Mow, Blow, and Flow

This newsletter ties together many of the concepts of previous newsletters.

So far I’ve written at very abstract and high levels, so I thought I might provide an example of a real digital asset that you could build.

Maybe we could build it together?

Mow Problems

I’ll admit this is a first-world problem and I completely haven’t done any due diligence on how big a problem this really is.

So because I hate yard work and can afford it, I use a lawn mowing service to mow the lawn every 2-3 weeks.

These folks just mow, blow, and go. And they’re done in minutes.

They are not fancy, the only real benefit is convenience.

But because they are so low-cost, they offer very little customer service. And there’s the problem.

I have a fenced-in backyard with a padlocked gate to protect access to my pool; it’s a liability thing.

The lawn service never tells me when they are coming out so I often unlock the gate just in time, or in the worst case, not at all. And then my backyard doesn’t get mowed or gets mowed sometime later.

Like so many things in life, I’ve just ridden it out—for years!

Then an idea hit me!

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The Unlock

Ever notice when you want a particular kind of car, you start seeing it all the time?

As I’ve written so much about concepts like flow, energy, integration marketing, and assets, I can’t help but see or visualize them all the time. They are literally everywhere!

This lawn service has customers that they service 2-3 times a month. That’s their flow—their energy to be tapped, maybe?!

Interesting thought!

Looking at their customers, I know that they appreciate the convenience and are willing to pay on a recurring basis for at least this service. My hypothesis is it doesn’t stop there.

These are homeowners who probably have pride of ownership which means to me there is probably an opportunity for them to be further served. More on this later.

I hope you can see where this is going: these could be some valuable customers if only I had access to them somehow.

Solving the lawn service’s customer service problem seems like it could unlock this access.

Miracle Grow

I’m going to hand-wave over the solution, but don’t you just see it as a solvable problem to be able to have lawn mowing services enter their service schedule every day and then send emails and/or texts to those customers?

I mean, the devil is in the details, but I think you could cobble something together fairly simply.

The customer gets a notification and now knows when service is going to happen. Now they have the information they need to take whatever action is needed. In my case, I now know that I need to unlock the gate.

With that solution in mind, what kind of offer do I make to lawn services?

The most obvious offer is to charge them some kind of monthly fee based on the number of customers or the number of messages.

But could we do better?

Here’s where you look at the Chessboard and think two moves ahead.

Remember, we work for assets, not just cash. Today money is great, but forever money is better.

So the asset I want is that customer list.

Why?

Because I’ll be able to be of service to that kind of customer.

Yes, they may need other lawn and yard products and I could market those to them. But these are also homeowners who occasionally need roofs, windows, remodels, damage restorations, and other high-ticket items.

If I control the notifications, I have a tap into that customer flow.

I could do this completely with some email marketing or sponsorships within those scheduling notifications. Imagine they get the notification, but they also get a related and relevant offer.

I could also invite them to join a Facebook group such as “Local Deals for Austin Homeowners” and make them those aforementioned offers.

And what if I fed customers into that Facebook group through other means; not just through the lawn service flow?

Whoa, now I’ve got an interesting asset!

So back to the question: what’s my offer to lawn services?

The long-term value of my new homeowner list is likely worth more than the long-term value of those lawn services and any recurring fees I might charge them (if I just charged them a subscription fee).

To be clear, I think I should offer the notification service for free for all the above possibilities.

Blowin’ and Goin’

Obviously, there are a lot of assumptions that should be tested, but consider these two additional points:

• If I lose the lawn service as a customer, I still have their customer list if those folks engaged with my offers
• Do I do any work to get additional customers? No, the lawn service does the work.

Now consider if you solve this locally, there’s no reason this won’t work all over the place. This is an intellectual property asset.

The marketing messaging to sell to this customer list is equally transferrable. This is another intellectual property asset.

And heck, maybe you could create an online course to help others create these assets. Another intellectual property asset with a revenue stream.

Maybe get some affiliates to sell it?

Maybe write a Kindle book with a resources section pointing to your course?

All great ideas and I wonder if I should build this on my unused moweddown.com domain name.

No, I didn’t tell you just exactly how to build this asset, but I think you have enough to go on if you choose to explore it.

Or maybe your eyes are more open to seeing the depth of opportunity in everyday problems.

Anyway, keep an eye out for opportunity and keep blowin’ and goin’…

— Bill

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