Business Growth Tips for Entrepreneurs: Avoid Tech Mistakes – ep 107

Mostafa Hosseini  00:02

Welcome to daily competence for entrepreneurs. In this episode, you will discover what looks like a tech problem. Never is why big picture thinkers get frustrated with tech. The two big mistakes that coaches make that gets them into tech trouble. And you will watch your surely get exposed and coached by my friend Anca. Herman. Today we’re talking about taming the tech monster. Welcome, Anca.

Anke Herrmann  00:33

Thanks for having me. Nice to see you. Good to

Mostafa Hosseini  00:36

see you. So as usual, if you’re watching or listening, please make sure you like and subscribe to the show. If you have any questions, put them in a comment on whichever channel that you’re watching. And we’ll get do our best to get back to you. If you have a friend that has an tech problems and there have tech issues, tagged them in a post or send them the link to this conversation so and share the knowledge with them.

And, and so that’s that. Also, I am sharing the step by step blueprint true simple retention formula. New lead generation costs six to 10 times more than customer retention. So keeping your customers is a lot more profitable, a lot more likely, and a lot more easier. So if you would like to save six to 10 times in lead generation, you’d like to generate appointments and referrals out of your existing list and out of your customers.

Add people that you already have typed the word retention in the comments below. And we’ll send you the link to download the checklist. Now I’m going to do the introduction to my friend on ca and we’re gonna dive into a very interesting conversation about tech. onca is a business coach, online tech expert and author of taming the tech monster. She started her entrepreneurial entrepreneurial journey in 2004. When she quit her software developer job in the UK, moved to Spain and started assuming business. She soon realized that building a business really is a creative process.

The same assuming a dress or developing software, and magical mix of vision, skill, and soul. She now guides coaches through her tornado process to help them deliver successful online programs with confidence. Welcome, Anca

Anke Herrmann  02:35

I’m delighted to be here.

Mostafa Hosseini  02:36

How’s your day so far?

Anke Herrmann  02:39

chilled? Relax. Yep, very

Mostafa Hosseini  02:41

nice. We’re about are you?

Anke Herrmann  02:43

I’m in Spain, I’m still in Spain.

Mostafa Hosseini  02:47

Still here. Love it. And what’s the weather like out there right now.

Anke Herrmann  02:51

Now that is a funny story. Because it’s usually usually you can kind of trust that this question will get an answer like, oh, it’s sunny in blue sky. But now it’s actually cloudy. And my parents are on the way. And it’s really funny. They’re known as the winemakers every time they come. It rains and they’re not disappointing this time. So it’s cloudy. drizzly? Very

Mostafa Hosseini  03:14

nice. Very nice. Does it raining a lot in Spain?

Anke Herrmann  03:20

Not at all, like barely ever. Right? Right? Yeah, only when my parents come so

Mostafa Hosseini  03:27

interesting. Bringing them over more often. That’s good for them a farming farming industry. So they would love it. Maybe you’d get them to sponsor your parents once a year.

Mostafa Hosseini  03:43

If you want rain, just get a couple of tickets for my parents and your some rain for you. Let’s dive into it. Uncle What is your story?

Anke Herrmann  03:56

Yeah, so my story actually starts back in East Germany, you know, like when the wall was up. So that’s where I grew up. And, and I kind of think that it really shaped the way I look at life and business and what I do with my time, because it always felt like you know, you’re sitting in a cage and you can’t like it’s sort of too small to see, you know, when you’d put a big parrot in a small cage is too small to spread your wings, but at the same time, like the bars were far enough apart so you could see what’s on the outside.

So there was this restlessness that led me to you know, find a way to get out before the wall came down. That’s a story for another day but bottom line I got out and it was literally a one way ticket when I got out. It was like okay, you’re out. And there was a sense like, Well, okay, you never going to be allowed back. You leave everything behind. So it was literally a one way ticket. Little did I know that a wall was going to come down like 10 months later, but recognizing that Everything else was just like, oh, okay, no big deal, right?

So this so this sense of I always compare it to that when I’m when there’s an opportunity to obviously I was like, Oh, now now the big world big bad world is mine. So when the opportunity came to, you know, move to Australia, off I go, Well, you know what? Because all I could think was, this is not a one way ticket. If I don’t like it, I can come back.

Right. So it was like, it felt like there was nothing at stake compared to what I’ve done before. And so I was a freshly qualified translator, language teacher, that was my thing. You know, I was a language girl, reviving in Sydney thinking, Oh, my God, multicultural Sydney is going to be heaven for a language girl. And basically, I took a few weeks to realize that that wasn’t quite the case, that it was very difficult to find a job that was probably the worst paid job you could have.

