The 1 Question That Will Radically Change Your Business This Year
16 Jan 2024 · 24 min
Lori and Chris Harder explore why 10x goals are easier than 2x ones. A 10x question forces different thinking and networks than incremental growth. Lori scaled her Bliss Project event and Chris raised $25K for a mastermind by asking bigger.
Chapters
I'm telling you, when you put the money down and you give yourself something that you have to hit, I had to ask myself completely different questions on how to market it. I had to become someone that I was not yet I didn't have that skill set in order to get that number that I wanted. And let me tell you, that was 10x thinking. It was thinking that would have never come into my realm if I wouldn't have done something so big that it caused me to have to think so far outside of the box and become someone that I wasn't before that. And we're back with another episode of He Said, she Said.
Okay, before we start this episode, you are now officially on notice there are three, three spots left at the dinner series. And to understand what the dinner series is, we have taken our whole network, like, this is a huge event, big dinner. We've taken our network, the best of the best in our network, assembled them in one place three times this year, and created activities, exercises. They're going to create the collisions that you wish you had. I'm going to be bold enough to say that what we've created will take you three to four years or more to create on yourself in order to have the network you'll have if you come to the Dinner series.
Babe, I'm so freaking excited about this. Not only because the dinner series is going to take them to the next level, but because we did not even plan how perfect the topic of this podcast that we are about to talk about is and how it is the exact answer to what we're about to talk about.
Yeah, you're right. Because we're going to talk about, like, why 10x is better than 2x based on, you know, Dr. Benjamin Hardy's book. And we're going to get into a whole bunch of things about his books in a minute here. But the truth is, you can inch along this year and then you can inch along a little more next year, and then you can inch along a little more the year after that. Or you can go freaking rocket ship status and change your network overnight, making our network your network.
If you are that person who is like, what do I have to do this year? How am I supposed to get to the next level? And you're thinking it's more strategy. It's not. It's who, who you know, it's what rooms you're in. And it's about taking that big giant leap that gets you to the next level.
Now, here's the deal. By the time you hear this You've got just over two weeks before the dinner series happens on February 1st in Scottsdale. And there's three spots. So I'm not kidding right now. Hit pause, go to Loriharder.com dinner I am not even playing. Hit pause, go to Loriharder dot com dinner join. Check it out. And honestly, at that point you're making a decision if you are all in this year in radically up leveling your network or if you're just going to keep putting it together yourself.
Okay, so we want to get into this podcast because I was so, I don't even know, like giddy today. I ran up to Chris at the gym and I was listening to this book, 10x is better than 2x by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. And this is now the second book we've read from Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy. So it's Dan. Dan Sullivan's teachings with Benjamin Hardy who is writing the book.
Yeah, it's really, it's really, you know, Benjamin Hardy's books. Right. He's just kind of using his friend Dan's teachings that, that he keeps pulling in. And major props to this guy. Like, I'm so glad we found him in his books. What, so what are his other books? 10x is better or. Yeah, 10x is easier than 2x.
The gap and the Gain.
Oh God, I've been loving the Gap and the Gain. Like changed my whole perspective and who not what.
And he even talks about how with who not what. Like he was the who who was writing the book. Dan Sullivan, who is the coach who made all the trainings. And it's like Dan wasn't necessarily gonna write all of these now best selling books, but Benjamin was the writer who connected with him to be like, hey, I love your teachings. I would love to write about them. And now they both have these incredible best selling books. I mean, hundreds of thousands of books. They have sold well.
Major shout out to Dr. Ben Hardy because like, if one of you know him, tag him in. This dude is awesome and I can't wait to meet him. His book's the best.
