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Zach Williams — Resources

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Gain clarity on your future, train your creativity, and learn a recession proof skill.

The fast track to mastering growth, culture and leadership

What are you exceptional at that 99% of the population cannot replicate?

This is a question I ask in interviews often, and I want to explain why.

Most leaders look at what people have done, not what they can do.

This is a critical oversight, and could cost you dearly in margin and profitability as you add to your team.

When I ask the question rarely do people give concrete skills such as “I can code really well.”

I get answers like “I win people over.” or “I don’t let balls drop.” or “I can see the big picture.”

They usually pull on their soft-skills as their 1% skillset.

Their 1% is typically something they do well, and gravitate towards doing easily and efficiently.

If you’re only looking for people who fit the role requirements, you’ll create bloat and inefficiency within your organization.

You need people with the skillset to do their job well and the skillset your organization needs to move the business forward.

Jim Collins famously wrote in his book Good to Great:
“People are not your most important asset. The right people are."

This is where great leaders separate themselves.

They excel at spotting the 1% skillset in people.

The 1% Skillset is Your Greatest Multiplier

Aligning 1% skillset in an organization creates a massive flywheel effect.

Look at Chick-Fil-A. Have you ever met an unhappy employee there? Of course not.

Importantly though, they don’t train for it.

They only hire happy people because they know it creates a better customer experience.

“Talent is the multiplier. The more energy and attention you invest in it, the greater the yield."
— Marcus Buckingham, The One Thing You Need to Know

If you can align somebody’s 1% in an area that generates revenue or value, it will have exponential return thoughout your organization.

Aligning 1% Skillsets with Value & Profit

Just because someone has a 1% skillset that is needed in the organization doesn’t make it valuable.

1% skillsets must create of 1 of 2 things:

If you want to scale and create Optionality, this must be your goal.

To nail hiring for the 1% skillset, there’s two things you need to know: the formula and the equation.
​
First, Here’s the formula breakdown:

Find Talent → Align Core Values → Uncover 1% Skillset → Revenue (R) or Perceived Value (PV)

Overlap of role + (Revenue Generation or Perceived Value) = Winning Equation

Let’s say your organization has a project manager. Clients expect project management but rarely stay because of it.

You need to find highly competent people who are detail oriented and can drive a project.

So let’s say you have two candidates for that PM role.

Candidate A has more experience in project management and their 1% skillset is “not letting balls drop.”

Candidate B has less experience but, their 1% skillset is “making people happy.”.

You hire based on who creates the most impact for your bottom line and client experience.

I know this is an over simplification, but I’ve seen firsthand how the right talent has greatly increased my confidence in the businesses I own and my ability to exit day-to-day.

Recently we hired a new account person and were down to two candidates.

This role is highly focused on client experience and retention.

My team was pressing each candidate to try to understand their psyche and what makes them tick.

My CEO was pressing one of them and finally asked
​“What makes you really upset? What really bothers you?”

His response “I can’t stand losing people.”

Sometimes uncovering someone’s 1% skillset isn’t found by asking the question directly, but rather finding out what makes them tick, upset, nervous or excited.

Having the right people in the right seat is more than just finding people to get the job done.

It’s the difference between scaling lean or growing with bloat.

It’s the difference between you being stuck as the constant bottleneck and only driving force in your organization and Owner Optionality.

With the right strategies, you can easily manage the challenges of scaling and achieve success. 

Scale Your Business and Build Your Exit Strategy

These tips can help you scale up your service-based business:

Diversify your services. Offering different services helps to increase customer appeal and widen your revenue base. It also makes it easier to scale up your business as you can create packages and offer discounts on different services.

Hire the right team. You need a team of individuals who can handle the increased demand that comes with scaling up. Make sure that each team member is qualified to handle the additional workload and can quickly provide the same high-quality service you are known for.

Invest in the right technology. Technology is key to any service-based business as it helps to streamline processes and provide a better customer experience. Make sure you have the right systems and software in place so that you can accurately measure performance and provide better customer service.

Develop a customer-focused strategy. You need to make sure that your customer experience remains consistent no matter how much you're scaling up. Focus on developing strategies for customer acquisition, onboarding, support, retention, and loyalty. This will help make your customers happy and keep them coming back.

Review your processes. Make sure that you consistently review and update your processes as this will ensure that your services are delivered efficiently and effectively. You’ll reduce costs, increase customer satisfaction, and make it easier to scale up

If you are the only person who can close a six-figure deal, you’re likely the bottleneck that keeps your company from scaling.

