Why You Must Stop Selling Your Time for Money

0:00The time for money game is over. If you

0:02use your time for problem-solving and

0:04service delivery and looking after

0:05clients, you absolutely have to stop

0:07that. If I looked at your invoices and I

0:09see that you charge by the day, by the

0:11hour, or by the monthly retainer, you

0:13are in trouble. And here's [music] why.

0:15They recently crunched the numbers on

0:17how much it costs to replace a full

0:18human year of labor, and the numbers

0:20[music] came out at $200,000,

0:23and it's only getting cheaper. See, AI

0:25runs on something called tokens, [music]

0:26and the token cost for a typical

0:28knowledge worker is less than a couple

0:30of grand for the year. You are not going

0:32to be able to sell your value if you're

0:33100 times more expensive. [music] But

0:35the good news is you can make a few

0:37subtle shifts and you will actually be

0:39able to transfer your value into a

0:41different format. You'll be able to

0:42break the tie [music] between selling

0:44time for money, and you'll be able to

0:45create a life that's way more fun. In

0:47this video, we're going to talk about

0:48why it's important to build a business

0:49that scales [music] without selling time

0:51for money, and more importantly than

0:52that, we're going to talk exactly how to

0:54do it. Some of the mental frameworks

0:55that move you from time to money into

0:57getting outcomes and getting paid for

0:59those.

1:01Let's be real. If you have a business

1:03that requires you to sit at your desk,

1:04looking at a screen, going through

1:06emails, you are absolutely selling time

1:08for money. If I look at your invoices

1:10and you are selling day rates or monthly

1:12retainers or hourly rates, you're

1:13selling time for money. Now, here's a

1:15number that should absolutely terrify

1:17you. Recently, they crunched the data on

1:19how many AI tokens it would take to

1:22replace a full year of human labor. And

1:24I'm talking about a lawyer, a professor,

1:26a designer, an editor, anyone who's a

1:29knowledge worker who works with a

1:30screen. They went in and they looked at

1:32all these different roles and they said,

1:34"How much money would it cost in AI

1:36tokens to completely automate this

1:38role?" And in theory, almost every role

1:41that you can do in front of a computer

1:43for an entire year is replaced with

1:45$200,000

1:47worth of tokens. And the cost of those

1:49tokens is coming down, not going up.

1:51Whatever it is you do, if you're sitting

1:53at a computer most of the time, the

1:55value of what you do is being massively

1:57undermined by AI. Now, this is an idea

2:00called token economics. As we go forward

2:02into this AI revolution, you are more

2:04and more in competition with the cost of

2:06tokens to do your job. So, what we need

2:08to do is we need to rethink what is it

2:10that people are really paying for you to

2:12do, and how do we repackage that in a

2:14completely different way? So, the first

2:15thing I want to do is I want to break

2:17down really simply what is it that a

2:18business does? What are the two hard

2:20problems that every business has to

2:22solve? The two hard problems that your

2:24business has to solve is called speed to

2:26market and speed to value. The

2:29businesses that win are the ones that

2:31master these two hard problems. Speed to

2:33value is your ability to deliver

2:35outcomes for customers. It's your

2:37ability to solve problems. When someone

2:39buys something, they're not actually

2:41buying the process. They want a

2:42particular outcome. See, here's the

2:44funny thing. Most of your customers,

2:45they don't actually want to spend time

2:47with you. They want to wave a magic wand

2:49and a particular result that happens.

2:50And they just currently think that

2:52you're the fastest and cheapest way to

2:53get that result done. See, imagine you

2:55walk into an accountant's office, and

2:57the accountant says, "What are you

2:58buying from me?" And you think, "Oh,

2:59well, I'm buying your time." They say,

3:01"Oh, fantastic. Why don't we sit down

3:02and play Scrabble, and I'll charge you

3:04hundreds of dollars per hour to play

3:05Scrabble?" And you say, "Wait a second.

3:06I don't want to play Scrabble with you.

