Entrepreneurial Wisdom From the Modern Day Napoleon Hill - Andrew Warner, Founder of Mixergy

Read the full transcript of this talk here: http://fourandhalf.com/entrepreneurial-wisdom-modern-day-napoleon-hill-andrew-warner-founder-mixergy/ Our guest today is Andrew Warner, the master interviewer. That’s the first title I would give him. He runs a very popular podcast for entrepreneurs called Mixergy. This is where I go to learn everything I know when it comes to business. Andrew’s stuff is top notch. It’s not Andrew teaching the wisdom of his ways, it’s Andrew interviewing all the top names out there. Let’s drop some: Tim Ferriss of the Four Hour Work Week, Barbara Corcoran from Shark Tank, Jessica Livingston of Y Combinator, and Neil Patel. There’s some significant wisdom locked in Andrew’s head that we’re going to try to unpack a little bit, specifically for our property management tribe. Q: So let’s dive right in. The concept out there is that 20 percent of the work brings 80 percent of the results. That’s what productivity coaches look for. You said, and this is a quote: “when you build a start-up, the secret of success is to understand what that 20 percent is, and pay attention to it.” So, what is that 20 percent for you, Andrew? A: For me, the 20 percent is a handful of things. One of them is to talk to my customers and my audience a lot more. Anyone who is involved with or excited about what I’m doing is someone I need to talk to as much as possible. At first, I thought online research was enough, but I discovered it’s about finding ways to get people on the phone so I can talk to them and understand what they’re going through. I had been hearing that the founders of Airbnb went and lived in their customers’ homes and saw what it was like to list on the site. They wanted to understand the problems people might have. So they realized Airbnb shouldn’t be about just renting a room, but the whole house. They only discovered that when they got into a house. The thing is that it always seems so easy when you’re told to go talk to your customers. I tried doing this, but no one picks up the phone and no one wants to schedule a phone call. That creates more work for them. It took a lot of creativity to learn what my customers are going through. Q: Can we talk about what some of those things are? A: Here’s one: I didn’t say I want to learn from you so I can improve my product. Instead, I emailed them and said thanks for being a part of my community, I want to give you a free coaching session. Free coaching was the answer because with free coaching, you’re going to find something that they’re going through that they could use some help with. If they’re not going through something, they won’t take me up on it. But if they are going through something, they’re going to take me up on that offer. Once I get on a call with them, I can talk about what they want and why they signed up. They will always tell me about that one issue that they need help with and want to focus on with their free 15-minute coaching call. Then, I could understand the real problem and solve that problem or help them come up with their own solutions. More importantly, I could understand the problem better and build the solution into my interviews and everything we stand for at Mixergy. Q: That’s pretty brilliant. A: I know it won’t work for everyone, but it worked for us. The key that I’d like anyone to take away is that we want to learn from our customers what to create for them and how we can improve, but it’s a challenge to figure out how to get them on the phone. If we call them and they don’t pick up or we email them and they don’t respond, it’s not because this doesn’t work. We shouldn’t stop. Just spend some time figuring out the one thing that will work. When you figure it out, they will tell you what they need. When they tell you about the one desperate problem that they have, if you can address it even a little bit, they will be happy customers. Q: I spoke to Lisa Wise, who is running an incredible property management start-up in Washington D.C. called Nest and it’s transformational. She built her office inside a typical house that these guys manage. So the employees can touch everything that would be in a house. They know how the heater works and what happens when the air conditioner goes out. So they build empathy for their customers. This accomplishes two things. It shows you how to build your product and where to go with it, and it also builds the empathy you need to transform your services. It’s fascinating. A: That’s incredibly helpful. Can she get people into the actual homes? If they can get invited to dinner or in to repair something, it would be incredible.