Statistics show there’s no shortage of people pitching their expertise and services, but no one’s really paying attention to them. Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman explain why so many pitches get ignored and how to actually engage with the people you’re pitching to. In This Episode: People can pay attention to only one thing at a time. Nobody’s looking for answers. They’re looking for questions. Instead of thinking about a marketplace, you can focus just on relationships. The pitch can’t be about you. It has to be about the client. People who work in competitive organizations might keep their future aspirations a secret. Everyone has developed pitch filters as well as content and entertainment filters. There's a crisis growing in the technological and marketing worlds where it’s taking more effort and more money to not get a result. Having questions that get another person to think about their future is 100 times more powerful than any answer you could give them.  Resources: Your Life As A Strategy Circle  by Dan Sullivan Learn more about Strategic Coach Article: The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs Walter Payton – Hall of Fame NFL running back and philosopher Anything And Everything - Podcast with Dan Sullivan and Jeffrey Madoff

Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman share some secrets of teamwork that Dan highlights in his new book, Everyone And Everything Grows. When a crisis hits, your team should be positioned to come out stronger for the challenge. Learn how Strategic Coach® pulls it off, how technology assists, and how an amazing company culture makes the whole thing possible. In This Episode: Video conferencing platforms like Zoom aren’t communication tools, they’re transportation tools. Competitive internal politics always interfere with company culture and great communication. Build your team so they don’t have to spend any energy on defending themselves. At Strategic Coach, when something doesn’t work, it’s usually not an individual problem but a system problem or a structure problem. There are only two teams you should be on: the winning team or the learning team. At large corporations, everything grinds to a halt because people spend more time trying to avoid mistakes than actually creating things.  Resources: Everyone And Everything Grows by Dan Sullivan The Impact Filter™ The Experience Transformer®: How To Transform A Negative Experience (Video) Unique Ability® Welcome To Cloudlandia podcast with Dan Sullivan and Dean Jackson AI As Your Teammate by Evan Ryan

Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman discuss the importance of deciding who's in the room when it comes to podcasting. They highlight how Strategic Coach® is selective about who they allow in their workshop rooms and how this consistency extends to other “rooms,” such as your audience. They also mention the possibility of niching down and specializing in podcasting, citing an example of a podcast for optometrists with a very strange focus.In This Episode:Sometimes, the smaller the niche, the bigger the market.Bureaucracies love solutions like lockdowns that let them catch up.How to wreck a radio station. Playing it safe is not how to stay at the top.The difference between style and fashion. (You want to find your style.)The freedom of cash confidence. Or, how to say no to jets and dinners. Resources:Always Be The Buyer By Dan SullivanThe story of Diogenes and AlexanderTotal Cash Confidence By Dan Sullivan

Evan Ryan joins Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman for another episode to share some valuable insights about how to regain control and use technology to enhance your creativity and freedom. Evan is convinced that AI’s best use is to amplify human potential rather than replace us. In This Episode: Dan mentions his new quarterly book, Owning Technology Like A Great Dog, which emphasizes the importance of humans being in charge of their technology, and not the other way around.Evan explains why it’s critical to know what you want. Then, you can make the technology work for you.Dan shares his experience of using Joe Stolte's Daily.ai newsletter platform and how it leads to significant increases in open rates and engagement.Dan makes a distinction between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom.There are four freedoms of being an entrepreneur—time, money, relationships, and purpose—and technologies like AI can help or hinder that freedom.They discuss the shift from manual labor to knowledge work. Working with AI now presents people with an even bigger “conceptual chasm.”Some people have an almost religious view of technology that can veer into misanthropy—resenting the realities of relating to other human beings.Evan describes the freedom of the “digital nomad” lifestyle that he enjoys because of technology.There are technological “demarcation lines” that Evan won’t cross.Dan: “Humanity is always infinitely bigger than anything that humanity creates.” Resources: AI As Your Teammate by Evan RyanEvan’s company is Teammate AIDan’s AI newsletter is The SparkOwning Technology Like A Great Dog by Dan SullivanJoe Stolte’s Daily.ai newsletterUnique Ability® (website, book)

Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman are joined by special guest Evan Ryan, an expert in artificial intelligence (AI). Evan shares his decade-long experience with AI and its entrepreneurial possibilities. They discuss Evan's book, which explores the potential of AI in various aspects of life, and provide valuable insights into how entrepreneurs can integrate it into their workflow to achieve more in less time—and make life more fun in the process. In This Episode: AI can be defined as a computer doing something that a human used to do. Evan’s goal is to allow his team to be less robotic in their lives, and to free themselves to do more fun, creative things. A lot of people think of technology as something that happens to them. There are two kinds of problems that a business can face: growing business problems and dying business problems. AI isn’t going to help companies that aren’t using their teams well, or creating value in the marketplace. Artificial intelligence is not artificial wisdom. Humans are still required for that. Those who remain resistant to AI are usually people who want to maximize their billable hours, not improve their workflows.  Resources: AI as Your Teammate: Electrify Growth Without Increasing Payroll by Evan Ryan Evan Ryan’s company is: teammateai.com Unique AbilityⓇ Perplexity AI

Believe it or not, podcasting has now been around for two decades. Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman delve into the history and share their personal stories of how each of them first got involved. You’ll hear where podcasting is headed and learn the art of having compelling conversations that make people laugh, think, question, cry, and always come back for more. In This Episode: The first podcast was published in 2003 via RSS, marking the beginning of the era. Podcasting allows for a more intimate connection with listeners, creating a loyal and supportive audience.The greatest compliment you can pay anyone in broadcasting is, “I feel like I know you.” Podcasting is a relationship-building medium. You don’t have to sell anything if you don’t want to. AI-powered capabilities are only going to increase and expand, making the medium more accessible to everyone.Podcast listeners count on two things: they want to learn something new, and they want to be entertained.Giving away free content in podcasts can inspire listeners to investigate your company and write a check.Even a 20-year-old podcast is new to someone coming across it for the first time.With podcasting, everyone who’s listening to you made the choice to listen to you. They’re there because they want to be.Resources: The first podcast ever Dan’s first podcast ever with Joe Polish I Love Marketing Podcast with Joe Polish and Dean Jackson Open Source podcast with Christopher Lydon Chris Voss, author of Never Split The Difference and former FBI hostage negotiator The Strategic Podcast Network

Gord Vickman and Dan Sullivan dive into the concept of "Geometry For Staying Cool & Calm" and its relevance in the emerging age of AI. Drawing on a recent MIT Sloan study on the impact of AI in the workplace, they explore how anyone can thrive when they focus on constantly creating new things. In This Episode: Dan and Gord share the concept of "Geometry For Staying Cool & Calm" as a mindset for living in the digital network economy.An MIT Sloan research paper showed that AI can significantly boost productivity for less experienced workers.Academic credentials are being left behind in a networked world where people only care if you create value for them.The current educational system is stuck in an industrial economy that makes little sense to continue following.  Podcasting invites everyone to have their voices heard without needing permission.Dan makes an important distinction between efficiency and effectiveness.Productivity in the future won’t be contingent on tenure but rather on one’s ability to leverage AI and embrace the habit of always creating new things. Resources:MIT article: “Workers with less experience gain the most from generative AI”“Geometry” For Staying Cool & Calm by Dan SullivanThe Strategic Podcast Network