3:08I want you to do my accounting. I want

3:09to make sure that I don't have any tax

3:11issues. I don't want to make sure I'm

3:12not overpaying." So, ultimately, an

3:14accountant's time is only producing

3:16those results that you want. So, the

3:18first thing we need to think about is

3:19that if your customers could wave a

3:21magic wand, what do they wish would

3:23actually happen? Do they want a bigger

3:24business? Do they want more profit? Do

3:26they want to hire the right people? Do

3:27they want a better relationship? Do they

3:29want to lose weight and have better

3:30health? You've got to figure out what is

3:32the ultimate outcome that people are

3:33trying to achieve. Now, the businesses

3:35that win are the businesses that

3:37understand this is the outcome, this is

3:39the challenge, this is the problem, and

3:41here is our approach of speed to value

3:44that is better, faster, and cheaper than

3:46anything else out there. Now, a lot of

3:48the times, the things that you think

3:50you're in competition with could

3:51actually be the things that set you

3:52free. Recently, I spoke to a fitness

3:54trainer who was really upset about the

3:57fact that GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic have

3:59been undermining the value of a fitness

4:01trainer. And I asked the question, why

4:03don't you just package them in? If

4:04people want to take GLP-1s to lose

4:06weight, why don't you package that into

4:08your overall offering? And ultimately,

4:11they get better speed to value. Now, the

4:13truth is people don't just want to lose

4:15weight, they also want to look great.

4:17And looking great and losing weight, you

4:19need a combination of fitness trainer

4:21and GLP-1s. So, what that fitness

4:23trainer achieved is that by packaging in

4:25GLP-1s, their speed to value went up,

4:28not down, which means their value went

4:30up, not down. Second question is speed

4:32to market, and speed to market is about

4:33telling your story. It's about letting

4:35people know that you can achieve this

4:37outcome. You can get this thing done.

4:39Now, I want you to imagine this. Imagine

4:40that you get invited to go on one of the

4:42biggest podcasts in the world. What do

4:43you think that would do to your

4:44business? If you were able to tell your

4:46story to millions of people, if you

4:48could get them to understand what you

4:49do, and who you do it for, and how you

4:51do it. If you could get them to

4:52understand how credible you are, and

4:54your case studies, and your stories, if

4:56all of that came out in the podcast, and

4:58millions of people saw it, what do you

4:59think would happen to your business?

5:01Well, what would happen is your business

5:02would probably explode. Your prices

5:04would go through the roof, and that is

5:06because being on a massive podcast would

5:08massively increase your speed to market.

5:10It would give you lots of people who

5:12rapidly discover what you do. Provided

5:14you show up on that podcast clear and

5:16credible, your business would explode.

5:18So, ultimately, these are the only two

5:20big problems that your business has,

5:22speed to value and speed to market.

5:24Everything else is noise. Now, what's

5:25replacing that is that instead of having

5:28to spend lots of time on all these

5:30things, you can achieve the exact same

5:32outcome with AI. AI, once trained, can

5:35answer all the questions. It can

5:36generate the proposals. It can produce

5:38amazing, compelling content. AI can go

5:41networking for you and find the people

5:43you should be talking to, and through

5:44algorithms can amplify your message to a

5:47much wider audience if you're on certain

5:49platforms. And also, AI can actually do

5:52a lot of the problem-solving. It can do

5:54a lot of the coding. It can do a lot of

5:55the customer success inquiries. So, a

5:58lot of speed to value and speed to

5:59market can just be done by AI. I want

6:01you to have a new paradigm about how

6:03value gets created in the economy. And

6:05it's actually linked to an old paradigm.

6:07Let me explain. So, in the agricultural

6:09age, most of the work was automated.

