Amplify + Multiply Your Time • Part 2

Welcome to Capability Amplifier, the show for business owners and entrepreneurs who want high performance upgrades for their brains, bodies, and bank accounts. Welcome back to Capability Amplifier. This is Mike Koenigs. I'm here with Dan Sullivan. Hi, Dan.

Michael, always a pleasure. You know, I can be in the middle, you know, kind of low energy in the afternoon. I do a podcast with you, and then I know that before I go to bed at night, I'm going to have to take both Lunesta and Ambien.

That's what I like. All right, so this is your Adderall moment with Dan Sullivan and Mike Koenigs, and we are in part two of amplifying and multiplying time. Now, we've got a couple to cover. Because of the first episode, we covered time compression, time slicing, and chaos elimination. Our next one is something I call folding time. And the way I'm going to frame this is a couple things. One of them is think of it visually like if you were to take a piece of paper and fold it like an accordion, you're in fact putting it into, like, this stack, and you can basically pass through time by getting through a lot more stuff. And so it's like stacking time or folding time. And I think some of the shortcuts that come to mind, one of them is just flat out coaching. It's having someone on the outside looking at you and going, hey, here's some horrible behaviors or here's some ways you can get rid of your noise. For Dan, it would be focusing on your unique abilities. Focus on the key three things. Another one would be ego death. And that essentially means what are your worst unconscious behaviors? Sometimes they're stacked traumas or trauma resolution that comes from getting supportive help, whether it's having a spiritual guide or a personal guide. But through your lens, Dan, talk a little bit about folding time, some of the techniques and strategies that you think about, or anything else you can add to this one.

Well, I just had an experience that kind of bears directly on this, the folding thing that you're talking about. So I write a book a quarter, and maybe we can talk a little bit of how I decided to do this. They're very short books, and what I've discovered is that a short book actually gets read and a long book doesn't get read. So the Kindle has really given us a lot of research about readability, and they find that the average downloadable book, you know, electronic books, if it's more than 100 pages, the actual readership of that, if it's nonfiction, we're not talking about fiction here, Mike. We're talking about nonfiction fiction. Books get read because oftentimes it's a great story and people have real following. Like the really top notch fiction writers will have pre orders on Kindle. One of my favorite is Lee Child, who writes Jack Reacher, a very famous character. And he will have a million and a half. 2 million pre orders and on the day of release, 2 million books have been sold. So that's a case of shortcuts. Shortcuts electronically, 2 million people have not only purchased the book on that day, but they pre ordered during the year. Okay. Now Kindle doesn't charge you until it's actually released, but the money is there to be had. The big thing that I found was I'm writing these books, but generally, you know, we use them for our clients to reinforce their thinking about Strategic Coach and then we use them for referrals because people will ask, could you send out three of these to these three entrepreneurs and tell them that I thought this was really good and they develop a relationship for us. Same thing happens with our podcast, you and I, while we're talking in the next 25 minutes right now, 10 future relationships with us and what we do are being formed as we do this, but we don't have to spend any time doing that. It's being done at the other end. But I have a real great collaboration with a man named Kerry Oberbruner from Columbus, Ohio. And he knows your friends in Columbus and Brett and Carrie are real buddies. He's in my 10 times program. But he can take my books and the audio version of that and he can put it on 39,000 platforms in a day. Every book now the audio portion goes to 39,000 platforms. And I got a real thrill because we started with my Plan for living to 156, which is probably the most viral book we have, because people either get really excited or really angry by the title and you want an emotional response.

Nothing better than polarity and controversy to.

