#367: How to Use First-Principles Thinking to Fix Your Mental Blind Spots and Transform Your Free...

Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast, helping you propel your writing business to a whole new level. And now, here's your host, Ed Gandia. Hey there. Welcome to another episode of the High Income Business Writing Pod. Possibilities they couldn't see before become obvious solutions that they may have dismissed as impossible. Start looking. Not just possible, but even practical. At least some version of it starts feeling practical to them. In fact, if I could urge you to spend more time, focus and energy on improving one thing this year from a mindset perspective. I mean, there's so many things to work on, but honestly, just a handful of things that you're going to make all the difference from. From a mindset perspective, there was one thing that I would pick to really dial in this year. It would be to learn how to spot, question and unpack the assumptions that you're making when you're trying to solve a problem in your business. It really is that important. So let's talk about what I like to call the assumption audit. This is your first step to uncovering the unspoken rules that you've been following. Think of these assumptions as invisible guardrails. They keep you safely within familiar territory, which sounds great, but here's the thing. They also prevent you from exploring potentially transformative paths. The most dangerous assumptions are often the ones that seem so obviously true that we just never think to question them. And that's all of us, isn't it? Right? These are the things that they're a heuristic, right? A shortcut, a thinking shortcut that serves us many times, in fact, maybe even most of the time. But there are many, many times when they still get in our way and we don't even notice it because these, they have served us so well for so long. So step one of this assumption audit is defining your sticking point. Before we can challenge assumptions, we first need to surface them. So ask yourself, what is the number one challenge in your business right now? What's the biggest decision you've been avoiding? Now, these might seem like simple questions, but don't rush past them. The way you frame your problem often holds the key to your solution. When you answer these questions, I want you to pay attention to your immediate emotional response. Because often the frustration or the anxiety you feel when thinking about a challenge is a signal pointing to underlying assumptions that need some probing, need some examination. All right, I know that sounds a little abstract, so let me give you a few examples of what I hear from freelancers all the time. And this is a short list. I mean, I could go on For a while. And no judgment, by the way, but this is what I've been hearing a lot of. I can't find or land higher paying clients. I'm overwhelmed and I don't know what to focus on. LinkedIn is not helping me generate client leads. I'm not getting any likes or comments on LinkedIn or, you know, fill in the blank, whatever social media platform. So I'm going to stop using it because it's a waste of my time. AI has taken over and I'm worried about my future as a writer. I could go on and on, but any of these sound familiar? I bet at least one of them feels sounds familiar. All right, so again, you have to really get clear on what assumptions you're making. Step two is to list every assumption you've made about your particular challenge. Remember, I asked you to ask yourself a couple of questions. Number one challenge in your business right now, and what's the biggest decision you've been avoiding? So this step is all about listing every assumption you are making about those things. And I mean every single one. Because very often the ones you really need to address are the ones that come up a little bit toward the end of your brainstorming, like after 10 or 15 minutes of writing down assumptions that come to mind. And what I want you to do for each of these challenges that you're facing. And I want you to ask yourself the following powerful questions. What do I believe to be true about this problem? What do I believe is stopping me from solving it? And what solutions have I already ruled out and why? Here's the thing. Most of our assumptions feel like objective truths, but they're often just stories we tell ourselves based on past experiences or just inherited beliefs from others. And you know, we use stories because that's the way our brains work. We're wired to think through stories and we use them to try and make sense of our world. That's what our brain does. It generates stories to put issues to rest. But we rarely stop and question the stories. They're just running again, like automatic software running in our minds. So let's look at an example. Let's say that your challenge is the big challenge. I can't find higher paying clients. Well, when you look at your assumptions, they might include things like, higher paying clients are rare. I need a bigger portfolio before I can charge more. People won't pay premium prices for my services. I need more credentials or experience to charge higher fees. All the good clients are already taken by established writers. There's none left for me. Right. You could keep going on. Let's just say that you're working with those. So let's take another common challenge. AI is replacing writers, reducing demand, driving prices down. Your assumptions for that might include clients prefer AI generated content because it's cheaper or clients know how to coax the best copy and content from AI tools, so they really have no use. For me, the demand for human written content is shrinking fast. Writing won't be a viable profession in five years. I can't compete with AI, speed and cost effectiveness. The market will only get worse from here. Right? You probably all sound familiar if that's one of the challenges or fears that you're really working through. And you have to understand that at least one of these assumptions is likely false or incomplete and probably