Empower Your Team to Create Demand & Authority in Your Industry

I’m no longer the only industry expert on the team, and I’m no longer the only salesperson, nor is my presence required to close every deal.

Every member of my team plays a role in creating demand – long before we ever engage a prospective client. Let’s walk through the Five A’s of creating demand, beginning with how my team is sharing in the authority and attention that I used to build my business in the first place. 

As a founder, you’re the face and the name of the service you provide and the industry you represent. People listen when you have something to say. Don’t let it become an ego trap.

For instance, when I’m asked to speak at conferences, I regularly refer the organizers to the appropriate team member. They’re professionals in their specific areas and, frankly, more qualified than I am.

By transferring my authority to members of my team, we’re doing two things:

We’re multiplying our revenue capacity.

We’re establishing the company as the authority in our business.

What good is authority if nobody’s paying attention, right? Businesses talk a lot about social media platforms and other forms of online content, which is great. I create attention with newsletter subscribers, our podcast, and our social following. I’m always looking for ways to capture people's attention.

Too often, founders are so focused on having avenues of communication that they forget about providing value to their audience.

How can you serve your audience so that you keep their attention?

Does a team member’s niche expertise give your audience insight they can't get elsewhere?

Once you have an audience, how do you use that as a sales tool?

For example, I have a website that gets close to 50,000 visitors. It’s a super-niche in the insulation category. When I talk to anybody involved in this super-niche, they can decide to work with us or with someone else.

The size of our audience gives us an edge. We give the new client an advantage by featuring them to our readers or listeners, and we’re doing so in a way that adds value to people who subscribe to our platforms.

An affiliate is an advocate. They’re reaching an entirely different audience who may have a problem you can solve.

For instance, your team is at a trade show. A vendor a few booths down is talking to a prospect who asks a question specific to your business — a problem the vendor can’t solve.

They want to be helpful to the prospect. They know and trust your company – and the person staffing the booth. That’s when they tell the prospect, “Hey, go talk to my friend. They’ll treat you right.”

The vendor doesn't want a commission, but they’re actively vouching for you.

You might argue that an audience is an asset — and it is. In this context, though, I’m talking about tools, technology, and the people who run them. Creative use of tech can make processes quicker, easier, or better in a way that no one else can duplicate. 

Technology that can become the proprietary solution for an “unsolvable” industry-wide problem is a valuable asset that creates demand.

Flickr and Etsy are two examples of how niche solutions have shifted the marketplace.

The asset you've created becomes more valuable when it doesn't depend on you. You can become a bottleneck, or you can build a team that multiplies your sales process and your growth.

With the first choice, your revenues are directly tied to your name, your expertise, and your calendar.

The second gives you options about how much or how little time you spend on your business. 

How much effort do you put into “beating your competition?” 

It’s easy to fixate on what other businesses are doing — especially when you lose a customer. Focusing on what they’re doing to win, isn’t going to solve why you’re losing.  The truth is … chasing better will always leave you wanting more. What actually drives demand is how you are different, not better. Here’s what most companies don’t understand:  If you didn’t create the category then you need to separate yourself from it as quickly as possible.(If you want dive deeper on this idea, checkout The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, by Al Ries and Jack Trout.)

Don’t waste your time getting better. Focus on what sets you apart. Better might grow your business but difference is how you scale. Instead of worrying about all the things you have to change to get better (cutting costs, reducing shipping times, improving customer experience), you are laser-focused on a single question:

“What can we do that no one else can?” 

Knowing what you’re uniquely capable of requires a deep and honest understanding of the strengths, capabilities and weaknesses of you and your team.  Most importantly though, you have to know your customer AND the problems or friction points, they experience in your industry that everyone accepts ass just part of the process. Here are two examples of how “different” is better than “better”.

Ryanair was on the brink of bankruptcy when CEO Michael O’Leary made a bold bet. He believed that most passengers would be willing to sacrifice small comforts like reclining seats or in-flight meals and entertainment if it meant saving money. O’Leary and his team even contemplated removing toilets to add more seats or charging passengers to use the onboard bathrooms.

The company’s slogan became: "We promise to get you from A to B for the lowest possible price, but that's all we'll promise."

