The Ideas Lab London

I write books and mentor people on creating a business they love from scratch, fixing a business that is no longer working for them, or scaling something in a way that is sustainable and meaningful.

I grew up without any of the natural skills required for entrepreneurship: sales, marketing, focus, persistence, optimism, and yet somehow I've managed to make it work. Now I'm passionate about helping other people like me make a living doing something they really care about.

Many of my clients want a business that is meaningful and allows them creative expression just as much as they want to make money out of it. I get it because I am the same.

Follow me for advice on marketing, social media, writing books, running launches, creating successful offers, and closing sales without manipulation plus some creative inspiration, occasional thoughts on the near future and a sprinkling of amusing memes.

Owner

Deloitte

Head of a Digital Media and Media Asset Management consultancy team at Deloittes.

Joined because I thought it would make my CV look good. Ironically it just made me never want to have a job ever again for the rest of my life (which I have so far succeeded in keeping to).

Tried to sell hugely expensive consulting to broadcasters around what was then a new technology (Media Asset Management). Given the benefits weren't properly proven yet on said new technology no one wanted to pay Deloitte a fortune just to consult on it.

So I quit to consult independently to the BBC and other broadcasters - making me a lot cheaper to hire and getting me paid a lot more. Everybody wins (including Deloitte who were probably pretty sick of me at that point).

Senior Managing Consultant

Citria / Protege 

European technology consultancy supplying systems integration and ebusiness solutions for clients such as ebookers, BBC and Barclaycard. Pioneered solutions for online video including searchable video, Media Asset Management, multi-platform content publishing for broadcasters.

I loved working at a company full of passionate, friendly people at a critical moment in the dot com boom. It felt like the online world was evolving so fast, news stories would change in the course of just a few hours.

At one point I was leading a team of 15 people despite having no discernible management skills. 

I got to play with exciting new technologies and proselytise about the near future where every media company would produce content in multiple formats for multiple platforms. 

Unfortunately the company did not survive the dot com crash and 9/11.

CTO Digital Media Division

Avid Technology

Software developer on special effects products Illusion and Matador for the Parallax division of Avid.

Provided onsite support and development for Disney Feature Animation in Los Angeles during creation of “Dinosaur” movie with Avid’s collaborative production tools.

Parallax was a small company full of lovely people who were annoyingly also geniuses. My software development pinnacle was writing some multi-threaded code to get video into a Silicon Graphics computer off a remote-controlled digital betacam tape. 

But I was wondering at the time what I really wanted to do with my life. I looked around and thought a) I will never be as good a programmer as the others here and b) I don't think I really want to be.

Anyway Avid Technology who owned us went and bought our main competitor and said we either needed to go live in Montreal or take redundancy. Montreal is a cool city (well, bloody freezing actually in the winter) but the option to strike out on my own with a bit of redundancy cash as cushion was too tempting so I went off to freelance for a time.

R&D Engineer

Omnibus Systems

One of the original 3 developers who created the first version of the Omnibus System which went on to control TV stations all over the world.

When I left college I didn't really want a job but it hadn't yet crossed my mind I could work for myself. I saw an advert for this job stuck on the wall at the Uni and it said they were a small company making technology for television and I thought that sounded interesting.

I ended up joining a company founded by a couple of guys who had real creative flair in technology plus a few personality flaws. Back then I was pretty weird anyway so I'm sure I was no picnic to work with but the result was a fairly unhealthy working culture. We managed to produce some ground-breaking stuff despite this.

I look back on writing a bezier-rendering routine in assembler and can't help be impressed at myself.

When the BBC bought our system to control the whole of a TV studio in TV Centre using touch screens (20 years before the iPad was invented) it was quite a moment. Omnibus caught on and the company expanded quickly.

Software Engineer

I help people turn their ideas & expertise into #1 businesses, books and brands. I'm author of 3 bestselling books translated into 10 languages.

John Spencer Williams

If you want to move from working one to one to something more scalable, this should be interesting for you.

I worked with a client recently who was working one to one with people in an intense format and wanted to somehow create something more scalable.

We worked together to invent, create, and fill an online group programme that taught the same principles and delivered some of the same results as they did one to one.

We also created a pathway for people to get to know the work before deciding whether to join this programme (a critical element that is often forgotten).

The result is total sales of over £40k including the course, other elements we created, and the people who went on to buy one to help after the group programme.

