Episode 43
E43: How to Clone Yourself
It’s a busy day. You’ve ticked items off your to-do list but you still have plenty of things to do. And so you’re thinking, why do I only have 24 hours a day? Can I just clone myself so I can do two things at a time?
Now you can! Not literally though. There are several systems you can develop that integrate artificial intelligence and other modern technology to replicate yourself. Having a replicable process is a sign of a healthy and efficient business, but it comes with repercussions—of course, it’s not a perfect world.
In this episode, I will teach you how you can protect your business and products while optimizing technological transformations. Some of the important points I covered are:
- The telltale reasons you need to clone yourself for your business
- Expanding your business by outsourcing services like freelance facilitators
- The two types of license agreements you need to protect your intellectual property
- Diversifying clients by packaging your products at different price points
If you found these helpful and you want to know more about other options to set some limitations on AI integrations or cloning yourself through outsourcing, send me a message. Let’s explore the best way for your business.
Connect with Erin and find the resources mentioned in this episode at hourlytoexit.com/podcast.
Erin's LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinaustin/
Think Beyond IP YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVztXnDYnZ83oIb-EGX9IGA/videos
Music credit: Yes She Can by Tiny Music
A Team Dklutr production
Transcript
Hello everyone.
Speaker:Welcome to my last Wednesday of the
Speaker:month LinkedIn Live.
Speaker:I come here every last Wednesday of
Speaker:the month at noon eastern to talk
Speaker:about issues that are important to
Speaker:you in building a scalable and
Speaker:hopefully someday saleable expertise
Speaker:based business.
Speaker:So this week we're gonna talk about
Speaker:cloning yourself.
Speaker:How to increase your income and
Speaker:your impact.
Speaker:So this is a very timely one.
Speaker:I had some interesting
Speaker:conversation yesterday about
Speaker:this very topic, and so when I talk
Speaker:about clones, this comes on the heels.
Speaker:I think it was this week that I
Speaker:released, a podcast episode about ai
Speaker:where you can use ai like literally to
Speaker:clone yourself and do complete videos
Speaker:and your voice and.
Speaker:Everything.
Speaker:and, to create things that c
Speaker:clone yourself.
Speaker:So I'm not talking about that kind
Speaker:of cloning today.
Speaker:Today I'm talking about human clones,
Speaker:who can deliver the same or similar
Speaker:results that your clients come to you
Speaker:for, but without you having to do
Speaker:that work personally to create some
Speaker:independence in your business.
Speaker:And so, We do that of course, by having
Speaker:something that we can teach other
Speaker:people, we need to have some sort of
Speaker:system, whether it is a methodology
Speaker:or a framework or training
Speaker:materials or a workshop, something
Speaker:that allows a third party or.
Speaker:A third thing we wanna call a
Speaker:product that, to be able to replicate,
Speaker:the results that you provide to
Speaker:your clients on a one-on-one basis.
Speaker:And so I wanna just, tell you a
Speaker:story about a woman who was in a group
Speaker:coaching program I had a couple years
Speaker:ago now, and she.
Speaker:Did.
Speaker:I wish I could remember exactly
Speaker:what she called it, but basically
Speaker:she was like an empath of some
Speaker:sort and she was a business consultant
Speaker:and she had a way of connecting
Speaker:with her clients and using her.
Speaker:Intuition.
Speaker:I know that's not the word that
Speaker:she would use, but she kind of,
Speaker:the energy of her clients and she
Speaker:would work with them to help them make
Speaker:business decisions.
Speaker:And so it would be very difficult for
Speaker:someone, for her to clone herself.
Speaker:someone would have to have her
Speaker:same talents that.
Speaker:Most of us don't have, and that
Speaker:you probably can't teach and that are,
Speaker:something that you are born with and
Speaker:that, so it would be pretty hard for her
Speaker:to clone herself.
Speaker:But if you're like most of us, where
Speaker:we have used our experience and,
Speaker:Our training and our education and
Speaker:our, grown our expertise over time.
Speaker:Emotional intelligence,
Speaker:I like that.
Speaker:to help us, provide the services, the
Speaker:excellent services that we provide
Speaker:to our clients.
Speaker:Those are things that can
Speaker:be packaged.
Speaker:In a way that other people can help
Speaker:us deliver them.
