Episode 55
E55: 8 Business Problems that Have IP Solutions
This week’s solo episode of Hourly to Exit comes at my area of expertise – intellectual property (IP) – from the business side. The prerequisite for scaling your business is turning your expertise into intellectual property that you own or control so you can add complementary products or productized services to your existing services.
I call these 8 business problems, but there really is one problem with 8 symptoms. The big problem is that you have not developed assets--which could be products or processes--that allow you to decouple your income from your time. Those things that allow you to decouple your income from your time are intellectual property solutions.
Let’s discuss the 8 symptoms that your expertise-based business is not effectively deploying intellectual property.
If you want to discuss how to protect the IP assets you should be creating, contact me to discuss.
Resources Mentioned:
Connect with Erin to learn how to use intellectual property to increase your income and impact. 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 ladies.
Speaker:Welcome to the Hourly
Speaker:to Exit podcast.
Speaker:I am excited for this week's
Speaker:conversation because I
Speaker:think you know this about
Speaker:me, that I'm always trying
Speaker:to figure out a way to make
Speaker:the intellectual property
Speaker:concepts more accessible and
Speaker:applicable to your businesses.
Speaker:So I've been thinking
Speaker:about, instead of.
Speaker:Attacking it from the
Speaker:intellectual property side,
Speaker:which is a bad habit of mine.
Speaker:I'm gonna attack it
Speaker:from the business side.
Speaker:And so what is happening in
Speaker:your business that suggests
Speaker:that you need an intellectual
Speaker:property solution?
Speaker:When we are growing our
Speaker:businesses, of course this
Speaker:podcast is called Hourly to
Speaker:Exit, where we're starting
Speaker:out and we are providing
Speaker:one-on-one services.
Speaker:Maybe we're still
Speaker:providing them hourly.
Speaker:Maybe we have developed
Speaker:packages, but we're still
Speaker:doing it on a one-on-one
Speaker:basis, and so we will hit a
Speaker:few kind of road bumps that'll
Speaker:be very hard to get over if
Speaker:we aren't thinking about.
Speaker:Creating intellectual
Speaker:property that we can
Speaker:use in our businesses.
Speaker:So typically this happens
Speaker:when we are selling
Speaker:ourselves as the expert.
Speaker:I'm selling me Aaron Austin.
Speaker:Not that I'm selling
Speaker:my expertise, I.
Speaker:In harnessing the power
Speaker:of intellectual property.
Speaker:And so when you're selling
Speaker:yourself instead of selling
Speaker:your expertise, it will
Speaker:show up in a number of
Speaker:places because the fact is
Speaker:that the prerequisite for
Speaker:scaling your business is to
Speaker:turn your expertise, into
Speaker:something that you can create
Speaker:complimentary products.
Speaker:Complimentary services,
Speaker:typically productized
Speaker:ones that compliment
Speaker:your existing services.
Speaker:I will never recommend,
Speaker:assuming you wanna continue
Speaker:to provide one-on-one
Speaker:services that you stop
Speaker:doing that there's a lot
Speaker:of value to providing
Speaker:those one-on-one services.
Speaker:First of all, you learn
Speaker:so much, when you hear
Speaker:that feedback from your
Speaker:clients and it helps,
Speaker:increase your expertise.
Speaker:those one-on-one services
Speaker:are a huge part of continuing
Speaker:to develop our expertise.
Speaker:but is it the only
Speaker:way, that you are.
Speaker:Providing value
Speaker:to your clients.
Speaker:And so while I entitled
Speaker:this, eight Business Problems
Speaker:that have Intellectual
Speaker:Property Solutions.
Speaker:the honest answer is there
Speaker:is only one problem, but what
Speaker:we have are eight symptoms.
Speaker:And so, the big problem is
Speaker:that you haven't developed
Speaker:assets, whether that are
Speaker:products or processes.
Speaker:That allow you to decouple
Speaker:your income from your time.
Speaker:we talk about
Speaker:that all the time.
Speaker:you need to be able to
Speaker:decouple your income
Speaker:from your time in order
Speaker:to scale your business.
Speaker:And by scaling, we mean not
Speaker:just increasing revenue.
Speaker:'cause we could double our
Speaker:revenue by billing twice as
Speaker:many hours, but that's not how
Speaker:we wanna grow our business.
