Graham Cochrane (00:01.9)
You woke up on Monday with a full calendar. You worked all day. Tuesday, same thing.
Graham Cochrane (00:12.056)
You woke up Monday with a full calendar. You worked all day. Tuesday, same thing. By Friday, you've posted content, tweaked your website, answered emails, sat in on a call or two.
Graham Cochrane (00:39.18)
You woke up on Monday with a full calendar. You worked all day. Tuesday, same thing. By Friday, you've posted content, tweaked your website, answered emails, sat in on a call or two, and you looked at your bank account and nothing's changed. And the worst part, you're going to do the exact same thing next week. That's not bad luck. That's a loop. And most entrepreneurs are stuck in it.
without even knowing.
Graham Cochrane (01:38.446)
Now I'm gonna give you the solution in just a second, but let me tell you about an experience I had in a coaching session. Last week, I'm running an event and I'm coaching a bunch of entrepreneurs and they're asking me questions about how to grow their business. I usually ask clarifying questions about what they're already doing.
And client after client, answering these questions, I started to see a pattern and something welled up in me because these are entrepreneurs who are not hitting their income goals yet. They're smart people. They're hardworking people. They're motivated people. They're at an event they paid to be at to learn how to scale up their business. These people are the right kind of people who are poised and positioned for growth.
But as I'm diagnosing their businesses, I'm seeing a pattern. Even though it's different for everybody, there's a trend underneath all of it. And I had to pause and say, guys, here's the problem. Most of you are playing at business. You're not doing business.
two totally different things. And this is true for not just them in the room, this is true for most people on planet Earth right now. If you have a business and you are not making nearly as much money as you like, it is largely because you are spending your time playing business, but you ain't doing business. So this is a real loop that keeps people busy and broke and then they repeat the loop. So busy, broke, repeat.
busy, broke, repeat, I see this over and over again. So here's what the loop actually looks like. And here's why it happens. But here's what it looks like first. Number one is you wake up and you have a lot of stuff to do and so you probably jump in your inbox. That's what most of us do. We don't realize we're getting orders and commands from all of our mini bosses. Those are called our clients or followers or fans.
Graham Cochrane (03:48.45)
Whatever they're asking us to do, we do it, which is a horrible way to start our business and start our day. But you get in your inbox and then you might create some content and then you might post to Instagram and then you might get in your backend and tweet your website buttons. And then you might watch a video on YouTube or listen to a podcast like this.
Graham Cochrane (04:31.148)
You might watch a course, you might be on a coaching call. These things are all good, but these things do not make you money. Now, there's a reason why we like to spend our days doing these things. The reason is because there are no stakes. They're inconsequential. There's literally no consequence whether we fail at them or succeed at them. It is safer and easier
to just tweak the button color on your website. It is safer and easier to post more to TikTok or Instagram. It is safer and easier to watch other people's YouTube videos. It's safer and easier to continue to consume content, even good content, read books, even good books, watch courses, even good courses, go to coaching calls.
even good coaching calls, it is safer and easier to do those things than to actually grow your business.
Graham Cochrane (05:42.786)
These tasks feel like work. They might even resemble work, but they're not the real work because there's no financial consequence. There's no real weight to what you're doing. Does this make sense? Most people feel like they have too much to do and not enough money to show for it because they're committed to all the wrong things. There's a reason why I can work five
to 10 hours a week and make millions of dollars a year. And it's not because I'm really smart. Although I think I'm a smart person, it's not because I'm the most talented person. Although I think I'm a talented person, it's not because I'm lucky. Luck doesn't exist. That's an excuse people make who aren't happy with their results. Okay, and it's not because I'm great or I figure something out. It's because I stopped doing
80 to 90 percent of the stuff that I used to be doing because I realized if I do these things it doesn't make me money. If I don't do these things I don't really lose any money. So why am I doing these things anyway? And I knew why I was doing it because it felt safe. It felt productive. It felt good.
And it was because I was trying to avoid the real work that would put money in my pocket. Well, let's talk about that. You see the busy broke repeat loop that most people are on can be broken. The only way to break the loop if you're a business owner is to make an offer. Did you ever think about that? The only time
You get paid is when you make an offer to somebody. When you present an offer. An offer is simply an invitation to help somebody. And you invite them into that opportunity. Would you like to have your life transformed in this way? If so, it'll cost this. That's all an offer is. People can say yes to it, people can say no to it.