Unwavering focus on reducing fares has led to an increase in sales and a decrease in operating costs. Today, Ryanair employs 8,500 people and generates annual revenues of more than $3 billion.

Steve Ballmer served as CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014, succeeding Bill Gates. During his tenure, Microsoft's share price decreased by 33%. When he resigned, the company's stock price rose 7%. (Ouch.)

Enter Satya Nadella as Microsoft CEO. During his tenure, Microsoft's valuation has multiplied nearly 10 times over as it has recovered from losses. Windows 10 and 11 have both outperformed previous versions, and Azure now commands 18% of the $500 billion global cloud market, making it the second most popular option behind Amazon Web Services.

At an event in San Francisco, he led a discussion with a giant screen behind him. He declared that “Microsoft Hearts Linux.” This was a big deal because Microsoft has historically been hostile to outside companies and open-source software projects.

Today, more than 50% of Azure's compute core runs on Linux, and Microsoft works with Apple, IBM, and Dropbox.

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella solved accepted, and acceptable, problems.

O’Leary directly confronted the assumption that air travelers required a balance between price and comfort. Nadella replaced a culture of “Microsoft vs everyone else” with a culture of  “both-and.” 

No other business in their respective industries is capable of or willing to compete on their terms. If you want to scale your business and expect your customers to advocate for you, solve problems that no one else will.

Forget what everyone else is doing. Don’t try to fix everything. Get hyper-focused on exactly one thing: what you can do that no one else can.

 The right team can be the difference between a business with a million dollars in annual revenue and ten million dollars.

Accelerate Your Business Growth with A+ Talent

The first time you're a bottleneck for your business is usually when it’s bringing in around $10,000 to $20,000 a month. This is when you need to start taking on salary, which means it’s also time to prepare for the third stage of business growth by hiring A+ talent.

You’re on your own until you hit $10,000 in monthly revenues. You will stall out until you can replicate your process to meet demand.

At this point, you’re learning how to make more money.

Level 2: Reinvest Profits Into Hiring Talent

You and your team are learning to make money more efficiently. You’re refining processes. You’re continuing to innovate because you have new perspectives on board.

Now you’re generating $50,000 to $100,000 monthly, and it’s time to level up again.

Each of these phases requires top talent who will do more than replicate. You need A+ people to push you, to see what you can’t see, and to do what you can’t do.

They’re making your business processes run more efficiently, and they will see opportunities you don’t — because they’re better than you are. They’re experts in their area of responsibility.

Lives the culture and vision of the company.

Challenges the rest of the team to live the culture & vision.

At our company Christmas meeting, my only responsibility was to show up and enjoy our time together. No one ran the agenda past me because they didn’t need to. They trusted themselves and each other to say what needed to be said and do what needed to be done.

When I hired a CEO, she blew me away. We were having a conversation, and she said, “Your vision is too small.”

Looking back, I see — and we have tangible evidence on our balance sheet — that her vision is bigger than mine.

To learn more about A+ talent, I encourage you to do some quick research on the following:

William Hahn of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

The differences may seem small – hardly quantifiable, especially in the beginning. Ultimately, though, the difference between A talent and A+ talent can make a $9 million difference — or more.

Step by step on how I launched my B2B SaaS company.

Launch a New Business (with Hardly Any Risk)

Last month I made a $250k+ deal. The business has zero marketing, no website no sales team. I'm launching this new company because:  
1. I exited the day-to-day of my B2B agency
2. The new co-services have the same clients as the B2B agency (synergy). It's a B2B SaaS play.

Most people say SaaS businesses are risky to start. Mine isn't. There are 3 steps to making a business low-risk:

 Use an existing customer base: If you have an existing customer base, the risk is nearly eliminated. That's why people want personal brands to sell to people who already trust them.

Know the industry: Know the big brands in the space, the tools customers use, and the pain points. That's how you find the best ideas.

Understand the problem: When you're in the industry, dig into the tools & problems people hate.

Answer these 3 questions and you're set:  

What is my clear offer: "Make the offer so good the client feels like an idiot refusing" - Dan Kennedy (paraphrased)

What product/service best solves the problem: Decide if a product or service best solves the customer's problem. Then what kind of product or service? In my case, I know the existing SaaS tools for my customer don't do the job well, so I'm building a SaaS product.

Do my unit economics meet industry standards or better: Once you've decided on the product or service, determine what industry standards are for gross margins & unit economics. Do this by speaking with an expert.