Speaker:We want to scale by increasing
Speaker:our revenue, while also
Speaker:increasing profit, which means
Speaker:we're decreasing the cost
Speaker:of generating So whether
Speaker:that's, increased, decreased.
Speaker:Time, or, other resources if
Speaker:you have other things that
Speaker:you use from third parties.
Speaker:so that is what intellectual
Speaker:property is about.
Speaker:It is about creating assets
Speaker:that allow you to decouple
Speaker:your income from your time.
Speaker:it's not any more
Speaker:complicated than that.
Speaker:It's not, patents and
Speaker:software and all those
Speaker:things, the things that
Speaker:we do in our business that
Speaker:allow to decouple our income
Speaker:from our time are generally
Speaker:intellectual property.
Speaker:Some registerable,
Speaker:that is not.
Speaker:but we'll talk
Speaker:about that as well.
Speaker:So let's get started.
Speaker:the first business problem,
Speaker:client concentration.
Speaker:So there are only so many
Speaker:clients you can serve at a
Speaker:time if you are the expert
Speaker:providing one-on-one services.
Speaker:And, high client
Speaker:concentration, the danger is
Speaker:that, you lose one client.
Speaker:That could be the
Speaker:end of your business.
Speaker:Maybe you have, you can only
Speaker:serve one client at a time.
Speaker:Maybe you can only serve
Speaker:two clients at a time.
Speaker:And because they
Speaker:are so, uh, time.
Speaker:consuming.
Speaker:You don't have time to
Speaker:do business development
Speaker:while you're on doing this.
Speaker:And so even if you have
Speaker:very happy clients, when
Speaker:the engagement comes to
Speaker:an end, you don't have any
Speaker:more clients coming along.
Speaker:So client
Speaker:concentration problem.
Speaker:what is your intellectual
Speaker:property solution?
Speaker:you can continue to do
Speaker:those one-on-one services,
Speaker:but how can we get you to
Speaker:be more effective so that
Speaker:you can serve more clients?
Speaker:On a high level, on a
Speaker:one-on-one level, if
Speaker:that's what you desire.
Speaker:So that would mean making sure
Speaker:we're creating efficiencies
Speaker:in our business and these
Speaker:things we'll see these,
Speaker:as we go forward as well.
Speaker:We're creating
Speaker:standard procedures.
Speaker:We have templates, we have
Speaker:models, so that allows us
Speaker:to become more efficient
Speaker:in how we deliver our.
Speaker:One-on-one services
Speaker:to our clients.
Speaker:And those systems and
Speaker:processes could be also by
Speaker:the way, your sales funnel.
Speaker:So that's not just about
Speaker:delivery, it's also about the
Speaker:operations in your business,
Speaker:about how you, bring people
Speaker:in, how you move them through
Speaker:your pipeline, how you
Speaker:onboard them and offboard.
Speaker:Then those are all things
Speaker:that can be, systematized
Speaker:so that you become more
Speaker:efficient and therefore
Speaker:you can serve more clients.
Speaker:Within the same kind of box of
Speaker:time that you have available.
Speaker:so that you don't have, the
Speaker:same client concentration
Speaker:problem, business problem
Speaker:too, revenue concentration.
Speaker:So if you have a client
Speaker:concentration problem, you
Speaker:certainly have a revenue
Speaker:concentration problem, and
Speaker:that means that all your
Speaker:revenue is coming from a
Speaker:single type of revenue,
Speaker:such as from one-on-one
Speaker:services, so you don't have
Speaker:a one to several model.
Speaker:For a one to many model
Speaker:or something else,
Speaker:that is a different.
Speaker:Revenue model.
Speaker:So could it be hourly?
Speaker:It could be by retainer,
Speaker:it could be, project
Speaker:based, value based.
Speaker:and so when you.
Speaker:Create different
Speaker:revenue models.
Speaker:typically that goes
Speaker:with different type
Speaker:of products as well.
Speaker:then you can have new
Speaker:revenue streams that
Speaker:are less dependent
Speaker:on you and your time.
Speaker:And so that could
Speaker:look like things like.
Speaker:online workshops that you can
Speaker:deliver more efficiently or
Speaker:you can deliver at a lower
Speaker:price point, and therefore
Speaker:you can bring in a different
Speaker:kind of client that you can
Speaker:fit in inside of the time
Speaker:that you have available.