So I knew within weeks, I wasn’t going to last in that industry. So I sent out my resume to anybody who would have it, which is kind of hardly anybody, because overseas experience doesn’t really count. And I ended up in a software company by accident, right? Somebody knew somebody in us Oh, you’d be you know. So I ended up in the software company. And they I was thinking, huh, that was in the mid 90s. So I’m thinking, the future there is something here, right? That’s where the future that’s where things are going.

So I’m drawn to it, but at the same time, oh, boy, this is like totally overwhelming. There’s so much stuff. I don’t know where to start. I’m too old to even start. I’m a woman. I’m not really that technical. You know, me too. You know, like, it was like, you know, that pull, push, hesitant, and it felt like totally overwhelming. I didn’t know how, where to even, you know, get my feet in there. Until one day it dawned on me. Well, wait, programming language, language.

Wait. It’s got vocabulary, and it’s tiny. And compared to natural language, and wait, it’s got structure, grammar, oh, just without all the exception. So bottom line, it’s like a real language just simpler. Ah, and that was literally the moment everything changed for me, because it didn’t mean that I was like a great programmer overnight. But what it took away was that sense, I had no access to the field. It was like, I know how to learn languages, I can make this mine.

Right. So and I did that, you know, so I basically, and it fairly quickly became apparent that having a background in language and teaching was actually not a hindrance, it was a superpower when you’re in software development, because you’re then the geek who can actually talk to client. Very helpful. And there was also the time that I had no baggage, I came in when this whole there was a no new programming paradigm.

And I’m like, Oh, well, that makes sense to me. Whereas older programmers, were like, Oh, Jesus, this whole rethinking was a lot more difficult. So it was like I was in my element. Loved it, loved it for many, many years, you know, moved to London with it. And you know, worked on lots of different projects, lots in banking, lots and, you know, I worked on a project on the Sydney Casino.

And always workflow always process related, always trying to build a tool that make people’s work easier, and that take out the monotonous mechanic repetitive boring tasks out, so that they can focus on the creative part and on the essence of what their work is actually all about. And so that’s basically kind of what I do now. So yeah,

Mostafa Hosseini  08:47

good stuff. So what do you do now? And who do you serve? Well,

Anke Herrmann  08:51

I’m basically doing kind of that to help on the only difference is the people I’ve worked with now are mostly coaches. Like there’s some you know, like therapists they’re always Passion Driven people with a message to share they might have written a book they might have developed a methodology that they want to get out into, into to bigger audience make more impact and, okay, I want to have an online poll, like literally use the online world to get their message out.

But then when it comes to, okay, how do I make that happen? There is just like, oh, where is usually good with, you know, that’s usually where they’re stuck. So they don’t know, that field of, of the online tech tools that are available, and how all that works. They don’t know now about that, to bring their vision to life to make it happen. I think get stuck in and that’s the thing.

There’s like two different ways you can get stuck there. But that’s basically it. I’m going to guide them through that process from having a lovely idea to actually having a functioning online business.

Mostafa Hosseini  09:56

Love it. Let’s go over it. I’m before we go to the next question. Tech is a big problem with a lot of people with actually most people. Most people, even if they’re tech savvy, they need tech help, like tech is an essential part of business. Like, I’m pretty tech savvy myself. But can I do everything on my own? Absolutely not. Even if I tried it, I would fail miserably.

So all businesses, not some of them, all businesses need tech help. If they want to grow and scale, if they want to do it run a business, like a business, not like a hobby, even even if you run a hobby, I mean, you’re still neat tech. So let’s talk about some of the maybe top two or three big mistakes that coaches make that gets them into trouble about tech and rest of it.

Anke Herrmann  10:49

Yeah, there’s really two big, two big mistakes that people make from that they’re basically you know, it sort of comes together, but you can mess it up from this angle or from that angle. So basically, people either fall into the category where they overcomplicate tech, right. And that’s usually, in my experience the way some and that’s the thing, it’s the way something gets created is always the same.

Right? You start out with an idea, and then you start building it, and it isn’t a linear process. And it isn’t, you know, you it’s software development, and even when you make a dress, you know, I have a sewing business when I started, right? So it’s like, it’s very much the same process, you have an idea. And if they’re well, okay, let me see when I’m onto something here, whether let me see what I even have, whether there’s even something to that idea. So I need to validate that. And I want to build something that is as you know, the least amount of effort to create something that I can put in front of people to get that feedback, whether people will actually buy this thing or not, before I go and build out this huge complicated system, right.

So most of the time when people have and that’s not necessarily when they’re new in business, but when they have an idea for a new offer. There’s like, oh, I want to run a workshop, I want to do this program. Oh, landing pages funnels this that boom, boom, boom. And next thing they know, they overwhelm themselves with all these different tech things. And in the end, it just they get stuck here, they get overwhelmed.

