What’s The Opposite Of Bureaucracy? The Golden Thread—Collaboration And Partnerships That Produce Massive Value

Welcome to Capability Amplifier, the show for business owners and entrepreneurs who want high performance upgrades for their brains, bodies and bank accounts.

Hi, everybody, this is Dan Sullivan and I'm here with the next episode of Capability Amplifier. But most of all, I'm here with my simplifier multiplier partner, Mike Koenigs. So we're going to introduce ourselves in the future as the capability Amplifier is. Actually anytime you take a simplifier capability and multiply it with a multiplier capability.

All right, and we're going to be talking about something that fascinates both of us. And what Dan just said as we were thinking about this is what's the opposite of bureaucracy. And we called it the golden thread. And golden indicates that it's something valuable and it's connected and held together by something, the thread. And in this case, it's collaboration and partnerships that produce massive value. And in a way, that's what a great simplifier multiplier collaboration is all about. If you didn't listen to the previous episode that we did, which is the tingle moment where inspiration meets motivation with simplifiers and multipliers, this is a continuation of that. And. And it's also the pre frame for another episode that we have planned, which is more into the how. So I'm going to set this up for you.

I would say, Mike, we have listeners who are listening to our conversation here, and I'd like each of you who is listening to this to reflect on what do you get more joy out of when you're working. Do you like taking complicated, confusing things that have way too many steps and making them very simple? That's one choice. The other choice is you see something really simple and that's really more effective than anything you've ever seen before. You don't want to improve on it. You would just like to get it out to as many people as possible. So that's really, in essence, what a simplifier multiplier teamwork is. It's where one person is really good at producing something that's simpler, easier, cheaper, better. And another person sees it and says, let's multiply this to the world.

And that really comes down to using the four M's that we talked about in our previous episode. I call it market model, message medium, where you need to know who you're getting it out to, the business model. In other words, how are you going to monetize it and how are you going to communicate a package of value that really represents a multiplier to your target audience? And there's actually three subcategories of that I jokingly call it. It's get paid, get laid, live forever, all of a sell, make more money, which is also time compression, become more attractive to an audience or the opposite sex. That's the get laid part. Or live forever, which is you're selling someone increased health, vitality or quality of life. Now, when you really have a perfect product, it's when you have a combination of all three of those. In the case of Strategic Coach, it's time compression and multiplication. So that's the get paid part. There is the more attractive. Because one of the things that Strategic Coach promises its members is that you're going to have a higher quality of life. It's freedom, it's lifestyle and being able to earn more and be able to do more as well. So in a way that makes you more attractive. And then finally, in third is the net result is you are going to have a higher quality of life as well. And then messaging, which is what are the words you need to say? The fewest number of words to craft a story that causes someone to say, I want that, I want that right now, I'm your tribe. And then the medium is what channels, what communications channels do you need to put it on? Whether it's a podcast, like we're doing now, a book, or, or. Or whatever that may happen to be, it might be a partnership, it could be referrals. But all those working in concert in a structured way is what gets people to have confidence and courage. Because there's a system, a platform, something you can depend on all the time.

Yeah. So can I ask you a question, Mike?

Yes.

If you go back to the different companies you've created over the last 30 years.

The four M's that you talk about that you just went through, was that clear to you from the beginning, or was it the experience itself that forced you to say, you know, if it's gonna work, it's gotta have some elements? You didn't know exactly what the elements were. When did the. I mean, the forums. I know I was in a, you know, breakout discussion group with you where you kind of nailed it, but you've been successful in each of your businesses. And I just wonder, where did you think that you kind of had this model that always worked, the four things that always worked?

Probably about 60 days ago.

