#855 Hard Questions, Easy Business

大家周四早上好。

Happy Thursday morning, everybody.

欢迎回到《热带MBA》播客。

Welcome back to the Tropical MBA podcast.

今天咱们来一次一对一的分享。

We're doing this thing one on one today.

我想和你们聊聊一个想法，这个想法源于几周前我亲身经历的一件事。

I wanna share with you just a thought process, a opportunity that was inspired by an experience I had a few weeks ago.

我会分享七个问题，你可以拿去问你最喜欢的AI助手，帮助你发现并识别出业务中下一个重大机会。

I'm gonna share seven questions that you can bring to your AI friend of choice to help you face down and identify the next big opportunity in your business.

我觉得现在网上关于商业机会的氛围是，机会好像特别容易找。

I feel like the vibe online in business opportunity space is that, you know, opportunities are easy.

到处都是机会。

They're everywhere.

只要不停地做就行。

Keep doing stuff.

好事总会发生。

Good stuff happens.

但现实中，我经常发现，机会往往藏在某个艰难决定的另一边。

But in real life, what I often find is that opportunities exist on the opposite side of one challenging decision.

而这个艰难的决定，通常需要你克服某种恐惧。

And often, that challenging decision involves overcoming a fear.

这听起来有点奇怪。

That's kinda strange.

为什么会奇怪呢？

Why is that strange?

可能是因为这其中存在某种结构性的原因。

Because maybe there's a structural element to it.

为什么要想做成生意，非得先克服恐惧不可？

Like, why would you have to overcome a fear to have a successful business?

因为你做的事，是别人不敢做的。

It's because you're doing things that other people aren't doing.

这其实是个相对的概念。

Like, it's sort of a a relative thing.

如果你只是随波逐流，那得到的也就只是普通的结果。

Like, if you just simply take it as it comes, then you'll get average results.

我们追求的是不对称的回报。

So we're seeking asymmetrical results.

我们追求的是独特的成果，因此往往得做些特别的事——比如推出新产品，主动承担某组结果的责任，对自己产品能为目标市场带来的效果充满信心。

We're seeking unique results, and therefore, there's often something that we have to do, even launching a new product, declaring yourself responsible for x set of outcomes, being confident about the results your product can deliver for a target market.

这些都不是普通人的做法。

These are not normal things.

这些事都需要你克服对他人评价的恐惧，对别人怎么看的担忧，还有怕做错事的心理。

These are things that require overcoming a fear of judgment, a fear of what other people will think, a fear of doing the wrong thing.

网上总说，创业就是出去做点这做点那，一切自然水到渠成。

The vibe online will often say that starting a business, you just go out, you do the x, y, and z, it all happens.

但这跟我看到的实际情况不太一样。

Not really what I see.

我接触过成千上万的创业者。

I've met thousands of entrepreneurs.

通常来说，这都需要某种突破。

Typically, it involves some overcoming.

当我们追求突破或改变的时候，情况也是如此。

Now this is also the case when we're seeking a breakthrough or a change.

往往有一件简单却让人害怕的事，只要做了，后面的一切都会变得轻松。

There's often one simple but scary thing that you can do that will make everything else subsequently easier.

在有效的辅导过程中，我们正是这样做的——把问题聚焦、拆解，找到能解决的那个关键点。

This is exactly what we do in good coaching engagements, which is we try to narrow down and break down a problem that we can solve.

问题可能很复杂，但只要解决了它，你猜会怎样？

It might be a complicated problem, but once we solve it, guess what?

其他所有事都会顺势启动。

Everything else starts rolling.

我们开始在社交媒体上分享，说一切都在顺利进行。

We start showing up on social media about how everything is going great.

这些难题通常会落在某些特定类别里，今天我们就来聊聊这些类别。

And often those problems are going to sit in certain categories of things which we're going to cover today.

我来分享一个让我产生这个想法的案例。

I'll give you the case study that inspired this whole thing.

我最近成了当地一家实体店的顾客，不是那种线上业务，然后我有机会坐下来和老板聊了聊，就像普通人聊天那样。

I recently became a client of a local business, so not a digital business, and I got the chance to sit down with the founder, and we got to talking about business as you do.

她做什么工作，一眼就能看出来。

It was obvious what she did for a living.

她在奥斯汀开了一家教育机构，她问我：‘你做什么的？’

She ran this educational business, a local here in Austin, and she says, what do you do?

我脑子里立马像拉斯维加斯的老虎机一样转个不停。

And of course, it's like a slot machine in Vegas going around in my head.

我该说哪个呢？

I'm like, which one do I say?

我到底该说哪个呢？

Which one do I say?

我就说我是商业教练，想把话题引向了解她作为创业者的经历。

And I say, I'm a business coach because I wanna steer this conversation in the direction of learning about her life as a founder.