more than one. And by that, I mean that the version of the assumption you're making is not quite right or just flat out wrong. And that's where the opportunity lies. So the goal isn't to prove all your assumptions are wrong, but really to identify which ones deserve closer examination. The most dangerous assumptions often feel so true. Again, you've just been running them in an endless loop for so long that you never think to question them. And this is where first principles thinking comes in. First principles thinking and problem solving is the practice of breaking down complex problems into their fundamental truths and reasoning up from there. And this is one of the secret ingredients of my coaching engagements with clients. It's one of the most powerful coaching strategies I use to craft effective solutions and bust through big problems. I don't flat out just say it, okay, we're going to go through this first principles problem solving framework, I just start going down a different line of questioning. So instead of relying on conventional wisdom or industry norms, what we do together, my clients and I, as we analyze what's objectively true and build solutions from the ground up, this approach is powerful because it strips away the layers of, again, assumptions, opinions, quote, unquote, common knowledge that often cloud our judgment. In alliance with this broader approach of prioritizing what we really need to focus on, we don't have all the time in the world, we don't have all the resources in the world. So we do need to focus on the things that are really going to move the needle. And sometimes, very often when we take this approach, we can start identifying those things that are really going to get us what we want faster. Here's a great example. And this has been an approach that many businesses, business leaders of extremely successful individuals in many different professions have used One person that comes to mind is the late Charlie Munger, who's Warren Buffett's longtime business partner at Berkshire Hathaway. Now, most investors would get caught up, and still do, in market trends in complex financial models. But Munger realized that that wasn't really the solution. That wasn't the best approach. He stripped investing down to its bare fundamentals. And he famously said, take a simple idea and take it seriously. So instead of chasing hot stocks or complex investment strategies, he focused instead on businesses that had durable competitive advantages. Businesses that had strong, dependable, honest management and a very strong management track record. And companies that had fair prices for their customers. His investment focus was all about highlighting intrinsic value and long term growth. Okay, so none of this, you know, hot tech stocks, biotech, nothing like that. In fact, most of their investments over the years have been really boring established companies and very boring established industries. But you know what? It worked. He and Buffett ended up building one of the world's most successful conglomerates because they adhered to those principles. And it was this first principles analysis that helped Munger and Buffett see massive opportunities that others missed because they were the other people that were stuck with false assumptions about those boring businesses and their long term profit potential. Now, you don't have to be a billionaire or running a big company or a hedge fund to apply the same type of thinking. Instead of accepting the well, that's just how the industry works statements, ask yourself why. Dig deeper, look at the fundamental truths, and then build up from there. I'll tell you, I credit much of my success as both a freelance copywriter and as a business coach to my ignorance about how the business worked, about how the industry worked, about how this profession or freelancing or coaching worked. In terms of freelancing, I didn't come from the world of journalism or marketing, communications or even corporate marketing. I came from sales. I was a software sales rep writing my own sales materials. So I learned that it was actually that ignorance, if you will, that enabled me to be so successful so quickly, because I wasn't constrained by many assumptions that my smarter and way more established colleagues were making about what was possible. Now, I'm not saying that to brag. I'm only saying it to point out that sometimes going into a problem without the assumptions that everyone else is making is a blessing, not a curse. And I found the same thing in coaching. You know, I have colleagues who are coaches and very established coaches who, you know, when they launched their practice, I mean, they went deep into the coaching training and Coaching certifications realm and they studied coaching for a long, long time. And then eventually, months or years later, they launched their coaching practice. And you know, I'm not necessarily judging that, but I know that that wouldn't have worked for me because that would have kept me stuck in, in making a ton of assumptions that I wouldn't have made had I just approached it with kind of this mindset or this problem solving approach that I'm sharing with you right now. Things that have served me well in my years as a struggling sales rep, growing territories and just trying to make things happen with very few resources. And even though I felt at a disadvantage to many other coaches who had all these letters after their name and all these certifications, it actually ended up working in my favor because again, I wasn't making some of the same assumptions that could have held them back or what were holding them back to some degree in their businesses. So that's what I'm urging you to do here, is to challenge your assumptions. So this is where we're going to get practical. Let me show you how you can break down these assumptions into their core facts, which is really how you unpack them and you look at them for what they are. So let's start with that assumption that high paying clients are rare. All right, let's list some facts.