Because here's the truth. Like, I think a lot of it happened by brute force and surrounding myself by good people. And unconsciously, you know, it's like, what do they say? In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king. I was like the four blind men touching different parts of the elephant for a long, long time. And I didn't have a structure. What I did is I bumbled through and I just tested and iterated. I think what made me successful was the fact that I could produce good enough messages that communicated to an audience in a way that was entertaining enough to make up for all of my flaws and lack of skill and knowledge of what was really going on. If I deconstruct what I was doing, I followed maybe two or three of these at a time. But for a long time it was just market message, medium. And then I realized that the missing component that I actually learned from a friend, Ryan Levesque, he entered into the model picture, which again I had been unconsciously using. And it was always there. But until I had a spot to put it in and a place to think about, I realized that this provided a lot more courage and clarity to the business model and the process that I've been refining now very intensely for probably 10 years, but especially in the past three. So now what I've found is, and we'll really deconstruct this in our upcoming episode, I'll go through it step by step exactly what happens. But what I found is I can be in a process where I can run into what seems like an insurmountable challenge. And when I pull out, I draw the four boxes and I write down like who's the market? Who specifically am I speaking to? The audience of one. What's the business model that we're packaging the product inside of. And then what words need to be say the fewest number of words that cause that moment of I want this to what's going to be the most effective channel in order priority to get this out in that has the most number of that market in it. Boom. It's like clarity shows up and you can hear the angels singing.

Okay, so I've got a thought experiment for you. I was in Strategic Coach workshop yesterday and I was in a breakout session and there was a big auto dealer in it from eastern Ohio. He was saying that the new Corvette this year is just a spectacular car. This is a gm.

It's breathtaking.

Yeah. And I was so struck by it. And you know, everybody else in the discussion group knew about it. I didn't really know about it, but I remember the year that both Corvette gm, Chevy brought out the Corvette and Ford brought out the Thunderbird and they were doing sports models. It's the first time, certainly in my life where, you know, car companies that just produced sedans, Basically they were sedans, but they all came out with a sports model. And they were both radically different. I mean, they were both powerful designs. But that was 1955. So you come forward 65 years, and if you saw the new Corvette. I haven't seen it, but if you saw the new Corvette, you could go back to the original Corvette and you could see the similarity between the Corvette this year and if you went back to The Thunderbird in 1955, it would be like going to different solar systems and everything like that. It just changed all the time. It was a big, clunky car. And then they tried to do this and this. So from the standpoint of market, standpoint of model, message, and medium, why do you think that Corvette was able to keep a durable similar design for 65 years, but Ford was off track? Every six or seven years, it seemed they were off track. Do they even have a Thunderbird anymore? I don't even know if it even exists.

They tried to bring it back a while ago, and they made this thing that looks like an oldsmobick pin.

Volk wagon. It's just. I don't get it. So you know what? You already answered your question, but I'm gonna answer it for you because what you've just done is damned brilliant. So I think throughout time, and this wasn't an always, because I think even Corvette lost its way a couple times, just like the Mustang did. Like, the Mustang's never done anything for me ever. I've never found it to be a compelling vehicle. I think they're ugly as hell, and I hate driving them. I think they're just junk. But I know I just pissed off a whole bunch of people who are big Mustang fans. The Corvette, on the other hand, went through a phase as well in the 70s when it was just a stinky, heavy towed also. But here's what they did that was great. They knew their market. I think they understood the package, which is the framework. Yeah.

Okay, so let's walk through that. I mean, talk about market. That's right. A market is somebody who writes a check. I mean, people want to say, well, what do you mean by market? Market is somebody who writes a check that you think that you know what they'll write a check for.