结果她最近新开的店面遇到了特别特别棘手的问题。

Well, turns out she's in a really, really tough spot with the new location that she had recently opened.

于是我开始问一些平时会问客户的问题。

And so I started asking some of these questions that I would ask clients.

如果你不介意的话，我是做商业教练的。

If you don't mind, I'm a business coach.

我特别喜欢聊商业方面的事。

I love talking about business.

这些内容我不会告诉别人，除了《Tropical MBA》播客的听众们，当然。

I won't share this information with anybody except for the whole Tropical MBA podcast audience, of course.

最后我们还是聊起了她的生意。

So anyway, we ended up discussing the business.

我们讨论了我今天要跟你们分享的那些问题。

We asked some of the questions I'm gonna share with you today.

说到最后，我首先想到的是，她愿意谈自己的生意，这本身就是一个好迹象。

And I got to the end of it, and I was like, first off, number one, open to sharing about the business.

这说明她态度开放，愿意分享。

That is a positive signal.

但从她的角度看，她面临的挑战真的非常大。

But she faces a really tough challenge, especially from her perspective.

而在我看来，其实很简单。

From my perspective, it's, hey.

只要把这一件最难的事搞定，你以后的事业道路就会轻松很多。

If we do this one hard thing, everything in your business career gets a lot easier after.

但我能感觉到，对她来说，做这件事会特别特别难。

But I could also sense that it was gonna be really, really tough for her to do it.

这时候，商业教练的作用就体现出来了。

And that's where business coaching comes in.

这也是为什么创业互助小组这么重要。

That's where masterminds come in.

这就是为什么我们在华盛顿、墨西哥、巴塞罗那、曼谷各地开展这项活动，直接跟大家说：

That's where, you know, we're doing it in DC, Mexico, Barcelona, Bangkok, going and saying, look.

老兄，我得把这件事做了。

Like, man, I gotta do this thing.

我确实害怕做这件事，但我知道，做完之后，其他所有事都会变得轻松很多。

I'm scared to do this thing, but I know that it's gonna make everything else easier.

关于人工智能，有个特别棒的地方是：

Here's the cool thing about AI.

我们可以先带着辅助工具慢慢来。

We can do this with training wheels on.

对吧？

Right?

我们可以在办公室里、散步时，私下里面对自己的恐惧，仔细权衡利弊，这样就能更好地准备，更有信心去应对企业面临的各种挑战。

We can face our fears in a in our office, privately, on a walk, look at the pros and cons, and perhaps be better prepared, better suited to take on the challenges that our businesses face.

那咱们现在就动手干吧？

So what do you say we do it?

我还想到一点，和本地创业者聊天，跟给数字企业做客户项目不一样——我们所有人创业，都是因为有创意，对某件事充满热情，不管是产品、服务还是解决方案。

One more thing that struck me, talking with a local business founder versus, you know, doing client work with digital businesses is we all get into business because we're creative, we're passionate about something, whether it's our product, our service, our solution.

有趣的是，我们对这些东西的热情，和创业这项独立的技能之间，存在着惊人的交集，而创业正是把我们的产品或服务优势发挥到极致的关键。

And what's fascinating is just the overlap between our passion for that and then entrepreneurship as a separate skill set that's married with whatever it is our product or service is genius at.

不管我们多擅长什么，那都不叫创业。

Whatever we're great at, that's not entrepreneurship.

创业是另一回事。

Entrepreneurship is something different.

所以我们才去参加大会。

That's why we go to conferences.

所以我们才找商业教练。

That's why we get business coaches.

所以我们才读商业书籍。

That's why we read business books.

所以我们才听像这样的播客。

That's why we listen to podcasts like this one.

让我特别感兴趣的是，做本地生意和做数字生意，根本没什么区别。

So fascinating to me how absolutely no difference in the approach to a local business to a digital business.

归根结底，靠的都是同一套本事。

It's the same skill set at the end of the day.

这就是创业。

It's entrepreneurship.

我们是在设定商业目标。

It's we're setting business goals.

然后倒推着去实现它们。

We're working backwards from them.

我们努力用尽可能多的真实数据，搞清楚业务的真相，找出未知的问题，找到最快达成突破的路径，为客户创造更多价值，同时也让自己收获更多回报，最终实现目标。

We're trying to agree on some form of truth about the business with as much real data as we can, identifying the unknowns, and identifying the fastest path to breakthrough and deliver more value for our customers and hopefully get more value in return, thus reaching our goals.

明白了。

Okay.

在深入之前，我先讲个案例，说说这位创始人当时遇到的难题，因为这事儿挺有共鸣的。

Before I jump in, I'll just give a case study as to, what this particular founder's challenge was because it's relatable.