I will tell you. I'm only like a few chapters into 10x is better than 2x. I've already dropped this into all of my friends groups saying this needs to be your next read. Like for real. It's like how much I love the big leap. I'm feeling like that's gonna be this book for me. Okay, so let's get to talking about what this book is about. The preface of this book is Obviously the title 10x is easier than. Than 2x. I think we've been saying better 10x is easier than 2x. And I was like, okay, what is this gonna be about? Cause I don't know a world where that is necessarily true. And this book really goes into breaking down why. And a hundred percent I can sit here and say, looking back on my life, my 10x leaps have been easier than sitting in 2x. Let me back up and explain where it came from. So essentially, there was a guy who was in a mastermind, and he was in a mastermind with a bunch of other people. And the teacher from the stage said to the group, he said, okay, so what I want you to do is you're gonna break out and you're going to write down with a partner what you could do to 2x your business this year. And so he goes with his partner and he's, you know, thinking about the things he could do to 2x his business. And he says to his partner, he's like, this question's really stupid, because if we want to 2x our business, all we're going to be writing down is the same things that we're already doing, just maybe more of them, maybe something a little different. But if we want to really know how to multiply our business, we need to think of how to 10 exit. Because if you're thinking of how to 10 exit, you won't even be thinking of doing the same things, and you won't even be thinking about doing them with the same people. You won't have the same network, and you probably won't have a lot of the same staff. So when you think of it that way, it's like these giant leaps that make you think completely different and outside of the box.
Yeah, I'm just not interested in the incremental growth. I'm just not interested. And some of you are built this way, too. In like, okay, well, let's just improve our goals a little bit this year and then a little bit the next year. Now, listen, I understand we're not all built the same, but if you are like me, if you are like Lori, you're not interested in that. But you won't have those radical, shifting ideas if you don't ask yourself the better questions. And a better question is, according to this book, what would I have to do to 10x my results next year? Not just 2x my results next year. And it's the old saying, it's better to shoot for the moon and land among the stars. Right? The point Being you are probably not going to 10x your business next year, I hope you do. But what if you ask yourself this question, get better answers, implement many of those answers and end up 3xing it. 4. Xing it. 5xing it. What if you fall a third of the way to your goal of 10xing it? Holy crap. Can you imagine if you went from 100 grand to 300 grand this year or 300 grand to 900 grand this year? Or if you went from 500 to 1.5 million or a million to 3 million, imagine what would happen if you just 3 xed. But that doesn't happen. When you're saying, how do I get a little bit better? You're going to be saying that forever and then you're going to grow tired of these small incremental improvements, watching everybody on rocket ships around you. We've had examples of this our life. We have always done this. I'll give a couple. Lori, give a couple. What's one of your examples where we've done this in life?
So I was thinking about this while I was listening to the book, and immediately the first thing that came to me, because it was back in the beginning of my career, is when I decided to do the Bliss Project event, when I was like, I went from zero events, done small events, I guess, like, you know, five, 10 people in person and did little things like that. And we also had spoken on some stages with our network marketing company. It's really hard to break out of that if you are not out in the world. So when I was thinking of doing the Bliss Project, I was like, oh my God, like, this is essentially going from zero to a hundred. And at the same time, I was looking at my career going, God, how do I get on this stage and that stage and on this podcast and that podcast? And could I have continued on the path that I was on with writing emails and, you know, them asking me what stages I had been on and not really having ones that apply to them to be able to show them, and being rejected over and over and over again and wondering, why am I not being asked to speak? Why am I not being asked into these other groups? Well, it's because I wasn't creating these experiences for myself. I wasn't creating proof for these people that I was worthy of their stages. Meaning, could I handle these stages? Did I have enough value to offer? So I went from zero to saying, you know what? I am going to like 10x what I'm doing in this particular arena if I Want to be a speaker and an author. I have to do something so big that it puts me on the map. And so instead of doing little tiny things that I was hoping would get people's attention and doing them consistently, I mean, at the time, it felt like a lot. Chris. I was like, but I'm doing this, I'm doing that, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. I'm so busy. And what happened was I stopped doing all of those little things and I went all in on seeing if I could fill a 300 person event. Now, I have never worked harder in my entire life and here's why. I put the money down on that event. And what happens when you put out the link for the ticket sales and you start advertising is you realize that not a whole lot of people sign up right away. So you have to start going, okay, if I want to hit 300 by this month or in six months, what do I have to do to get there? That is not a question I would have asked myself if I was playing just 2x, if I was saying, okay, if I want to hit 50 people or 25 people, what does that look like? I'm telling you, when you put the money down and you give yourself something that you have to hit, I had to ask myself completely different questions on how to market it. I had to become someone that I was not yet I didn't have that skill set in order to get that number that I wanted. And let me tell you, that was 10x thinking. It was thinking that would have never come into my realm if I wouldn't have done something so big that it caused me to have to think so far outside of the box and become someone that I wasn't before that.
