squats. Wonderful. Can you squat? Did you get stronger? Did anything change? See, that's the difference. Completion is not transformation. Okay, so what you want to do is you want to be able to build. When we're looking here, I'm gonna see if I can clear this out here. What you're looking for here is, is you're looking at— scoot this over the side— you're looking at this implementation right here. You're looking at Milestones. You're looking at milestones when it comes time for providing implementation, okay? So instead of asking what modules should my program have, ask what must my client have completed by the end of week 1? That's a milestone. Then what must be completed by the end of week 2? That's a milestone. What decision must be made? What asset must exist? What behavior must change? What number should improve, what conversation needs to happen. And now what you're doing is you're beginning to design around implementation. One of the biggest struggles that we can have, okay, listen to me, one of the biggest struggles that we can have around adding value and transformation is simply telling somebody what to do without giving them a milestone of when to do it and how to do it, okay? And that's a huge, huge issue. Okay. So I want you to, to be able to tell them exactly what it is that they need to do and when they need to do it. So week program structure is like week 1 branding, week 2 marketing, week 3 sales, week 4 mindset. That's week. An implementation-focused structure is choose your one market and write your positioning statement or build the offer or create the first 100-person prospect list or begin outreach and book 10 conversations. That's implementation. So stop building programs around what you want to teach and start building them around what the client needs to complete. The implementation asks after every lesson, what should the client do differently because they learned this? Now I'm going to have to do something very tacky and I apologize about that, but I just realized my computer is not plugged in and it's down to 2%. So un momento. Un momento. This is implementation. Information says your computer must be plugged in. Implementation is plugging it in. There we go. Sorry about that, gang. I was a little tacky, but hey, great, great point to prove that you can see the difference there between information and and implementation. If all I did was teach you that your computer needs to be plugged in but I never held you accountable on plugging it in, well, it probably, it probably would have died, okay? And so, let's finish this training up. But because I just plugged it in, I don't have my iPad anymore. So, I apologize about that. But I lost a plug, the extension to my laptop. So, it barely plugs in. It's all good, okay? Now, let's go to Level 4, okay? So, Level 4, I'm going to hold this up for you. Level 4 is the transformation. Transformation, okay? This is the biggest level. Transformation says, who or what is different because we did this? And this is honestly where the best coaches, consultants, mentors, educators, leaders operate, right here. The customer does not ultimately want implementation either. Really what they want is they want the difference implementation brings, okay? And this is really where we need to reconnect everything back to outcomes, okay? So information says, "Here's how to make a sales call." Interpretation would say, "Here's why your sales calls are not converting." Implementation would say, "Let us rewrite the script, role-play it, make calls, and review the recordings." But transformation says, "You can now confidently lead sales conversations and consistently enroll clients." That's really what we're looking for, and that's the journey. And if there's a mistake that I see so many of my clients make that I don't want you to make, is that they're really good with information. They may even get good with interpretation. They may even rock and roll the implementation, but sometimes they forget about the transformation. And so you got to start with the transformation and work and work backwards. Okay, so information, here's what you need to know. Interpretation, here's what it means for you. Okay, and implementation is here, here's what we're going to do. But transformation is now, here is what is now different. And every time you move down that list, your value becomes less dependent on content and more dependent on expertise. And that's why you're valuable, because you have expertise. Other people can have the information, but not everybody has the expertise. So here's what I want you to do. Let's sort of stress test your offer here, okay? Where does the client actually experience transformation? Okay, not where do they learn about it, but where does it happen? What part of your program creates the breakthrough, okay? What part creates the decision? What part creates the action? What part of your program creates the accountability? What part creates the result? Then once you know the answers to those questions, then you can build more of the offer around those particular moments, okay? So I want you to stress test your, your offer, okay? And I want you to take your offer that you currently sell And let's see if I can, if I can do this on my, my board. Okay, so what I like to do is I like to create 4 columns. Okay, okay, so I like to create 4 columns. Okay, and I'm sorry that I can't shoot this up there to you, but my— I've only got 1 plug and all the other plugs are in my bag. And so I didn't realize that my computer was so low on juice when I started the this morning, but we're gonna, we're gonna get through it, okay? So what I want you to do is in column 1, okay, column 1, you're gonna put information, so info. Column 2, you are going to put interpretation. Column 3, you're going to put implementation. And then column 4, you're gonna put transformation. Okay, column 4. So it would look something, it would look something like this if you guys are doing this at home. Okay, information, interpretation, implementation, and transformation. Okay, and so what we're going to do is we're going to go through each one of these columns, and here's, here's how you're going to stress this, okay? So in column 1, it's what are you teaching? Okay, so what videos, modules, PDFs, frameworks, templates, or resources are included in that? Okay, and you're just going to write them down. Okay, you're gonna write them down, and then you're gonna ask yourself, could the client get similar information somewhere else? And you're gonna be honest, okay? And if the answer is yes, that does not mean it has no value. It means information cannot be the only thing that carries your voice and carries your price, okay? Column 2, under the interpretation, then you're gonna ask Where do they receive your judgment? Okay, where do they get your eyes on it? Where do they see your judgment? Where do you help them make a decision? And the decisions that you're going to help them make are like, what matters? Or what comes first? Or what applies? Or what does not apply? Or what needs to change? Or where are they stuck? What does their situation require? If there's no answer there, then you need to add the third layer, which is implementation. Where do they actually do the work? So like, what gets built? What gets completed? What gets submitted? What gets practiced? What gets reviewed? What gets measured? Where does accountability actually happen? Okay, and if the answer is mostly that they need to watch the videos and, and then hopefully implement, or maybe get on a group call with me somewhere, okay, then you, you have an opportunity. You have an opportunity to add massive value, and that's what Column 4, which is the transformation. And this is where you answer the question: what is measurably different at the end? Can you point to something? Can you point to that they have a new offer? Can you point to they have a new client or a completed book or a launched business or a stronger team or a different habit or some number that they're trying to go after that's changed, or some problem that they want solved is now solved? Do they have a new capability Do they have a better result? If the transformation is vague, then the offer will probably feel vague too, okay? So the shift that we're gonna make is we're not necessarily going to add more, okay? What we're gonna do is we're gonna move the value. We're gonna move the value from information all the way over to interpretation, all the way over to implementation, and all the way over to transformation. We're going to move them one column to the right every time that they're with us. Okay, so instead of another 60-minute video, create a, create a diagnostic. Instead of creating another module, create a decision tree. Instead of creating another PDF, review their actual work. Instead of another bonus, give them a milestone. Instead of another training, create a working session. Instead of adding 10 more lessons, tell them exactly which 3 matter for their situation. Instead of teaching them 10 or 12 different options, recommend one. That's what ex— uh, what your ultimate expertise will look like, and that's what they will pay you for. So I hope that this has helped you. I hope that you can see that you have a bigger opportunity in the marketplace. This is how AI is not going to replace you, because, you know, because they can generate a business plan, you know, You can, but you can sit across from the business owner and say, you know, you're avoiding the one decision your business actually requires. And honestly, when AI tells them that and when you tell them that, it's different. Okay, it's different. And that's why I don't think that the response to AI should be, you know, how can I create even more information? I think the response should be, how can I become more valuable beyond information? By offering interpretation, by offering implementation, and ultimately by offering transformation. Alright gang, I hope that that was helpful to you and that the information that you're learning today, you won't just learn it, but you'll, you'll maybe jump on a call with me and let me interpret it for you and help me, help me show you, let me show you how to implement that and maybe even bring an ultimate transformation. Alright guys, God bless you. We'll see you next week on the Monday Morning Mentor.