当她表达出来，我们一起得出结论的时候，我心想：天啊。

When she expressed it and I got to the conclusion, we got to conclusion together, I was like, oh, man.

真没想到。

Wow.

确实如此。

Yeah.

我觉得这事儿挺让人头疼的，但另一方面又挺暖心的，毕竟我们明白这个难题在哪。

I feel this kinda sucks, but it's also sweet because we know the challenge.

短期内解决起来肯定很痛苦，但之后一切就会变得轻松了。

It's gonna suck in the short term to solve it, but then everything gets easy.

我能感觉到她的抗拒。

And I could see the resistance.

她觉得，别的事都能做，就是这个难题没法解决。

Like, maybe I could do anything but solve this particular problem.

而这次的问题在于，新地点的运营成本太高了。

And in this case, the problem was the overhead costs on the new location were too high.

而且那个地点的投资回报远低于她的预期，这真的很让人沮丧，因为这意味着你得回头去跟所有客户重新沟通。

And the investment in that location was not returning like she had expected, and that's a big bummer because that means you gotta go back to all your clients.

你得换地方。

You gotta change locations.

你得提前解约。

You gotta break a lease.

你得重新做一系列承诺。

You gotta make new commitments.

但其他办法，比如卖身自救，或者开拓新业务，说到底，这个行业里你每年都在落后，却找不到真正的原因，很多人都陷在这种困境里。

But the other options, selling your way out of it, creating new business I mean, you're just behind the ball every single year in this business for no particular reason, and a lot of us find ourselves in that.

我们投入一大笔钱，本以为会有所回报。

We make a big investment that we think is gonna pay off.

我们还为此做了很多配套的承诺。

We make a lot of commitments in the direction of that investment.

可能是一个团队成员。

It could be a team member.

也可能是某个产品。

It could be a product.

也可能是全新的业务线，或者其他什么方向。

It could be a whole new vertical or whatever.

结果却不尽如人意。

It doesn't work out.

我们得有能力回头调整，理清头绪。

We gotta be able to backtrack and sort it out.

短期来看挺难受的，但长远来看反而让生活轻松多了。

And it sucks in the short term, but it makes our lives easier in the long term.

所以这就是AI的厉害之处。

So that's the cool part about AI.

就是说，你看。

It's like, hey.

我们可以讨论这些难事到底该怎么面对，提前做好心理准备。

We can have these conversations about what it looks like to do these hard things and get ourselves ready to do those hard things.

那我们就不多说了，直接进入这七个问题。

So let's jump into the seven questions without further ado.

第一个问题是：

Here's the first question.

列出你上个季度最大的几项业务支出，以及它们分别带来了什么成果。

Make line items of your largest business expenses and what they produced last quarter.

那么，你最大的那些支出的投资回报率是多少？

So what is the ROI on your biggest expenses?

对很多人来说，这些问题一向很难回答，因为我们平时做生意，账目往往不够规范。

Now for a lot of us traditionally, these can be hard questions to answer because we don't always run our businesses with the best of books.

所以当你作为客户找我做商业教练时，我们会花很多时间仔细梳理这些数据。

And this is why when you onboard as a client with me as a business coach, we take a lot of time digging in numbers.

我们得有准确的数据。

We need the numbers.

这就是我们一切工作的起点，而AI让这变得容易多了——你只要把所有表格和导出的CSV文件一股脑儿丢进来就行。

That's where we start everything from AI makes it so much easier just to dump every spreadsheet you got, every exported CSV.

如果不是完美的，先放进去再说，开始整理数据，看看你生意里真实的情况是什么。

If it's not perfect, just get it in there, start to parse the data, and start to figure out what's real in the numbers in your business.

你不一定非得有个高级财务专家才能做这件事。

You don't necessarily need a high level finance professional to be able to do this.

我们只是想搞清楚，你最大的那些支出的投资回报率是多少。

All we're looking to do is determine what is the ROI of your biggest expenses?

上个季度它们的表现如何？

How did they perform last quarter?

我们很多人其实并不擅长分配资本。

And a lot of us aren't experienced capital allocators.

这可能是我们的专长问题，但也可能是市场本身的问题。

It could be our skill set, but it's also our market.

对吧？

Right?

我们试过不少方法，但都没成功。

We try things, and it doesn't work out.

我们必须调整。

We have to retract.

这种灵活应变的能力，正是我们创业者的优势。

That nimbleness is our advantage as entrepreneurs.

用AI来做这件事太棒了，因为以前我们不碰这些，总觉得得让会计花好几周才能把数据整理出来。

And using AI for this is remarkable because a lot of the reason we don't focus on these sorts of things is like, well, it's gonna take so and so, my bookkeeper, x number of weeks to pull this together.

现在我们再也不需要这么麻烦了。

We just don't need that anymore.