They’re also fizzles out, and that no idea never sees the light of the day, because they think that they need all this stuff. In order to make those first sales, right. In my experience, that’s not how it works, like you want to validate. And while you’re validating your idea, meaning you make the first few sales, that’s really the cutoff, right? Okay, can you sell this thing, you want to literally keep it as simple as you possibly can, you know, I’m not saying you shouldn’t use tech, but don’t go and now implement a whole lot of new stuff, use what you have.

And if you don’t have anything, well, then you know, you need somewhere to deliver the thing you need somehow to collect payment, and you need somehow to connect with people who might want to buy it. So on one end, that’s your phone call, or your zoom call, Hey, I’ve got this thing sent me a bank transfer. Here’s a zoom link, or here’s a Google Drive like you keep that as simple as possible. If you think you need a lot of tech to make those first sales, you’re just gonna get yourself into a lot of trouble. And that’s a lot of people aren’t in that space. Right?

When they kind of try and actually somebody said recently really, really nicely. He says most people try and build a widget factory because they before they’ve ever sold the widget. You know, that is probably mistake number one that a lot of people make.

Mostafa Hosseini  13:42

So the first one is overcomplicate the tech. Yes. Oh, what’s that? What is the second one? Well, the

Anke Herrmann  13:50

second one is kind of the flip side of that, right? It’s basically oversimplifying things, because so now if you look at that process, you start out you have this idea. The first objective is like, let’s sell the thing. Let’s just see whether this is even a product or whether this is even something whether we’ve got something now, the next step then is where people trip up and then in the other direction.

And I’ve had literally I’ve had a client come in, she goes, Oh, you know, I’ve got this program, and I’ve run it a few times people love it. But and I’m like, Oh, why don’t you offer more often? She was just the thought of all what you know, when somebody signs up, and then I have to send them this link, and then I have to pay in an hour to do this.

And I have to put them on the spreadsheet and then what on earth I Well, yeah, that same extreme simplicity that helps you get the thing off the ground initially, isn’t what’s going to make it possible for you to serve more people because now when you have sold a widget, you can’t intend to serve bigger numbers of people with that same spreadsheet.

That was okay when you had a group Five. So when people try and oh, yeah, well, I’ll just keep it simple. And you know, there’s, there’s an Einstein quote that I love. And he’s as like, make everything as simple as possible but not simpler by if you try and serve a bit larger group of people with that same spreadsheet, and that little dodgy PayPal link that worked initially, you cause yourself so much work, right. And it’s a lousy experience for your clients. Right?

So you probably not wait, great testimonials. And it’s a lot of, it’s time consuming. And it’s error prone. Like if you have to, you know, every time somebody signs up, you have to do a lot of manual stuff. Things get fall through the cracks, things get wrong, people get the wrong stuff people can’t do. And it’s just a nightmare experience for everyone. And literally that person, she was like, I don’t even want to offer the thing that people asked her to deliver. Right. So that’s the other way when you start to oversimplify, when you’re really ready to build your widget factory.

Mostafa Hosseini  16:07

Yeah, I did. Yeah, you’re absolutely right. Like you can’t. There was also the same that says What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. Right. So like, to your point, like if you started with a spreadsheet, and you just pulled it off, and you, you did what would call an an MVP or a minimum viable product to prove that this idea is going to work, you’re going to need to, I guess, improve that and get better systems and processes in place to make sure that you can keep up with the business and actually have an actual business in place.

Not an idea on a spreadsheet. Right. So we talked about the idea that what looks like a tech problem. Never is what is that? And what do you mean by that?

Anke Herrmann  17:01

Ya know, people always been like, well, what are what I could ever message? That’s a real tech problem. Yeah, no, I think there’s two parts to that. Like one thing is that what I see most of the time, is that when things feel hard, and when tech causes trouble, people are skipping steps, right? And people, nobody skips steps on purpose. Usually people skip steps, because they don’t know what steps are there and what the steps are.

So most of the time, like and tech is usually the air is the space where the problem becomes visible, where it starts hurting where you can really see like, this is a mess right? Now when Sir like a website, for example, is a classic example. Online courses work as well. So somebody would come like, Oh, I’m struggling with my website. It’s really awful. I don’t know this is the text or too much. So people come in because they feel have a tech problem around around the website.

Now. I’ve not ever come across somebody where I go, okay. I come to your website, first thing, what do I see? What do you do? Like, what does it say?

Mostafa Hosseini  18:13

asking me that question. No, no,

Anke Herrmann  18:15

no, I’m saying like, that’s what the reaction is from people, right? There is literally, what happens, what causes the problem? What causes the overwhelm? Isn’t the tool, what what causes the problem is that people overwhelm themselves, because there’s actually four parts to the data and see, one is the content. Most of the time people aren’t even clear on that. Right? I put together. Yeah, people like, well, this another men talk about themselves, and they’re not really quite sure, you know, so when you actually ask them like, Okay, what is it that you do?

