The Power of Smart Questions
I love questions…
I think questions dictate your answers and the more powerful questions you ask the better the answers are in life and business. One of the first questions I asked that had a dramatic impact on me was in 1999 before I started my online business.
Here’s what I asked:
“How can I create a fully automated web business, that makes me money while I sleep, and is an incredible value for people without being another ebook?”
It’s from that question, I sat-up bolt upright in bed at 3 o’clock in the morning with the idea for Instant Sales Letters. And then I did what most people probably wouldn’t: I hopped out of bed, registered the domain and got to work on it. By February 2000, with about $1,500 invested, I made my first $29.95 sale. It was one of the most amazing feelings in the world to take an idea and have it turn into cash. And the sales kept coming – about $1,800 the first month…then $3,400…then approx. $7,800.00 and roughly $9,400.00 the fourth month out of the gate. I was on track to hit six-figures with my very first site – and that’s when things really started exploding. Since then, it has my first million dollar product.
That’s why I love questions.
In Robert Kiyosaki’s best-selling, Rich Dad, Poor Dad series one of my favorite distinctions was revealing. Kiyosaki tells of his “Poor Dad” looking at a beautiful stretch of beach and saying, “I can never afford to live here.” And conversely his “Rich Dad” looking at the same stretch and saying, “How can I build something here?”
It’s the questions that open you up to all sorts of possibilities instead of simply saying “I can’t afford it” and closing down that conversation in your head. Our minds want to search for answers. In fact, I used a similar question when I wanted to fund my ticket for Virgin Galactic spaceflight. I asked “What kind of product or service can I create to pay for this?”
And that’s when the idea for one of my events came together that more than paid for my ticket from the event tickets and sales of the tapes afterwards.
I like writing down my question on the top of a piece of paper and then working on multiple answers. Most times the first answers you get will be pretty pedestrian and won’t have much creativity to them. Keep pushing yourself to come up with more distinctions and sometimes even wilder answers. Don’t censor yourself either – just write. Here’s an actual example of mine with the question – “How can I get my business ideas implemented quickly and easily without my direct, day-to-day involvement?”
Here are some of questions I frequently ask myself or clients:
Q: How can I create 10x – 100x in value for this product or service?
I love this question because one of my personal statements written in my planner is ‘I get rich by enriching others 10x – 100x what they pay me in return.’ I think the more value you can provide, the more rewards you’ll be provided. It’s simply a natural law and this is a great question to jumpstart the answers. You might be surprised at what you come up with too. This opens up the avenue of not only thinking about what you can add to a product or service yourself but if you think creatively about this question, you might consider other related products or services that would be provided as a bonus or you license, etc.
Q: How can I go the opposite direction of most of my competitors?
I’m a big fan of not following the pack. In fact, I think it’s a smart idea to create your own category of goods or services if possible. Taking a look at where most of your competitors are headed and then actively making a decision to do the opposite is enough, in many times, to set you apart and create a differentiation point in the marketplace.
Q: What’s the single, most powerful ultimate benefit my customers are looking for?
The answer to this question helps you frame your headline, your offer, your guarantee, etc. A whole lot comes out of this.
Q: Who else has more to gain than I do if this succeeds?
One of my favorite questions to ask when consulting with clients since it forces to think outside yourself. Many times there might be other companies or individuals who want you to succeed because it helps them succeed. You might be surprised at what those other individuals would provide to help you too. For example, from my father’s medical equipment business we were able to get co-op advertising money from manufacturers to sell their items but unless we asked we’d never know it was available.
Q: What businesses or services do my customers already use before they would come to me?
Another powerful question that starts you heading in the right direction for partners and possible affiliates. If you strategically step back and consider what a customer does before they come to you – you’ll find the perfect partners to promote your products or services. For instance, if was an email service provider like Aweber, you’d bet I’d be trying to talk to different domain companies because once someone registers a domain they might need our services.
My friend, Tony Hsieh, CEO of $1Billion eTailer, Zappos.com uses these questions in discussions:
- What stories do they (customers) tell their friends?
- How can culture create more stories and memories?
- What emotions do customers feel?
- What do customers actually experience?
- What do customers expect?
I asked my Twitter followers and via Facebook what their favorite business or life questions were, here are a few I got back:
“What do I love doing and who can I best serve?” – Kat Tepelyan
“What is the best use of my time right now?” – Rosalind Gardner
“What would have to be true to _______” i.e. “What would have to be true for me to sell my business for $50million?” – Derek Naylor
“Am I happier today than I was yesterday?” – Capt Rob Lee
“What does my client have to already believe in order for him to eventually believe what I need him to believe?” – Nicholas Neilson
“If I only accomplished one thing today, what should it be?” – Danny Welsh
“Do I really want to be THIS guy?” (I use it to determine whether an idea is worth pursuing.) – Mahesh Grossman
“What does my client want (VS what I have to offer)?” – Rebecca Trelfa
Let’s keep the conversation rolling and leave a comment with your favorite business or life question.