把所有数据都交给AI就行。

Just give AI everything.

确保它把所有数字都考虑进去，得出一个接近真实情况的结论，然后从那里开始做战略思考。

Make sure it's considering all the numbers, and get to something that you think is pretty close to the reality and do your strategic thinking from there.

对我们大多数人来说，主要关注的就是房租、工资这些项目。

Specifically for most of us, we're looking at things like leases, we're looking at payroll.

我们做的很多投资，跟增长的关联其实都很模糊。

A lot of the investments we make are only vaguely attached to the idea of growth.

要达到公司现在的规模，我必须有这样一套体系。

In order to be this size of company, I need to have something that looks like this.

我们可以借助深度对话，找商业导师或者AI，来重新审视这些假设。

We can really start to challenge those assumptions with a long form conversation with the mastermind business coach or AI in this case.

这里最有趣的地方在于。

Here's what's fascinating about this.

这是第二个子问题：你的利润率和支出类别是否超出了行业标准？

So here's question one b, which is, do your margins and expense categories exceed your business category standards?

现在我们来谈谈把所有业务数据集中到一处的事。

So now this talk about getting all your business data in one place.

这时候，AI就能去深入研究你的行业，告诉你：你这儿的花费比竞争对手高，或者你的支出和同类企业相比明显偏高。

Now all of a sudden, AI can go out and do deep research on your industry and say, well, you're paying more than your competition here, or your expenses are out of line with what similar businesses are doing.

作为一位靠自身力量打拼的创业者，你必须做得更好。

As a bootstrapper that wants to be competitive, you need to be better.

创业的本质，就是找到提升利润率、引领行业的方法。

That's what entrepreneurship is all about, finding ways to lead your category in terms of margins.

现在，所有这些信息——至少初步的深入调研——都能随时掌握。

So all this information, at least the beginning of decent research, can be at our fingertips right now.

就在三到六个月前，甚至一年前，我们很多人还做不到这一点。

It might not have been for many of us as little as three, six, twelve months ago.

每个季度，我们都该回头看看这些数据，认真复盘一次。

Every quarter, let's come back to this stuff and take a look.

我们的表现相比行业平均水平怎么样？

How are we performing relative to our industry?

我们有没有一个清晰的策略，既能降低成本，又能提升利润？

Do we have a perspective that drives down expenses and drives up margins?

在小企业里，真正决定财富积累的，首先是利润率。

Because in a small business scenario, it's those margins that will lead to wealth outcomes, number one.

其次，才是你能否持续创新、保持竞争力。

And number two, your ability to innovate, sustain, stay in the game.

我们最不想陷入的，就是很多创业者那种状态：反正我需求不高，低利润也能撑下去。

Where we don't wanna end up is where a lot of founders do, which is I can sustain lower margins because I don't need much.

不过，这种策略不可能一直管用。

Well, that strategy only works out for so long.

最终只会导致生意失败。

It ultimately leads in business failure.

所以我们得想办法让成本结构和利润率都超过行业平均水平。

So we wanna seek better expense profiles and better margins than the industry standard.

你可能会说，这做起来可不容易。

Now you might say, well, that's tough to do.

我才刚起步而已。

I just started out.

可这正是你的本职工作。

Well, that's your job.

接下来我们来一起头脑风暴一下，怎么才能超越行业标准。

We're gonna start to do some brainstorming about how we can outperform the industry.

我们灵活得很。

We are nimble.

我们很有创意。

We are creative.

我们充满热情。

We are passionate.

这正是我们作为初创公司创始人的职责。

That is our job as startup founders.

第二个问题：你上十个客户是从哪儿来的？

Question number two, where did you get your last 10 customers from?

于是我们开始分析，这个生意到底是怎么吸引到客户的。

So we started to break down how this business got customers in door.

对大多数人来说，这并不简单，但AI擅长生成可视化图表，帮我们看清客户究竟是怎么来的，他们对业务的价值又有多大。

For most of us, it's not so simple, but AI is great at creating visualizations, diagrams, so we can start to understand the actual system of, like, how did these customers arrive here, and what are they worth to the business?

实际上，在最近这十个客户里，一百个客户中，谁是最有价值的？

In fact, out of the last 10 who came through the door, out of the last 100, who are the most valuable?

这些客户和另外八个有什么不同？

What's different about those clients than the other eight?

事实上，那两个客户带来的收入，往往和另外八个客户的总和一样多，我们的业务模式就是为此设计的。

In fact, it's very typical that those two will spend as much as the rest of the eight combined as our business set up to be able to handle that.

大多数企业，哪怕是数字型企业，都没有可靠的方法来可视化和优化客户是如何流入的。

Most businesses, even digital businesses, don't have a reliable way to visualize and to optimize how customers arrive in the business.