Who do you do it for? What problem do you solve? Like, snappy, like, don’t ramble? Like, give it to me clear people kind of like, freeze up? Like, it’s amazing how often that happens, right? Oh, that’s like, there’s the content you worry about. Then there’s the looks of it. Like, okay, what’s the colors? And how do you know? What’s yours? What’s the look that colors? The fonts?

The What do you want this to look like? So that’s the whole design part of it. Then there’s like, Okay, what tools? I don’t know where the safe one is. I don’t know how the tool works, right? And even when somebody knows all these, the part that most people struggle with, is what are the sequence of smoke, the sequence of steps? What do I need to do first?

And how do all these pieces fit together? That’s the stuff that usually trips up people who actually aren’t tech savvy, and know how to use the tool. But there’s still like, okay to put this together or like an online program or even a website or something. There’s a bunch of steps there’s a lot of pieces and the sequence matters quite often. Like if you get that wrong, you triple the work you’ve got right so so when they get and then people dive into the detail that dance between high level, overview and direction and all the way down to the nitty gritty detail and not get lost in the jungle and not lose track of where you are. That’s the area where most people struggle.

And that’s got nothing to do with tech. Right? And the other part of it is the, how do you react? Because what’s a tech problem? It’s an error. It’s something didn’t quite go as you thought it would. Right? And I worked a lot on screenshare with people and I’ve seen panic attacks coming up, you can see it, shoulders go up tension, you know, people go, Oh, my God, there’s an error message, and you can literally see it. It’s like, oh, God, this stuff will never work for me. I’m just too stupid for that. And, you know, my whoever, who said I was dumb was right.

After all, when I was five, you know, you can really see that whole program running in their minds, right? I’m looking at the same error message. And I’m going, Oh, that’s interesting. didn’t quite expect that. Let’s see what that is. To me. It’s an invitation to problem solve. Right? So whereas somebody else, it’s the confirmation that they’re never going to amount to anything, right? So it depends on where you take that, even if there isn’t an error message, it’s still not a tech problem.

Mostafa Hosseini  21:06

Love it, love it. She was talking about four things were websites. And as a guy who did develop websites for people with our agency years ago, and we did quite a bit of it. There are four things he talked about. One is content. And that’s like, the almost the biggest problem for web developers is content as the customers either don’t have it, or they don’t know what to do with it. That’s a big problem.

And then the looks of it, the colors and what do you want it to look like? Most of the time, people haven’t thought about that the tools that you want on the site. And one thing that is critical, you mentioned is the sequence of steps, like, what do you want people to do on your site? What would what is that going to look like? Like, we have to sit down and design this, like, draw it out step by step, here’s the first click, here’s the first video, then there’s going to be an email, then there’s going to be this, then there’s going to be that, that needs to be designed so that you could have it.

And then once it’s designed, in my experience, it has to be improved and optimized. And it’s not a one time shot. Usually, people think like, oh, yeah, somebody builds me a website, I’m gonna become Bill Gates. Probably not.

Anke Herrmann  22:09

Okay, that’s exactly what I mean with the tornado thing. Because if you look what a tornado looks like, well, that’s what the process looks like. It isn’t a straight line. Right. And I think that’s also something where people get themselves into trouble. Because, you know, you find the extent the expectations are often kind of manipulated a little bit by marketing messages, oh, three, click Website Builder, no experience required, right?

So people sign up for this stuff. And then they go, Oh, well, I don’t know. It doesn’t feel as simple as it was made out to be. And then the conclusion is, I must be stupid. When it’s very like, well, actually, the part that didn’t tell you is, you know, there is more to that. You might not need to code but you still need to know how to structure your website. How are the bits together?

You know, what it is that how do you translate your big picture vision into the actual pages and functionality on your website. And that part is where the heart of the whole matter is, and nobody talks about it. So. But that’s what I that’s what I mean. And that tornado process is literally that one iteration at a time, one experiment at a time. And it isn’t like, Oh, I just do the website. And then that’s it. Right?

Mostafa Hosseini  23:23

So is does tornado stand for something? Is that like an abbreviation? No,

Anke Herrmann  23:28

that’s just an image so that you get an idea of what this looks like. Because it’s also I used to say, for a long time that it’s like a spiral, you know, and I remember there’s a lovely lady called Dr. Amy Simpkins. She used to be a rocket scientist, and she got bored with that. So she started on, she wrote a book about the spiral of innovation, right?

So often, like, you know, and software development is a very intuitive process. And I’ve got to see how well that works. You know, but I found, well, the spiral doesn’t quite express it, right? Because it isn’t as nice and steady. As the spiral looks like. You know, sometimes you’ll feel like you’re in a tumble dryer. And sometimes it feels a bit stagnant. And it goes a little left a little right. But the actual intuitive process with a little with a good dosage of crazy. That’s that’s pretty much what it looks like, in real life.