Speaker:this is not going to be about mindset,
Speaker:but I do wanna just say this
Speaker:about the idea of, what you do.
Speaker:Is magical.
Speaker:The transformations that you provide
Speaker:your clients are magical and that
Speaker:is why they're highly valued.
Speaker:But those can be delivered in more
Speaker:than one way and by more than one person
Speaker:for the most of us.
Speaker:And so, being able to, to.
Speaker:Let go of some of that control
Speaker:by allowing other people to deliver
Speaker:your services is a step in, creating
Speaker:that independence that you really want
Speaker:in your business and be able to do,
Speaker:work with other clients, work on
Speaker:other projects, create new programs,
Speaker:do other, higher level strategy work.
Speaker:These are all things that require us to.
Speaker:Let other people clones, if you will
Speaker:help us deliver some of these services.
Speaker:So I'm going to use an example so we
Speaker:can talk through the stages of
Speaker:cloning ourselves using, this example.
Speaker:So, You are a D E I A consultant.
Speaker:You developed a workshop, include
Speaker:written exercises, maybe you have some
Speaker:video, vignettes and a discussion
Speaker:guide and a training manual.
Speaker:And your workshop is in very high
Speaker:demand and it is demand that you
Speaker:can't meet yourself.
Speaker:And so maybe even I, hear this from,
Speaker:people in this space who have
Speaker:clients who have.
Speaker:offices all over the country, and
Speaker:they want you to deliver your
Speaker:workshop to all of their employees all
Speaker:over the country, and that could keep
Speaker:you fully occupied for an entire year,
Speaker:keeping you from doing other things
Speaker:in your business, keeping you from
Speaker:servicing other clients, keeping you
Speaker:from creating other programs, keeping
Speaker:you from working on your thought
Speaker:leadership, keeping you from taking
Speaker:a vacation, or seeing your family.
Speaker:And so in order to satisfy this
Speaker:increased demand, there are a
Speaker:number of options.
Speaker:And so those clones that could help you
Speaker:satisfy that demand include employees,
Speaker:facilitators, licensees,
Speaker:and products.
Speaker:And we will take these one at a time.
Speaker:So employees, that is a way
Speaker:to help satisfy that demand with
Speaker:internal resources.
Speaker:I mean, we all probably started
Speaker:as employees, you know, unless you're
Speaker:Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates or
Speaker:Elizabeth Holmes, go forbid, we started
Speaker:as employees, and so we understand
Speaker:that from that side.
Speaker:But as an employer, Sometimes we forget
Speaker:that we are the most expensive resource
Speaker:in our business because there are
Speaker:some higher level strategy, thought
Speaker:leadership, personal appearances,
Speaker:speaking, things like that, that.
Speaker:Require us.
Speaker:And so when there are, established
Speaker:workshops or trainings or
Speaker:frameworks that you can train
Speaker:other people to deliver, then that
Speaker:is an efficient way to service
Speaker:those, that access demand using those
Speaker:internal resources.
Speaker:Now, I'm not going to pretend that
Speaker:the only expense with having an
Speaker:employee is just their salary.
Speaker:I mean, we know there's a lot
Speaker:more of that to it than that.
Speaker:Not to mention, taxes and, benefits,
Speaker:but there is that emotional cost
Speaker:and psychological cost to having
Speaker:an employees, to ask someone
Speaker:to, leave their current employer.
Speaker:And come to you.
Speaker:And now you are now not only responsible
Speaker:for the care and feeding of your
Speaker:family, you're now also responsible
Speaker:for the care and feeding of their
Speaker:families as well.
Speaker:And so if you're not ready for the
Speaker:responsibility of employees, there
Speaker:are a number of external resources
Speaker:that can help you fill that demand to
Speaker:serve your clients.
Speaker:So outsourcing.
Speaker:Facilitators, again, using that,
Speaker:HR consultant scenario, you may
Speaker:have a different type of business,
Speaker:maybe a management consultant or
Speaker:graphic design or something else, but
Speaker:facilitators are a great way when
Speaker:you're providing workshops with
Speaker:to your clients that you use an
Speaker:outsourced freelance facilitator.
Speaker:who are skilled in facilitating
Speaker:workshops to help you meet some
Speaker:of that demand.
Speaker:And so in the facilitator example
Speaker:versus the licensee example, which we'll
Speaker:talk about next facilitator example,
Speaker:they are using your materials, your
Speaker:workshops to service your clients.