Graham Cochrane (08:01.688)
That's not in your control, no matter what the sales strategist will teach you. There's no script, there's no manipulation, there's no tactic that gets people to buy. That's not how people operate. People only buy for one reason, because they feel like it. The way to help them feel like buying your offer is to make a better offer. And this is something I can help you do, by the way, in my next 10K Offer Challenge. If you want to learn what does it take to craft an irresistible high ticket offer, I'll link to it below in the show notes, 10Kofferchallenge.com.
When you have a really freaking good offer, all you have to do is present it to people and your ideal client will go, my gosh, I want that. Now, whether they say yes to it or not, it depends on the timing, the funding, if they feel like financially it's a good time for them to do it, but they're gonna want it. The offer is everything, but that's all it is, an invitation. But the only time you make money, my friend, is when you make an offer.
It's when you talk to someone in real life. Would you like this offer? Yes or no. It's when you're texting somebody in real life. Would you like this offer? Yes or no. It's when you're DMing somebody in real life. Would you like this offer? Yes or no. It's when you host a webinar and you invite people. The webinar is an offer. Even if it's free, it's like, would you like to come and learn this thing? Yes or no. Yes, I would like to learn this thing. And then on that webinar, you present a paid opportunity at the end of the webinar if they want to go deeper. Do you want to buy my thing? Yes or no. These are the only times you make money.
You follow up with a past client who already got some great results and you have a new offer for them or you want to offer to continue working with them even when the coaching agreement is up. Would you like to continue to working together? We could work on these things and get you these results. Here's what it would look like, yes or no. This is the only way to make money is to ask for it. And we don't just ask for money, we offer something valuable in exchange for that money.
In fact, we offer something that is more valuable than the amount of money we're asking for. That's the only way people go, yes, that's a no-brainer because they realize what they're getting is worth way more than what they're paying for it. But that's the only way you make money is making an offer. Not having better content, not redesigning your funnel, not getting more followers, offers. Putting an offer in front of a real human being is the only way you'll ever make more money.
Graham Cochrane (10:21.134)
So the entrepreneur that's doing $100,000 a month consistently, like some of my clients, and we've gotten them up to $100,000 a month or more consistently, that entrepreneur, those entrepreneurs, my clients, myself, friends of mine, they're not more talented than you. They're not more disciplined about their inbox. They're not faster. It's not that they're just doing it faster. They've just normalized doing the one thing, the one uncomfortable thing,
that will bring them money. More conversations, more offers, more clients. That is the entire equation. Am I reading your mail?
There's something that I like to call having an effortless business. I love this so much, I even wrote an entire book about it called The Effortless Business. And to me, an effortless business is having a high income, low maintenance business and life.
By definition, to me, and what I help my clients do every single day is create, effortless businesses, creating a consistent $100,000 a month, working 20 hours a week or less. That's all I'm in the business of doing. Now, along the way, I'm helping people become better husbands, fathers, wives, mothers, men, women, leaders in their community. You really become a different person in pursuit of that money and that lifestyle. But if you wanted to pinpoint what I do,
I help people make $100,000 a month consistently working 20 hours a week or less. The only way to do that is to stop doing four fifths of what you're already doing that's just a giant waste of your time. I know it feels good and it's what everyone else is telling you to do, but they're not making money. They're on the same busy, broke, repeat cycle that you're on. So don't get advice from them. Get advice from someone who's broken that cycle.
Graham Cochrane (12:19.054)
Your friend Graham here, I'm not special, I just got off that merry-go-round. I said, I don't want to ride this ride anymore. Everyone's working, I don't even want to work 40 hours a week, everyone's working 80 hours a week, I don't want to even work 40. There has to be a way to make more and work less. There has to be a way. So I cracked the code. I've been doing this for 16 years. Okay? The only way to make $100,000 a month or more
I make a lot more than that per month working 20 hours a week or less and I work a lot less than 20 hours a week. The only way is to make more offers, better offers and higher priced offers to more people. So my question for you is, what does offer making and offer creation look like in your business?