Mostafa Hosseini  24:21

Love it. app. So speaking of getting in trouble, and I guess getting lost and getting getting stuck into a tornado, why do big picture thinkers get stuck and frustrated with tech and everything around it?

Anke Herrmann  24:40

Yeah, I think you’ve already touched on it. Right? It’s that that level, because the big picture thinkers, you know, and most of my clients, we’re all in that space, right? And so we kind of really connect in that excitement and enthusiasm of the end and the possibilities of the vision right? So that’s their thing. That’s where they live. That’s how their brain works.

That’s how they operate. Now, to actually make that happen, it requires you to operate on that level of detail just underneath and we’re not talking button X colors, like this is just that basic structure, you know, what’s the? What are the steps? What are the elements? What are, you know, that level of detail, I can see it when a visionary is like, Okay, I’ve just downloaded my idea. We’ve got it. And now their eyes glaze over.

Like when you come to this, like, Okay, what you just said before, you know, okay, somebody comes to the website, what do you want to happen next which video, they should see that. And that’s not technical, but your big picture person goes on. They don’t want to go there, like their mind just thought that that just bores the life out of right. But that needs to be done. And when they try and skip that process, and just, oh, I just get a virtual assistant to do it for me, well, then you’re gonna you just miss that big part. And that’s the heart of it. That’s why they get themselves into trouble.

Mostafa Hosseini  26:04

You know, I have similar experience with that. And that is my experience with big picture thinking is like, you say something that is like three words. And it takes a second to say like, can we build an E commerce site that sells a million dollars a month?

Yes. It just took you a second to say, but that’s about two years of work. There is a lot of work involved. And people were like, can we get it to do this? Like, yeah, and then it takes six months. They’re like, Oh, I thought it will be easy. Like, yeah, I thought too, but but it’s not.

Anke Herrmann  26:45

That’s the thing like that I actually the funniest thing I’ve ever had, in that respect, it was a neighbor when I when I lived in Granada. And he, and this was all, I was wondering whether you could do like a real simple project for me, you know, and I’m like, What are you talking about? And he goes, Well, you know, what, I want to I want to move to Senegal.

And I thought, well, to kind of support myself, I want to, I want to sell like, you know, handmade leather masks, you know, and I just want to put, you know, I just need a really simple website, and put some picture on it and sell these leather masks and like, I’m hearing ecommerce, leather, customs, payment International, you know, African countries, who knows what, like, you know, for me, this was like, Oh, my God, like no point, basically what you’re asking for, and on top of it, I don’t want to have to deal with the thing.

I just want to be able to send you the photos, and then I just get the money, right? I’m like, Well, you actually looking for artificial intelligence. And that’s not available at your,

Mostafa Hosseini  27:43

your, your simple idea is a $30 million project.

Anke Herrmann  27:52

But I think that’s what happens when people don’t, that’s what I often say to my clients, like, I don’t want to turn anything, anybody into a programmer, because like, if you wanted to be a programmer, you’d be one by now, right? So what I want for people is to know enough to be a good client for someone, like don’t be that client. Don’t be the person who asked for like a spaceship project and come then you know, and then on top of it come with a budget for you know, for

Mostafa Hosseini  28:18

sure for sure. Yeah, people people. Here’s my word of caution. Don’t get fooled by some advertising that you see out there. Like one click Website, ecommerce seven figure ready in an hour. Click here to buy now what 9999 Like, dude, it’s a tad more complicated than that. Like, yeah, don’t fool yourself. Some. Sometimes, if it’s too good to be true.

I mean, there’s some some great software’s and automation and stuff out there. But sometimes it is too good to be true. It is probably too good to be true. Like, think about it.

Anke Herrmann  29:01

Yeah, totally, totally. And I think in my experience, what often happens that people, people who are new in business fall for these, right? They kind of come out of the corporate world, and they’re still sort of a little bit like, shell shocked by the idea of Oh, everything’s uncertain now. You know, and everything that felt like, Oh, this is going to be so crazy. I’m going to be my own boss, and I’m gonna have my own time and blah, blah, blah, you know, and all of a sudden, they realize, Oh, Jesus, everything’s uncertain, like nobody.

And there’s the sense of like, I’m floating, and somebody throws you a lifeline and say, Oh, look, this can be really easy text really easy. And I’ve seen people sign up for stuff that sounded like this. And I’m like, Ooh, this is cringe worthy and people jump at it, because it promises to solve all the problems. But as you say, it’s like it’s not and you always unpopular when you say Well, look, this is more complex than it sounds, but I think it actually is hopeful because more people find when they sign up for stuff like that and then find Well Jesus, this is more complex.