Speaker:And so even though they're servicing
Speaker:your clients, this is a contractual
Speaker:relationship.
Speaker:we want to make sure that it is
Speaker:properly documented.
Speaker:I imagine you have relationships with
Speaker:facilitators and hopefully you do
Speaker:as part of your network, but you
Speaker:still want to have a formal facilitator
Speaker:agreement with them.
Speaker:And there are a number of
Speaker:reasons why.
Speaker:One, to make sure you're on the
Speaker:same page about.
Speaker:delivery and about, payment, but also
Speaker:that relationship with the client,
Speaker:that relationship is yours.
Speaker:But you wanna have a way to determine
Speaker:like, in what ways will the facilitator
Speaker:be part of that conversation?
Speaker:If something goes wrong, if something
Speaker:needs to be rescheduled, if God
Speaker:forbid the client doesn't pay, like,
Speaker:then what happens?
Speaker:so you need to have all these
Speaker:things addressed in your facilitator.
Speaker:Agreement as well as they're going
Speaker:to be using your materials, do you
Speaker:want them to follow it, by the tea
Speaker:or can they use some of their own?
Speaker:Experience to bring some of
Speaker:their own genius to the workshop,
Speaker:if you will.
Speaker:And what if they have some
Speaker:ideas about how to improve it?
Speaker:Who owns that?
Speaker:What if they have something like,
Speaker:oh, I remember this exercise that
Speaker:I used last year with a similar
Speaker:client and they.
Speaker:Decide to bring that exercise and
Speaker:make that part of the program,
Speaker:what happens then?
Speaker:So you just wanna make sure all these
Speaker:things are set out in your agreement.
Speaker:contracts are just about the, whatever
Speaker:the parties decide it will cover.
Speaker:And so you just need to make sure
Speaker:that you're covering these things ahead
Speaker:of time so that everyone is on
Speaker:the same page.
Speaker:So that's your facilitators
Speaker:now as opposed to licensees.
Speaker:Now with your licensees, we have
Speaker:these two types.
Speaker:One that's competitor license,
Speaker:another client, but your competitor
Speaker:license is another service provider.
Speaker:Unlike the facilitator,
Speaker:they're going to be licensing
Speaker:your workshop and using it to serve
Speaker:their own clients, and so a license
Speaker:is an agreement to use somebody
Speaker:else's intellectual property.
Speaker:Again, this is something you
Speaker:absolutely want to have in writing.
Speaker:the thing about your competitor is,
Speaker:maybe you're, that D E I A expert,
Speaker:maybe they're just a D E I expert
Speaker:and they haven't figured out the
Speaker:accessibility part yet, but you have.
Speaker:And so they come to you and like,
Speaker:Hey, I really need an accessibility
Speaker:module to add to my program.
Speaker:Can I license yours?
Speaker:Maybe it makes sense to just license that
Speaker:accessibility piece.
Speaker:Maybe you only want for them to use
Speaker:your program in its totality because
Speaker:it all builds on each other and it's
Speaker:all integrated.
Speaker:so there are different ways
Speaker:to structure a license, again,
Speaker:as a contract.
Speaker:the term, you mean the length
Speaker:of the license?
Speaker:The, any restrictions
Speaker:regarding use?
Speaker:what happens if someone, creates
Speaker:improvements?
Speaker:if they are mixing, one of your modules
Speaker:with one of their modules, making
Speaker:sure those rights.
Speaker:Stay separate.
Speaker:what happens with, your existing
Speaker:clients, like you are creating
Speaker:competitors that are using your
Speaker:program, and so, Some restrictions in
Speaker:there about who they can use it with.
Speaker:Maybe you specialize in working with
Speaker:law firms and so you don't really
Speaker:want them to use it with law firms,
Speaker:so you can put that restriction in
Speaker:there, that they can use it with these
Speaker:other industries, but not with, the
Speaker:legal industry.
Speaker:And of course, the license fee.
Speaker:So the terms of how you'll get paid
Speaker:for their use of your workshop, and
Speaker:that might be on an annual basis.
Speaker:They pay you one flat fee and they
Speaker:can use it as many times as they want
Speaker:during the year, or maybe it's.
Speaker:Every time they deliver it, that you
Speaker:get a piece of that.