Every new thing you learn to do is scary at first. That includes starting a podcast, filming a video, writing a blog, or performing for a crowd. Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman discuss The 4 C’s Formula® and how it captures every performer’s experience in starting a podcast and growing it. In This Episode: First-time performers tend to focus on their fears, but the audience never even notices. It’s hard to sound natural and have fun when you’re too focused on yourself.Wrap your message in a narrative or story for better engagement.The best entrepreneurial companies effectively combine Simplifier and Multiplier teamwork.  The 4 C’s Formula involves:First, commitment to a new effort.Then, courage to follow through despite the fear.Gradually, you develop new capabilities as you learn and grow from the experience.Eventually, you feel confidence in those capabilities.“The difference between courage and confidence is that confidence feels good.” —DanEarly in his radio career, Gord said a four-letter word live on air, and it changed everything.Dan believes consistency of delivery and of message are two things that hold your audience.You’re not competing with other similar podcasts; you’re competing with all the other things your audience could be doing with that time.“Hang out with people who love the thing that you’re doing.” —Dan“If you want one guarantee that your event’s going to be enjoyable for all the guests, the first thing you have to do is guarantee that the host has a good time.” —Dan, learned from Emily PostBe proud of the first podcast you made because you did it solely on commitment and courage, without yet having the capability and confidence.Resources:The 4 C’s Formula by Dan SullivanSimplifier-Multiplier Collaboration by Dan SullivanThe Strategic Podcast NetworkLearn more about author Emily Post

Gord Vickman and Dan Sullivan discuss Dan’s latest book, 10x Is Easier Than 2x, co-authored by Dr. Ben Hardy. By identifying the changes and breakthroughs that led to your past growth, you can gain the confidence and insight needed to achieve your next jump. Sounds like fun, right? This episode is a must-listen for entrepreneurs and creators looking to build things faster, easier, and cheaper than before. In This Episode: 10x Is Easier Than 2x is a compilation of concepts that have been tested and proven in The Strategic Coach® Program. Dan says it’s “the best book for getting an overview of all the productivity tricks that we have in Strategic Coach.”How can 10x growth possibly be easier than 2x growth? Dan invites the listener to remember that they’ve already made this leap at least once in their lives.The key to growth is imagining an exponentially—rather than incrementally—bigger future.Dan credits writer Ben Hardy for making these books possible.Reaching that future will require shedding outdated methods and even team members and customers who are no longer a good fit.This trilogy of books, Dan says, is linked by a kind of entrepreneurial logic: the logic of achievement, the logic of progress, and the logic of growth.When you set out to achieve breakthroughs, you have to allow for luck and surprises—and even count on them.Dan’s goal for these books was never about becoming a famous author but about finding new people to talk to who might be interested in The Strategic Coach Program. Resources: 10x Is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin HardyWho Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin HardyThe Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin HardyNovelist Mark DawsonTucker MaxThe Strategic Coach Program

Get the latest book by Dan Sullivan and Ben Hardy, 10x Is Easier Than 2x.Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman discuss the importance of partnership between AI and humans—finding a balance between technology and the human touch. Dan also shares his insights about where ideas come from and the differences between creativity, wisdom, and intelligence. In This Episode: Dan and Gord talk about the importance of AI-human partnership, addressing concerns of AI replacing human creativity.Where does Dan get his ideas? Through conversations with ambitious people and those who faced setbacks, as well as by thinking about his thinking.Intelligence manifests in Unique Ability®, like Larry Bird's situational quickness and unpredictability in basketball.Human creativity links unrelated concepts, while AI focuses on patterns and predictability.What’s the difference between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom?Journalism's decline linked to AI's inability to replicate the classic journalist’s three Ws: waiting, wondering, and wandering.News reporter Barbara Frum interviewing the Shah of Iran's consort, tapping into the listeners’ reactions in a way that AI never could.Dan sees AI as just another tool, not a replacement for human thinking, and emphasizes maintaining agency and partnership with technology. Resources: Larry BirdBarbara Frum, from the CBC archivesHoward Getson – CEO, CapitalogixThe Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr SolzhenitsynThe Strategic Podcast Network

Join Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman as they explore the rapid growth of podcasts and how the most successful shows get things done. Why are so many people turning to them over traditional media? The answer, Dan says, is relationship: The best podcasters know that it’s not about them, it’s about you.In This Episode:Why podcasts exploded in popularity.Why creating a podcast is no longer just fringe marketing.The importance of building relationships with listeners.A marriage analogy for building a show from a seed.The importance of understanding the listener's needs.A timely transition from broadcast to podcast.The D.O.S. Conversation “A deceptively simple method for immediately making a powerful connection with any client or prospect, which allows you to create unique value in their life.”