Yep. Now, in this case of a Corvette, I think first and foremost, I'll tell you the number one reason I'm not a Corvette driver is because for me, I think it's a little bit of an everyone else car. And I don't have to have an American vehicle. Okay. And by and large, people who love Corvettes love American sports cars and they like big metal historically. Now it turns out this year has been the first year that they radically departed. They made a mid engine car that is a true supercar and it'll go head to head against half million dollar European cars for far less than 100 grand. I think you can get the base model for like 65 grand. It's a masterpiece of engineering, manufacturing and, and, and it is an extraordinary vehicle, but that is one defining characteristic. I would also say it's primarily men. Like a Corvette's typically a man's car. And in my experience, observationally, it's almost a midlife crisis car. So it's a 50 and beyond vehicle. It appeals more to that and more of what I'll call the casual weekend driver. I don't consider Corvettes to be a daily driver. And it's fast when you want it to be. And that's like a thought process. I know if I were crafting a message for that market, I'd be like, you don't have to go fast, but you know, you could and you could blow the socks off of just about anyone on the street if you wanted to. You know, so it's the possibility and potential. So those are some of the characteristics of that buyer. There are some organizations that have the psychographic demographic down to a t. And I'm willing to be wrong here, but this is my observation after, you know, looking at people I know who are Corvette drivers and owners for 30 years, 40 years or so, so call it that. Now the model is the packaging. Now Corvettes have a certain look to them that's held fairly true. I think, you know, you go back to the 60s, they always had curves. It's feminine curves. It was hips and boobs. That's really what it was. You're driving a woman with parts and there was an appeal. It's a sexual vehicle. No question about it from a packaging. And I think for the drivers it represented almost the sexual experience and also the growl of the engine. There's a certain feel that Corvettes historically have had over time. You know, you could spend more time on the packaging, but also how they market it and sold it. I've never really studied the messaging over time. I don't know how good it's been. And then that gets us into the messaging which are, what are the words you need to say to attract that market. And make them want it. The answer is always in. Talk to the buyers, the repeat buyers, and find out what emotions and what feelings do you experience when you look at it, the thought of buying it for I go through the journey. What do you think about? What do you say before, during and after? What do people say to you? What do you live for if they're really honest? What do you want someone to say about you when they see you in that car? You know, what's the legend of you, the hero that you represent in that vehicle? And really capture all those words and string them together. And then the medium again is where do the influencers that Corvette owners live inside of? I would find what channels, whether again, it's television, radio. I know right now, for example, Jay Leno, who's a big car freak, thinks the Corvette is a freaking masterpiece. The video that he has on YouTube has been seen I don't know how many times, a lot of times. And people trust him. And he definitely fits inside what I would consider the big iron American, middle and later aged buyer category. And there's others as well. So that'd be my destruction.

On the surface level, not to push the vehicle model too far, but I just saw a statistic last year, at the end of last year, that in 27 out of the 50American states, the number one best selling vehicle was the Ford F150 truck.

My dad had one. I grew up in one of those things. 1976 Ford 150. Yep, that's right.

Yeah. The reason why the F150 came to mind was that America doesn't have too many, what you would call classic vehicles, because probably what I would say the main DNA of American culture for the most part is reinvention. You're reinventing yourself. Keeping things the same is not really part of. It's a frontier country, you know, and you're always pushing outward and everything like that. But it seems to me that the truck, especially the pickup truck area, seems to have more of a traditional feel to it. I mean, you can go to the Dodge Ram, you can go to all the major. Even some of the Japanese companies now have gotten into this. But there's this thing about these are durable trucks. The other thing is they last a long time. I saw a statistic once that of all trucks produced in the United States over the last 50 years, 75% of them are still in use.

You know, I'm looking at again, America pickup trucks. And, you know, so we had this Ford F150. Dad got it, put A topper on it. And for us, so we're a family of six. Now, the bench seat in front will hold three, maybe four if he scores them all together. And then in the back, my dad had a piece of plywood and a topper on top. And he took a door and put a couple of legs on it, two by four legs. And us kids would be in the back of that truck driving up to northern Minnesota on vacation. And like that was normal back then. You know, when you like, there's no. It's like if you would have been in an accident, we would have just been a bunch of smacked around and that was normal. Right. So my memories of the Ford F150 are like a classic. What would be considered child endangerment and child abuse in this day and era. And that thing lasted for 30 years.

Yeah. So what is market here then? Americans have a lot of non continuity to their lives. You know, I mean, for example, you know, I've lived two thirds of my lifetime outside of the United States in the Orient. I've lived in Canada. I'm an American and we have a home in Chicago. But what is the hold there? We're looking at things. We're going to come back and look at all models from the standpoint of the four M's. But because you have direct experience, you actually grew up within the culture of the F150. Now what do you think the market is? I mean, that you have that memory of childhood, you have that memory of teenage years, you have the memory of farm years, and yet you're half a century away from that. And why is the hold still there? Because it seems to me the market is about a particular hold that you have on a particular type of check writer.