Fact.

Some freelancers charge $6,000 for a white paper.

Fact.

Businesses spend billions every year on content, design, consulting, publicity.

Fact.

My service solves real problems for businesses.

Fact.

Many businesses prioritize quality and results over cost.

Fact.

Many marketers don't have the time to shop around for days. They need to find someone who seems to be good enough, capable enough, so they can move on to the rest of their to do list.

Fact.

For a lot of clients, a low cost rider is a big red flag.

Fact.

The global market for freelance services continues to grow despite what you might hear out there, despite the headlines. So what's the new conclusion we can draw here? Well, high paying clients aren't rare. I just don't have a system to find them. Right. If you're in that situation and you look at these facts, you might arrive at that conclusion. The real constraint isn't market availability, but my approach to reaching and converting these prospects into clients. This leads to a new question. What systems do high earning freelancers, those who are steadily busy in book solid use to attract premium clients. How can I position my services to appeal to clients who prioritize value over costs? All right, so that starts leading you down a different path. A much More productive path. All right, let's look at the AI challenge and break down the assumption that AI is replacing riders and reducing demand.

Fact.

AI is improving efficiency, but an overwhelming number of businesses still want human insight, strategy, and storytelling.

Fact.

High quality content requires expertise, industry knowledge, and nuance, things that AI struggles with.

Fact.

Brands are using AI as a tool to enhance human writing, not replace it entirely.

Fact.

The demand for strategic content that drives business results is increasing.

Fact.

