Earning $3,304,011 from 40 Pieces of Advice from the Rhodium Network

I was on the hot seat for 2 hours, faced my biggest internal fears, and earned $3,304,011 for NineTwoThree AI Studio with the advice given by members of Rhodium.?

In March of 2023 NineTwoThree was looking at a downturn. We had sent out over 37 proposals with only 7 wins. Something was very wrong. I didn’t know who in the company could help anymore - it was my problem to right the ship and learn how to win clients again. So where did I turn??

Rhodium.?

What is Rhodium?

A community of online business owners that focus on profitability and holistic entrepreneurship. Friends and founders I have known for 4 years now. People I call to celebrate, laugh, cry - and in this case - get roasted.?

On a hot day in March of 2023 at our annual retreat I sat down with 12-15 entrepreneurs with a notepad and two ears. I was willing to do anything to get consistent clients from my leaky lead funnel.?Being vulnerable is a super power.

I didn’t know how to fix the pain we were feeling daily. Employees are unable to help founders when the money is just not coming in. Do we change business models? Do we reduce the team? Do we niche down? Niche up? Hire??

For an hour the members of the round table listed out 40 action items I could take in my business.?

Here is a sample of some of the suggestions:

1. GET SALES TRAINING (Mike will suggest some sales training tools)
2. Create a whitepaper on excellent project management - how we deliver on time and on budget - Entreprises LOVE that
3. Try and get new customers by offering code audits, M&A audits, or code reviews
4. You SHOULD pick a niche - but you don't have to if you are good at one thing. What's your one thing? (Building Great Products?)
5. Find PE firms that worked with our customers, then send them a video about how happy our customer is with us

Everyone providing advice was honest and direct. Entrepreneurs have events in their lives that they remember and remember even more when it hurts.

Types of Advice

Understanding that the advice given is a recall of a journey means that the advice is something that has three uses for me.?

1. Advice I need now - because I am dealing with it.?
2. Advice I need in the future - because I have not seen the same problems yet.?
3. Advice I am past - already solved.?

Categorizing the Advice Into Four Categories

Advice is not always actionable. Advice comes from someone looking into your journey - understanding a struggle moment - and providing an idea that worked for their business or personal journey.

All 40 items were entered into my Todoist into one of the four categories.?

I have always found this matrix helpful and pasted this image to the top of my “advice list” in Todoist. I believe I have modified a grid from Manufacturing and sorry if this is not original to the owner…

The items marked as “coaching” became company rocks over the quarters where it was no longer advice - but a company goal. The items marked “mentoring” became quarterly goals for myself. And the discrete and Counsel items were listed to renew every month as a reminder.?

Tracking The Advice in Todoist

Every month, I would read through the 40 rocks to recall if any could be actionable. Throughout the year I would use Rhodium slack and Rhodium to set up 1-on-1 with the entrepreneurs.?

Some items are personal. Rhodium members know me better than my team. I am a CEO - I can't share everything with my team - I share it with Rhodium who understands my business and my personal goals. So advice here is more important than advice from my team.?

I share goals, aspirations, family needs - I want to be a holistic entrepreneur - so the advice should line up with THOSE goals - not “Get more leads.”

With that all in mind each month the list becomes a guiding light of what I can do - what items I can review - what other people “think of me.”?

Tracking and Results

The results are tracked from March 2022 to March 2023 and how the advice affected NineTwoThree from March 2023 to 2024….

Total Success = 11

Total Failures = 4

Total Pivots = 4

The result was that the 40 items improved NineTwoThree AI Studio by $3,304,011.00 and we now close over 50% of our proposals. We have 30% more opportunities and 78% more clients.?

Closing The Loop

People that provide advice want to hear results. I have informed the Rhodium members in a one on one call with a “thank you this is working.” Or, ”you should see the results!” It provides great conversation starters and connections - and shows that I was really listening and willing to try!

People also don't mind the negative follow up - "Hey, this isn't working."

I called one member after a hard decision with the company, and he explained what was NOT working. He was honest, it hurt, but it only hurt because it was true, and I knew it. I just didn't want it to be true.?

CEOs have a lonely role and it's of the job. Employees do not understand all the decisions we have to make or why one decision can be so difficult. Guiding a team of 70+ people have its challenges and understanding from others that have “done it before” allows me to sidestep land minds. I am so thankful for the Rhodium group.?

In March 2024 we got together here in Cancun Mexico. I hope that another struggling entrepreneur had a round table, took notes from the advice given, and has the same result by 2025. I also hope that I was able to help at least one person that needed the boost in confidence to get better, be better, and be back to themselves.?

To all the families, founders, entrepreneurs and overall awesome people - let’s win 2024.