Here's what comes to mind. I think what a pickup truck represents is possibility and potential and strength and utility. Because there was a ball hitch on that thing. And dad would hook up a little Alumacraft boat with a 15 horsepower Evinrude motor on it. And we lived out of the lake. I mean, we grew up. We'd go out to the farm and get a bunch of horse manure to put on the garden. We had a quarter acre garden that we lived out of. And then we ate fish several times a week. We grew up raising our own food. And then dad would go down home to northern Iowa and we'd bring back a quarter or a half a pig and cow. We had a big deep freeze in the basement and that was our food supply. So it was continuity of life. It was strength, power, potential utility. And when I think about the little tiny town I grew up in which had, you know, 763 people in it, Eagle Lake, you know, dad was always helpful. So somebody would say, hey, can you help me pick up something and pull this and bring this over here. It was always like, can I use your truck? It was helpful. It was a way to be helpful to the community. So there was so much utility. But again, I think back to like, what are.

Yeah, but there's another thing about to. It is that I'm just trying to get a handle here because there's a no bullshit quality to pick up drugs.

You just turn them on and they work.

And the owners are at their non bullshit best probably when they're driving or they certainly feel at their non bullshit best when they're driving F150 or a Dodge Ram.

You're taller than a Honda, one of them race grinders, that's for sure. You know, that would be what people would say, those Japanese pieces. You know what, that would be the conversation you'd hear in the little towns. Yeah.

So if you had something like that, let's turn to model there. What would you want to be doing about your model? Mike, if you had kind of a hold on a check writer and the hold was going to be multi generational, like for the individual. You really, really lit up when I asked you this question. You really lit up. And the memories, I could see the memories. You were running through the old reels, you know, so there's a hold there. And for some reason, for example, if you decided that you, you know, would move to Montana, I can see you. One of the things you'd probably do is get an F150.

Yeah, it's so funny. I was shopping for him. I was on ebay not long ago and I was looking at hot rods and classic cars and I wound up falling into even 1964 old school Ford, one hundreds, even three on the tree, you know, old school. And I'll tell you one of my memories. I'm going to answer your question, but I'm going to give you one other example.

Talking about the model. How do you then have a model that you don't complicate it. I mean, you got something, I got.

Something simple for you. It has to do with messaging and activating a specific code. So I'm going to give you the example and then I'm going to give you the key. So the code really comes down to activating nostalgia. And that's precisely what you did. And I hadn't gone down this path, but I have lots of good memories sitting in the back of that truck, using it. On my first date, for example, I remember making out for the first time in that pickup truck. I remember going in the back of that pickup truck and doing some shenanigans. You know, it's like I got laid in the back of that truck. And this is something that I sat in the first time when I was maybe 8 years old or whatever it was. So maybe 10, I guess it would have been. I would have been 10 years old and dad pulled up in it. So I think going back to the model when we go to market, okay, so it's going to be first of all, feeling more free, possible. You're up high in the truck, you're looking down. It's safety. I think you feel safe in one of those things. And it's possibility and potential, which is very much an American ideal. And then I also think that activating the dream. So this is how I'd activate a nostalgic thread in the messaging is I'd say, you know, something along. What's your first memory of a pickup truck? What's your first memory of a Ford? And maybe it was this, maybe it was this, maybe it was this. So we cast a wide net by finding common threads again. What I would do if I were building a campaign is I'd survey buyers and owners and I'd also go back to the historical records and find people who aren't owners now. And I'd ask them questions about yesterday and about their memories they had. And I'd find as many activators as I could and I'd create a visible montage. I'd have little interviews with young people, old people, and I do a rainbow too. I'm not just talking about like where I grew up. You know, it's a bunch of Germans and Norwegians, you know, a bunch of white people. I would open this up to every color and race and create a unified message and say, here's what brings us all together. There's one thing we all have in common. Ford F150 Memories.