Guys, this is more than a decade ago. This is more than 10 years ago. There was no proof. There weren't a whole bunch of women's events like there are now. There weren't a whole bunch of mastermind events like there are now. There was no real evidence that this would be a thing. Lori was like, I got a vision. It's going to cost us about 100 grand. I'm signing the contract and the people are going to come that is aiming at 10x. Not saying, you know, I've always done these 15 person, maybe I could go for 30.
And at the time, you guys, no one had ever even been to an event. I remember when I asked the question in the room, like, how many of you had heard of something like this, been to something like this? It was almost 00 people. So not only was it doing something that I had never done, but it was creating something that had never been create. And I'm not saying that there was nothing special about me doing it. The thing that was special was the fact that I put the money down and I was so held accountable by that that I had to go and ask questions to people I would. I didn't even know yet. I had to go make connections of people who had had events that I had no idea who they were to ask them questions of how this worked. Had to go learn new things. I had to stretch to be someone else. And that's what a 10x leap is.
Yeah, I did it too. So, you know, I didn't always have this personal brand that I have. You know, for those of you that have been listening last three, four, five years, you probably think I've had this thing forever. I've only had it for seven to eight years. Before that, I was always working on Lori's personal brand behind the scenes and whole nine yards. And when I, you know, decided one day, like, hey, wait, I kind of want to get back into being out front. I want to have my own personal brand. I want to build this podcast. You know, I had this idea at the time. It was back when the podcast was called for the Love of Money. I knew I wanted to monetize it. I knew I wanted to bring it to real life somehow, not just have a show. So instead of taking the traditional route that everybody else does, what do they do when they start a personal brand? They think, well, what would be logical for me to launch? I know I'm gonna start with a small course, maybe $199. And then they say, okay, what would be next? I know I'm gonna do a larger course or I'm gonna do a small event with, you know, $400 tickets or a $400 course or something like that. No, I said, I don't want to creep my way up. That sounds absolutely not exciting to me. I started at the top and went backwards. In other words, how do you know 10x is easier than 2x? I said, I can start a mastermind. I am great at facilitating. I did a lot of teaching when I was in corporate America. I know how to run a room, and I've got a lot of business experience. I'm going to start a mastermind. And I started my first year with a personal brand coming out of the gates with a $25,000 per year mastermind. And I think we put 22 people in it that year. Now, it wasn't easy when I was begging and selling and convincing and reaching out. And by no means was that an easy accomplishment. But if you do the math, pretty good Dang money your first year monetizing your personal brand, right? 22 people times $25,000. It's a lot better than slinging together a bunch of 99 or $199 courses. And I'm not poking holes anyone doing that. What I'm saying is you haven't asked yourself, instead of nickel and diming my way up over a long time, what happens if I just swing for the freaking fences? Because that's what this is about.
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I'll tell you exactly what it was for me. I've always been a math is the path guy, right? So I did the math. I said, okay, what happens if only 4 people join? What happens if only 8 people join? What if this thing falls flat? I did the math, okay, 25 grand times four people, it's $100,000 or $25,000 times eight people, it's $200,000. Now, what was the alternative? Remember doing $199 course, I would have to sell with a brand new personal brand, 500 of those $199 courses or $1,099 courses to hit what four people in a mastermind would have been, or eight people in a mastermind, I would have had to sell 2,000 courses at $99 a course or $1,199 courses in order to hit the same thing as eight people being in it. So when I realized that, you know, 10xing the vision, aka shooting for the moon and worst case scenario, landing on stars, only having four people, eight people was a far better option than having to find a thousand or two thousand customers with a new personal brand. It just made sense to me. So the logic of it is what kept me focused on wanting to go do the painful, scary thing of battling through the imposter syndrome and being afraid. What if nobody shows up? Or what if this thing's a flop and just doing it anyways.