It's not millions (yet) but this is the truth about creating your first online course if you don't already have a massive audience. You get the thing set up, delivering results for people, and making money, *then* you can scale it up.

If you'd like to do something similar with your expertise, shoot me a DM.

How do you make more money as a therapist?

Well, one way is to help people with the same issue but in a group.

When I mention this to some therapists they look horrified and say "I can't give people the same depth of experience in a group!"

Well, perhaps you can't. But you can create a different experience that is also helpful.

Bear in mind that your group experience will usually be cheaper than the equivalent number of contact hours of 1 to 1. That makes it more affordable for people.

As a very rough starting point, consider pricing your group hours at half that of your one to one hours. So if you're £100 an hour for one to one, you're £50 per hour of group (per person).

You're making half as much per person but you'll make more over all of course because you will have several people in the group.

To come back to the point about it not being as deep, well, people can still buy your one to one if they want to. It just costs more.

Be careful about assuming a group experience is inevitably less powerful than one to one. If you craft a really special experience for people, it can be *more* powerful.

And if you build a brand around what you do in the way I teach, the sky is the limit for pricing too.

This is just one of the ways I will show you to boost your revenue in my one-off 3-part workshop next week, The 6-Figure Therapist.

The 3-session workshop is very affordable at just £65+VAT.
For those who buy by Friday it's just £40+VAT

This is one of my fastest selling workshops ever!

Book your place here:
https://lnkd.in/djbEz5ax 

Students with ADHD are twice as likely as others to start a business 
29% of entrepreneurs report a history of ADHD (compared to 5-10% in others)
40% of millionaires are dyslexic (14x the national average)

That's why I'm touching on neurodiversity in my book Crazy Successful.

Are you doing the basics?

I listened to a podcast interview with Tiago Forte, author of Building a second brain, and Jay Clouse asked him how he built such a large email list for his business.

Tiago said something like "I just did what everybody recommends, I did the basics. That stuff works if you actually do it"

A lot of my clients come to me looking for some secret marketing hack to make their business work. 

I'm a fan of creative thinking and using it to do something original and make your business stand out, but you also need to just do those basics: set up an autoresponder, give people a compelling reason to opt in, do the things that bring new visitors to that page, then email them interesting, useful, stuff regularly.

It's hard to slog through some of these tasks when we're impatient but the rewards are worth it.

How can AI tools help you write your book? Faster and with no cheating?

Author John Spencer Williams (his book "F**k Work, Let's Play" was WHSmith Business Book of the Month) is currently writing his next best seller: "Crazy Successful". And he is using AI, ethically.

Join us on Thursday 4th April at 1pm for a 30min LinkedIn Live and ask John for his tips and tricks. 

Sparking your AI curiosity and igniting your marketing potential, together!

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Steve Jobs’ office vs Tim Cook’s office

It’s a cliche but I do think there is some truth in the idea that creative people are often messy. 

What do you think?

I'm pleased with reaching this in just over a week!
(I'm actually at 117 though)

Life is going to be radically different in 5 years - hopefully not like this though!

We’ve seen rapid change from technology but nothing like what we’ll see with AI. 

There will be wonderful benefits and a lot of disruption to jobs and businesses. 

Take an interest, follow the trends, and be ready to pivot what you’re doing for work right now.

What happens to your lead magnet after it’s downloaded…

The two best articles you'll ever read on non-fiction writing:
https://lnkd.in/gTkzcmhT

How would you like another social network to post on?

OK, that may have elicited a scream from some people here! But this one is a little different.

Substack have launched their own social network called Notes (inside their Substack app)

Some Substack writers are not happy about it because they moved to Substack to *escape* social media. 

I'm OK with it though as it does add another channel of discoverability. Post on Notes or comment on other people's notes and new people will get to see you and might decide to follow you.

Besides, Substack has a nice culture about it so comments are likely to be very different from the kind you would get on say, twitter *shudder*.

Are you using Substack? Have you got the app? Have you seen Notes?

How about we get together in London and create a masterplan for your business?

Spring is here. 
And it's a great time for a rebirth in your business.

Let's you and I meet up in London and make over your business to generate a lot more for you while doing the work you love.

Here's the plan: 

First, we meet up in person at my super-fancy workspace in East London (see pic) and I will create an overarching masterplan for you to multiply what you're currently making by 150% or more.