Yeah, here's a question because we started off looking at models here with the Corvette, which is, you know, a sports car. But I'm hard pressed with any other American car manufacturer to come up with an equal to the Corvette. I mean, I'm not a car guy, but I remember the 1955 Corvette and I know a Corvette on the street when I see it, you know, so they have that. But why do you think the American car manufacturers are really, really non memorable for the most part? They're not memorable for continuity in all the other vehicles, but they are with the pickup trucks. And I say gm, Chrysler, you know, General Motors actually doubles down because they have gmc. So my sense is, why do they have it so right or is it because the market is so right? It's the market that makes that particular vehicle or that big category of vehicle something that you can build on over decades.

So I'm gonna give you three answers and I'm. The second one's gonna be the most interesting to both of us. But I think part of it is they definitely lost their ways in the 70s. And you know, cars were garbage back then for sure, and big part of the 80s. And then we had the influx of all the Japanese vehicles, which frankly were just better and cheaper. I had a Honda Civic, for example. I drove a Datsun 280Z. That was my first sports car, straight six, fuel injected. That thing went like a bat out of hell. I drove 130 miles an hour all the time. My girlfriend would lay in the back of that thing with one of my best friends. You know, it didn't have no back seats, so I was so stupid. It was again, just idiotic. But what I think is more interesting is what has been happening. So something really fascinating has been happening, which is Chargers, Challengers, Camaros. And right now, the new Bronco came out by Ford and this thing is a badass vehicle. They captured the old school look of it and it's going to be an absolute hit. They've got like a $100 deposit and they're going to start delivering in about a year. So they took a page out of Elon Musk's, reserve it for 100 bucks, things which he did with the Cyber truck. And I think they lost their way and forever, whatever reason. We could probably brainstorm 100 Reasons why and back it up with data, but they came out with a Dodge Demon, I believe, which was I think a Charger variant or whatever. And it's like some insane, ludicrous, like 780 horsepower. I mean, it's crazy, these supercars. The point being, I think America got its thing back by making some of these nostalgic vehicles that have all the lines and like they grab the best of elements, the design elements, and are bringing it back not to the beauty of the 30s and 40s and 50s, but certainly they figured out something. You know, we live in such strange times right now. I think what we're experiencing, people are changing what a car's gonna mean to them. I just saw an estimate that the estimated amount of driving that's gonna be taking place is expected to be, like, 30% lower, and it'll probably stay that way. I mean, gas and oil and cars are never gonna be the same when we're done with the pandemic. What vehicles mean means something different as well. To my son, he wasn't in a big hurry to get his driver's license because freedom happened through a screen. It didn't happen inside a car. Freedom was a car. When you and I grew up, it meant independence and freedom. And now it's happened in a virtual space. And I think the object, in other words, the package, the model, means something different. And a new narrative needs to be composed, a new mythology in order to attract a different mindset buyer. And that is just as fascinating as all the things that we're just talking about.

Yeah. Because from the very beginning of Strategic Coach, because we started Strategic Coach as one of the focuses of this thing. But I've always tapped into entrepreneurism not as a way of making a living, but as a way of life that to be an entrepreneur is a way of life. Okay. I always get a laugh out of this line. And I did it. I had an entrepreneurial organization, EO organization, on Wednesday, and I said, well, how many of you have clued in yet that being an entrepreneur is a life sentence? And it got a big laugh, and it always gets a big laugh. And the reason it gets a big laugh, I said, do you think there's an alternative to this? I mean, now that you've been doing it for five years or 10 years, you could want to go back and get a job, but they won't have you. You just got a gap in your biography. They don't know, where have you been? Who have you been working for? Where are your jobs referrals? You don't have job referrals. I said, this is a life sentence. So I've always zeroed in that this is a complete way of life. This is a 360 way. And what do you think? I mean, you've been really doing probably deeper research than I ever have on Strategic Coach. What would you say that as a touch point? I'm not saying it's the main point, but it's a touch point.