Okay, so what about for the people who don't yet have the evidence that they feel like they could be valuable enough for 25k or even 10?
They're getting lost in number and lost in example. The point is this. Whatever your thing is, ask yourself the better question. Instead of me charging blank for blank, what happens if I charged 10 times as much for a way better product? I mean, your product might be widgets, it might be physical products, it might be a service, it might be an agency, it might be a whatever. But you're not going to get the answer of who should you hire differently, how should you do it differently, how should you think differently, how should you approach differently? You're not going to get that answer if you don't first ask this big audacious question. It's really a podcast about asking a question. I've got one more example in my real life. So Frello, right, the peer to peer lending app that we're doing, we are disrupting fintech in a big, big, big, big way. I mean, building the app alone is multiple seven figures. Just build, just building the tech alone, not to mention team and everything else. Okay, Now Matt and I could have bootstrapped this thing, we could have funded it ourselves, we could have made all the conservative decisions. You know, should we spend money on this, should we spend money on that, should we cut the corner here, should we cut the corner there? But what did we do? We said, what did the biggest, best fintech companies do when they came to market? They made a splash, they went out, they raised a bunch of strategic money. And that's the key, they raised strategic money. And if you don't know what strategic money is, it means you're accepting investors who are also partners that have a way to move the needle for you. So what happened? Okay, not only did we get a whole bunch of like celebrity and business influencer investors and all those things are going to be able to help acquire users cheaper using their influence than if we had to go pay for users. We hit the mega home run. We have an investor who's coming in right now because we went out for strategic investors. We have an investor coming in right now whose whole business is centered around creating fintech leads for other fintech companies and mortgage companies and all these other companies that have apps and online businesses out there. He generates 80,000 unique FinTech leads a day. Let me repeat that. 80,000 unique FinTech leads a day. Now why is this important? Why is this such a big deal? If we would have just used our own money, we'd go to a guy like him and we'd have to buy those leads. But instead by using this concept of swinging for the fences, right, 10x is easier than 2x, we said, wait, what if we went out and got strategic investors to have their own skin in the game? Then what happens? Well, now this guy not only invests in a company, but because he has his skin in the game, he's going to give us access to his leads, some of them free, some of them maybe will pay cost for them. But we're going to have a huge strategic advantage over all of our competitors that have to buy these leads because they don't have this person as A partner. Those are the kind of results that happen when you ask yourself the bigger, better, more audacious question. When you say, what if I had to 10x this thing really quickly, not just have incremental growth.
And I think that's. So this is the question. And maybe it's not even asking the question, what if I had to 10x this program? Maybe it's asking the question, what if I had to 10x my income? Because you might be shocked at what comes out of that. It might mean that you are completely letting go of things that you never pictured letting go of. I mean, Chris, I know you have some things in your life that were like, oh, my God, you may not do this other thing, or you may not do this thing. Like when you start asking these bigger questions, and it kind of flips your life on its head in the best way. So something you could do that's really fun is to ask this question to yourself. Journal on it. Ask it of your partner, ask it of your friends. Ask. Ask it out at the next friends dinner you're at to each person, because it's such a fun question that I feel like just accelerates your path.
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Hey, ask it at the dinner series.
Ask it at the dinner series. Maybe we'll ask it.
Yes. All right, guys. Well, hopefully you get the concept that asking a bigger, better, more audacious question is going to create new ways of operating, new ideas of approaching it, new radical shifts that you'd have to make that you just won't even think of if you're focused on normal, incremental growth. And again, huge shout out to Dr. Benjamin Hardy whenever we get to meet this dude. I can't wait, because your books are freaking awesome, dude.
All right, you guys, we're so grateful for you, and we hope to meet you at the dinner series. And remember, those spots are super limited. They may be gone in the next week, and we can't wait to see you there.
All right, guys, thanks for listening. Love and appreciate you.
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