Speaker:and so again, these are all
Speaker:things that you wanna have in your
Speaker:license agreement.
Speaker:The other type of licensee is your
Speaker:client licensee, so you're turning
Speaker:your client into a licensee.
Speaker:If we go back to that, Big client who
Speaker:has multiple offices and could keep
Speaker:you busy all year.
Speaker:Maybe instead of you going all around
Speaker:the country for a year to train
Speaker:everyone in person.
Speaker:You license the workshop to your
Speaker:client and they.
Speaker:Be use an internal facilitator.
Speaker:They use someone on their team to
Speaker:be the facilitator or facilitators
Speaker:and provide your workshops
Speaker:to the rest of their employees.
Speaker:That's also known as the train the
Speaker:trainer model.
Speaker:And in this case, you are still
Speaker:servicing them, but you're not
Speaker:doing it on a one on one basis.
Speaker:these are two, even though they seem
Speaker:similar, they're pretty different.
Speaker:One, I mean, obviously one
Speaker:you're creating competitors.
Speaker:The other, your clients probably
Speaker:are not going to be your competitors.
Speaker:So there are some differences there
Speaker:and some different protections that
Speaker:you'd wanna have in your license
Speaker:agreement.
Speaker:But the other thing is that they're
Speaker:completely different market, right?
Speaker:So, Currently you understand your
Speaker:client, you know their pain points,
Speaker:you know where you fish for them,
Speaker:where to find them.
Speaker:And so your sales process for that
Speaker:may be very similar.
Speaker:You have this one-on-one option
Speaker:or in-person option, I should say,
Speaker:and you have this license option.
Speaker:And so depending on the client,
Speaker:they may have.
Speaker:Preferences, what, which way
Speaker:to go versus your competitor
Speaker:is completely different market.
Speaker:They have different issues.
Speaker:Their roi, the investment will look
Speaker:very different to them than it does
Speaker:for your client.
Speaker:And so you need to think pretty
Speaker:carefully about whether or not
Speaker:you want to, have basically
Speaker:two different businesses, when you
Speaker:go that competitor, licensee route.
Speaker:So those are two ways to have to
Speaker:fill that with external sources.
Speaker:So products, those DIY ways of getting
Speaker:the results, or at least most of
Speaker:the results that they would get by
Speaker:hiring you directly, maybe books,
Speaker:maybe prerecorded courses, maybe
Speaker:software, depending on the nature of.
Speaker:The results that you provide, and
Speaker:this is a great way to, one, get
Speaker:client diversity.
Speaker:with your in-person workshops, I imagine
Speaker:there's lots of similarity about the
Speaker:type of client that you work with and if
Speaker:they're big enough, maybe you only have
Speaker:one client, which is kind of the worst
Speaker:kind of client.
Speaker:Diversity, of course, but having
Speaker:other options at different
Speaker:price points.
Speaker:I mean, you can have different types of
Speaker:clients and you can serve, maybe, parts
Speaker:of the community that you were not
Speaker:able to serve with your in-person
Speaker:services and adding.
Speaker:Products is additive.
Speaker:I mean, it doesn't replace, or I mean
Speaker:if you don't want it to, it doesn't
Speaker:replace your in-person services,
Speaker:but it adds a new revenue stream using
Speaker:your intellectual property, which
Speaker:is, of course one of the things I
Speaker:talk about all the time, to create
Speaker:that new IP based revenue stream.
Speaker:So, to no one's surprise, it is
Speaker:all about that intellectual
Speaker:property.
Speaker:So developing it, owning it, and
Speaker:protecting it.
Speaker:And so to talk about the ownership piece
Speaker:for a minute, a lot of consultants
Speaker:and coaches get certifications and
Speaker:they will receive.
Speaker:Materials, maybe they'll get an
Speaker:assessment tool.
Speaker:Maybe they'll get some workbooks
Speaker:and things that they use in their
Speaker:in-person services.
Speaker:But those things are licensed to them.
Speaker:Licensed to you as the case may be,
Speaker:and you may but probably do not
Speaker:have the right to further license.
Speaker:That would be a sub license, those
Speaker:materials that you've received.
Speaker:So when you're looking at.
Speaker:Creating a licensing program either
Speaker:with your client or with a competitor,
Speaker:or creating a product, you need
Speaker:to make sure that you actually own
Speaker:the things that will be elements
Speaker:in that, because if they're licensed
Speaker:from someone else, you need to be very
Speaker:careful that you are not in breach
Speaker:of that license.