一旦你把整个流程画成地图，就能让整个系统跑得更快。

Once you have it on a map, you can speed up the system.

就好像，只要我和某人建立了个人关系，事情自然就发生了。

It's like, oh, it just happens whenever I have a personal relationship with someone.

那这种个人关系到底是怎么建立起来的呢？

It's like, well, how do the personal relationships happen?

发了多少封邮件？

Like, how many emails?

参加了多少场会议？

How many conferences?

打了多少通电话？

How many phone calls?

发过多少论坛帖子？

How many forum posts?

那是什么导致了这种情况？

Like, what led to that?

因为这才是通向你下一个突破最可靠的路径。

Because that is the most reliable growth path to your next breakthrough.

第三个问题。

Question number three.

如果你明天必须涨价20%，你会怎么操作？

If you had to raise prices by 20% tomorrow, how would you do it?

这个问题问AI再合适不过了。

It's a great question to ask AI.

我们已经拿到了行业的基准数据。

Now we've already gotten the industry benchmarks.

现在我们清楚了自己的定价在同行中处于什么位置。

So now we have deep research on where our pricing is relative to our competition.

为什么我们的定价这么低？

Why are we priced lower?

为什么我们的定价和别人一样？

Why are we priced the same?

我们能提高价格吗？

Can we price higher?

这些问题都很有意思。

These are really interesting questions.

另外，AI 在发现定价优化空间方面特别在行。

A bonus point here, AI is really good at identifying optimizations for pricing.

你可能一直没注意到，自己的定价里藏着一些漏掉的机会。

So you just might have some holes in your bucket that you haven't looked at for a long time.

你可能一直把某样东西定在30美元，却不知道把价格改成39美元，心理上其实是一样的。

You might have priced something at $30 and not be aware of the idea that pricing it at $39 is psychologically the same.

现在你发现了一个小改动，其实很简单，完全不用怕，直接把价格调到39美元就行。

So now you've identified just one small, actually easy, no fear required, just raise your price to $39.

这会一直持续下去。

That's gonna roll indefinitely.

AI特别擅长发现你定价中的漏洞。

AI is really good at finding like holes in your pricing game.

这属于三B范畴，我们正在做一次定价分析。

This was a three b as we're doing a sort of pricing analysis.

如果你以顾问身份去帮外部企业做诊断，我们都能一眼看出别人的问题。

And again, like, if you're walking in as a coach to an outside business, we all see this in other people's businesses.

但要看出自己身上的问题，就很难了。

It's hard to see it in our own.

定价是最快速的杠杆。

Pricing is the fastest lever.

如果你只和对方进行三十分钟的咨询，你主要看的就是成本和定价。

Like, if you're doing a thirty minute session with somebody, you're looking at expenses and pricing.

基本上就这些。

That's basically it.

你真是把问题拆得特别清楚。

You're just really breaking it down.

如果你过去90天没做过，那就回头再用AI分析一下，咱们来好好聊聊定价。

So if you haven't done it in the last ninety days, go back to AI, and let's have a pricing conversation.

这个也加上吧，咱们就当是额外加分项，叫它3B。

Toss this one in, we'll call it three b for extra credit.

你有没有一个成功的产品，能让你的核心客户支付比普通客户高3到10倍的费用？

Do you have a successful product that helps your best customers pay three to 10 x more than your average customer?

就在那一刻，短短三十分钟内，问题迎刃而解。

This was a breakthrough right there on the spot within thirty minutes.

这位创始人压根就没往这方面想过。

It just did not occur to this particular founder.

好的。

Alright.

第四个问题。

Question number four.

公司里谁负责哪些决策？这些有写下来吗？

Who owns which decisions in the business, and is it written down?

这些年我们做过很多期节目，讲的是绩效指标、组织架构、角色和职责。

We've done a lot of episodes about scorecards, organizational charts, roles and responsibilities over the years.

要一直更新这些文件确实挺烦人的。

It can be tedious to keep up with this paperwork.

你觉得谁不会觉得烦呢？

Guess who it's not tedious for?

你最爱的AI助手。

Your favorite AI friend.

我们可以把公司所有信息——包括关键岗位、职责和每个人的业绩数据——都丢给AI，让它帮你跟踪管理。

So we can toss all this information about your business, your company, the key roles and responsibilities and numbers for every single person in the business, and AI can help keep tabs with that.

就拿我们自己的Hive来说，我们甚至能把实际的数据源和每个人正在做的工作直接关联起来。

Even in our case with our Hive, we can actually make a connection between the actual data source and the work the person's actually doing.

这样就能实时更新了。

So this can be dynamically updated.