6:12Most of the value that got created in

6:14the economy was created by artificial

6:16intelligence. We called that artificial

6:18intelligence soil. So, here's what used

6:21to happen. The farmer would come along,

6:22put a prompt into the soil, they'd plant

6:25a seed, and then the soil would do this

6:26amazing automation process. We didn't

6:28know how it worked, but you could plant

6:30a seed and out came a bushel of wheat a

6:32few months later. So, in that situation,

6:35most of the value in the economy was

6:37automated. I want you to think about

6:38this. In the agricultural age, the

6:40farmer's job was step one, know that

6:42it's time to plant the crops. Step two,

6:45tend to the soil and plant the seeds.

6:46Step three to step eight was the soil

6:49automating the process of growing the

6:51wheat. Step nine was knowing that it's

6:53time to harvest the crop. And step 10 is

6:56preparing the wheat and taking it to

6:58market and selling it. Now, the farmer's

6:59job was to do step one and step two,

7:02step nine and step 10. But from step

7:04three to step eight was fully automated

7:06by the land. Actually, we're going into

7:08an economy that looks very, very

7:09similar. Rather than having actual soil

7:11and actual land, we're going to have

7:13digital soil and digital land. And we're

7:15going to think of that as AI. So, step

7:17one is all about knowing what to do.

7:19Step two is about setting up the

7:21technology and prompting it. Step three

7:23to step eight is full automation AI

7:26delivering lots of value. Step nine is

7:29knowing when you're done. And step 10 is

7:30taking it to market and selling it. I

7:32want you to think of AI as almost like a

7:34digital soil or a digital land that is

7:36doing step three to step eight. It's

7:38doing most of the work for you. And your

7:40job is to get a few things right. So,

7:42let's talk about the five things that

7:44you actually get paid for right now. The

7:46first thing that you get paid for, I'm

7:47going to call this conviction.

7:49Conviction is where you absolutely want

7:51to see something happen in the world.

7:53You are driven to see something happen.

7:55You are alive with it. Your life force

7:57is bubbling to see something happen in

7:59the world. See, here's the thing. The

8:01world needs your conviction. AI doesn't

8:03have any conviction. It will tell you

8:05anything you want to hear. Every single

8:07person who's using AI will tell you that

8:09the AI is a total sycophant. It

8:11completely lacks conviction and it's

8:12just reinforcing what you already want

8:14to hear. What the world needs from you,

8:16step one, is conviction. We need to know

8:18what fills you with life force energy

8:20and what you want to have happen in the

8:21world. The people who are getting things

8:23done right now are the people who are

8:25very clear about their conviction. Now,

8:26here's the thing with conviction. If you

8:28don't act upon conviction, it bubbles

8:30away. Imagine conviction as like this

8:32energy that flows around and when it

8:34hits you, you feel it and it wants you

8:36to act. But, if you don't act, then

8:38basically the conviction says, "You know

8:40what? You don't really have conviction.

8:42I'm going to go find someone else who

8:43does." So, your conviction needs action,

8:45right? So, this is the stuff that you

8:46would be willing to go and act upon. The

8:48next thing you get paid for is called

8:50judgment. Once you've got conviction,

8:52you have to have good judgment about how

8:53you're going to execute on that. It's

8:55about making good choices, having great

8:57priorities, picking a path, figuring out

8:59what questions to ask, which tools and

9:01technologies to leverage, who to bring

9:02together onto a team. Having good

9:04judgment comes from experience.

9:06Experience typically comes from having

9:08bad judgment. So, you got to get out

9:09there in the world and you got to try

9:11stuff, right? The more mistakes you

9:12make, the more you refine your judgment

9:14and the more you end up with better

9:15judgment, which means that you get paid

9:17more. So, conviction leads to good

9:19judgment. The next thing we need is

9:21something called taste. Taste is about

9:23making creative choices that are in

9:26alignment with what an ideal customer

9:28wants, right? An ideal customer persona,

9:30what do they actually want? Having good

9:32taste is about creating products,

9:34services, and campaigns that really

9:36resonate with this ideal customer

9:37persona. It's a lot easier said than

9:39done, but taste comes from being in tune

9:41with the right people. See, the people

9:42who have good taste are the people who

9:44are spending time with their

9:45marketplace. They're picking up on the

9:46energy of their ideal customers and

9:48they're able to resonate with their

9:50ideal customers. They're able to make

9:52the right choices. Now, taste looks

9:53different for every industry. There are

9:55some industries and there are some ideal

9:57customers that want everything to be big

9:59and bright and bubbly, and there are

10:00some industries and some ideal customers

10:02that want everything to be elegant,

10:03understated, and demure. So, picking the

10:06taste that matches your ideal customer.