Spread a word, as we know. So my favorite bookstore in the world is Waterstones, which is on Piccadilly, right from Piccadilly Circus in London. And it's five floors and they have three restaurants and cafes and they have sofa chairs and you can go in there when they open in the morning, you can stay all night until the end of the day and you can read all day and they don't even require that you purchase anything. But anyway, we did the first one right at the end of July and 48 hours later, Waterstone was featuring my book. And last week we did one. We did it on who do youo Want to Be a Hero To? And four days later, it was in Waterstones. Just think about the time shortening involved in that. And the digital age is for those who love shortening time. You know, I mean, for those people who don't have any reason to shorten time, the digital age actually complicates your time and it shortens the time of people who have intention and clarity about what they want and what their standards are and what activities. But for people who don't know those three things, the digital age just explodes your time. Will this never end? You know, first of all, it seems like everything is lasting a long time, but it actually steals your actual good time away from you. So there's my shortening.

I love that. I love that. And I'm going to ask you one thing because as I'm listening to you when you fold time, you know, we talked about unique abilities and you said in the last episode about determining what the key three things that you're great at with your unique abilities are and only doing those. So, Dan, just for everyone who's listening to this, why don't you share what your top three unique abilities are? I'm going to share what mine are because then it'll hopefully be an exercise where people really think about what that is. So can you describe yours?

Yeah, I think the big thing is I create thinking tools. You know, I'm really good at how someone any kind of situation that entrepreneurs. So first of all, it's my target audience are entrepreneurs. And I said, you know, there's dozens of hundreds of different types of situations that entrepreneurs get in. And I'm really good at thinking tools. And I'll tell you the genetic reason why I'm good at that later in this hour or in a future episode. But genetically, I've got a problem that I've had to come to grips with in my own life and it's made me into a great, great identifier of thinking processes just because of my own genetic deficiency or challenge. I'll say so I'm really good at creating one sheets of paper with a bunch of boxes where I get people to identify experience and I have them take the experience apart and say what they liked about it, what they didn't like about it. What better approach in the future would be really good? And what are the first three actions you're going to take? And takes them about 15, 20 minutes. And then I have them get together with other entrepreneurs who've done the same exercise, and they talk and all sorts of creativity comes out of it. And I'm just good at that. I just can do that. I can come up with great diagrams. You know, I'm very graphically oriented, so I create these new tools. And then we have a workshop program with entrepreneurs. And I'm a coach with 17 other coaches who have learned how to do what I do. And the third one is marketing, which is taking on the form of podcasts and books and, you know, I do videos and everything like that. So in order creating new thinking tools, coaching and the marketing of what we do and the experience we do. And that's it. 95% of my schedule from January 1st to December 31st, when I am working is in those three areas. And everything else in my life is who's who take care of the other parts of my life. And that would include my personal life. So my goal with Babs, my partner, is that when we are at home, we do no more than we did if we had a suite at the Four Seasons Hotel. And I said, what do we do when we're at the Four Seasons? We get waited upon. I said, that same thing's going to happen at home.

I love it. I love it.

Yeah.

So mine's very different than yours, but similar, complimentary. It was you who said this years ago. But my unique abilities revolve around amplify, amplify, amplify, time compression. So, number one is I'm really good at helping experts and visionaries create empires by turning ideas into products and services that people want or reinventing. In other words, creating a new vision that resonates deeply with who they are at their core. Number two is I have the ability to become the visionary, in other words, the creator and their target audience and being able to essentially perform a message and an offer that makes people want what you have. So in other words, I can listen to someone invent a new idea or product that they deeply resonate with and become them and their voice and their target audience and be able to spew it out really quickly so they can just parrot what I gave them and then they'll go and make money. So it's messaging. And then the third is then amplifying those messages to the next level with new technology. With next level technology. So I was doing video marketing before YouTube existed and podcasting long ago and social media and mobile text marketing before it even, you know, it was brand new. I built businesses and sold them. I'm Probably a little too early, frankly. I'm usually a little bit too ahead of the curve, but that's a pain I'm fine living with. So those are my three.

