Embracing Better Outcomes For One and All
Doubling down on my mission to reinvent professional services
I’m in the midst of rebranding this newsletter away from “The Service Zealot” to “Better Outcomes”.
I’ve agonized over this for several weeks and, ultimately, realized I was massively over-thinking the whole thing. I’m my own brand and I need to take that seriously. This newsletter is just one product tied to my evolving personal brand.
The idea of “The Service Zealot” was half-baked at best. As it turns out, the word “zealot” is seldom understood without an explanation or, if it is known, typically represents something negative to most people.
I meant for it to embody my fanatical devotion to the idea of service firms. They are great in number, exist across nearly every industry, and are relatively easy to start. Yet so many merely exist and never discover their full potential.
After building my last service firm to 8-figures and selling it, I knew I wanted to help others achieve a whole lot more. The conventional way of operating a service firm is garbage. The overarching theme is to pit business against customer. Maybe not explicitly but it’s there right under the surface. I see it and I want to stop it.
In short, I care about customers and outcomes. The typical service firm may touch on both but the standard business model (if it deserves such a lofty title) is heavily focused on transactions — typically, billing by the hour. This single concept represents where service firms go wrong. It’s where the opportunity resides to truly create value and partner with your customer.
If you couldn’t simply focus on enabling the next transaction, you would have to reinvent how your service firm operates. That’s the beauty. This is the jumping-off point towards better outcomes.
So, for my personal brand, I’ve settled on a one-liner that strives to embody what I do:
I help service firms align with customers for better outcomes.
This encompasses so much more than what the above sentence says from a literal perspective. It seeks to permeate your entire business — forcing you to rethink every aspect of how it operates and what it strives to accomplish.
As for this newsletter, its tagline is a subtle variation because many people will discover it independently of first knowing who I am.
Weekly guidance to help service firms align with customers for better outcomes.
As for the logo, it’s a work-in-progress. I’m not in love with it. I like the concept of the arrow that represents growth and the circular nature of the infinity symbol worked into it. It’s the first pass and will surely get some more TLC in the future.
Love it or hate it, this is where you must decide if you want more for your business or if you’re comfortable sticking with the status quo. I have no interest in helping anyone cling to practices that undermine customers and employees. If that makes you uncomfortable, I encourage you to unsubscribe.
What does this all mean?
It means my focus going forward is to equip you to deliver better outcomes for your customers. It means inspiring you to:
leverage insights that challenge the status quo
look at other industries for inspiration (cross-pollination)
offer a perspective that differs from most everyone else
invest in team-building and create an exceptional work culture
partner with customers to succeed only when they do
avoid potential customers that don’t appreciate your value
build unique methods that help guarantee great results
scale revenue and profit beyond what most think is possible
If this is what you’ve been waiting for, I ask you to please consider showing your enthusiasm by replying to this email and letting me know your thoughts. I’d love to hear from you and learn what is top-of-mind for your business.
Have questions? Please share them. I’d love nothing more than to return to having questions in every future issue. This is how we all learn and grow. Chat me up on email, Twitter, or LinkedIn. And, I will always keep the questions anonymous unless given permission otherwise.