10:08Taste is about making good choices that

10:10really line up with your ideal customer

10:12persona. The fourth thing that you're

10:14going to get paid for is called

10:15commercial outcomes. So, this is about

10:17making sales and delivering results.

10:20Now, obviously, this is speed to market

10:22and speed to value. This is where the

10:24rubber hits the road. Making sales is

10:26about using tools and technology to get

10:28people from unaware and unclear to

10:30totally clear, totally trusting, totally

10:32aware. And delivering results is where

10:34they get a great result, they get a

10:35transformation in their life, and they

10:37attribute that to you. So, if you can

10:39claim ownership and claim victory with

10:41either making sales or delivering

10:43results, you are essentially being

10:45linked to the commercial outcomes, and

10:47that's what you get paid for. And the

10:48final thing is improving the system. So,

10:51improving the system is staying up to

10:53date with tools and technologies, always

10:55refining it, making better choices,

10:56updating the system, figuring out how do

10:59we go speed to market even faster, how

11:01do we go speed to value even faster, how

11:03do we make sure that the system spits

11:04out the right data that's accurate and

11:06that gives us insights. So, tinkering

11:08with the system to improve the system is

11:10the final thing. Now, think about it

11:11like this. This is conviction is why do

11:14we do this? And having a great question,

11:16why are we going to do this in the first

11:17place? Judgment is what are we going to

11:20do? Taste is who do we do this for and

11:23how do we connect with them? Commercial

11:24success is about when do we land this

11:26plane? And systems is how do we do it

11:29better? Now, can you see the difference?

11:30We talked about time for money, where

11:32you're actually doing things. You're

11:34actually executing. That's what the

11:36school system prepared you for. That's

11:37what all of the Industrial Revolution

11:39was about. But, this is a little bit

11:41different. This is about

11:42decision-making. This is about taste.

11:44This is about getting results regardless

11:46of how it happens. Unfortunately, if you

11:47don't start thinking about your business

11:49through this lens, you are going to be

11:50in competition with an unbelievably

11:53powerful system that gets better every

11:55year. And unfortunately, it's way

11:56cheaper and way faster than you could

11:58ever possibly be at doing the actual

12:00tasks. You do not want to be executing

12:02tasks. You want to be doing these five

12:04things. So, here's the way through this.

12:05I want you to stop fighting AI. Stop

12:08talking about how you wish the genie

12:10would go back in the bottle. I'm not in

12:11control of it, and you're not in control

12:13of it. We have to surf this wave or we

12:15get dumped by it. Honestly, if I could

12:17go back to the '90s, I absolutely would.

12:19I loved that era, late '90s, early

12:222000s. I would freeze time there. But,

12:24unfortunately, I don't have that magic

12:26wand. Like you, I'm forced into a

12:27situation where I have to adapt or get

12:29disrupted. We can either imagine that

12:31this all goes away, or we can deal with

12:33reality. Now, the reality is this

12:35undermines our value if all we do is

12:37complete tasks. But, it amplifies our

12:39value if we focus on the right things.

12:42You are in an amazing place as an

12:44entrepreneur. If you're watching this

12:45channel, you're an entrepreneur. You're

12:47open-minded. You're the type of person

12:49who absolutely stands to gain from this.