Yeah. And as you say, they're very complimentary. And you know, we each have a stack of talents, you know, and we do that. And there's other subtalents that go along with that, but those are always the three in the middle for me. And my goal every quarter, every year is that in those three areas I get better from one 90 day period to the other. And oftentimes I get better by doing less and having other people. So for example, I wrote 13 books before I started my small books and on average they took me about 300 hours over probably a 20 year period, 25 year period to write 13 books and on average. And it was mostly alone work that I hated. Any squirrel in the world can distract me from writing. I've seen purple squirrels, martian squirrels, three legged squirrels, juggling squirrels. But any one of them is more interesting than having to write the next paragraph. I mean, it's really interesting. But I have deadlines and I'm very responsive to deadlines and I'm very responsive to other people depending on me. So I will just plunge on through to deliver what I promised. But it's grueling and, and now I create a book and it takes me 35 hours every quarter, 35 hours start to finish. It takes hundreds of hours to actually produce the whole book. But the hundreds of hours are other people's hours, not my hours. So I've learned how to just do the part of the book that's my part and includes not writing it. I am interviewed, I do great outlines and I'm interviewed on the outline and the transcript goes to a writer, his sister is my editor and they work and there's four pages per chapter and you can't write any more than four pages. You got to reduce it down. That's an old advertising. Advertising writers are the best writers in the world because they write to restrictions. It's 30 seconds, it's 60 seconds, or it's you got five inches of copy and you got to tell the whole story. You know, journalism writers are the worst writers in the world because they can write and write and write and write and hope the publisher. Actually probably academic writers are the worst writers.

Yeah, right. And they're not responsible for selling their stuff or making a product based on that. So it's a different approach.

Well, not only that, nobody has to actually be interested in it. They Just have to write it.

Yep, yep, I get it. Well, that leads me to. Because we've got two more time compressors here, amplifiers. One of them is creating less and not over creating. Because what I've learned is that. And specifically, here's what I've learned. After coaching and advising a lot of people who feel stuck instead of going out and selling more or increasing their value, they go back to creating more stuff. And soon they're surrounded with 40 products and no one's selling them and no one's marketing them where what they really should do is pick the top 1, 2 or 3 and put all their effort into that which is not fun or attractive to quick start creatives. So I'm curious about your perspective about multiplication by subtraction.

Can I ask you a question? Where have you sinned in relationship to this particular topic?

Oh, I'm guilty. My typical behavior historically is instead of solve the problems that exist in the current product, just create a new product with a different message and get that out there. And what I wound up with was an overwhelmed and confused audience of buyers who they haven't even implemented or used the prior product fully. And sometimes deep and narrow is more valuable than just doing the one thing or realizing when you no longer serve your business or company, maybe it's time to get who's in there to take it over so you can do your next business if that is necessary as well. It's just knowing your skills, your limitations and unique abilities. But I don't know if I answered your question or not, but I've been guilty.

Yeah, yeah, I'll tell you. In the big world of corporations, I can tell you who's the master of doing less. And I can tell you who is the maniac for doing more. Apple is the master of doing less. Okay. And they had three periods they had. When Steve Jobs started, they had about six products and he said you should never have more than six products. Then he went away. You know, he was more or less booted out and was when he came back, Apple had 84 products. And in the first year he was back, they were back to six. And I think Tim Cook has been really good about keeping it kind of simple. You know, I mean, an iPhone is really their, you know, they have their computers, but there's not real growth in the computer market at their price range. I mean, they make bigger profits than anyone else because they charge higher. But computers are not the big thing. But the iPhones really are. But the real secret is how they took over the music industry by doing something really simple and then allowed the complexity to be actually at the number of buyers, not the amount of technology. And they've done the same thing with the App Store. You know, there's, you know, 1.5 million apps, but there's just a simple. I mean, they have complaints that it takes a while to get on the App Store, but it's simple. I mean, and once you're on, you're on. And unless you screw up and don't do what you say you're going to do. The all time, you know, maniac on over creating is Nike. I mean, the number of shoes that they go through. And I think all the sneaker makers are really, really bad here. You know, you get a really great model, you got really comfortable and you find three months later they've it's gone and they've replaced it with something else.

