My phone buzzed at 7 AM on a Saturday.
Photo message from Dr. Roberts.
It was her desk. Coffee ring on the wood. Scattered papers. And there, next to her keyboard, was our 14-point compliance checklist.
Laminated.
Coffee-stained.
Check marks in dry-erase marker.
"Workshop #7 prep," her text read. "Every. Single. Box. ✓"
I smiled. Six months ago, this same doctor wanted to fight me over a voided guarantee.
The $12,000 Argument
"I changed the date by TWO DAYS," Dr. Roberts had said, her voice sharp with frustration. "Tuesday to Thursday. Same week. How could that possibly matter?"
"It matters," I said.
"That's ridiculous."
"That's the checklist."
"The checklist is stupid."
"The checklist is non-negotiable."
She hung up on me.
Twenty minutes later, she called back.
"Fine. Explain why two days costs me my guarantee."
So I did:
- Facebook optimized for Tuesday people
- Found Thursday people instead
- Reminder sequence hit at wrong times
- Thursday competed with community theater
- 9 attendees instead of projected 19
"That's... actually logical," she admitted.
"The checklist usually is."
The Lamination Moment
Workshop two, Dr. Roberts followed every checkbox. No creativity. No improvements. No exceptions.
Results: 19 attendees, $14,000 revenue.
"I need this checklist on my desk," she said.
"I'll email it."
"No. I need it LAMINATED. ON. MY. DESK."
Two days later, another photo. The checklist, freshly laminated, taped to her desk. "My new bible," she texted.
The Religion of Repetition
Six workshops later, Dr. Roberts has become our most compliant client. Religiously, obsessively, almost comically compliant.
Her team has nicknames for each checkpoint:
- Item #3 (Fund ads $600-1000): "The Sweet Spot"
- Item #7 (Don't change dates): "The Roberts Rule"
- Item #10 (Follow script 85%): "The Holy 85"
They have a pre-workshop ritual. Everyone gathers around the laminated checklist. They read each item aloud. They check it off together.
"It's weird, I know," she told me. "But it works."
Workshop revenues:
- #1: $2,400 (pre-checklist disaster)
- #2: $14,000
- #3: $16,000
- #4: $15,500
- #5: $18,000
- #6: $19,000
- #7: $17,500
Total: $102,400
Cost of lamination: $3
ROI on following rules: 34,133%
The Text That Made My Day
Last week, 10 PM, another text from Dr. Roberts:
"My colleague asked how I'm getting such consistent workshop results. I told her about the checklist. She laughed and said I'm overthinking it."
"What did you say?"
"I showed her my revenue reports. She stopped laughing."
"And?"
"She wants the checklist. Already bought a laminator."
The Uncomfortable Truth
Here's what nobody wants to admit: Success is boring.
It's the same checklist. The same process. The same discipline. Every. Single. Time.
Dr. Roberts gets it now. She sends me photos not because I need them, but because she's proud of her consistency. That coffee-stained, marked-up, laminated piece of paper represents $100,000+ in revenue.
"You know what the checklist really is?" she asked me recently.
"What?"
"Freedom. I don't have to think about what to do. I just have to do it. Fourteen checkboxes between me and success. That's it."
That's it.
Your bank account doesn't care about your creativity. Your RF/IPL device doesn't appreciate your improvements.
The checklist works. Work the checklist.
Even if it means laminating it and taking photos for your consultant at 7 AM on a Saturday.
Especially then.
*P.S. - Dr. Roberts texted while I was writing this. Workshop #8 prep photo. Every box checked. "Getting it re-laminated," she wrote. "The old one's too coffee-stained to read."
Some religions have ancient texts. We have a one-page checklist.*
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