I’ve got (what is to
[2023-03-30 08:28:50 PM] : I’ve got (what is to me) a new and odd situation that I could use some feedback on. Need to get this out of my own head and hear different perspectives.
Posted in a thread, any feedback / help appreciated :pray:
1 Reply
[2023-03-30 08:30:34 PM] : Some of my ebombing includes tutorials that work with specific products to help fix my audiences pain.
Recently the founder and CEO of one of those products reached out via a Loom (video) asking me to stop participating in watering holes if I’m going to link to my own tutorials, that (in part) use their product as a piece of the solution.
Why?
My tutorials are for a prior version of their product, they’ve since released a newer version.
It’s understandable, he doesn’t want to have his current (or future customers) confused, and he’s said as much in his video message.
As an aside, I’ve had a good (but not close) working relationship with this CEO and this company over the last 3+ years. We are on good terms, he’s always been grateful of what I do. There are no issues.
A few problems with this on my end.
Heavy & Hard Lift:
While yes, they are for a previous version of their software, it’s a heavy and hard lift for me to rip through all of them, update them, and then discard all that work right now. It actually hurts my business to do so, currently.
Positive Feedback:
I get regular feedback from my audience that these tutorials are a HUGE help, even though they use the newer version of this CEO’s software, and my tutorials walk through the old version. I’ve never had one person tell me this scenario was a problem, only that it hugely helped them.
Leverage Good Relationship:
I’m working on a new product that will integrate with various other tools in my space, and because of this existing, good relationship, I was going to approach him about about it for his software.
-
This CEO was fairly firm in his message. Stop doing this.
But I’d like to turn this around as a win for us both.
I’ve thought through several ideas, many of which involve using the PDF formula I’ve learned here as a response to him.
My goal is to keep a good relationship going with this person, remove their pain (fear), and give them a fix that not
only benefits them alone, but us both.
I’d really love to hear anyone else’s experiences or thoughts on how to solve this matter in a positive way, first.
Thanks!
[2023-03-31 05:22:23 AM] : Hey Chris Drit. Sounds like a tricky situation you are in - especially given your relationship with this CEO.
Perhaps your challenge now is you feel like you have been presented with a choice that has potential downsides either way you go? i.e. option 1, ignore the CEO and potentially fall out and thus jeopardise your potential new product integration, option 2, do as the CEO asks, spend a lot of time undoing stuff and potentially put you at odds with your audience.
Does that sum it up for how you're feeling?
In my experience it often helps to try, best you can, to take a step back from the immediate decision and look at the bigger picture.
Can you answer for yourself why you are even doing what you do for work and your audience? Who is it for and what does success look like for you in say 3-5 years time? What can you do today to help the future you be able to look back and say, yes that was a tough one but I'm happy I made the best decision at the time because this is how I felt and this was the right thing to do.
I had an opportunity to join forces with a guy but really it was never going to be the "partnership" he was selling, It was more a cheap way to recruit my services and stop me working with others. He's gone on to have massive success tbf (just crossed 1m YT subscribers this week) but for me this wasn't about helping him do that. This was more about seeing what I could do building my own relationship with my own audience - not piggy backing off his show. Many times I question that decision - I could be financially much better off - but I'd never had met the people I have or done the things I have tried by throwing my all in with him.
OK so it's not directly related to your situation but by taking a step back I was able to clarify what I wanted at the time and it made walking away from the "opportunity" easier because I still maintained the values of why I chose this career path in the first place - even if it was still the
stupidly more difficult one.... :smile: If I wanted a job (or sudo job), and everything that that entails, then I'd have one.
In your case, it does sounds like there is some good stuff you could do together. Personally I would try to push back on this CEO and really dig into why he is asking you to do something that is, in many ways, non of his business to ask you.
It might be that the CEO is worried about something else, within their business that you are not party too, and kind of panicking a bit when they see anything that they feel threatens that or doesn't align with their vision of how things will improve for them and their business.
I think it sounds like you're looking to take a very constructive approach here - and thanks to your Safari training (!), you are now instinctively looking for the layers of pain this CEO is feeling beyond the immediate - arguably out of order - request being made to you.
Hope this helps a little buddy. We are with you. Hang in their and I'm sure others will help here with better advice than mine :smile: #keeptruckin
[2023-03-31 05:02:30 PM] : > It might be that the CEO is worried about something else, within their business that you are not party too, and kind of panicking a bit when they see anything that they feel threatens that or doesn't align with their vision of how things will improve for them and their business.
[2023-03-31 05:03:21 PM] : this is a very keen insight and i agree. feels like there's something else going on here. not in a conspiracy kind of way, but in a "what does the other person really want" kind of way
[2023-04-01 01:31:44 PM] : Is he saying to stop creating and selling tutorials or to just stop selling them on the company site? If they have a section for third party tools, put your links there.
If he is not removing your current posts (with links) they will still work for you.