Yeah, yeah. I haven't bought a Nike shoe in 30 years because for that reason it'd be like, I found something I liked and then I couldn't get it anymore. It's like. And I found that their shoes gave me backaches and I'm like never giving them another chance. I haven't bought one since. So that's interesting. I hadn't thought about the psychology behind that.

In the Free Zone Frontier program, which is really our top program that, you know how the artist that was previously known as Prince. Well, the Free Zone Frontier is the program that was previously known as Game Changer. The reason I changed is on Google, I got to page 48 of Game Changers and I decided that wasn't a really unique name. So. And Free Zone Frontier, we've got all the IP locked up and everything. We're the Free Zone Frontier. Anyway, I did an exercise of the three best ways in your business that you've actually simplified. You've been a great simplifier, and the three great ways in your business that you've been a great multiplier. And they were all positives. So for everybody, there was three simplifiers and multipliers. And I said, if you could only do one side, simplify or multiply, which would you do? And out of the 90% of the room said, I like simplifying. I says, therefore, you shouldn't be doing multiplying, you should be simplifying. And then find someone whose unique ability is multiplying and do a collaboration with them. Okay? Because it's really hard to be both a simplifier and a multiplier. Okay? You're going to be Better at one and. And your lack of interest in the other is going to screw up your simplicity. So there you go.

I like that. I like that. Well, we've got one more to get through before we actually send people to our next episode, which is the seventh, which is about increasing your courage. This one, though, is what I call embracing the new rules of and I've been calling it the Super Being economy. The premise is the transition from the old world of obsolete institutions that are no longer trusted. Those are everything from medicine to government to money and banking and transportation, educational, education. Totally. They're all rotting corpses and phantasms.

Legal industry.

Totally. They're all extinct.

Legal industry. The movie industry.

Yeah. And it's like they're distrusted, despised in general. And new stuff is showing up, which represents chaos and opportunity to us as entrepreneurs.

You know, waste management is still pretty good.

That's interesting.

I trust waste management.

Well, if your streets don't stink, then you're doing pretty good. Don't tell people in San Francisco about that. Need I say more? All right. Filthy place I used to love. So I think the new rules through my lens.

And you just practiced cancel economy.

Yeah, I sure did. I love the city. It's just. It smells like pee and poop and it's unsafe. It doesn't feel safe to me. Constantly accosted. Okay, moving right along for disruption. So the new rules are creativity, co creation, which you talked about in the free zone, frontier innovation, what I call new leadership, and transformational experiences and events. I list those because it's like in the world of deep fakes and Voco and not being able to trust your senses any longer, you really want to trust leaders you can press the flesh with. The online world, in many cases is a race to the bottom and that of copycats, trademark and copyright violation. And it's increasingly unsafe and overpopulated by fakes and frauds and Kardashians, for example. So through your lens of the new rules of the Super Being Economy, events, experiences, like, what matters most to you right now in this list and what are you most attracted to?

Well, I think on the trust issue, what I focus on is being trusted rather than worrying about too much who I can trust or who I can't trust. And my main vehicle for doing that is that I want to be a hero to someone who wants to be a hero to other people. And there's kind of a reality check with that. So I don't want to be a hero to people who have huge ambitions or, you know, have A lot of money or, you know, are very famous and they have celebrity. I want to be a hero to someone whose life I kind of understand, which is entrepreneurs, because I've spent the last 45 years just looking into everything that's part of the entrepreneurial life. And I want to be a hero to an entrepreneur who wants to be a hero to someone else. And. And the reality check for me is that they themselves want to be a hero to someone else. And it's the fact that they want that, that I want to be a hero to them. So that's my reality check and that's my new rule of living in the world we do just to check out people. If they don't want to be a hero, then I don't want to be a hero to them. And I know you want to be a hero to the people that you're a hero. The people that you show them how to take a really unique ability and go a hundred times in terms of their value and impact in the world tells me that, Mike, you want to be a hero. So I want to be a hero to you because I know who you want to be a hero to.