Speaker:So implementing the clothing process
Speaker:back to the systems and procedures.
Speaker:if right now you're just using
Speaker:your brilliance, you wanna start
Speaker:documenting that brilliance, so
Speaker:have some systems and you have some
Speaker:procedures that you will be able.
Speaker:To train your clones on whether
Speaker:they're employees.
Speaker:You still need systems and
Speaker:processes.
Speaker:If you, use facilitators,
Speaker:they need it.
Speaker:If you use licensees, of
Speaker:course they need it as well.
Speaker:So you start with making sure you
Speaker:are systematizing and proceduralizing
Speaker:your, process.
Speaker:Contracts.
Speaker:obviously as an employer you have
Speaker:certain, rights under employment
Speaker:laws, but for your licensees
Speaker:and for your facilitators, that
Speaker:is a contractual relationship.
Speaker:And in order to make sure you're
Speaker:maintaining control of how
Speaker:your intellectual property is being
Speaker:used, you want to have written
Speaker:agreements that are signed by
Speaker:the parties.
Speaker:And then registration.
Speaker:What we've been talking about are
Speaker:things that would be registered
Speaker:under, the US copyright office,
Speaker:protected under copyright law, and.
Speaker:As you know, if you've followed
Speaker:me for a while, upon creation of
Speaker:original materials, the copyright vests
Speaker:in the creator.
Speaker:And so you don't have to register it
Speaker:for that copyright to vest in you,
Speaker:but you do need to register it if
Speaker:you want a court of law to help you
Speaker:enforce your rights.
Speaker:So anything that is going to be
Speaker:used to directly create revenue.
Speaker:I recommend registration.
Speaker:So certainly any product you're going
Speaker:to sell, you wanna have it registered.
Speaker:Your workshops that you deliver
Speaker:to that are the sort main source
Speaker:of revenue should be registered.
Speaker:And when you're doing a license
Speaker:agreement, you want the subject of that
Speaker:license agreement to be registered
Speaker:in the copyright office as well.
Speaker:So, the key.
Speaker:Registration agreements and, of
Speaker:course tracking.
Speaker:you don't know what you don't know if
Speaker:you're not tracking the rights that are
Speaker:coming into your business and the
Speaker:rights are going out of your business,
Speaker:and that is how you make sure that you
Speaker:retain control of your, expertise.
Speaker:And so another thing that came up
Speaker:yesterday during conversation is,
Speaker:wanting to spread your message as
Speaker:widely as you can and what you do.
Speaker:You believe in what you do, you
Speaker:believe in the transformation that
Speaker:you provide, and you want other people
Speaker:to have access to, the results.
Speaker:And I would argue that that is even.
Speaker:More important that you have these
Speaker:things in place to make sure that
Speaker:you're controlling the integrity of
Speaker:the materials that you put together to
Speaker:the workshops and the delivery and
Speaker:the results that people are getting.
Speaker:it's not selfish to want to make
Speaker:sure that your materials are being
Speaker:used responsibly.
Speaker:And that they're being used
Speaker:competently and that people are
Speaker:getting the promised results and that
Speaker:requires you to take some control
Speaker:of that process.
Speaker:So that is, the what I wanted to share
Speaker:with you today.
Speaker:And so thank you so much for that
Speaker:and I'd be happy to take any questions
Speaker:that you have.
Speaker:All right, so you know where
Speaker:to find me.
Speaker:You can always find me@thinkbeyondip.com.
Speaker:You know, if you.
Speaker:Couple of any questions later on,
Speaker:or if you're just shy, connect with me
Speaker:on LinkedIn or send me an email at Erin
Speaker:think beyond ip.com.
Speaker:And of course, this is being recorded
Speaker:as a podcast episode as well, so you
Speaker:can also rehear it if you haven't
Speaker:gotten enough of it.
Speaker:at Hourly to Exit podcast, you could
Speaker:find that at all of your podcast
Speaker:distributing.
Speaker:Places.
Speaker:so thanks again for joining me and
Speaker:I'm always happy to cover topics of
Speaker:interest to you.
Speaker:So also, please feel free to send
Speaker:me any questions that you have or any
Speaker:topics that you'd like me to cover.