Speaker:It reminds me, I wasn't even
Speaker:thinking about this, but it
Speaker:reminds me of the how do you
Speaker:get the most rocks in a jar?
Speaker:And you put the biggest
Speaker:ones in first, and then
Speaker:you put the little ones in
Speaker:to go around, and then you
Speaker:put the sand at the end.
Speaker:But if you did the other way,
Speaker:then you wouldn't be able
Speaker:to get nearly as much in.
Speaker:And maybe we think about, our
Speaker:revenue models in that way.
Speaker:Like we think about the
Speaker:biggest ones, the one-on-one,
Speaker:and then we think about
Speaker:what's the medium rocks
Speaker:that we can get in there.
Speaker:And then maybe down the
Speaker:line, digital products as
Speaker:a whole separate animal.
Speaker:but.
Speaker:That's something to
Speaker:think about is the way of
Speaker:filling your jar is big,
Speaker:medium, and then small.
Speaker:So revenue concentration,
Speaker:earner concentration.
Speaker:If you are the expert, they
Speaker:only want you providing
Speaker:one-on-one services for them.
Speaker:You're available to them,
Speaker:you're the one, creating.
Speaker:All the revenue, you're the
Speaker:sole earner in the business.
Speaker:Then when you aren't out
Speaker:there delivering services,
Speaker:you aren't making any money.
Speaker:Very hard to take a vacation,
Speaker:very hard to work on product,
Speaker:business development, very
Speaker:hard to, get a manicure even.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:so.
Speaker:That means you need
Speaker:to create systems,
Speaker:templates, and models.
Speaker:So that allows you
Speaker:to create leverage
Speaker:through other earners.
Speaker:and it was just your genius
Speaker:out there being genius, a.
Speaker:And that's what people are
Speaker:paying for, then you gotta be
Speaker:out there being GenY all the
Speaker:time in order to make revenue.
Speaker:But if you can create systems,
Speaker:have some templates, have some
Speaker:models, and you can use either
Speaker:employees or contractors to
Speaker:help deliver some, or maybe
Speaker:even all of the output, on
Speaker:the legal side, inside of,
Speaker:in-house legal departments,
Speaker:you'll often have the business
Speaker:person who, does a term sheet
Speaker:with the client and then
Speaker:they send that term sheet
Speaker:to the legal department and
Speaker:it is a contract manager to
Speaker:the non-lawyer who does the
Speaker:first draft of that agreement.
Speaker:The lawyers don't do those.
Speaker:And then, you know, once they
Speaker:have that first draft, then
Speaker:the lawyer looks at it, of
Speaker:course, before it goes out.
Speaker:But that's a way to create
Speaker:leverage in your business.
Speaker:Anytime you are using
Speaker:a resource that is less
Speaker:expensive than you, that
Speaker:allows you to do higher level
Speaker:things, then you're creating
Speaker:leverage in your business.
Speaker:And so that is one way
Speaker:to help you not being the
Speaker:only person that is driving
Speaker:revenue in the business.
Speaker:The fourth business
Speaker:problem, revenue, ceiling.
Speaker:there's only so much you
Speaker:can charge for facilitating
Speaker:a workshop or for
Speaker:providing coaching session.
Speaker:Is it Tim Robbins, who
Speaker:came up today and, I know
Speaker:that he charges like a
Speaker:million bucks a year or
Speaker:something for his coaching.
Speaker:so if you're not, you
Speaker:know, him, how can I
Speaker:not remember his name?
Speaker:then, there's gonna be
Speaker:a ceiling on how much
Speaker:you can charge, right?
Speaker:And so you need to, again,
Speaker:Figure out a way to decouple
Speaker:your income from your time.
Speaker:Once you hit what the
Speaker:market will bear in terms
Speaker:of pricing and you have hit,
Speaker:time, limits on how much you
Speaker:can work, then in order to
Speaker:keep growing, then you need
Speaker:to decouple those things.
Speaker:And so that means.
Speaker:Creating some sort of
Speaker:asset that can create
Speaker:revenue without you.
Speaker:We talked about employees
Speaker:and contractors, but
Speaker:another way to do that
Speaker:is through licensing.
Speaker:So if you have a workshop, for
Speaker:instance, that right now you
Speaker:are going out and delivering,
Speaker:you're facilitating your
Speaker:workshops personally with
Speaker:your clients and if you are
Speaker:able to create a license
Speaker:where, Other facilitators who
Speaker:you know, like and trust can
Speaker:use your workshop to either
Speaker:service your clients, 'cause
Speaker:you can only service so many.
Speaker:You know, the demand is
Speaker:there that you can't meet.
Speaker:Or maybe they have their
Speaker:own clients, but they have
Speaker:a need for this type of
Speaker:workshop and they don't
Speaker:have their own, they can
Speaker:license yours and deliver
Speaker:it to their end clients.
Speaker:And that means that.
Speaker:You are getting revenue from
Speaker:the delivery of your workshop,
Speaker:but you aren't delivering
Speaker:it, so that's another way to
Speaker:bust that revenue ceiling.
Speaker:The fifth is
Speaker:inconsistent cashflow.
Speaker:When you're doing
Speaker:custom services, we all.
Speaker:Are familiar with the
Speaker:feast and famine cycle of
Speaker:selling custom services.
Speaker:especially if you
Speaker:don't have the capacity
Speaker:for multiple clients.
Speaker:And you know, this all feeds
Speaker:together with that client
Speaker:concentration problem as well.
Speaker:so you.
Speaker:Have that whale client,
Speaker:who doesn't love a whale
Speaker:client, that will keep
Speaker:you busy for, a year.
Speaker:then what happens
Speaker:when they're gone?
Speaker:because a client that will
Speaker:keep you busy for a year
Speaker:is not gonna be signing,
Speaker:you off of your website.
Speaker:There's gonna be a long
Speaker:sales cycle that goes
Speaker:along with that, and that
Speaker:can be pretty unnerving.
Speaker:to even out your cash flow.
Speaker:having an intellectual
Speaker:property solution of
Speaker:creating an asset that you
Speaker:can sell access to on a
Speaker:recurring basis, also known
Speaker:as recurring revenue, helps
Speaker:even out your cashflow.
Speaker:So maybe you have a library
Speaker:of digital resources that you
Speaker:can sell subscriptions to.
Speaker:Maybe you have a community
Speaker:that you can sell access
Speaker:to, and these are ways to
Speaker:create recurring revenue
Speaker:streams so you can.
Speaker:stabilize your cash flow.
Speaker:Your sixth, business
Speaker:problem, is weak positioning.
Speaker:know, if you're not developing
Speaker:some sort of signature
Speaker:solution that you are known
Speaker:for, or you aren't attacking a
Speaker:problem that you are known for
Speaker:in the industry, Probably you
Speaker:are just selling your time.
Speaker:You're just, responding
Speaker:to RFPs and you're letting
Speaker:the client tell you
Speaker:what you want from them.
Speaker:And then, okay, I can do that.
Speaker:And you, and you do it.
Speaker:You do, they're happy and
Speaker:they do it, but you're not
Speaker:creating the thing that
Speaker:you become known for, who
Speaker:you go to person, for.
Speaker:And so to be that
Speaker:go-to person, that
Speaker:means creating some.
Speaker:Intellectual property around
Speaker:that, you're creating some
Speaker:original thought leadership
Speaker:that is speaking to the
Speaker:specific problem or the
Speaker:specific niche that you
Speaker:want to serve, and around
Speaker:that you are creating some
Speaker:branded services or some
Speaker:branded solutions around that.
Speaker:That of course, is
Speaker:intellectual property.
Speaker:The seventh stagnant
Speaker:profitability.
Speaker:So if you are out there
Speaker:juing with with every new
Speaker:engagement, then you're
Speaker:probably, not getting the
Speaker:benefit of the increased.
Speaker:Efficiencies of having
Speaker:systems, templates and models.
Speaker:know, if you're starting
Speaker:from scratch with every
Speaker:engagement, then you meet
Speaker:with your client, you find
Speaker:out what, their issue is and
Speaker:you go to the drawing board,
Speaker:like an artist starting with
Speaker:something completely unique
Speaker:and original for your client.
Speaker:And there may be a place
Speaker:for that, in your business.
Speaker:But that does mean that
Speaker:you will not be able to.
Speaker:Increase your profit and
Speaker:your business, because it'll
Speaker:be very hard to get more
Speaker:efficient, in that model.
Speaker:So, systematization,
Speaker:templates, models, if you're
Speaker:not billing by the hour,
Speaker:then you wanna become more
Speaker:efficient, because that
Speaker:means lowered costs and
Speaker:therefore increased profit.
