David Shriner-Cahn, Scale Your Business for Long-Term Success – InnovaBuzz 276
David Shriner-Cahn, Smashing the Plateau
In this episode, I’m really excited to have as my guest, David Shriner-Cahn of Smashing the Plateau, where he works with entrepreneurs to help them build consistent, stable, recurring revenue, with the service they provide.
David was an early adopter of podcasting, launching the Smashing the Plateau podcast in 2014 and it has now reached over 500 episodes and the Going Solo podcast is a recent addition to his podcasting portfolio.
In our discussion, David and I talked about:
- The trifecta of what you love to do, what you excel at, and who you serve that needs that service – to identify your area of focus
- The value of peer support groups to test ideas, to get help, and to generate leads
- Lessons from over 500 episodes of the Smashing the Plateau podcast
Marc Halpert in episode 258 introduced us to David.
Listen to the podcast to find out more.
Listen to the Podcast
Relationships are key to everything. @SmashingthePlateau on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To Tweet
Show Notes from this episode with David Shriner-Cahn of Smashing the Plateau
Key points and takeaways from this episode include:
- One of the benefits of being a podcast host is the relationship that you develop with your guests. Relationships are key to everything.
- Choose a good calendar system that your guests can use to book an interview. Make sure that you can get all the information you need from the guest as well as all the information that your guests need to prepare themselves for the show.
- There’s a lot of skills that you need to learn as an entrepreneur. You may be really good at delivering great results to your employer or to your employer’s customers but it doesn’t mean that you have the skills to run your own business.
- People like to talk about themselves. When you have a platform that gives them an easy way to talk about themselves, most people will say “yes”.
- As a high achieving professional who delivers your knowledge and expertise as an employee, you are used to solving complex problems. You also tend to be judged harshly when you make mistakes more than maybe 10% of the time. As an entrepreneur, the inverse is true. The simpler the problem you can solve the more profitable it is likely to be for you. As an entrepreneur, if you are right more than 10% of the time, then, you are probably doing really well.
- Taking some time off is important. It allows you to be sufficiently removed emotionally from the trigger that caused you to be where you are now and enables you to make better decisions.
- A job loss is a loss, and our identity is connected to our work. People deal differently with grief a year after a loss than we do a week after the loss. Give yourself that space to not really worry about it for a period of time.
- Decide on what you want based on three factors – What do you love to do most? What are you most competent at doing? Whom do you want to serve, and what do they need? Your ideal offering should be in the intersection of these three elements.
- Peer support groups are great. They can give you a breath of different questions and perspectives. You can hear shared experiences of people who may have gone through something similar.
- Once you’ve identified what you want to do, make a short list of people who you believe can help you find some leads. Figure out who your potential referral sources are from your existing relationships and take the time to meet with them.
- The clearer you are and the narrower you are on your profile of what it is that you are looking for, the easier it is for your referral sources to help you.
- Do your market research. Find out who actually needs what you think you can offer and who’s willing to pay for it.
- Recurring problems generate recurring revenue. Think about the ongoing problems that your prospects have that they really want to solve and if they can, they are willing to pay for it.
- A recurring problem is always going to be there. It’s not about how you solve the problem. It’s about how you start solving that problem.
The clearer you are and the narrower you are on your profile of what it is that you are looking for, the easier it is for your referral sources to help you. @SmashingthePlateau on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To Tweet
The Buzz – Our Innovation Round
Here are David’s answers to the questions of our Innovation round. Listen to the interview to get the full scoop.
- #1 thing to be more innovative – Being in a peer support group.
- Best thing for new ideas – Peer support groups and constant networking.
- Favourite tool for innovation – The One Thing by Gary Keller
- Keep project / client on track – Accountability.
- Differentiate – Ask somebody in your audience how they would differentiate you.
To Be a Leader
Think about what your gifts are. When we share our gifts the world prospers. Breakthroughs occur after hundreds and thousands of steps that nobody had seen, so pay attention to your hundreds and thousands of steps. Do them consistently and more frequently with some quality.
Reach Out
You can reach out and thank David through his website.
Suggested Guest
David suggested I interview Jaime Jay of Bottleneck Virtual Assistants and the Culture Eats Strategy Podcast. So Jamie, keep an eye on your inbox for an invitation from us to the InnovaBuzz podcast, courtesy of David Shriner-Cahn.
Links
- Website – Smashing the Plateau
- Going Solo Podcast
- Twitter – @SmashingthePlateau
- Smashing the Plateau Guest Inquiry
- Going Solo Guest Inquiry
Cool things about David
- He is the President of TEND Strategic Partners™.
- He is a chemical engineer.
- He’s held a number of leadership and management roles for many years in the not-for-profit sector.
Think about what your gifts are. When we share our gifts, the world prospers. @SmashingthePlateau on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To Tweet