所以我们正进入一个新时代，过去像伊恩和我这样的情况，每次参加商业辅导时，总得花时间琢磨怎么调整公司运作，说好吧。

So we're moving into a world where all this traditional business coaching stuff where historically, Ian and I would say, like, we go to these business coaching scenarios working on our business and say, okay.

得调整一下组织架构。

Well, we need to make an org change.

得重新定义每个人的职责和角色。

We need to change all the roles and responsibilities.

以前光是把这些写下来、再真正落实，就得花上六个月。

It would take us six months, not just for the documentation, but for the actual execution.

现在，文档一小时就能搞定。

Well, now we can get the documentation done in an hour.

这对所有一直抱怨没时间专心经营公司的人来说，真是再棒不过了，因为现在比以往任何时候都方便。

This is really, really exciting for all of us that have been complaining about not working on our business because now it's easier than ever.

还有一点最重要，别忘了看看你的股权结构表。

And the number one thing here, check out your cap table as well.

如果你有合伙人、投资者，或者任何其他涉及公司所有权结构的人，也把这些信息一并核对一下。

If you have a partnership, if you have investors, if you have anybody else involved in terms of who the ownership structure of your business is, run this by it as well.

我和伊恩之间，伊恩到底负责什么？

With Ian and I, like, what's Ian responsible for?

那我呢？我该负责哪些部分？

What am I responsible for?

根据股权结构，我们俩是公司里最重要的人。

We're the most important people in the business according to the cap table.

在这份事业里，我们俩该贡献些什么？

What are we responsible for bringing to the table in this business?

这些职责是怎么在整个组织里传递下去的？

How does it flow through the whole organization?

所以，归根结底，这种安排会不会让人感到害怕？

So, again, where does this end in fear?

对于本地企业来说，你每天都在和这些人一起工作。

I mean, for a local business, you're working together with people every day.

你第一个问题其实是问：我在这群人身上花的钱，回报在哪里？

You're asking in the first question, like, am I ROI in the expense, my investment in these people?

现在你说，他们具体承担哪些角色和职责呢？

And now you're saying, well, what specific roles and responsibilities are they delivering it?

他们自己清楚吗？

Is it clear to them?

有书面记录吗？

Is it documented?

用AI来对话，我们能非常快地把这些都理清楚。

We can get all this done really, really quickly with an AI interlocutor.

第六个问题，你的时间都花在哪儿了？

Question number six, where are you spending your time?

是客户开发、产品交付，还是别的？

Client acquisition or customer acquisition, product delivery, or other?

那‘别的’都包括些什么？

And what does other look like?

对我们大多数人来说，最想优化的是客户开发。

For most of us, we want to optimize for client acquisition.

我们想要定义一个推动并维持业务健康发展的增长引擎。

We want to define the growth engine that drives and keeps the business healthy.

这意味着我们必须深入追问产品交付、利润率、流程简化这些难题，摆脱这些束缚，才能让业务朝着目标前进。

That means we're gonna have to ask a lot of hard questions about product delivery and margins and simplification and getting ourselves out of that so we can drive the business towards our goals.

别再抱怨自己被困在产品交付里了。

No more complaining about being stuck in product delivery.

我们可以为自己制定一条清晰的路径，弄清楚怎样才能真正摆脱它。

We can have a clear roadmap for ourselves about what it would take to get out of it.

我觉得很多人会发现，不管是通过商业辅导，还是通过类似这样的流程，都会意识到：你的商业模式根本没设计成能让你脱离产品交付的样子。

I think what a lot of people are gonna find, whether it's through business coaching or whether through a process like this, is that you don't have a business model that allows you to get out of product delivery.

而且，现在我又得直面一个恐惧。

And again, now I have to face down a fear.

我特意提到这一点，是因为我在和创业者通话时，这问题经常出现——我们压根没被设计成能脱离产品交付的状态。

And I mentioned this specifically because this comes up a lot when I talk to founders in calls, where we're just not designed to ever be out of product delivery.

产品交付离不开我们，而我们也没建立起一个能让我们抽身的系统。

The product depends on us to be delivered, and we have not built a system that would allow us to get out of it.

如果你也有这种感觉，现在正是深入研究这些问题的好时机。

So if you're feeling like that, now's an opportunity to get into this stuff.

你可能听过这些理论，我过去常把它们写在白板上。

You hear theoretically, I put it up on my whiteboard historically here.

这就是产品交付和价值交付引擎的运作方式。

Here's how the product delivery, the value delivery engine works.

这里有几个关键指标必须达成。

Here's the key markers that need to be met.

这些事情需要在什么时间节点完成，也都列在这里。

Here's the timelines in which these things need to happen.

交付的实际成本是多少，也一目了然。

Here's the actual cost of delivery.

对我们很多人来说，只是把成本默默扛下来，觉得自己多加班、多拼命就行了。

For a lot of us in our businesses, we just subsume the cost into I work extra hard and extra long.