AI's limitations and understanding, context and nuance create new opportunities for human writers. I mean, to put it in context, this is like when I think of this assumption that, well, this tool is out there and now clients are using it to create the stuff that they were paying me for. You know, this is like the idea of me using Canva, the design tool, during the rare moments when I'm trying to create an image in Canva. And, you know, every time I go in there and try this, I regret it five minutes later because now I'm going down a rabbit hole. But of course, I got to finish the project, right? I'm like, I've already spent five minutes. I got to get it done. And every time I go in there and create something, even something simple, I look at what I've generated and. And I stare at it for a few minutes, and then I ask myself, huh, is this any good? Because honestly, I don't know. I don't know if you felt the same way. You look at it and you go, you know, I don't know. My intuition tells me this is just utter garbage, but I can't tell. Sure, I can create all kinds of assets with Canva, but I'm not a graphic designer, so there's a very good chance that I'm creating garbage. But someone with the right skills can use a tool like a real professional does and generate some pretty amazing deliverables. So, all right, what's our new conclusion here with the AI thing? Well, AI isn't making writing obsolete. It's just changing how writers add value. And it's going to continue to do that. The market isn't shrinking. It's evolving to favor writers who can combine human creativity with AI, AI efficiency. So the new question you could ask yourself here is, how can I position myself as a strategic writer who uses AI as a powerful tool for creating high quality work faster and scale their creativity, rather than seeing it as a threat? All right, now you've disassembled faulty assumptions. So now it's time to rebuild a better mental model. And this is where many people get stuck. They see flaws in their old assumptions, but struggle to replace them with more empowering beliefs. The key here is to approach this rebuilding phase with curiosity and creativity rather than certainty. You're not looking for perfect answers. You're looking for new possibilities to test. And this is where my perfectionists usually get stuck, because they think that we're trying to create things that are fully baked. And that is not the approach you really have to take a ready, fire, aim approach. With this next phase of problem solving, think of it as running experiments rather than making permanent changes. This experimental mindset is, again, it's critical. It takes the pressure off because you're not committing to a whole new belief system all at once. You're simply trying something new to see what happens. You have to look at it incrementally. You can't look at it as, by the end of this thing, I'm going to have this beautiful polished solution. No, no, no. It's an iterative experimental approach where you have to really be comfortable feeling uncomfortable working through the uncomfortable stuff that, you know, hey, may not work. You have to look at it more as play. And trust me, you did. At some point in your life, if you're having trouble with this, when you were a toddler, when you were five years old, you did this really, really well. Somewhere along the way, you, you forgot, you forgot what it was like to play, to experiment, to try to play in that sandbox and with no judgment, no self judgment, just for the sake of play, for the sake of trying, for the sake of seeing what happens when Thomas Edison, I'm sure you've heard the story a million times, and I'm sorry to use it here, but it really works. When he was asked about his many failed attempts at creating a working light bulb, he famously said, I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won't work. Each experiment gave him valuable data that eventually led to success. And I think that is really the spirit we have to embody during this process, because the same thing applies to your business assumptions. Each experiment, even ones that don't yield the results you hope for, gives you valuable information that gets you closer to a breakthrough. So let's talk about reframing questions. Here are some powerful questions to help you reframe the problem without limiting beliefs. If I had to solve this problem in 30 days, I absolutely had to. What would I do if I weren't allowed to believe X is impossible? X being whatever you're working through or whatever success would look like? What new solutions would I explore? So if I weren't allowed to believe X is impossible, what new solution solutions would I explore? What if I pretended that I've already solved the problem or reached the goal? How could I work backward from that by reverse engineering the solution in my imagination? That's one I love working with. What would someone with unlimited resources do to solve this? How would I approach this if failure wasn't possible? How might Steve Jobs, Arianna Huffington, or Serena Williams approach this challenge? What if I could witness that? What would my notes read like? What would I note? What would I see? What would I observe as I see them work through this challenge? What advice would I give someone else facing this exact challenge? So instead of thinking AI is replacing writers and I'm losing work, you could ask, what opportunities does AI create for skilled writers? How can I use AI to deliver more value to clients? One experiment, one idea would be to maybe position yourself as an AI enhanced content strategist who combines technology with human experience to deliver superior results and even more results, more assets the client can now use to improve their business. The reframing process here often reveals that what you thought was the problem was actually a symptom of a deeper opportunity. All right, next, you need to identify one new assumption to test. Ask yourself here, what's one new belief that, if true, would change everything? How can I test it this week? And what's the smallest experiment I could run to validate this new approach? As you can probably tell, the key here is to start small but act quickly. You don't want