To add to “If I only accomplished one thing today, what should it be?” – Danny Welsh I’d like to say one of my favorite questions to myself for structuring joint ventures…
“Who do I know and what do they have of value that they’d give me access to at no cost while being happy to do it?”
Loved this Yanik…it really sounds like a great ( fun) process…I’m going to make it a daily task…how can I …followed by affirmation…reveals the answer ( already contained in the question) I needed this …thanks
Mary
Hey Yanik,
Great post…and so true. Questions shape our lives. I have a series of questions that I ask myself everyday at various times of the day.
I have a set of quetions next to my coffee maker, for morning questions, a set of questions next to my computer for day time questions, and a set of questions next to my tooth brush that I ask myself each night before going to bed.
Here are a couple…
Every morning I ask myself, “What am I happy about, and grateful for in my life right now and why?” Answering this question puts me in a positive emotional state ready for the day.
Whenever I am faced with a problem, no matter how bad it may seem, I force myself to search for and find a ‘silver lining’. Typically by asking, “What can I learn from this challenge.”
Glen Hopkins
As usual, Yanik, this is a very, very good post…I love hearing ideas from some of the great, creative minds that already own well-run companies!
This is the idea/question behind the picture I see in my mind when creating or updating something within my business:
“If I were looking – and I mean, really, really looking – at the entirety of my [blog, website, product, service, ad copy, message, brand, etc.), pretending that I was actually the customer (‘cuz I’m a consumer too and know what I would spend my money on!), would the way it was marketed and the perceived value it has, pull me in, leading me to think, ‘This is the best – this is just what I need now!?”
My own personal distinction with this goes beyond simply asking myself “what the consumer wants,” and is actually “becoming the consumer and asking myself if I would buy it from me”…sort of like an actor does when he or she is “in character,” if that makes sense.
Ann-Michele.
Love the positive flow of asking a Smart Question!
How can I add value to this comment thread?
How can I contribute to Yanik’s and his audience’s success?
1. Tweet / ReTweet this post.
2. Encourage clients in this niche to read, re-post, and re-purpose the post (with full credit given, of course)
3. Invite contact with the purpose of further exploring the two questions and possible answers.
Great post Yanik.. I love smart questions! Dumb question though… where’s the damn RT button?! Am I totally missing it or do you ::gasp:: not have one? In that case I’ll feel not so dumb. ;D lol RT or no, keep it up!
Glen – great ideas!
I am always asking questions but the way I like to look at it is as a problem. What is my problem. I take time to clearly define the problem. Now the problem may be very similar to the ones you are trying to solve to reach certain goals in your business or it may be something that might take the business down if not solved now. Once I have the problem fully solved I then begin to define the solution. The key point is you cannot solve a problem unless the problem is clearly defined.
Josh Bulloc
Kansas City, MO
How can I help?
Ahoy Yanik.
Great post. This is another one people should print and save.
I’m glad you included my question, “Am I happier today than I was yesterday?” I also like what Glen shared. It is a great question system.
Arrrrr!
CaptRob
Love your doodles
Noticed you wrote “Eban”. If you mean the guy I think you mean it should be “Eben”. But double-check it, because I could be wrong.
Your post definitely made it clear to me again that it’s not enough to know these question-techniques, but that you actually have to apply them. That’s been my sticking point so far – so thanks for the reminder. I’m bookmarking this and will re-read it a couple of times… Thank you Yanik!
@Steve – yep it’s Eben. I think my “e” was a little smushed on the bottom of the page.
Glad you like the doodles – still thinking about my napkin business book (see another post on that)
Hi Yanik,
Questions are certainly the answers. By asking the right questions, it spurs our mind to seek the solutions.
Great reminder now that most areplanning for the next year!
I would consider myself a very contempt person on a day to day basis. So without inspiration I would go idle. Its these kinds of questions that drive individuals like myself to think beyond the basic, “What should I do today?” and drive myself to achieve a greater goal. They maximize potential and help one go beyond what they may initially believe they are capable of.
Your questions are the most unique I have seen on any motivational blog and yet powerful at the same time. Thank you for this list. This is definitely a “print and save” for me, as Cap’n Rob mentioned.
Ryan
Hi Yanik,
Thanks for the post.
I am a fan of yours since reading the book Moonlighting on the Internet.
I’ve got a bit of history myself being the creator of a virtual world called The Travels of Wiglington and Wenks, owner of an animation studio and also an iphone development company. But I assure you that I wish a millio times I can be running a business like yours.
