The Three Month Vacation Podcast: Online Small Business|marketing Strategy Plan| Sean D'souza | Psychotactics

The problem with a service-based-business is that you can't always publish a fixed price. The pricing always seems to depend on what needs to be done for the client. This results in a lot of wasted time and effort. Often, both the client and the vendor (that's us) get so bogged down in the process of quotes that the job gets postponed or falls through. How do we avoid this back and forth? And is it really possible to make your service like a product? Let's find out in this episode.

I used to hate writing a newsletter. It would be the task I'd keep postponing until the very last minute. Of course, that would make my entire week miserable. Until, I found what could be called a "rough formula". And it's an easy formula too. Try it and you'll see that your newsletter isn't as tedious as it used to be. In fact it's fun—well, almost.

If you look around you, the obvious success benchmarks are usually money first, and then, at least a huge dollop of fame. But are our benchmarks of success skewed by Fortune Magazine or Inc or Fast Company? Are those blogs we read driving us down a path we didn't originally set for ourselves. We had to muddle around a fair bit because we too were confused. However, here are our benchmarks for success. Maybe it will get you to set your own, as well.

When we think of membership sites we tend to think just about "information" based sites. However, there are many ways of looking at membership sites. In this second episode we dig into the "limited membership site" (yes, one that lasts for a fixed time and then stops). And we also look at membership sites that are not membership sites at all. Yes, it's a weird trip. Come join us and see how your business model might find these types of sites quite suited to your way of life.

A membership site isn't just another site. Instead, it's almost like an inner circle where you draw your closest clients to you. Yet, which kind of membership site would suit you best? Should you hand hold your clients? Or should it be a membership site with content they can pick and choose—and with no input on your part? In this two part series, we look at the power of the hand held membership site and compare it with the content-only membership site. Which one is for us? Let's find out.

Clients may love our work. They may refer us on to others. And yet, when it comes to sales, we shrivel back almost in horror. We find sales techniques to be a bit over the top and often bordering on yucky. Is there a way to quickly get over this terrible feeling? How do we promote ourselves without feeling icky?

Do you find yourself loving your work, but knowing that you're getting a bit one-dimensional? You work, then work, then work some more. And when others around you protest that you're working, you say, "But I love my work" or "I'm not working that much". You find yourself justifying the importance of the work, both from a monetary point of view as well as something you want to do. And yet, you know that setting needs a slight recalibration. That there are these things called hobbies. Things that you do for no reason at all, but for the pure joy. Where there's no financial benefit at all, and yet it somehow seems magical. If you want to keep working endlessly, that's a call to make. But if you'd like to re-calibrate your life to include something more, here's how you go about it.

Which is the most frequently used method of evaluating someone you want to hire?Usually, the method used is quite bizarre. You tend to ask for references, probably some sort of resume and you're expected to make a decision based on those parameters. However, almost everyone will make sure they have a polished resume, which means you don't know if the person is really a good fit for the job. At Psychotactics, we've hired duds before. And in order to avoid the frustration of hiring and then having to let go of staff/outsourcers, we've devised a method that is surprisingly easy—and effective. And in this episode you'll find the three steps we take to get very precise hiring results. Listen away!

Imagine making one change in your pricing strategy. Then let's say you make two. But let's say we make three changes. With three tiny changes, we have not just made tiny little moves, but have created a whole pricing environment. Or a trophic cascade, where one thing leads to the other, and then the entire cascading effect changes the way you do business. Your revenue goes up, which buys you more time. Wouldn't you like to know how to create this cascade? That's what today's episode is all about and how to go about putting together the elements of the cascade.

Either your article is too long and bloated or it's much too skimpy. When faced with either of these situations we are at a loss as to what needs to be done. Well, worry no more because "examples" are waiting to rush to your rescue. Let's find out how to use examples to extend or reduce content in articles, books, presentations and just about any other media that goes out to clients.

When you run a business, there are three things that seems to come up. The first is "ungrateful subscribers", the second is definitely "pirates" and the third is the "competition. No matter how hard you try, these three pesky occurrences seem hard to avoid, but as you'd expect, there's a way out.

Clickbait headlines seem to be designed to get our curiosity. But what makes a clickbait headline so attractive in the first place? And how do we write "normal" headlines that are far superior in getting the attention of the client?

Often contrarian advice is precisely what the client needs. But how do you present the concepts to clients? Don't you need a lot of proof and research? Here's how you can get your client to not just listen, but also implement your contrarian advice.

It's one thing to say "be contrarian" but you can stick out too much. And anyway, we don't particularly care to disagree. Yet, being contrarian gives you a uniqueness factor that gets the attention of the client. What steps do we need to take to get to this attention? And how do we go about it systematically? Let's find out.

Do you know why the Tesla is such a big car? Think about it for a second. Tesla Motors only make electric cars. The bigger the car, the heavier it's going to be and the greater the drain on the battery. So why make a big car? Why not make it more compact like other electric cars? The answer lies in the battery. The entire base of the car is nothing but a battery. The bigger the battery, the greater the distance the car can go. The top of the line Tesla can go 400 miles (that's over 640 kilometres) on a single charge. How did Tesla come up with technology that far supersedes the range of a fuel-driven car? The answer lies in a concept of contrarianism. Being a contrarian means you're not like sheep, just following what has been done in the past. Being contrarian means you're creating an end point and working backwards, without even knowing how you're going to get to the "finish line". Find out how to use the power of being contrarian to your advantage.

When we think of making the transition to our own business, why do we freeze? It's simply because we're not sure where to start. A business has so many aspects to it. Yet, most business people never start up a business. Find out what you really should be doing.

When it comes to testimonials, we tend to end up with rambling, not so great testimonials? How do we get powerful experiences, instead of watered down testimonials? Here are three quick (and relatively easy) ways to go about the task of getting great testimonials.

The final rerun of six re-runs: Can you really double your sales of a product you've created a while ago? And why are satellite products so very useful to clients and profitable to your info-product business? In this episode we look at info-products as we'd look at a piece of software like Photoshop. Find out the magic that already exists within your info-product and why you don't have to keep crazily searching for newer clients all the time.

The fifth of six re-runs: Whenever you have a deadline, somehow you're able to stagger towards it and get the job done. But other tasks never seem to move forward. You fall behind on your reading, your fun projects, even that movie you'd promised yourself. In life we need to complete projects that are urgent, but also projects that are good for the soul. How do we get these projects going and how can we sustain them over the long term? Let's find out in this episode.

The fourth of six re-runs: It might not seem like tolerance is the root for success, but if you dig deeper, you'll find that small businesses struggle without these core concepts of tolerance. So how does tolerance play a part in something like a successful artwork, or music, or the next product or course you produce? Let's find out in this podcast.