We keep it simple with just the things that are going to have the most impact for the least complexity, whether that's through smart lead generation, rapid email listbuilding, a coherent social media strategy, pricing changes, or some combination of these.

Next, is implementation.
You'll have 6 months after we meet in my group programme Crazy Successful Formula to get my weekly guidance on implementing each part of the plan.

Plus you'll have access to my in-depth strategies for each component of your masterplan, membership of an amazing, friendly community on similar paths, and monthly mindset sessions with me and my assistant coach, Julia if you ever need a pep talk, and lots more.

The price of the Masterplan Programme is £2645+VAT
But I'm in the mood for a very special Easter Offer.

So if you come onboard by Easter Sunday, you get everything for just £1645 + VAT

If you think this could be exactly what you need, your first step is to send me a DM and let me know you're interested so I can fill you in with more details and check you're in the right place to get great benefit from it.

I'm on a mission to get therapists paid more.

And I'm running a workshop tonight to that end called The 6-Figure Therapist.

Here's what I will cover:

- Real world examples of people who are making 6 figures and even 7 figures or more including their business models and what makes them work
- How to double or even quadruple what you make per hour using my Specialise > Synthesise > Productise > Evangelise model.
- Four things you need to do in order to raise your one to one rates in particular
- How to create a scalable group experience that changes people's lives and pays you well
- How to differentiate yourself from the mass of other therapists out there and use social media strategically to find clients
- How to attract a lot more clients without using social media
- How to apply what we've covered to your particular business - workshop it live with me in a final interactive session

It's stupidly good value at just £65+VAT.

If you want the link, let me know in the comments.

My favourite part of my work is helping people find their distinctive idea and encapsulate it in an irresistible offer... but the old fashioned skill of just holding clients accountable to do what they've said they need to do turns out to be every bit as valuable!

Want to win some clients ASAP?

I've been doing some laser consults over the last week that I've offered with fast-action pricing. 

This has enabled me to dish out a ton of juicy, personalised, actionable advice and I've been really enjoying them.

So I'm doing it one more time with a 20-minute laser consult all about getting you your next 3 clients.

Here's how it works.
The moment you pay, you'll receive a booking link to choose a slot in my diary.

Once you choose one, you'll get 4 simple questions to answer so I can be briefed in advance about your situation.

Then we get on a private zoom and in the space of 20 minutes I'm going to tell you the exact actions to get your next 3 clients as soon as possible.

(If you're still shooting for your first 3 clients, we can focus on that.)

The first 5 buyers get it for just £40+VAT.
The next 5 get it for £80+VAT.
Then after that it's the normal price of £160+VAT.

If you want to get in at the £40+VAT bargain price, send me a DM ASAP. (I just emailed it out and one has gone already)

How I'm using AI to help write my book

Thanks to Celia Rizothanasi for inviting me to have this discussion 

The 6-Figure Therapist 

I'm running a workshop next week for psychotherapists, counsellors, hypnotherapists and others who use the principles of talk therapy, psychology and self-improvement. 

It's on how to win clients and make more money without working more hours.

I'm calling it "The 6-figure therapist". 
Sounds pretty grand huh? But I want to shake up people's thinking and show that (even if you don't need/want to make 6 figures) being a therapist doesn't having to mean scraping by.

I want to show you a bunch of models of people who are doing great work and making great money from it (at least one of them is making millions!)

I'll explain how you can charge more for one to one and make more from groups.

I'm going to cover how to differentiate yourself from the mass of other therapists out there.

I'm going to show you how to use social media effectively as well as how to find clients without social media.

And I'm going to workshop in a live session with participants what the right strategy is for you.

The workshop is in 3 parts and will run on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings next week at 6pm BST for up 75 minutes each night.

In between I'll coach you in a Telegram group. Each session is recorded but I recommend that if you can't come live, you watch each session before the next live call.

I'm making it really affordable at just £65+VAT.
For those who buy by Friday it's just £40+VAT

Please only join if you're open minded about new ideas on how to deliver and price your work.

If you'd like more information, comment 'Yes' below or DM me.

I'm a bad writer but a great rewriter.

That's the theme of the first weekly update I sent this week from my Substack. 

These weekly updates contain my lessons from writing my book Crazy Successful, to be published by Pearson in December. 

The plan today: meet a writer friend in this fancy place and spend the day working on our books (and eating and drinking)

Taplio

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