Speaker:And back to using less
Speaker:expensive resources.
Speaker:And that, by the way,
Speaker:could include technology.
Speaker:Like when you really kind
Speaker:of have a whole system in,
Speaker:place for getting from A to
Speaker:Z in delivering value to your
Speaker:business, there may be a spot
Speaker:for technology, and this is.
Speaker:even more relevant obviously
Speaker:today with ai, to figure
Speaker:out like, what part of this
Speaker:can I use technology to
Speaker:help become more efficient?
Speaker:it can't be just
Speaker:about you being GenY.
Speaker:It there has to be a system to
Speaker:it for you to really be able
Speaker:to take advantage of that.
Speaker:And then our last, our
Speaker:eighth business problem,
Speaker:is the impact ceiling.
Speaker:we all got into the business
Speaker:because there was some
Speaker:impact we wanted to make.
Speaker:There's something we
Speaker:believed in that we thought.
Speaker:We could make that
Speaker:happen, and create great
Speaker:value for our clients.
Speaker:We love our clients and
Speaker:we wanted them to succeed,
Speaker:but when we're doing it
Speaker:on a one-on-one basis, is
Speaker:there, again, there's only
Speaker:so many people we can impact
Speaker:on a one-on-one basis.
Speaker:Now, personally, you
Speaker:know, I'm a lawyer.
Speaker:We do one-on-one a lot.
Speaker:But I also want to help women
Speaker:understand the value that's
Speaker:hidden in their businesses,
Speaker:to make sure they're capturing
Speaker:all the value so that they
Speaker:can use their businesses,
Speaker:not just for income, but
Speaker:also to create wealth.
Speaker:Because, I believe wealth
Speaker:in the hands of women
Speaker:can change the world.
Speaker:But how many women can I
Speaker:impact if I'm only doing it
Speaker:on with my one-on-one clients?
Speaker:And that's why I have this
Speaker:podcast, my newsletter, and
Speaker:I do workshops and I, guest
Speaker:expert and things like that
Speaker:so I can reach more people
Speaker:and have a bigger income.
Speaker:of course, I am
Speaker:creating intellectual
Speaker:property around that.
Speaker:in the form of.
Speaker:courses to come,
Speaker:folks to come.
Speaker:but right now it's mostly
Speaker:through my, frameworks and
Speaker:that I work people through
Speaker:and I have, systems for
Speaker:helping them create licensing
Speaker:programs, systems for
Speaker:making sure that they are.
Speaker:Tracking and, protecting
Speaker:and monetizing their
Speaker:intellectual property.
Speaker:And so that's how you
Speaker:increase your impact by
Speaker:creating resources, whether
Speaker:they're for sale or for free.
Speaker:'cause most of my resources
Speaker:are free, to make sure
Speaker:that you are impacting as
Speaker:many people as possible
Speaker:with whatever the special
Speaker:message is that you are
Speaker:bringing to the world.
Speaker:So, Again, it all boils down
Speaker:to that same issue, is that
Speaker:if you're doing something that
Speaker:requires you in person with
Speaker:your time, then you will hit.
Speaker:All of these ceilings of
Speaker:impact and revenue, these
Speaker:concentration problems,
Speaker:these cashflow problems,
Speaker:positioning problems,
Speaker:profitability problems,
Speaker:all of them mean that you
Speaker:haven't developed some assets
Speaker:that allow you to generate
Speaker:revenue to increase impact.
Speaker:Without you working more.
Speaker:So if you have any questions
Speaker:about that, I'd love to
Speaker:talk to you about it more.
Speaker:you can find
Speaker:me@thinkbeyondip.com and there
Speaker:you can see how you could
Speaker:work with me and I'd love to
Speaker:hear your feedback on this.
Speaker:If there's anything
Speaker:that wasn't clear,
Speaker:please contact me.
Speaker:That's, makes my day I hope
Speaker:this was helpful for you.
Speaker:I really enjoyed
Speaker:putting this together.
Speaker:So in case you are a
Speaker:visual learner, I did
Speaker:create a graphic that goes
Speaker:through the eight problems
Speaker:that have intellectual
Speaker:property solutions.
Speaker:And so there should be
Speaker:a link in the show notes
Speaker:where you can sign up to
Speaker:get a copy of that graphic.
Speaker:And as always, I welcome your
Speaker:questions and comments, and
Speaker:thanks again for joining me.