12:51Here's the good news. Every industry on

12:53the planet, every business on the planet

12:55can now do things better, faster,

12:56cheaper, with more emotional benefits

12:58because of this technology. That means

13:00that everything on the planet is

13:01currently an opportunity. In theory, all

13:04the inefficiency, all the overspend

13:06that's currently being spent in the

13:07economy is going to flood through and

13:10find new solutions. If you can be the

13:12provider of one of those new solutions,

13:14you could make a life-changing amount of

13:15money. Rather than think about how this

13:17disrupts things that is already

13:18established in the status quo, I want

13:20you to get excited. What if you could be

13:22downstream from that disruption? What if

13:24you could be the disruption? What if you

13:26could actually have the best life you've

13:27ever had because of this technology? It

13:30requires thinking differently, but the

13:31payoff for doing so is huge. Let me use

13:33a real-life example to make this point.

13:35I used to have an IT agency, and we used

13:37to build online assessments for people.

13:39We used to build them on WordPress, and

13:40we used to charge 15 to 20,000. We could

13:43do about 4 to 10 of these per month if

13:45we really worked all hours. But what we

13:47recognized is that actually most of the

13:49value of what we were doing was knowing

13:51the strategy, having conviction about

13:53the strategy, having good judgment about

13:55how to execute the strategy, having the

13:58right taste for connecting with

14:00different markets. All of that was the

14:01real value that we were offering. And

14:03what we ended up doing is coding up a

14:04platform called ScoreApp. We actually

14:06took all of our conviction, all of our

14:08judgment, all of our taste. We focused

14:10on building a platform that did speed to

14:12value and speed to market way faster.

14:14Now, we have tens of thousands of

14:16customers who paid to subscribe to

14:18scoreapp.com. And most of the incredible

14:20features in the system are now

14:22AI-driven. We had to make a decision one

14:24time, and the AI delivers value to all

14:26of our customers. Now, that business is

14:28worth way more than an agency could have

14:31ever been worth. We did the same when we

14:32took the best thinking out of a

14:34publishing company and created

14:35bookmagic.ai. And then we worked with a

14:37video production company and took the

14:39best thinking out of the video

14:41production company and created video

14:42production platform. These things used

14:44to be expensive and difficult and

14:46time-consuming to build, and now they

14:48happen in weeks, maybe months at most.

14:51And once you do this, you've got a

14:52scalable business where you never have

14:54to be selling time for money again. If

14:56you've always been selling time for

14:57money, this is unfamiliar to begin with,

14:59but I promise you, on the other side of

15:01getting this right, you are going to

15:02have a very different life. You can live

15:04and work from anywhere, you can scale up

15:06and serve thousands of customers without

15:08it taking any of your time, and if you

15:10want to, you can use your time to build

15:12more products and more ideas and more

15:13things, or pursue a whole portfolio of

15:15other interests. I really want to see

15:17you free yourself from the time for

15:19money trap, because now is the time with

15:21these tools and these technologies and

15:23this AI stuff to absolutely do so. It's

15:25never been more possible. You just need

15:27to be ahead of the curve and get started

15:29right away. So, here's the thing. In a

15:30post-AI world, you do have a new role to

15:32play, and that role is called being a

15:34key person of influence for your

15:35business. It's a really important role.

15:37It's the most important role. It's

15:39probably the biggest, most elevated role

15:41that now exists. I really want to

15:43explore this with you, and I'm running a

15:44live workshop that you can join.

15:46There'll be a link below, and we can get

15:47on a live workshop together, and we can

15:49explore your role as this key person of

15:51influence. It's where your name comes up

15:53in conversation. It's where you build a

15:55personal brand. It's where people know

15:57you for a particular outcome, and you

15:58start spreading that far and wide. It's

16:00not about being an influencer. It's

16:02about being known, liked, and trusted,

16:04and respected within your industry. Come

16:06and join me for a live workshop, and I

16:07will share with you exactly the strategy

16:09to go from what you know to having a lot

16:11of people who know how good you are.

16:13Click the link below, and I'll see you

16:14on the live workshop. I hope you're

16:16enjoying these videos, and if you are,

16:18give this channel a like and a

16:19subscribe. I'll be putting out lots more

16:21videos, and I hope your business is

16:23doing really, really well.