Grand Slam Offers, Mind Mush, and Lessons Learned

Hello! Happy Monday.

I’m really trying to work out the kinks in my posting schedule. My goal has and continues to be to post weekly, and I should be able to do that moving forward.

Thanks for bearing with me! Let’s dive in.

GUM Update

I’ve continued my immersion in sales and marketing training via as-trusted-as-possible YouTubers this week. I’ve been learning a lot!

I didn’t realize it would take so much time to refine our offer and the pricing for our services. However, I’ve been refining it as I learn more and I’m getting very close to a (first of many) final draft.

Alex Hormozi’s book 100m Offers has been the most informative resource I’ve used while building our offer. You can find it here.

Traditionally businesses structure their offers and pricing based on the commoditization of their products or services. This quickly leads to price battles until prices are so low that profit margins are no longer sustainable.

So, I’m using Alex Hormozi’s Grand Slam Offer framework to do something a little different. I’m crafting an offer that allows us to price our services significantly higher than our competition while offering 2-3x the amount of value.

We are continuing to hone our service offerings as well in an effort to give away as much value for free as possible. Then, we’ll offer our premium services for the prices we’re putting together now.

This week was very productive, and I’m stoked about that. However, I did hit a point of maximum-information-intake on Saturday for sure.

I had only been working on GUM stuff for about 30 minutes Saturday morning before it felt like my mind was too full to process or retain any more information.

It was mush. Neuron soup.

Mind Mush

But when to stop working? I’d like to think I have a high tolerance for work. I feel driven and excited about our company and the work we’re doing, even when it feels hard or I’m reeeaaalllyyy tired.

It’s clear that it will take a lot of effort to build a successful business. Effort, money, time, energy, thought, etc. I want us to build something incredible and long lasting and I’m confident that will require doing more than our competitors.

I’m prepared to do that. But, when is it time to rest?

I’ve always struggled to draw this boundary for myself. I have a hard time shutting down. But, years of quality therapy has taught me to slow down and take stock when I begin to feel like this. (Note: when I feel like this, NOT after I’ve already spiraled into a work-obsessed goblin.)

So I guess I just answered my own question.

It’s time to rest when I begin to feel like I do now. To clarify, right now I can feel the pressure crawling slowly up into my throat. Fortunately, I realize the pressure is also (mostly) constructed by none other than myself.

This is a relieving realization. And I’m going to add some small breaks into my everyday routine and practice some mindfulness this upcoming week.

However—

I want to note that circumstances do not always allow for a complete mindful 360. To appease my therapist: sure, maybe generally they do and we just think they don’t.

But sometimes they really don’t.

Be it because my dedication to a greater goal requires sacrifice in the present or an unplanned development crumpled up my grand plans and threw them into a fire, sometimes I just have to gather my strength and push through.

And this can be the absolute fucking worst really suck.

But I’ve also learned that it’s possible, even in those high-stakes moments, to take a breath, find a healthy snack, and loosen up the body.

And sometimes that can make all the difference.

Lesson Learned

When we first set things in motion to start Garden Unit Media, I was super excited and made a few purchases. Most were necessary, but one was an annual subscription to Monday.com, an operational software, and not quite necessary.

It’s awesome, but our team is small and we have only a few clients to start. So we don’t really need it yet. But what we do need, at least more than we do the software, is the $400 I spent on it.

I’ve gotten better about NOT sinking money into a new endeavor based on feelings of extreme excitement. And despite the $400 pricetag, this is a rather harmless incident.

However, it did remind me of a favorite rule of thumb my best friend shared with me not too long ago (though it wasn’t quite long-ago-enough to save me $400).

“Don’t buy something until it will save you money and don’t assume your behavior will change because you’ve made the purchase.

For example, you won’t prioritize going to the movies because you bought a monthly movie pass, but if you already go to see a movie every week it’s a great way to save money.”

- Jimmy W.

I’m looking forward to finding moments to rest my mind this week. Maybe I’ll do a home improvement project. I do love those.

I hope you have something you love lined up.

Wishing you a smooooooth week.

With mush,

Will

P.S. The name Will Barnes is an alias. As mentioned in my first post, I can’t leave my current job until I have another comparable stream of income and I’d like to prevent my boss from firing me first. Please don’t seek out my real identity. I will reveal myself when the time is right.

You can reach me via email at [email protected] or on Twitter, Instagram, and Threads @BosslessBlog.