You've decided on your offer, the type of product, and the business model.  Now you need to make a product that does this: 
1. Solves a problem the current solutions don't solve Or 
2. Solves a problem better than the current solutions do.  
Choose 1 to start.

You know how well your product solves the problem by beta testing with customers.  There's no other way.  This reduces risk significantly.

You now have a clear path to sales.

I didn’t have a crisis or issue that caused this time off but just thought it would be interesting to try.

I disconnected from all technology for 9 days: Here’s what I learned

I forced myself to unplug for 9 days over the holiday. 

Here are my two main takeaways from this time of disconnection:

No distractions meant my mind wandered more easily and I was able to be present instead of constantly wondering what was happening “out there.” I had a ton of ideas during this time of detachment but decided against even getting my journal out and writing them down. I wanted to force myself to be in a state of fallow. The result was that I didn’t feel the need to produce or progress, but rather just be present. Very liberating.

No distractions. No interruptions. This was the ultimate benefit. Removing myself from the frenetic nature of always being on was greatly needed. It also showed me the dopamine hit my mind craves from constantly checking email, slack, social, etc. is not only unnecessary but also unhealthy. I’ve heard that we are too attached to our devices but forcing yourself to go dark highlights how embarrassingly attached I was.

My big takeaway is that I need to do this activity more. Maybe not for 9 days, but even for a few hours here and there throughout the week.

We don’t celebrate disconnection or rest enough in our society; rather, we celebrate always hustling, always-on, never stopping, always performing. This isn’t sustainable and leads to poor outcomes. The balance achieved by disconnecting allows you to rest, get clarity and perform at a higher rate when you actually truly need to work.

Here’s how most entrepreneur's businesses work:

While this equation is correct, it is also sad. If you remove the entrepreneur from the equation, the business dies along with the success and profit that it creates. In essence, most entrepreneurs don’t own a business, they have a job. The business owns them. If the business cannot exist without them, they have not built a business… They are the business. 

This is what I escaped from. I love my business, our employees, and our clients, but I wanted to remove myself from the equation. I didn’t want to close down or sell the business yet, but I wanted to build new things, and spend energy on new endeavors. I needed an option that didn’t require me in the equation. I wanted to see growth but wanted to detach my time and energy from the outcome.

So I built a system that created this for me with a new kind of equation. This is how I define Owner Optionality:

Easier said than done, but my goal is to show you how to make this a reality faster and easier than you think is possible.

At its core, when you detach yourself from the business and it continues to grow this increases three things for every entrepreneur:

Confidence: You know the business will grow and deliver your vision without requiring your time.

Resources: Your business creates profit, assets, and expertise to help you compound the areas of your life that are most important.

Energy: You spend your time on things that create energy, not consume it.

This is the dream state of every owner. You can exit and hold, sell the business, or simply focus on the areas that bring you energy.

Nobody, honestly, really cares about you. What they care about is why you're different.

How The Red Pill Strategy Can Help You Scale Your Business

The Red Pill strategy comes from a popular 1999 film. In The Matrix, Morpheus gives Neo a choice between a Blue Pill and a Red Pill.

If Neo took the Blue Pill, he would continue to experience an ordinary life. The Red Pill promised a life-changing truth.

The Red Pill positions you as an authoritative figure with a different perspective.

By creating a Red Pill idea, customers will have more confidence and be more likely to sell the idea, leading to business growth and scale.

The Red Pill idea becomes ingrained in the customer's identity, leading them naturally to share it with others, improving pipeline velocity and close rate.

The Red Pill delivers value to your customers — and for your business.

One of my uncommon solutions to a common problem is challenging owners to rethink their “get out of the business” strategy. Rather than selling the business and walking away, you can train your team so well that your team doesn’t need you for day-to-day decision-making.

Red Pill brands include Harley Davidson, Apple, and HubSpot. They're not selling a product. They're selling an idea, and their customers sell it for them.

Let’s zoom out a bit and list a few examples of how an organization’s mission is a Red Pill.

A personal finance company that educates consumers about the drawbacks of high-interest credit card debt and encourages them to adopt a more frugal lifestyle.

A tech company that promotes open-source software and challenges the idea that proprietary software is always the best choice.

A mental health organization that advocates for more open and honest discussions about mental health issues and challenges the stigma surrounding them.

A consumer advocacy group that exposes deceptive or manipulative marketing practices encourages consumers to be more informed and skeptical when purchasing.