to let this momentum die. So don't try to overhaul everything at once. Just pick one new assumption and design a simple experiment to test it. So let me share a couple of examples. Your old assumption may have been, I need a huge portfolio to charge premium fees. A new assumption could be, one deep case study of exceptional results for a client is worth more than dozens of mediocre samples. So what could you test? Well, you could develop one comprehensive case study and use it to pitch five potential clients. Now, don't get caught up in the weeds here. Don't say, well, yeah, but I don't have a, you know, a client that I could do a case study for. This is just an example. I'm just trying to show you how you can work through this process to test a new idea. Like test a new idea very soon, not next quarter. Here's another example. An old assumption could have been, I need to compete with AI on speed and cost. Your new assumption might now be, well, by combining AI tools. With my strategic thinking, I can deliver more value than either AI or a traditional writer alone. So what could be a test here? Well, lots of ideas, but what if you created a client proposal that specifically outlines how you use AI to enhance, but not replace your creative process, and then pitch it to three existing clients or your next three prospects who've mentioned cost or efficiency concerns? One idea. And I heard something similar like this from an old coaching client of mine who actually did this very successfully. You could propose to deliver, let's say, 50% more assets for them, but for an incremental increase in your fee of, say, 25% more. So way more work for half the cost of what that would be. And you might say, well, gosh, that's not right. I don't want to do more work for less. You're not sure you're doing more work, but it's asymmetrical because if you have the right tools, you can actually crank out way more than you think. Maintain the quality, but do it at a fraction of the time that it would have cost you to do it. Now, the client wins. Here again, this is just an example, a sample test, but the client wins because let's say in this situation they needed more assets, more deliverables. Let's say it's a young company and you know they couldn't afford everything you had proposed. Well, now they can get it all, but for only incrementally more in terms of cost. Well, if you can produce it for a fraction of the price than you would have if you didn't have these tools, everyone wins. They get everything they needed. You get more money, and guess what? You get more practice doing this. So lots of benefits. It's truly win win. The point here is to not get caught up in the weeds and the details of these examples, rather to transform what you see as a threat into a potential advantage. This isn't about denying reality. It's about finding the opportunities that others miss because they're trapped in limiting beliefs. Remember, you're not looking for absolute truths here. You're looking for ways working hypotheses that you can test in the real world. If one approach doesn't work, okay, so what? You haven't failed. You've simply gathered valuable data that helps you refine your next experiment. I can't emphasize that enough. Don't be afraid to test the most promising or exciting working hypotheses, okay? Even if while you're excited, even if you're scared, okay, even if you feel this isn't right. This isn't fully baked or. I get it. I see this all the time. Freelancers who have completely stalled, though, because they're making it sound like even testing something has catastrophic downside, and that's not true at all. Again, deconstruct your assumptions. Don't hold on to them. Many times, you know, guy people ask me all the time, I don't know, should I send a prospecting email to this prospect? And I ask them my first question is, what's the worst that could happen? And then they smile. Worst that could happen is they get no response or they get a no. Okay, does that mean that you're like, that's it. You can't reach out to them ever again? You know what? Let me let you in on a little secret. People are really busy, and, you know, in three months from now, you could reach out to that person again. They're going to forget all about you. They're not even going to remember that you reach out to them three months ago. In fact, I would say you could reach out to them three days from now, and they're going to forget that you'd reach out to them. Okay? So I think we play again. These endless loops in our mind, these stories, and we buy into those stories. And it's easy for me to see as a coach, because guess what? I'm not emotionally involved in your situation. Guess what? I also have to work with a coach because I am too close to my own head trash. I need somebody else to provide perspective and guidance. Okay? So I'm not saying that, you know, I have that and I'm immune from it. I struggle with the same things you do. Okay. Part of the reason I love doing this podcast is it reminds me of things that I need reminding of. So just know I'm just as human as you are. That leads me to another important point. The biggest reason freelancers struggle isn't a lack of information. It's that they're too close to their business to see their blind spots. Okay, so it's not just they're emotionally involved. They're just too close to it. They're so used to it. You know, ever put like, a reminder of your goals or affirmations in your bathroom mirror or in your office wall? And at first it works, but then you just, I don't know, they start blending into the environment and you forget they're there. So, you know, it's not just an emotional aspect. This is just. You stop paying attention to it. It just kind of blends in. You Know now you're just too close to it. When you rethink your challenges from first principles, you unlock faster, more effective solutions. But identifying assumptions is only the first step. You need to test, refine, and implement new strategies in a way that that aligns with your strengths and your goals. And this is where many freelancers get stuck in analysis paralysis, or they struggle to maintain momentum when initial experiments don't yield immediate results or results as