Graham Cochrane (13:12.044)
One of the things I teach in the book is my magic offer formula. And if you come to the 10K Offer Challenge, we'll help you build your offer in real time. Whatever format feels good to you, get the book, come to the challenge. I don't care, just study what I've got the roadmap for you. We've eliminated all the things that don't matter and just focus on the few things that do matter. And inside the book,
I teach you my effortless income engine. It's a three-part business model. It simplifies the mess out of it. This is the good news is you can stop doing four-fifths of what you've been doing. Your income will not drop and then that will give you more time and energy to focus on the stuff that you're probably avoiding, which is making more and better offers to more people. So let's get out of the loop this week. Here's the prescription. So here's a diagnostic for you. Every Friday,
or whenever your work week ends, want you to ask yourself one question. Did I make offers this week? Not did you work hard, not did I post, but did you put a real offer in front of a real person? If the answer is no, you didn't do business this week, you played it. Most people are playing business, not doing business.
It's okay if that happens, but diagnose it, assess the week and be honest with yourself. Did you make a real offer to a real human being this week? If you didn't, I hate to break it to you, but you wasted a week. So if that happens, just acknowledge it and say, I'm gonna do something better next week. And here is your action. Here's what you do differently. Okay, I want you, and this is real practical homework. I want you right now to name three people.
Three real human beings, they have names. These could be warm leads that you're already connecting with. These could be past clients you've already worked with. These could be existing contacts in your CRM or on Instagram. Name three people and make each of them a specific real offer before the week is out. That is the only exit ramp for this loop. If you're on the busy broke repeat loop, the only way to find an exit ramp off is to actually do the shocking
Graham Cochrane (15:28.846)
real business which is connecting with real people and making them a real offer. So come up with three names, reach out to them, and here's how you do it. Okay, if you've never done this before, especially if you wanna reach out and offer them a really good offer, a high ticket offer, I recommend you do that. A $10,000 offer. Let just give you a price. Everyone listening to this can and should have a $10,000 offer.
in every single niche. I help clients in every single niche. Dance instructors, French teachers, back pain experts, English pronunciation coaches, songwriting coaches, right? Any and all industry, you name it, every one of you should have a $10,000 offer and you could make one up today. An easy one would be around one-on-one coaching.
designed to give them a specific result or outcome. So just think about what is the outcome that your ideal person wants. And if you don't have the offer created, just lead with that outcome, right? You should know if I could transform anything in my ideal client's life, it would be this, they want this, right? Like my clients want to make more money and work less. So make $100,000 a month working 20 hours a week or less sounds real good to most of my people, right? What is the outcome they desire? That's all you need for this exercise. And here's what you do. You name those three people.
You email them, text them or DM them and you put out a signal. And this is what I mean. You say, hey, Fred, I was thinking about you this week. I know you're trying to grow in, let's just say you're a fitness coach. I know you're interested in getting the best shape of your life this year. Are you still interested in completely transforming your body?
and making this the year, so by the end of the year, you're in the best shape you've ever been. Is that something you're still interested in, yes or no? Okay, this is what we call putting on a signal. The signal is, do you want this outcome? Do you want this result? You're not assuming they do, you're pretty sure they do because they've either opted in for something or they've bought something from you in the past and they already follow your stuff or you're already talking to them about this, but you never assume, you confirm, do you want this outcome?
Graham Cochrane (17:53.774)
Okay, I talked about this last week, the promise of your offer, that's what we're talking about. Would you be interested in this? If Fred says, yes, I would be interested in this, then you say, cool, I have something really, really cool that I've been cooking up that I think you're really, really gonna like that could help you get that body by the end of the year. Would you be interested in hearing more about that?
Now, this is step two, now that you've got the signal confirmed, yes, I want this outcome, now you're getting permission to share the offer. This is called permission-based marketing. Instead of saying, buy my thing, you're connecting with a human. Do you want this outcome? I do. That's super cool. You know, I've created something to help people just like you get this outcome that I think you're gonna love. Would you like to hear more about it? My favorite three words in business, would you like? They're so simple, they're so...
innocuous, they're so unoffensive. Just it's like a waiter or waitressing, would you like a cocktail? Would you like to see the dessert menu? Would you like another Coke? Would you like the app the appetizer of the day? Would you like they can say yes or no. So it gives them the power. You always want them to feel like they have power. This is people get it wrong and sales like you need to have the power, you know, the leverage in the conversation. No, no, no, no. Always give them an out. So before you even present the offer, this is step two.
Would you like to hear more about this? I have something really cool for you that I think you're gonna love that's gonna get you this result. Would you like to hear more? If Fred says yes, then get him on a call.