This is not this is is nothing simple, then well, actually, if you know, well actually, you know, well, there’s a lot and you just take it one step at a time, you know, then then then it’s I think, a lot more hopeful and to get to where you want a lot faster than if you try and chase shortcuts left one center. Yeah,

Mostafa Hosseini  30:17

we’ve had that problem people come up with, they think this is so simple. But then to fix that issue, we actually laid out the process step by step and how long it takes and what’s going to happen. And when they see the process, they’re like, they come to reality and be like, oh, yeah, okay, I thought this would be a 30 minute thing. Turns out, it’s actually 300 hours, to for my son.

Anke Herrmann  30:46

Yeah, no, I mean, that’s the thing. But that’s, that’s sort of fair enough. When you think about it, you know, and people, you know, I might do that sort of thing. And another area of you know, of expertise, like, if you don’t know, you just have no idea of what’s possible, and what’s involved and things

Mostafa Hosseini  31:00

100%. Speaking of that, what are some of the biggest mistakes that coaches make when when it comes to launching or taking their offers and programs online?

Anke Herrmann  31:13

Yeah, I think the biggest thing that I see all the time is yeah, it’s kind of like, creating building before they ever talk to somebody and see that positioning that kind of, you know, and I did some mentoring for Thinkific, a couple of years ago, you know, where they had one of those promotions where, you know, basically, I got to work with a whole bunch, of course creators. And every single time I asked, my first question was, have you sold the thing?

Oh, no. I have to build it first. Right? And then they go, and they spend ages, like recording videos, and like, oh, what’s the best video recording software? And you know, they jump into the tech way too early. And they go through all this, like, Oh, and, you know, do I need a green screen?

And like, No, you need somebody to buy the thing, right, you need to be clear that what you because that’s the thing, when you when it’s your area of expertise, you’re usually the worst judge of what somebody else is looking for, and prepare to pay for you thinking I mean, I’ve done it. You think you know what people need to know? But then people go well, I don’t know.

You know, so you spend a lot of time trying to like building something that nobody wants? That’s, I think the biggest mistake I see.

Mostafa Hosseini  32:29

For sure, for sure. Yeah. Before validating, like you mentioned earlier or before getting a minimum viable product. Like before talking to people pay you I’ve seen this happen a lot like they spent six months to a year to two years creating a program, spending 10s of 1000s of dollars if not hundreds of 1000s on creating something without a single customer without admin consent or you know, anything from anybody. Then they’re neck deep into costs and and and the rest of it now you’re like they’re like oh, I need I need customers. And like to your point the very first point is to find a customer and exactly validate and gang please hear this validate by collecting payment.

Anke Herrmann  33:23

That’s the only validation

Mostafa Hosseini  33:24

that’s the only validation that is actually valid. Like I’ve done this I’m and I’m guilty of that. I’ve talked to people they’re like, I’m like What do you think of this idea? They’re like, Oh, it’s amazing stuff. Like it’s such a brilliant and I’m like my eat that’s like my ego I’m like yes I am brilliant.

But when I create it and I go out there and like you want to buy it, they’re like a Janna right now I’m busy. Let me talk to my wife. Like without the, to the point of without a payment. You don’t have a product.

Anke Herrmann  33:55

Absolutely, absolutely. I’ve done it.

Mostafa Hosseini  33:59

And a great book on this gang is the lean startup. Amazing book, read and and take every bit of information in that book about starting up with a lean process that is validated there where you have customers and you the guy I forgot his name, but it’s a great book, The Lean Startup let’s talk about your gift. And what you are sharing with people

Anke Herrmann  34:38

yeah, I’ve brought a copy of my book taming the tech monster. So it’s really for anybody who and the subtitle like I’ve got a hang on I don’t know if but my virtual background you probably can’t see it. You know it’s taming the tech monster. You see little little dragon because I think he actually says it all. It’s what feels like a scary monsters.

Really just a friendly little dragon that wants to play. And the subtitle says, How to rise above tech frustration and build your business online with joy and confidence. So it’s for anybody who thinks How on earth does tech and joy and confidence go in the same sentence. Like, if you can’t imagine how those two fit together, then the books for you. And there is, you know, a free PDF copy. Available, it’s a quick read. And there’s a little dragon everywhere. Love

Mostafa Hosseini  35:29

1. So the link is in the descriptions of the show, and it’ll be posted as a comment as well. Get there, download the book, go through it Ankur shares her process on how to tame the tech monster. And this is detec, it’s like without the proper tech, your business will not grow. Let’s just put it that way, you’re going to stall, you’re gonna run into problems, you’re gonna have headaches. And before you know it, you know it, you probably get burnt out.