fast as they would want them. Think about it like this. When Marie Curie used first principles thinking to challenge the assumption that radioactivity was purely a property of uranium, she discovered what? She discovered two new elements. I was reading an article about this the other day. I'd forgotten all about this from high school. And her work fundamentally altered scientific understanding by questioning what everyone knew to be true. She didn't approach it with the same assumptions that everyone else is approaching it with. In that breakthrough, actually, it was massive. It led her to winning not just one, but two Nobel Prizes. Your challenge might not be Nobel Prize worthy, but the same principle applies. By questioning what everyone knows, quote unquote, knows to be true, you often discover opportunities others miss. So let's wrap this up. What's the next step here? Well, after listening to this episode, I have a challenge for you. I want you to first pick your biggest business challenge right now. What's the one thing that's keeping you up at night? Then I want you to list out every assumption you're making about why that's a problem for you, why it's a challenge and why you can't solve it, why you haven't been able to solve it. I want you to take your time here. Don't rush it. There are more assumptions than you think. Again, give yourself 15, 20 minutes, blank journal page, and just no distractions. No phone, really. Just pour your heart out. Get everything out of your head. Nobody's going to review this. Don't worry. I'm not going to ask you to send it to me. You don't have to show it to anybody. Okay, Number three. Challenge those assumptions with facts, each one of them. What evidence do you have that those beliefs are actually true? And then what counter examples can you find? Number four, Create one new empowering assumption and design a small experiment to test it. Don't overthink it. It's no big deal. You know, if you're feeling scared again, examine your assumptions around the downside of that experiment. The freelancers who achieve breakthrough results aren't necessarily the most talented or experienced. I know that because I certainly wasn't. And I proved to myself and others that someone without formal writing experience or journalism degree or a career in marketing communications could earn a six figure income doing this work and live very well in the world. In fact, English was my second language until I was in my teens. So you know what? If I could do it, I just figured, okay, well, that means that those assumptions that everyone's making about what it takes are probably not true. The freelancers who succeed today and the ones who will succeed tomorrow are the ones who are willing to question their assumptions and test new approaches and do this on a continual basis. And this capability is perhaps more valuable today, and I would argue over the next three to five years than ever before. And that's why I'm recording this for you today, because I really believe that this is critical. You cannot get away with just kind of the standard way of approaching challenges anymore. There are just way more challenges than we ever have seen. But guess what? There are also way more opportunities. Remember, the breakthrough you're looking for often lies not in finding new strategies, but but in challenging the mental models that are preventing you from seeing solutions that have been there all along. If you're serious about breaking through your biggest challenge, you might want a little bit of support. And that's because when you're too close to your own business, it's just hard to see again your blind spots. It's hard to get the perspective you need to really start solving these and to get to where you want to be. Working with someone who can provide objective feedback and provide accountability can dramatically accelerate your progress because they can help you identify blind spots you might miss on your own. It can help you design effective experiments to test new assumptions, can help you adjust your strategy based on real world results, and then stay focused and accountable to your goals. So if that resonates with you, I just wanted to let you know that I open up coaching spots a few times a year to work with clients to achieve real breakthroughs in their business. When I have them, I usually announce them to my list, but sometimes I have one or two and I don't have enough to really send out an email to my entire list. So sometimes I have them and I'm not letting anyone know about it. And I invite you to inquire if this is something you want to explore with me. When we work together, we basically pinpoint your blind spots and then create a strategy based on your unique strengths and market. I then act as a sounding board and a sparring partner and an accountability buddy. As you start implementing your action plan that we put together and as you start course correcting along the way. Because no plan is ever perfect.

Okay?

You won't know how the plan is going to work until you start moving forward. And that's when the real fun starts, because that's when we can go ahead and adjust. If that's something you want to explore, I invite you to send me an email. You can reach me@ed2b launcher.com just put coaching in the subject line and if I have spots at the moment, I'll reply with the coaching details. I can just tell you what it's about, how it works, and no pressure. No pressure. And I don't bite. I don't hound people. So feel free to send me an inquiry if you're interested. I'm going to leave you with that important question that I posed earlier. What assumptions are you holding onto that might be keeping you stuck? It's time to break them down and build something stronger and better. Thanks for listening and I'll catch you on the next episode. Well, that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed the episode. And just a quick reminder to grab your free copy of my latest book Earn more and less time the proven mindset, strategies and actions to prosper as a freelance writer. You can get your free copy@b2b launcher.com or you will also find the detailed show notes to this and all my other episodes. Enjoy and have a great day.