An education reform group that challenges traditional approaches to education and promotes alternative methods such as homeschooling or unschooling.

The strategy works in marketing because people are attracted to contrarian points of view.

Our attention spans are so small that we only pay attention to controversial things. Have you followed our political system recently? What sells? Controversy.

Position your company to scratch a skeptic’s itch.

When they see your solution, they think, “Aha, I knew it, I was skeptical.”  And then, “Everyone's saying this, but these guys are saying why!” You become the guide and authority because you have a different perspective and different point of view.

Common problem → common solution = poor outcomes

Common problem → creative & contrarian solution = self—propelled marketing and profitability

Here’s how I built a company that does not need my direct involvement.

Five Steps to Build a Company That Does Not Need You

9 out of 10 entrepreneurs I speak to only take 1 holiday per year.  Last year I took the most I’ve ever taken. Coincidentally, my company had its best year to date.  Here’s how I built a company without needing my direct involvement.

When you have demand, you have options. Demand makes every other problem smaller. This is where all my time went into as I started my business.

Your highest leverage task is making your product/service better because customers will advocate for you.  Getting results means building trust and making far more money long term.

Expansion revenue allows scaling.  A customer that pays you $10k/yr and gets a great return is happy to pay you 10x that if they also get a great return.


4.) Learned how to find & hire A Players  

Finding A Players is tough and getting over the mental roadblock of hiring them is tougher. They require 2x the salary, but get 5x the results. As my organization grew, I didn't just need people to follow the culture. I needed leaders to create and push others to follow the culture. I learned that the A Players could do that and become A+ Players.

Even when the business ran without me, I stuck my hands in everywhere.  It wasn't until I trained my team to operate without me (and tell me they didn't need me) that I could truly step away.

The harsh truth about innovation and culture is that if you want to innovate, you have to look at who your company is at its core.

Every business wants to innovate. Take a look at all the greatest companies from the past decade—Apple, Tesla, Google. What do they all have in common? They all set the bar for world-changing innovation.

The problem executives have with innovation is that it can’t be created like a product or a service. It can't come from a top-bottom decision or a boardroom meeting. It can’t be forced.

You see, innovation comes from inside you; it comes from the depths of you and your company. I’m not getting heartfelt here, but look at some of the biggest innovations in the last century: the electric car, the smart phone, and even social media. They all came about because of what their founders believed.

For innovation to occur, your organization must align your beliefs, values, and purpose. In other words, you must have the right culture.

Let's start with an important fact: every organization has a culture.

Contrary to what you have been taught in school, culture isn't an institution that works only on a macro-social level. Your family has a culture, just like your company, church, or sports team.

Culture is unspoken and invisible, but it exists within every set group. The question is, whether you’re creating an intentional or accidental culture.

Culture is the single most important factor in determining whether or not your organization will achieve your goals.

Its impact is undeniable; the famous management guru Peter Drucker famously said once,

“ Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Culture will outwork, outhustle, and outthink the most talented well resourced companies.

It sets the tone for how your company operates and how your organization leads its people.

According to a study done by Thomas Kell and Gregory T. Carrott, corporate cultures affect employees’ leadership styles more than any other aspect of their jobs. They discovered that employees who work for the same corporation—regardless of their jobs—are 30% more likely to exhibit similar leadership competencies (which they defined as the way a person learns, deduces, envisions, engages, and executes) than people who do the same job but who work in different companies.

Let's say you decide you want to improve customer satisfaction. You can plan, strategize, and set ambitious goals, but if your organization tolerates rudeness and apathy towards each other than the true culture of your organization is going to trickle down and affect how you treat your customers.

Look at the way your employees and fellow executives behave with one another. See what hidden but implicitly understood rules of behavior they have. How do they treat each other? Is there mutual trust or is there selfish ambition?

The end goal is to create optionality for yourself.

 How to Exit the Day-to-Day (Step-by-Step)

My agency does $500k-$1m a month. Some days I work 10 hours.  Some days I work 1 hour and spend time with my family.   I am in this position because I was able to remove myself from the business...  WITHOUT impacting my income.  Here’s how to exit the day-to-day (step-by-step):

Every business owner should want to exit the day-to-day for these 2 reasons: 
1. The asset you've created becomes more valuable when it doesn't depend on you. 
2. The amount of clarity you get will 10x when you step out of operations.

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