Gord Vickman and Dan Sullivan explain how entrepreneurs who don't think of themselves as technically minded can still use the latest tools to their advantage. You’ll learn simple, actionable steps for breaking through the mental barriers that can make technology seem intimidating at first, so that you can make it another part of your overall teamwork strategy.In This Episode:How can entrepreneurs who don’t consider themselves to be technically minded embrace new technologies?Dan’s new quarterly book, Thinking About Your Thinking, is based on a mental skill he developed at age six and formed the basis for all his subsequent success.Most people think about things, people, and thoughts, but there’s another level of thinking available that opens up new and better possibilities.Why Dan’s never felt lonely or weird—even when he was doing completely different things to the people around him.Instead of learning about every new development himself, Dan simply surrounds himself with others who are fascinated by technology, tells them what he’s looking for, and rewards them for discovering useful new shortcuts and capabilities.Gord and Dan discuss the Kolbe profile, which helps you learn how to work in your best abilities—or team up with others whose skills complement yours.The Kolbe profile made Dan happy because it highlighted the areas where he has no staying power or motivation, which showed him where he needed teamwork.Kolbe also helps explain the widely different ways in which people will approach learning a new tool.“Technology is teamwork that has been made automatic.” - DanThe starting point is an awareness of individual uniqueness, then combining that with other people’s uniqueness.“I always keep a smart human between me and technology.” - Dan“I would not spend any time learning how to use any technology. But I’m very, very fast to understand the importance of the technology.” - DanThinking About Your Thinking by Dan SullivanThe Kolbe Profile

ChatGPT is on everyone’s lips and on everyone’s screens, but as an entrepreneur, you might be asking how it can help with your business growth. Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman share how to tell if the current crop of AI tools is useful for your business or just the latest futuristic distraction.In This Episode:ChatGPT is the next level of written communication that started with the teletype.AI has not yet reached the level of being able to tell a good story.Great teamwork is completing any project through greater productivity and achieving greater profitability.If you’re wondering how an AI tool can be useful to your business, first ask how it can help make your team more productive, and second, ask how it can help increase profits.Garbage in, garbage out: AI results are only as good as the instructions.Dan points out that ChatGPT’s response is strictly positive because the company OpenAI is most profitable when we see its benefits and consume its service.Gord and Dan wonder what exactly we’re being sold. Is this just a toy to generate meaningless social media content or a tool that can allow anyone to be a creator of useful material?No matter what new technology comes up, Dan’s approach is always to keep a very smart human between him and that technology.AI might generate the first 80% of the content, but a very smart human can take it to the next 80%.Learn more about Ray KurzweilLearn more about Mike KoenigsLearn more about Hamish MacDonald