但这根本不是摆脱困境、把精力集中在客户获取上的系统性方法。

Well, that's not a system for getting out of it and focusing on our energy on client acquisition.

这又回到了最开始的那个根本矛盾——创业和我们真正擅长的事情之间的张力。

And this again is like back to the top, that fundamental tension between entrepreneurship and the thing we do really well.

随着时间推移，我们希望也能把创业做得和当初让我们入行的那件事一样出色。

Over time, we wanna transition to doing entrepreneurship just as well as we do the thing that we do really well that got us in the business in the first place.

那你现在的时间都花在哪儿了？

So where are you spending your time?

这些年我跟泰勒·皮尔森做过几次辅导，他一开始总会做一件特别折磨人的事——让你连续两周详细记录自己每一分时间都用在了哪里。

I've done some coaching sessions with Taylor Pearson over the years, and one of the first things he does, and it's excruciating, is he makes you do a time audit for two weeks on how you spend your time.

我当时就想，泰勒，看YouTube视频的那栏怎么没列出来？

And I'm I just feel like, Taylor, where's the box for watching YouTube videos?

这儿根本没这选项，但确实让人特别难受。

I don't see it on here, but so it's excruciating.

也许我们得直面的一个恐惧就是：我们真的在有效利用时间吗？

Maybe that's a fear we gotta face down is, like, are we being productive?

我们嘴上说想要某些东西，可我们的行动真跟得上吗？

We say we want things, but is our actions lining up with them?

所以我觉得这条路径非常有成效。

So I think this is a really productive path to go down.

明白了。

Okay.

最后一个。

Final one.

我想和你们分享一下我们在DC BLACK活动中常聊的一个话题。

I'll share with you one of our favorite conversations to have at DC BLACK events, which is this.

如果你必须在90天内把业务翻一倍，你会具体怎么做？

If you had to grow your business 100% in ninety days, what would you actually do?

有时候，答案比你想象的要实际得多，这会逼着你走出舒适区，想想：为什么我还没这么做？

Sometimes the answers are way more feasible than you think they would be, which then forces you to get out of your comfort zone and consider, well, why aren't I doing this?

是我根本不想成长吗？

Do I not wanna grow?

也许你并不想在90天内翻一倍。

Maybe you don't wanna grow a 100% in ninety days.

但设定一个速度上限，看看自己到底能走多快，其实挺有意思的。

But it's interesting to sort of set a upper limit for velocity in terms of what you're doing.

我们很多人都在原地打转。

A lot of us plot around.

很多人之所以失去动力，就是因为拼命干，却看不到成果。

A lot of us get demotivated because we work harder and the results don't come in.

你可以用这种方式跟AI开启对话。

And you can start your conversation with AI this way.

听好了。

Look.

我最近挺沮丧的，总觉得干得更多了，可工作成果却没见长。

I'm feeling bummed out because I just feel like I'm doing more, and I'm not seeing more for my work.

刚起步那会儿，我确实忙个不停。

In the early days, I was doing stuff.

那时候客户一个接一个来。

I was getting clients.

那时候我赚得更多。

I was making more money.

事情进展得特别顺。

Things were working out really well.

现在我觉得自己陷在浓汤里，出不来。

Now I feel like I'm lost in the soup.

味道没什么变化，我实在提不起劲继续下去。

The flavor isn't changing enough for me to continue to be motivated.

所以《增长》这本书太厉害了，它讲的就是我们很多人在事业成功后都会有的感觉：天啊，我怎么就是提不起劲来？

That's why the book Traction is genius because they're talking about this concept that a lot of us feel once we've built a successful business, it's like, man, I just don't feel like I have traction.

这个问题恰恰戳中了这一点。

Well, this question aims at exactly that.

如果你必须在90天内实现业绩翻倍，你会怎么做？

If you had to grow 100% in ninety days, what would you do?

明白了。

Okay.

数字你可以随便改，但意思你应该明白了。

You can change the numbers to whatever you want, but you get the idea.

定个上限。

Set the upper limit.

开个头脑风暴会。

Have the brainstorming session.

嘿。

Hey.

如果我真的必须在短时间内把这事翻一番，而且已经没退路了，那我能尝试哪些机会、点子或策略？

If we really had to moonshot this thing very quickly because my back was against the wall, what are some opportunities or ideas, strategies I could explore?

我觉得你会对结果感到惊讶，所以我们每次跟年收入七位数、八位数的创业者见面时，都会聊这些，因为这能帮你打开思路，也能帮你做点‘恐惧预演’。

I think you'll be surprised at the results, and that's why every time we meet up with 7 and 8 figure founders, we have these conversations because it helps open up your mind, and it also does a little bit of this fear setting.

对吧？

Right?