If you can continue selling, then you'll need to find parallel watering holes outside of the company's control.
I work with at least 2 software houses that don't allow selling 3rd party tools directly in news groups or forums. This never stops anyone that uses the tools from answering a post with "I used Chris D's tutorial - check him out". The 3rd party guys are still invited to the seminars and conferences.
Sorry to hear you've come up against this.
[2023-04-03 11:38:56 AM] : I agree about how it seems that there’s an underlying reason here. If I had to guess at a reason, the version mismatches would be high on my list. I wouldn’t be surprised if they get support requests from customers complaining about “missing features” or “where did X button go, I saw it in a tutorial” or whatever. I don’t know the best way to approach the conversation, but this seems like a strong antidote to that worry…
I get regular feedback from my audience that these tutorials are a HUGE help, even though they use the newer version of this CEO’s software, and my tutorials walk through the old version. I’ve never had one person tell me this scenario was a problem, only that it hugely helped them.[2023-04-03 11:41:09 AM] : if they do get support requests like that, they’re probably only seeing the negative side and are completely unaware of the good those tutorials are doing [2023-04-03 07:11:51 PM] : There is definitely something else going on. His video message reeks of it. It’s a very knee-jerk reaction, scattered message that was not thought through, and it was addressed to me as if I were an employee. Lot’s of “alarmism” and direct commands. There was a distinct kerfuffle about all of this driven by one of his employees and raised to him. Lot’s going on with that. Lots to unwind. I’m trying not to go too far down that rabbit hole. Another business owner commanding me to essentially stop my business for their benefit drives emotions that are not helping me solve this problem. [2023-04-03 07:30:17 PM] : Where I’ve landed so far (and some things already astutely identified): Fear. • He is fearful this already does, or will negatevely impact current and future customers. • Increase costs & complexity for his business. Support requests, unwinding confusion, needing more support staff, more training for them, etc... • Negativity in watering holes, and on the inet in general. • Facing the hard truths that their docs are horrible. Their constant cycling of new docs, support resources, etc.. is a hindrance instead of a help (this is where I’ve come in to add value). • Couple this with what I believe to be a micro-management style that has been reaffirmed from this last message to me. He may lack management experience and fear of being wrong about his choices or having that more clearly visible could be a pain as well. I’ve been direct messaging the OP I publicly replied to that triggered all of this. I asked about their progress and attempted not to lead them, here is the response:
“...it went fine to change everything over once I found the correct docs [migrating from my tutorials to the updated product version]. Although I have to say that it is hard to find correct docs for [product], I think [product] has some tidying up to do :sweatsmile:”_That statement reaffirms other safari data I have as well. Again, the goal is for me to turn this around into a positive win for everyone. If I’ve nailed the pain (still not 100% confident) then I can express how I understand his pain, weave in some dream, and offer a fix. Still unsure how to approach it all, though, or even better confirm my research about what his pain truly is. [2023-04-03 09:19:37 PM] : I think step one is seeing if you can even have a conversation. Saying what you said here in a reply: "your message caught me off guard, hope we can turn this into a conversation that results in a win for everyone" Less is more here. Defensiveness will just be met with more defensiveness. #1 goal should be to listen not convince. [2023-04-04 07:33:04 AM] : Agreed. In my experience, despite having a strong perspective on the situation and the implications for yourself, being a listener is how I'd try to find the win-win. What does success look like - bigger picture - and your immediate fix is to put your coaching hat on, ignore your own emotions (best you can) and see how you can help this guy by understanding him better. Assuming that is what you want to happen :slightly_smiling_face: As an aside, I've always found these situations super hard to navigate on my own without getting up set and defensive myself given my own worries. Some great advice in here that I wish I'd have had on tap in years gone by :slightly_smiling_face: #keeptruckin #goodluck [2023-04-04 04:42:01 PM] : A convo may be a good approach. His original communication was via video (loom) so a lot of listening (beyond just words) has been done. If I can control myself (and this is my problem) than it may not hurt. A benefit might be that I’ve paused all of this with him and tempers may have cooled. He could possibly be in a place where a positive convo could happen. Something to think about for sure. Another approach might be to just respond with a short note (PDF style) and let the chips fall where they may. If that turns out negatively, it may never have gone positively no matter how much effort I put into it. Or maybe that’s what I’d like to convince myself of. My loss is a potential (future) integration, but there are others to work with. If he clears up his thinking he should see that the loss is greater on his end (but that seems to be wishful thinking on my end). [2023-04-04 08:49:35 PM] : Sounds like your head is clear about it [2023-04-05 06:02:25 PM] : Ha! We’ll see :smile: Thanks Samir Chris C dceddia alex for listening and chiming in :pray: You feedback helped me sort out my thoughts and have left in a better place than where I began. [2023-04-05 08:29:39 PM] : I'm glad! Keep us posted. [2023-04-06 12:02:58 AM] : Will do :+1: