This video tackles the common question faced by small business owners: What’s the best way to grow – courses, memberships, custom services, training, or productized offerings? Drawing on 7 years of personal experience across various models, the speaker aims to match business models with founder personality types to help viewers choose a path aligned with their strengths and preferences.
Central Theme: Selecting a business growth model that suits your inherent personality type as a founder/leader.
Key Points & Arguments:
Five founder personality types are identified:
- Architect: Loves perfecting asynchronous experiences and building systems (like a museum curator).
- Fixer: Enjoys diving deep into novel, unexpected challenges (like Indiana Jones).
- Teacher: Passionate about translating complex ideas and seeing others understand.
- Craftsman: Focused on perfecting a specific skill or process through repetition.
- Host: Motivated by connecting people and fostering community interaction.
These types are matched with corresponding business models:
- Architect → Course Creator/Online Products: Best for those who enjoy building detailed, scalable systems and are comfortable with asynchronous, low-touch delivery. Requires strong self-direction and marketing focus. Offers high schedule freedom and leverage but needs significant volume.
- Fixer → Custom Services: Ideal for those who thrive on novelty and solving unique client problems. Involves intense sales (custom proposals), high communication, and deep client work. Low client volume needed but is calendar-intensive and prone to scope creep. Requires strong boundaries. Low leverage.
- Teacher → Training Services: Suits those who love direct teaching and structured delivery. Involves delivering a fixed methodology/curriculum repeatedly via human interaction. Offers reusable materials but requires consistent performance on demand and adherence to schedules.
- Craftsman → Productized Services: Fits those who want to refine a specific service offering. Uses a fixed method for custom(ish) deliverables (e.g., a specific package). Simplifies sales compared to custom work and offers a balance, but requires strong processes for consistency as volume increases.
- Host → Memberships/Group Programs: Perfect for community builders who enjoy facilitating connections. Involves fixed methods/deliverables delivered via group interaction. Can range from high-volume memberships to low-volume masterminds. Offers flexibility and recurring revenue potential but demands consistent engagement efforts and managing people/tech issues.
Significant Conclusions & Takeaways:
- Different models have varying levels of client interaction, schedule demands, sales complexity, and leverage (scalability vs. human input).
- Architects/Courses offer high leverage (serve many with less direct time) but need large audiences. Fixers/Custom Services have low leverage but high value per client, suitable for smaller audiences. Other models fall in between.
- Consider your tolerance for ambiguity vs. structure, preferred work style (synchronous vs. asynchronous), and enjoyment of marketing vs. direct delivery.
- Choosing a model misaligned with your personality can lead to burnout and dissatisfaction.
- Team building can allow businesses to incorporate multiple models by hiring complementary personalities.
- Regardless of the model, implementing strong processes is essential for efficient and non-chaotic operations.
The summary provides a framework for evaluating business models through the lens of personal working style, helping viewers decide if the video’s detailed breakdown warrants further watching.
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