Every new technology makes someone’s job irrelevant. Blockchain and its by-products—NFTs, smart contracts, and stablecoins—decentralize transactions that are traditionally moderated by middlemen and gatekeepers. If you’re one of those middlemen today, it may be time to find innovative ways to create value that people will pay you for.In This Episode:Technology eliminates people having to do predictable work in a process or system.Freed from doing predictable work, people can be creative elsewhere.The blockchain, which allows smart contracts and cryptocurrencies such as stablecoins, is a technology that eliminates middlemen and gatekeepers.NFTs allow creators to sell directly to buyers, and buyers to resell directly to each other.Originally, CryptoPunks’ pixelated cartoons were reselling for tens of thousands of dollars.Like Holland’s tulip bulb craze in the 1600s or the Japanese real estate craze in the 1980s, people are using these cartoons as an investment, believing they can sell them for much more later.Trust is the essence of capitalism.The internet has made it difficult to know whom to trust, but blockchain smart contracts solve that.Smart contracts are tiny programs plus data deployed on a blockchain, such as Ethereum, that automatically execute an exchange once the conditions have been met.Instead of having a third party such as Kickstarter hold all the money during a crowdfunding campaign and then take up to a 10% cut, a smart contract can eliminate that middleman at just the cost of hosting the smart contract on the network.Defi, or decentralized finance, works the same way to make secure loans available to people who were turned down by banks.Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are pegged to a stable asset like the U.S. dollar or gold.Because they don’t fluctuate wildly, stablecoins can be used for reliable international payments.Stablecoins also cut out fees to banks and other institutions because there’s no currency exchange and no service charge for moving across borders.If you want intellectual property protection today, you must file copyrights and trademarks in every country for it to be enforceable everywhere.With the blockchain, Strategic Coach could upload its thinking tools in a similar way to smart contracts or NFTs to universally prove ownership of creation.CryptoPunks IBM article: “What are smart contracts on blockchain?” Forbes article: “An Introduction To Stablecoins” Your Life As A Strategy Circle by Dan Sullivan

There's a misconception that podcasting is a quick way to make money. But if you're only in it for the cash, you'll likely be disappointed. Start a podcast for the right reasons: to create value for your audience. When you focus on creating great content for your listeners, the money may show up in other ways. Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman explain how Strategic Coach has seen consistent growth for decades by doing just that.In This Episode:Most entrepreneurs develop the courage to become entrepreneurs because they’re good salespeople.Marketing is what allows you to even have the opportunity to be in front of someone.If you see a problem, set out to solve it whether you get paid for it or not.You should do it because it’s valuable, regardless of the money you make.Don’t listen to the people who are trying to throw you into The Gap by saying, “Oh, you must do this. Because everyone else is doing it!”Don’t force people to learn something new in order to get value from you.A podcast is like a message in a bottle. Most will sink, but others wash up on a beach where somebody will read it and say, “I’ve been looking for that!”Existing clients listen to our podcasts faithfully. They come to the workshops and talk about the subjects that the podcasts cover.The goal of the Strategic Podcast Network is to attract people and marinate them in the content in hopes that they become successful, talented, ambitious entrepreneurs.It’s not tough to make money if your focus is on making other people successful.The Gap and The Gain by Ben Hardy and Dan SullivanThe Strategic Podcast Network features all our shows in one place10xTalk podcast, featuring Dan Sullivan and Joe PolishJoe Polish’s Genius NetworkInside Strategic Coach podcast featuring Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller

Are you paranoid that you’ll soon be replaced a computer? What you might not realize is that no matter how fast a computer can process information, only humans can create meaning. Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman discuss how technological breakthroughs actually affect human beings and the best ways for entrepreneurs to think about the coming wave of artificial intelligence.

Even if you have an enormous amount of money to invest, you can’t be sure you’re hiring the best person for a role unless you take certain factors into account. Gord and Dan share what you should really be looking for when you’re trying to make a splash in the marketplace, with many examples that have worked well in Dan’s more than 30-year entrepreneurial career.

When you feel bothered by something, it can be hard to figure out why, and this feeling always gets in the way of your productivity. Join Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman to learn the best things to do when you’re bothered so you can move on with your life and continue creating great things.

Dan and Gord talk broadcasting, podcasting, and publishing, and why it's so crucial to be clear on what your core money-making business is. (Hint: It's probably not podcasting.) Also, who are the "Whos" to do the "Hows" that will create your bigger future?

Let’s revisit one of our most popular episodes to explain why plenty of shows have good content but fail to gain traction and intrigue. The reason is that content isn’t enough—you need to wrap it in a great story so it really sinks in. Dan Sullivan and Gord Vickman discuss why the best shows include the best stories.