I have a question. Is it still possible – in your opinion – in today’s saturated market, to still go on to make millions as an internet marketer?
Sincerely,
Aldric
I’m right with you on this. Powerful questions force your mind to look for solutions. They also help reveal even deeper more powerful questions which take your thinking to a different level of great insight. I’ve recently started to incorporate this process in my daily activities. Thanks for this insightful post!
Aldric – I think it’s an interesting time. It’s a golden opportunity still in many ways. It’s cheap and easy to get started, there are more tools & resources today than ever before, people are more comfortable buying online, etc. But that also makes it harder since there is more competition. I still think its very possible but it’s more about making sure you differentiate yourself in the marketplace or own the marketplace in a particular way (ie. having a better converting landing page/sales funnel than anyone else in your niche).
@Daniel – thanks!
@Cori – yeah I don’t have a RT button. Shame on me.
I’ve had this very conversation with so many clients, friends and colleagues. (Questions are the most powerful tool I use in creating instant and long term change for my clients no matter what area their blind-spot happens to be in)
I’m excited to share one of my current favorite questions. It comes from the old joke: a city man was lost out in the country. After driving around for hours trying to find his destination he finally happened upon a rural hick. He pulled over and asked the rural hick “If you wanted to get to X-destination, how would you get there?” The rural hick answered “If I wanted to get to X-destination, I wouldn’t start from here.”
When it comes to fixing, changing, or reaching things, we tend to ask “How do I get there from here?” so often, without realizing the very question has a flaw in the basic underlying assumption. (and when we don’t see the direct link, we tend to believe it’s not possible or give up before we even start) This is also why we have outdated, antiquated systems that no one can seem to fix.
My favorite question is, “if I wanted to get “there”, where would I have to start?”
This can be useful all the way from if I wanted to have $10k per month income from an online internet business that only required 4 hours a week of my direct involvement, where would I have to start? all the way to if I wanted to create “the founding fathers 2.0″ and have a bloodless American Revolution creating a new system of government that was matched to today’s thoroughly different societal and global needs, where would I have to start?
(So in terms of your business – where would you go next, if you didn’t have to start from here? In terms of human evolution – where would you go next, if you didn’t have to start from here?)
Asking this question allows you to take the approach of setting up conditions so that it is inevitable that you reach your intended outcome. It also sets you up to much more easily break away from limiting unconscious beliefs or assumptions. It takes into account a very important fact which is often overlooked – all systems are sensitive to initial conditions. It opens your eyes to connections you may not have made so easily – perhaps the place to start when aiming for that million dollars is on your energy levels, or your relationships with others, or your daily habits, instead of your market, niche or resources.
Lastly it really allows you to approach success, and reality, in the way that it truly works – indirectly, with the intended outcome occurring as an emergent of the system.
Love it!
Thanks Yanik
Jonni La Force
Hi Yanik,
Thanks for your reply. Indeed differentiation is the key to so many things in life, especially in a congested and saturation competitive world we live in today. Thanks once again for sharing
Aldric
Great post! I’ve learned that knowing what to ask (how to be specific) is only half the battle (when running a business).
I also believe this statement ( “If I only accomplished one thing today, what should it be?” – Danny Welsh ) is so crucial for a business owner since its so easy to get off course during a work day.
Great information! I think that the best approach is always “How can I…”
Most ofter we hear “I can’t…do this or that” rather than “How can I accomphlish this or that”.
Hey Yanik,
I wanted to first of all comment on an intriguing post, then I wanted to elaborate on the conversation between you and Aldric.
I was watching an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger a while ago and he was talking about becoming a winner in life, and he went on to mention how the difference between the gold medalist in the olympics and the bronze medalist is mere fractions of a second, but this minor 1/1000 of a second makes all the difference in the world. And then he’d mention how becoming a world-champion bodybuilder isn’t about mere size, but maybe being that one fraction of a bodyfat percentage lower than the competition…
Anyway, I wanted to apply this principle to the question being raised of “can we still make a lot of money in the IM arena?”. And while we’re all looking for ways to be different from others in order to standout in this niche, we don’t have to become the pioneers of something never thought of before, rather we can simply make small improvements in certain areas, or maybe go in a slightly different direction that the masses, etc, etc, etc….
While it looks like we’re all doing the same thing, we all go in our own directions and carve our own paths, and while yes we are in the internet marketing niche, just straying that slight bit from someone else will in time bring about big differences that will help us each standout and offer our own value that others do not. Like Arnold would say that running that extra 5 minutes everyday may not seem like much in the short-term, over the course of 3-4 months he’ll be a whole bodyfat percentage lower than his competition and ultimately standout amongst the masses.
Hopefully this whole metaphor makes sense to you guys, it really hit home with me and I thought I’d share the advice.
Cheers!
Jeff