Okay. I'm not sure how to answer the question, so ask me the more direct question. A touch point meaning.

Well, we're talking about market here. We're talking about market. Who's the market? I mean, we were talking about the market for Corvettes, the market for pickup trucks. I'm talking about the market for the whole thing that being an entrepreneur is a way of life. It's not just a way of making a living.

I'm going to answer that question by telling you this is precisely what we're going to cover in our next episode. I'm going to deconstruct it. I'm going to give you the psychographic demographic breakdown and in a way that any business owner who's listening to this can get a tremendous amount of value out of. And it is also how to find the biggest opportunities and identify your perfect market. So how's that if I say let me show you because I'll actually demonstrate it, show you and break it down step by step in that episode. And also on how to activate a simplifier multiplier team to craft the perfect message to attract them. What do you think of that?

I'm up for it.

Okay.

You know I'm up for it. All right.

Well, here's what I want to do too. I want to do a favor for you, Dan, which is you've got a brand new book coming out. It's called who Not How. And what I want to encourage our listeners to do right now is go to strategiccoach.com, click on store and get yourself a copy of the the book. And if by the time you're reaching this or hearing this, if it's not available, you'll be able to get the pre sale. And if it is, grab that copy. This is one of the most important, valuable tools and thinkings that you will ever be introduced to. And it's a book that was written both by Dan and our good friend Ben Hardy, Dr. Benjamin Hardy, PhD, by the way, who also just came out with a book not long ago called Personality Isn't Permanent. So is there anything you want to say about that book before we send people over there? And then I also have another cool giveaway for all of our listeners.

Yeah, we're taking orders right now. The actual launch date. And this is our good friends at Hay House Publishers who are right around the corner from you, Mike Reed, Tracy. Reed.

Tracy is an awesome guy, great human being.

And you know, the strategy here was provided by Tucker. Max put the whole project together. So I just want to put kudos to my collaborators on it. October 20th, the book comes out and it kind of tells you if you don't just grasp a concept that whenever you have a goal, don't think of you doing the hows that achieve the goal. Think of other who's who can actually help you achieve the goal. And we've got probably 25 stories in there. People who have just changed their lives by switching. And that's the title of the book, who, not how. And if you get this, life gets a lot simpler.

It's a major game changer. You start getting out of stepping in how pies. You have who hugs instead of stepping in how pies. That's funny. If you're from the Midwest and you've ever stepped in one before. I'm talking about the old pasture. Playing baseball in a pasture. You got to be careful of the cow land mines barefoot. I remember some old stories like that. So that'll bring us back to the olden days. And what you can expect in our next episode is we're going to talk about how to find the biggest opportunities that produce the most money for the longest period of time. And I'm going to actually deconstruct for Dan all of our findings and research that we found about who the perfect strategic coach, client or customer is. But how you can adapt this thinking to craft perfect messages using the market model message medium system into your own business as well. It's something I think you're absolutely going to enjoy. I know you will, Dan and I've enjoyed learning a lot through this process. And also we've used some great tools, some AI and some machine learning to help us get to some of this data. And it's super advanced, fun and interesting marketing. So, Dan, anything else you want to add before we wrap this episode up?

No, but just think about the things that you really treasure in life and how you can keep them. So we talked about Corvettes, we talked about F150s and probably during the pandemic period, a lot of people have gotten in touch with stuff that was valuable in a earlier part of their life, but it's now come into their life and those are good things. And you should make sure that if they got lost in the past, make sure they come back in the future.

I love it. It's a great way to finish it up. This is Capability Amplifier. This is Dan Sullivan, Mike Koenigs. Thanks for listening. Will you head over to itunes right now to rate the capability amplifier show every rating and review helps spread the message and create more empowered entrepreneurs like you. And if you've already done that, please share this episode with a friend who, who you know can benefit from capability amplifier. And if you have any questions or suggestions, head over to capabilityamplifier.com there you can leave us an audio message and Dan and I listen to every single one of them. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you soon.