Just get him on a call. Cool. Do you have 20 minutes to jump on a quick Zoom call? Get him on a call and hear more about it. Right? Just hear more about the pain point Fred has, more about, you know, confirming the outcome that he wants. He already knows you've got an offer for him. He's already given you permission to share it with you. He's already admitted that he wants this outcome. So you're already super aligned. Like you're already at the almost the finish line or you're almost in the end zone. And then you simply present the offer.
Graham Cochrane (19:58.466)
And if you don't have it mapped out, all you gotta say, if it's a one-on-one coaching offer is, cool. Well, what I'm doing is I'm taking on three new clients that I'm gonna help get in the best shape of the light or help get this outcome in the next six to 12 months. And we'll do that through these few different steps. And you just kind of outline at a high level, kind of what you would do. Like, if I'm a fitness coach, we'll probably do a nutrition plan.
come up with the right workouts for your season of life and the stuff you like to do. We'll have a little bit of accountability and we'll do this over a couple of calls a month or a weekly check-in. You just kind of come up with a rhythm and we'll work together for a fixed period of time. Six months, three months, 12 months, whatever, you decide.
And if you do what I say, this is what you're saying, and you put in the work, these are the results you're gonna be able to get and you go back to the outcome. Outcome, outcome, outcome. Pay off, pay off, pay off.
Normally I would charge X you can come up with a really really high number But right now for the next three clients, I'm only doing it for ten thousand dollars and we can have a payment plan if that would make it easier for you Right Would you would you like to do that? Would you like to be one of my three clients and just ask like this? I don't know if your blood's boiling right now. I don't know if you're like, Graham I don't know about that if that scares you welcome to doing business. It's called
Offering things. Offering, and what you're really offering is transformation that they so desperately need and you know they need it. You know they need it. Here's something you gotta believe in your heart of hearts, right? To do business well is that your prospects, the person across from you on the Zoom call or on the text or the email or in a real room, they need your help way more than you need their money. You have to not only know that to be true, and it is true, you don't need their money.
Graham Cochrane (21:58.606)
You can get money elsewhere, but they can't get your help elsewhere. They need your help. So this is a true statement. But more than it being a true statement, it has to be a core belief that you embody. Okay, when I present offers to clients or prospects, I literally tell myself before I go to any call, like, they need my help way more than I need their money. When you do that, you come from a place of service and you're so leaned out in such a good way that
Like, I'm not trying to convince you to buy this thing, because that would be needy. And needy is creepy. And people can smell commission breath a mile away. They know when you're like gunning for the sale. Don't gun for the sale. Gun for their transformation. Bro, Fred, like, we can do this. Like, you can be in the best shape of your life. Like, you need this, bro. Is this something you want? Yes or no? I'm good either way, because I'm going go help some amazing people, but I'd love that to be you.
If this makes you uncomfortable, welcome to doing business. This is your opportunity to step out of the busy, broke, repeat cycle and stop playing business and start doing business. And if you do this with three people this week, it might change your life. Certainly gonna change your prospects' lives when they become clients. It'll change your bank account when you land a $10,000 sale. But more importantly, it will change your life because you will start to see yourself differently. Ooh.
I'm a person who goes out there and makes real offers to real people to transform their lives. And people love to pay me. And I love to serve people. And when you step into that identity, that belief shift, game over for your business, my friend. You won't even want to go back to tweaking your website or posting to Instagram or whatever wasted time we do all day long. You're going to be addicted to helping more people and making more offers and watch your business grow.
Remember the loop only breaks when you do one thing the one thing that actually costs you something Emotionally, this is the cost of being a business and that's making the offer Everything else is just staying busy Those things don't cost you emotionally they don't cost you anxiety But they cost you money You are losing out on tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars a month if you stop
Graham Cochrane (24:27.352)
pursuing offer making and continue to hide behind the digital wall of your website and your Instagram and your TikTok and your YouTube and the books you're reading and the courses you're watching. That doesn't have to be you any longer. You can from this day forward, be a real business owner, a real entrepreneur, change more people's lives, make more money, have more fun and step into the real identity as an agent of transformation.
not a tinkerer of tools. I hope this blessed you today. If you want to go further with any of this content, you always know my book, The Effortless Business, it's here for you. It's only available at effortlessbusiness.com. I'll link to it below. I'd love to have you pick up a copy. It'll change your life if you implement it. It absolutely will. All right, thank you, my friend. We'll see you on another episode real soon.
