Planet Perry Glossary of Terms
Every tribe develops its own lingo, argot, parables and epic tales. Having a common "language" means you can work together easier and faster and more effectively with those in the tribe. You, dear reader, should strive to develop shorthand language for your tribe as well. And since New Renaissance Club has been around for over 20 years now, we have developed quite a vocabulary!
Here are some of the most common terms and metaphors used in our tribe...
20/120
An expansion of the 80/20 principle. The bottom 20 percent of your customers, employees, and processes actually cost you money.
4 Work Quadrants
Categories for types of work - sweet life, work ethic, barnacle work, and Renaissance work.
5 Power Disqualifiers
Criteria used to filter out prospects that are a poor fit for a product or service. Do they have the money? Can they say yes? Do they buy into your USP? Do they have a bleeding neck? Does your product or service fit their overall plans?
5/67
An expansion of the 80/20 principle. 5% of your inputs are responsible for 67% of your outcomes.
$10-an-hour work/$10,000-an-Hour work
Differentiating between low-value tasks and high-value strategic work.
80/20
Refers to the Pareto Principle, which posits that 80% of results come from 20% of causes.
80/20 Curve
A tool that x-rays your current customers to determine how many would buy at a given price.
Axis Shift
Changing the fundamental way something is viewed or approached.
Bleeding Neck
A metaphor that describes a critical, urgent problem that demands immediate attention and resolution. A prospective client with a “bleeding neck” is facing an urgent, critical problem that needs immediate resolution. This concept is crucial for entrepreneurs and businesses in identifying and targeting potential clients who are most likely to need and value their services or products.
Bottom of the Swamp
From the Beowful epic. The idea that, often, the REAL problem is not what you think it is and is merely a symptom (Grendel). The real problem (Grendel’s mother) is at the bottom of the swamp. Often, you must develop new weapons or strategies to defeat the real problem.
Build a Moat
Creating barriers to competition in the business landscape.
The Center is the Edge
The secret to cutting-edge breakthroughs is not new discoveries but superior mastery of ancient principles.
Chinese Water Torture
Slow, persistent advertising, like autoresponder email campaigns.
Epic Story
Powerful, transformative narratives that shape our understanding or perception.
Espresso Machine Principle
The idea that a subset (20%) of customers will pay significantly more (like 4x) for a premium product/service.
Evolution 2.0
A book discussing the shortcomings of neo-Darwinist theories of evolution and how evolution really operates. A new paradigm for understanding life itself.
Fibonacci
A sequence where each number is the sum of the two preceding ones (0,1,1,2,3,5...).
Fractal
Structures, principles, processes that look similar at any level of magnification.
Glenn Livingston Survey
A 3-question survey method developed by Dr. Glenn Livingston, to determine what your customers consider their biggest problem, how difficult they believe it is/was to solve that problem, and what it means/will mean if they can solve it.
Gravitational Slingshot
The theory that a detour around a body with great gravitational pull actually increases the relative speed of a spacecraft, thus conserving fuel and enabling it to reach its destination faster. Applied to business: a detour into a profound, but seemingly unrelated topic/hobby/field/activity leads to greater insights and ideas that will help you grow your business.
Head Trash
Limiting beliefs or negative thoughts that prevent an individual from achieving success or seeing opportunities. More on financial headtrash here.
Hybridization
Combining two different things to create something new and beneficial.
IF IF THEN ELSE
A guarantee exercise that helps you define your best customers, what niche to address, and how to develop a Definitive Selling Proposition, Star Business and/or Simplifier Business. Sometimes referred to as the Power Prism. More on the IF IF THEN ELSE USP / Guarantee here.
Lizard Brain
The primal part of our brain responsible for survival instincts.
Long Dark Night of the Soul
A spiritual crisis or profound period of doubt and despair.
Magic Gumball Machine
An automatic system that consistently produces sales, akin to putting a coin in a gumball machine and getting a gumball every time. The concepts of Lifetime Value of a Customer and the Cost to Acquire a Customer are the “gumball” and the “coin” respectively. “How much money would you be willing to put in a gumball machine if you were certain you’d get a customer out?”
Marketing DNA
A tool for assessing your individual approach and strengths in marketing. Can be very valuable in determining who you should add to your team, and how to find them.
Martini Glass
A tool for determining visitor value. How much will it cost to scale your traffic? How much will a boost in conversions increase your market share? This tool tells you.
Maze 2.0
A web marketing strategy that enables you to appear to be “everywhere” for your best prospects.
Media Spiral
A way of determining what advertising platforms or media you should investigate or leverage based on where your customers are and your unique selling proposition.
Memos from the head office
Advice or inspiration that one feels is coming from a higher power or subconscious.
Network Effect for Mere Mortals
The idea that ordinary people/businesses can achieve network effect, where the value of a product/service increases as more people use it.
New Renaissance
The idea that we're entering a new era of creativity, innovation, and opportunity similar to the Renaissance period.
Peel and Stick
a simple method for improving clickthrough rates.This method ties in directly with the Star Principle, a concept taught by Richard Koch. Hidden inside Peel & Stick is the principle for how you become the top dog in a growing market.
Pink Kool-aid
The propaganda, misinformation or BS of a particular scam or scheme. “Drinking the Pink Kool-Aid”
Play as Hard as You Work
The idea that your recreation should be as fascinating and engaging as your work. Most entrepreneurs don’t “recharge” by sitting on the beach sipping an umbrella drink.
Poodles/Wolverines
Two different types of entrepreneurs. Wolverines are feral, persistent, and tough. Poodles are the opposite.
Pre-Gutenberg
Referring to the time before the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg. The idea is that if it survived the days when every work had to be copied by hand or passed along orally over the generations, it must be pretty darned important!
Rack the Shotgun
A concept about quickly identifying genuinely interested prospects from those who aren't interested. Ask about the somewhat risque story behind the term.
Renaissance Time
A way to start your day with reflection, planning, listening, and accessing the wisdom of the past. As opposed to reaching for your phone and answering emails and diving right into the tyranny of the urgent.
RFM
Recency, Frequency, Monetary Value. A marketing analysis tool to determine the best customers.
Simplify
From Richard Koch, a systematic approach to making something far easier to understand or execute.
Skin in the Game
Having a personal stake or risk in a particular endeavor.
Star Principle
From Richard Koch, a Star business is one where you can be the undisputed number one in a market that is growing.
Stupidity Tax
The "cost" one pays for not making informed decisions.
Swiss Army Knife
A tool for systematically generating new ideas for ads, emails, or other marketing materials.
Symbiogenesis
The merging of two separate organisms to form a single new organism.
Tactical Triangle
A model that encapsulates the three essential components of marketing: Traffic, Conversion, and Economics, with 80/20 in the center impacting all angles.
Taguchi
A method of robust optimization.
Thin Place
An experience or place where the separation between the divine and the earthly feels particularly thin.
The top 20% of the top 20%
A fractal aspect of the 80/20 principle, indicating the most influential subset of your initial influential set.
USP/DSP
Unique Selling Proposition/Definitive Selling Proposition. These are distinct offers or aspects of a product/service that differentiate it from competitors. A DSP is not only definitive but also defensible. It leverages Star, Simplify, Tactical Triangle Takeover, Network Effect or all of the above.