好的。

Okay.

我有点担心眼前这件小事，但要是真想这么发展，可能得做不少类似的事情。

Well, I'm worried about this small little thing that sits in front of me, but if I wanna grow like this, I might have to do a bunch of these types of things.

其实吧，单独看这一件事也没那么可怕了，毕竟现在我们是在考虑一堆事情。

And it's like, maybe the one thing isn't that bad anymore because now we're talking about a bunch of things.

让这个结果看起来有意思一点，所以我打算顺着这个思路往下探索。

Ensure that outcome looks interesting, so I'll explore this line of thinking.

这就是那七个问题，刚才这些只是三十分钟内冒出来的想法。

So those are the seven questions, and these were just the ones that came up in thirty minutes.

说白了，我们就是凑了一大堆点子。

And it's like, we got a grab bag of these.

如果你过去五年一直听《Tropical MBA》播客，应该听过我们做过不少类似的内容，都是围绕一些诊断性问题展开的。

If you listen to the Tropical MBA podcast for the last five years, you've heard us do a bunch of episodes where we have different diagnostic questions.

我们甚至在 tropicalmba.com/resources 提供了一份可以下载的诊断清单。

We even have a diagnostic document that you can download at tropicalmba.com/resources.

刚才这些问题是我在和这位创始人聊天时突然想到的，结果发现特别有帮助。

These were just the ones that occurred to me when I was speaking with this founder, and they turned out to be really productive.

我回家后把这些丢给AI处理了一下，结果让我挺满意的。

I ran them through AI when I got home, and I was really happy with the results.

我就觉得，光问这七个简单的问题，我们就收获了不少，而且只花了三十到六十分钟。

And I felt like, man, we're really got a lot out of just asking seven simple questions, only spent thirty to sixty minutes with it.

所以每个季度在日历上把这个安排进去，回头花点时间好好琢磨琢磨你的业务，效率比以往任何时候都高。

And so every quarter, putting it in your calendar, going back and taking time to work on your business, it's more productive than ever.

咱们回顾一下，这七个问题首先是：你最大笔支出的投资回报率是多少？

So to review, the seven questions are what is the ROI on your biggest expenses?

你最近的十个客户都是哪里来的？

Where did your last 10 customers come from?

如果你必须把价格提高20%，你会怎么做？

If you had to raise prices by 20%, how would you do it?

你有没有一款成功的产品，能让你的优质客户多付3到10倍的钱？

Do you have a successful product that helps your best customers pay 3 to 10 x more?

公司里的决策权归谁？

Who owns decisions in the business?

有记录下来吗？有写下来吗？

Is it tracked and is it written down?

你花时间在哪些不是获客或产品交付的事情上？你是怎么安排时间的？

What are you spending time on that isn't customer acquisition or product delivery, or how are you spending your time?

如果你必须在90天内实现翻倍增长，你会怎么做？

If you had to grow 100% in ninety days, how would you do it?

趁现在顺便再送你一个额外的问题。

I'll give a little bonus one while I'm at it.

问问AI，你的企业值多少钱。

Ask AI what your business is worth.

我之所以提到这个，是因为有一次我跟这位创始人聊天时，他反驳了我，说‘这正是我们业务里最有价值的部分’。

I'll tell you why I mentioned that because there was a moment where when I was speaking with this founder, they pushed back on something, and their pushback was, well, that's what's valuable in this business.

我能感觉到，他心里其实有个具体的数字。

And I could tell they had, like, a dollar number associated with it.

我当时心里就想，不对劲。

And in my head, I was like, nah.

没那么值钱。

It's not worth that.

这挺有意思的，因为这说明他们对业务真正价值的理解出现了偏差。

And that's interesting because that was a disconnect in terms of what is actually valuable in your business.

我们公司里很多东西对我们自己来说比对市场更有价值，但这一点必须清楚。

Certainly, a lot of the things in our business are more valuable to us than they are to the marketplace, but it's worth knowing that.

你可以从这一步开始着手。

And you can start down that journey.

我和伊恩经常做这件事——我们会审视公司所有的业务单元、品牌、资产和知识产权，然后问自己：这些东西现在值多少钱？

Again, this is something that Ian and I do all the time is we look at all of our business units, all of our brands, all of our assets, all of our IP, and we ask ourselves, what is this worth right now?

归根结底，作为创始人，我们容易对亲手打造的东西产生感情。

The bottom line is as founders, we get attached to what we've built.

我们常常高估了它们的价值。

We often overvalue it.

我们这么做，往往是为了逃避那些真正能让它值这个价的艰难决定，因为我们心里其实隐约觉得，它本来可以值这么多。

And we often do that to prevent ourselves from having to do the hard things that would make it be worth that, because we probably have an intuition that it could be worth that.