🖐 Happy get-over-the-hump day!

Issue #56 is a 3.0-minute read.

1 big topic: A Toast to Doug the Waiter

🍤 After college, I was a bad waiter in a busy Cajun restaurant.

I took the job so I could write songs, play gigs at night, and stay out of cubicle hell.

At 2 a.m, after my third shift, the manager wanted to talk.

Slurping 3-carat chunks of rock salt off the rim of his margarita, he tells me to sit.

“Erik, you seem like a good guy.” Slurp.

“Customers talk to you.” Slurp.

“The problem is the other waiters in this place get $75 to $90 in sales per check.”

“You get about $8.00.” Slurp, slurp.

“Tomorrow, I’m putting you with Doug. He can sell to all types of people. Watch him.”

⚡️ The next night I saw that waiters who can sell to different customers make a ton of money.

This works in business, too.

Curious how to diversify your business income with products that help different customers?

Check out the waiter’s way.

The Waiter’s Way by Doug

Doug taught me that each customer has their own idea, opinion, and question about what they want to eat and drink.

The key is to work with each customer and shape their order to match their wants, vision, and taste for a great meal.

Then add a few items that expand their ideal and make them happy.

This works well in business, too.

Ask the right questions

• What problem do you want to solve?

• What did you try that did not work?

Give options

• Create solutions that help different customer personas

• Make it easy to find and test new products

Share a recommendation

• Show how your suggestion will make it better

• Pair products to give the customer a long-term solution

Diversify your offers to suit your various customer personas. One size does not fit all.

P.S. I worked at the restaurant for two months.

Doug’s advice helped me build two great businesses over 16 years.

💥 Extra Credit to Get an ‘A’…

When I see a strategic plan, it’s like someone put spicy mustard on key lime pie. Gross.

Before you spend 0.1 seconds writing a strategic plan, check out this post on why strategy and planning don’t mix.

5 ways to use strategy and planning the right way.

1 fun idea: The Secret to Public Speaking is to Close Your Eyes

I tried to give talks to large crowds when I ran my first business in finance.

Before each one, I sat in my car, listened to nature sounds, and softly hit my head on the steering wheel.

“Why, Erik, did you agree to talk to all these people?

It makes you ill and gives them fun stories to share at lunch.

“Hey, did you guys catch that 11 am speaker disaster?”

“Who was that guy?”

“Does he think we’ll invest with him after he mumbled for 20 minutes about cats and pasta? Or was it stocks and money?”

I asked a vocal coach for help.

His advice took me from “I’ll never talk in public again” to “I want to give the State of the Union.”

The advice: Close your eyes.

In our first meeting, I shut my eyes, and he played two minutes from two legends who speak at a top level.

• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. : I Have a Dream

• Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself

🙏 He said that King and Roosevelt spoke in a 1-2 tempo and a tone that raised your spirit.

Their words were easy to hear, and their vocal style showed they were 100% ready to roll.

They knew when to breathe and when to speak.

If you’re like me, it takes practice to find your style and to speak in a tone that shows you can help.

When you have a big presentation:

• Record your talk
  

• Play it back
  

• Close your eyes and listen

You’ll hear your tone, what works, and where you can improve.

Use the 1-2 tempo, breathe, and then speak with the confidence they need to hear.

🔑 For today’s readers in Copenhagen, below, wow. What a view.

Until next Wednesday — stay curious and keep opening doors.

-Erik

Hitting $50,000 in annual sales is a huge milestone.

If you’re there, that’s A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Going from $50,000 to $150,000 is a bit harder.

When you’re ready, let’s get you to $150,000.

Your custom, 90-minute consulting session brings you there. Faster.