So figuring out tech and having proper tech in place is essential to the livelihood of your business and to, to the growth of your business at the end of the day. Right. So the link is there. I it’s it is a long link. It’s it’s complicated. So I’m not going to try to spell it out, but click on the comments or the show descriptions, and you will see it. Um Let me ask you some personal questions, if that’s okay with you. That’s fine. All right. So what is a new thing that you have tried recently,

Anke Herrmann  36:39

I’ve started to learn French just for the pure fun of it. learning as an experiment, actually, you know, as I’m always more interested in the methodology of language learning, then the actual language. So it’s pure fun, but that’s how I started learning Spanish. And I ended up in Spain 18 years ago, so you never know where it takes me.

Mostafa Hosseini  36:59

So I mean, if you know German and Spanish, I think learning French is not going to be that hard. There should be some similarities. A lot.

Anke Herrmann  37:08

Yeah, it’s a lot. Yeah.

Mostafa Hosseini  37:10

A lot of words.

Anke Herrmann  37:11

I learned a word yesterday, that actually is like, Oh, why does that sound so familiar? It’s like, oh, yeah, it’s like the Russian word. So I think language learning is like, I’m not really a fan, or I don’t really agree with that old saying, like, it gets, like, you know, you have to be a kid to be good at learn language learning, I think you need a lot of reference points, the more reference points you have, every language you learn gets easier. So I’m enjoying my little function. I don’t

Mostafa Hosseini  37:35

I don’t believe that either. I mean, if you want to learn something, you’ll learn it regardless of how old you are. So love, do you have like a specific method on learning language?

Anke Herrmann  37:45

Oh, that’s the whole reason for the experiment. I’m always following, like, what’s going on in the language learning world and how that’s shaping because, you know, we will know like, how the stuff we’re taught at school where you think you spent years and still don’t know anything.

So there is a, they’ve come a long way in the sense that they kind of found what the missing piece was with this whole immersion thing. You know, you just basically just go to the country doesn’t really work. But so basically the same, like how can children work, the essence if comprehensible input, so you need to expose yourself to a lot of the language, but you need to understand what it is they trying to say. So you can either be just outside of the vocabulary you’re already familiar with.

Or you can you know, people can use drawing or dancing or any other way to make it comprehensible, but needs to be comprehensible and a lot of repetition. So I’m literally the experiment is to see like no conscious studying, almost like allow, like, get out of the way and let your brain do the work. And it seems to be very effective. So we’ll see how it goes. I’ll spend six months talking about that. I

Mostafa Hosseini  38:58

love it. Love it, love it learning new language, I think it’s what’s the word I’m trying to say? It’s like opens up your brain like to new ideas and learning new things and new words and you’ve got to be pretty, I think it’s smart opens you up a little bit as well, if not a lot. opening up new channels in your mind. Love it. What are a couple of books that have had a big impact on business or life for you.

Anke Herrmann  39:30

The first one that comes to mind is Dr. George pranskey is relationship handbook. It’s really it’s really quite the the game changer because of looks at relationships between people like not necessarily obviously that has an impact on your personal relationship.

And it also has, you know, it has an impact on your business relationship with doesn’t matter but it really works you and I’ve had quite a bit like it really takes no like, maybe challenges everything you’ve you’ve known. Until then, like so from that point of view, it’s, yeah, that was a really powerful, powerful one that keeps coming. keeps coming back for more. So,

Mostafa Hosseini  40:15

do you have another one, another book that made a good impact on life for business?

Anke Herrmann  40:21

Jamie smarts, clarity, he’s got, you know, it comes in a big one, a little book of clarity. But it’s, it’s all about pretty much how we function as human beings. And so you get a sense for how you’re how we operate, and where you know, why we feel the way we feel and how things work. And that has a massive impact on literally everything we do.

Mostafa Hosseini  40:46

Love it. What’s one advice that made a big impact in your life for business?

Anke Herrmann  40:54

I think the one thing that just jumps to mind is the advice to be very careful and discerning about who you allow to obligate you with your money with their money.

Mostafa Hosseini  41:06

What was that, again?

Anke Herrmann  41:09

Be careful who you allow to obligate you with their money.

Mostafa Hosseini  41:14

What do you mean by that?

Anke Herrmann  41:15

That means that I shouldn’t take on a, like a client just because they want to be served. Right? So it’s like to just be okay, the moment I take your money, I’m kind of you have sort of rights on TV. So it basically means like you actually, what, what made that shift it gave me was when I started my sewing business, I really had this.

And that’s a story for a whole nother day. But like, that was my first venture into the business world. And I really had that idea when somebody came to me and say, hey, I want you to make the skirt that was kind of my obligation or my whole purpose in their business to give them what they’d asked for.

Right. So now this advice as well, no, you know, you know, you actually get to choose who you work with. So may you make you make sure you choose the people you can do your best work for. And not just any old person where you then go and you know, they don’t get the results. You get frustrated and downhill from that.