That's great. And you know, as you were talking about this, I think in the super being economy, now more than ever before, the value and importance of building a personal brand and platform, the one I always like to pick on here, even though he's a unicorn, Elon Musk never paid for marketing or advertising. He can press a button, communicate to the world and cause first of all, he can create controversy. He can create massive demand for any product or service and scare the hell out of his competitors and his naysayers. And I don't see a distinction any longer between a personal brand and a business brand, no matter what. Let's say you've got a personal platform, okay. And I'm going to say platform is more important than brand.

Yes.

Okay. That's a culmination of your ip, your followers, your following, your cumulative message and trust, we'll call it like that. And so you could walk in, reinvent yourself, make a declaration, and boom, instant value. And now in the world of push button broadcast everywhere to anyone, it's a matter of messaging and a certain level of predictability, curiosity. And what I'm most interested in right now is entertainment, because you've got to be a damn great entertainer in order to build a great platform. At least you've got to be interesting. So your thoughts on that? Because when you talk about marketing, this is where you're spending a ton of your time which is building Dan's personal brand and strategic coaches long term brand.

But it is a platform. And I want to tell you something that I did when I go on the road, I do road shows and I'm introduced by one of our salespeople. For years they've kind of said, you know, for 25 years I work with Dan and he's, you know, a lot of compliments and everything. And we were in London last May and I always have a panel of entrepreneurs with me when I'm giving my talk so that they can actually talk about the reality of the concepts and tools that we're teaching. And, and I said, I just want you to not do this this time. I just want you to say, you know, we're going to go for about 90 minutes. Dan Sullivan's going to talk for roughly about half that time and then he's going to have his guests come up and actually talk about what strategic Coach has done to them. And I just wanted to introduce you to Dan. I walk up and I say, I just want to tell you that there's two roles here and I'm going to give you a map of what Strategic Coach can do for you. But my clients are going to tell you what it looks like when it's applied to the territory. And I just went in and I just went right into, you know, the who, not how map. And I said, this is the biggest concept that we have that you'll take away from today. And a lot of you will already be doing things while I'm talking to you. And then I had four great people who talked about who, not how and what happened to their business. We had 29 sales and, you know, we're a big ticket item. And just like that. And I said, you know, the platform's there. The platform, you know, I've been coaching for 45 years, the program. I said, we don't need the celebrity stuff anymore. So I said, from this point forward, you know, I'm planning to be better than I am at 100, than I am at 75. I'm 75 now. But I said, I don't want any more celebrity stuff. I said, I just want the platform to move forward. Basically, I want to be famous for what happens to our clients when they're in the Strategic Coach, not my fame. So that's my platform and I can stay with that because it's not about me anyway. So that goes back to your ego death that you mentioned up here. It's not about me, you know, it's about what happens to people with the platform that we've created. Yeah.

And I would add part of the reason why I consider transformational experiences and events to be one of the new rules of the super being economy is at the end of the day, you're selling transformation.

Right.

And that's all that matters. So a platform equals transformation.

Well, and it's willingly chosen. Transformation. You know, I think everybody needs transformation, but I'm only looking for the people who want transformation.

I'm with you on that. I'm with you on that. Well, here's what we can do because we've reached the end of this episode, and what I want to encourage you as a listener or a viewer to do is a little while ago, Dan and I talked about unique abilities. He shared his top three, which is creating thinking tools and diagrams, coaching and workshops, marketing, especially podcasts, and my unique abilities, which are about amplifying. It's helping experts and visionaries create empires and becoming the voice and working on the messaging and then amplifying the messages with next level technology. Also, our third episode is actually going to do the seventh amplifier and multiplier of time, which is increasing your courage. Dan and I are big fans of that. So this is Mike Hanigs. I'm here with my good friend Dan Sullivan, and thanks for listening. We'll see you in the next episode.

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