Mostafa Hosseini  42:20

Absolutely. What do you have to say about that to people that are just starting, they’re short on cash, they’re struggling to pay their bills, someone shows up is willing to pay, but it’s not exactly the best customer that I’m looking for. What would you say? Person?

Anke Herrmann  42:36

Well take it, like, do it because the thing is that the only way for you to become discerning about who your best customer is, is actually work with a few. Because the people you think will be your best customer might not be like you’re going to need that experience.

You know, and you know, well maybe you need to kiss. I mean, you know, kissing a few frogs is probably a good thing because they will teach you more than anybody what you’re looking for and who the best fit for you is so when you’re starting out, I think you should take the clients who come you just don’t want to get stuck that

Mostafa Hosseini  43:12

that will you will know which type of frogs you like to

Anke Herrmann  43:18

get to choose your problems.

Mostafa Hosseini  43:22

Maybe there’s this small frogs, you you’ve maybe you like it better and you never know. No big frogs you never know.

43:31

Students and now know how to be better.

Mostafa Hosseini  43:37

Oh, if you had a Google or Facebook ad, where everyone around the globe with access to the web could see your your ad and your message. What would your message be for people of Earth

Anke Herrmann  43:56

want to get to the end of your life exhaust with nothing left on the bucket list. Make sure you do like make sure anything that you feel drawn to do you bloody well do it.

Mostafa Hosseini  44:09

Make sure your exhaust or do everything on your bucket list.

Anke Herrmann  44:14

To get to the end with an empty bucket list

Mostafa Hosseini  44:17

on your bucket list. Love it. So you’re not like wishing that you would have done this and that, that you’re fully satisfied and you’ve done everything in your power. Yeah,

Anke Herrmann  44:26

there is a there’s a brilliant book by nosy lady called Bonnie Wells who like the Top Five Regrets of the Dying and she was a nurse like she literally talked to people who are at the end of their lives and the top regret that people said to her were like, Oh, I wish I had all these things I wanted to do all these things I wish I could have done and never got around to doing and I was like, oh no I sort of tearing up because it was literally like that was my grandma full on.

You know, so she got to the she never got to do all things and I’m like, I’m not gonna live like that. And you know, I’m gonna do does do whatever’s in my power to? You know, make sure anybody who doesn’t want to go like that? How

Mostafa Hosseini  45:08

do you get? How do you get someone to change their mindset on that? Like, if they’re just not enjoying life, they’re not doing anything? What are you? Is there a way to change their mind? Or you just let them be?

Anke Herrmann  45:21

But it’s, it’s like, just you can’t make somebody stop smoking, right? So it’s like, they need to have an insight that gets them like, Wait, what the hell am I doing here? Right. And I think all you can do is live your life to the best. You know, how you want to live, like to make the impact you want to make?

And, you know, if you’re lucky, somebody sees you and go, wait, you know, that’s much better than what I’m doing. But I don’t think we can make somebody else do something.

Mostafa Hosseini  45:51

For sure. I think it could be you could, you could maybe show them talk to them gently and nicely. And examples.

Anke Herrmann  45:59

You can demonstrate by living what you can do, but

Mostafa Hosseini  46:04

you cannot force people to. I have a couple of people around me that I’d like to force but it’s just not gonna work. I’ve tried like, Dude, you gotta enjoy your life. They’re like, Oh, mind your own business.

Anke Herrmann  46:18

That’s the thing. It’s like until somebody’s ready, they’re not gonna hear it. You know, and somebody you know,

Mostafa Hosseini  46:24

but I’m looking for the magic pill to get them ready to start enjoying life. Right? You know, I get that’s maybe another conversation for another day. And this has been an amazing conversation. Is there anything that you would you want to talk about, but that maybe we didn’t get a chance to talk about?

Anke Herrmann  46:44

I think we, I mean, it sounds pretty nice and complete. But it feels like this probably is a more conversations than we ever wanted to. Absolutely.

Mostafa Hosseini  46:54

Well, we’re always welcome. Come back and explore more and talk about tech, and how you can help people gang if you’re watching or listening. If you have tech problems. do reach out to Anca. You can click on the link in the descriptions of the show or in the comments and download her book teaming a tech monster.

I’m pretty sure you can find Anca on Facebook and on LinkedIn and other places, reach out, send a message, have a conversation with her and see what she can do for you. She is just got a beautiful heart. Amazing lady. She will help out. I’ve known her for a few years now and I cannot say enough good things about her.

Thank you for joining us again, as I mentioned in the beginning of the show, if you’re interested in my simple retention formula blueprint to show you how to save money on lead generation tap and into your existing list of customers and prospects and extract the most out of it. Talked about retention on a comment below and we’ll send you the link to download the checklist. Thank you for joining us. Have yourself a great day and we will see you next week. Bye now.