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The $100K Message Framework Every Coach Needs
32 Plays15 days ago
In this episode, Ken Freire sits down with Jesse Barnett, founder of Message Accelerator, to unpack how solopreneurs can clarify their message, overcome the “curse of knowledge,” and use both human insight and AI tools to communicate ideas that truly resonate. Jesse shares practical frameworks for crafting a clear, repeatable message, explains why simplicity beats complexity, and offers encouragement for emerging coaches who feel stuck or afraid to publish. The conversation also dives into balancing a side business, leveraging LinkedIn for growth, and navigating the opportunities and risks of AI in content creation. fileciteturn0file0
Resources Mentioned
• LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesselbarnett/
• Message Clarity Company – https://messageclarity.co/
• Range (book by David Epstein) – https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/550191/range-by-david-epstein/
Timestamps
• (00:00) Introduction to Jesse Barnett and his work helping people clarify their message
• (02:30) The real difference between average and great books: message clarity before writing
• (04:15) The “curse of knowledge” and why experts struggle to communicate simply
• (06:00) Practical ways to clarify your message (brainstorming partners, externalizing ideas)
• (08:00) Using AI as a tool—how to avoid confirmation bias and content overload
• (10:00) Why simplicity and a clear audience are essential for business growth
• (12:30) Narrowing your focus: choosing one core message instead of chasing everything
• (15:30) Editing, cutting content, and staying true to the core message
• (18:30) Building a side business using LinkedIn and consistent value creation
• (21:30) Overcoming fear of publishing and why imperfect action beats waiting
• (24:30) Measuring what matters: relationships and clients over vanity metrics
• (29:00) Encouragement for emerging coaches to share their message and take action
• (31:00) Rapid-fire business insights: experiments, challenges, goals, and AI disruption
• (34:45) Jesse’s legacy: faith, family, and helping meaningful messages reach the world
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction: Jesse Barnett's Mission
00:00:01
Ken Freire
Welcome back to another episode of Solo Scaled. My name is Ken Freire. I am your host. And today i have Jesse Barnett, the founder of Message Accelerator. Now, there's not a lot of people that I get really jazzed up about where I'm like, man, we we are in line. We have the same core values. And For some reason, I feel like God is just having us in like a very parallel lanes of things, which is really cool to see. And I'm excited to talk about today, Jesse.
00:00:30
Ken Freire
With that being said, i want us to go into your origin story, all the things that that God has done in your life to get you to where you're at today. But before that, just tell everybody, what is it that you do?
00:00:41
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah, thanks so much for having me, Ken. Really excited to talk to you today. So what I do is i help people with a message that they are struggling to communicate effectively. I help them figure out the through line for that message. So I help them figure out how to communicate it well. I do a lot of work in the book space, keynotes, content curriculum, things like that. But I help people who are really struggling to say what they want to say.
00:01:04
JESSE BARNETT
say it in a way that makes sense, that's sticky, that their audience understands and remembers, and that helps them build the impact that they want to make with that message.
00:01:13
Ken Freire
yeah and And now you've been a professional writer for decades, right? Like you've written 11 books?
00:01:19
JESSE BARNETT
At least, yeah. So I've done some books of my own. I've done some collaborative work with some people. And then i actually work for a company during the day, kind of my day job, where I help people develop primarily nonfiction books.
00:01:32
Ken Freire
Yeah, so so you're constantly writing, constantly looking at what's good, what's working. I'm curious, man, what got you started to this? Like, how did you get to the place where you're like, i want to start helping people craft their messages?
The Art of Messaging: Clarity and Challenges
00:01:45
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah, it's it's really funny. I, and you understand this as a writer, because it takes a while to call yourself a writer, it feels like you have to do something spectacular to make it happen.
00:01:55
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:01:56
JESSE BARNETT
And I actually did a LinkedIn post a while back, I have ah ah an award from when I was in the fourth grade, a creative writing award. But it took me till I was in my twenties. I went back to school actually to seminary because I thought i thought nobody's gonna listen to me. So I need to get some more education, education. And then I just did a variety of things, but writing was always in my heart. It was always something that I wanted to do.
00:02:19
JESSE BARNETT
And so I made the switch actually about 11 years ago, went to work, um, doing some work for John Maxwell's organizations, actually working on the creative writing team there. And ah finally in my head, it clicked that I was a professional writer.
00:02:33
JESSE BARNETT
And but along that journey, what really has even refined more than the writing, you know, it takes a while to write a whole book, but even more than that is the critical importance of figuring out what are you going to say?
00:02:47
JESSE BARNETT
Who are you going to say it to? What's the transformation that it's going to bring? How do you have it organized and articulated in a way that not only makes sense to you so that you can communicate it again and again, but how does it make sense to the reader so the reader actually can do something with that?
00:03:03
JESSE BARNETT
And I think that's what separates books that are just okay from really, really good books. And a lot of people don't take that first step of getting clarity on their message. They just decide, well, writers must just open a blank page and stare at it till, you know, something hits them, some kind of a muse hits them. And the best writers really plan and articulate that message well before they ever start typing or writing anything out.
00:03:28
Ken Freire
Man, Jesse, you know, I used to teach a lot in and a university setting and there was great ah professors and then not so great professors. And the not so great professors, it was always very similar to you what you said. It's like they had some stuff that they wanted to teach, but they never took into consideration the person listening and how they would craft it.
00:03:48
Ken Freire
And um I don't want to say that I'm the best teacher, but I was always thinking of my audience. Like, how am I teaching where they're engaged? They understand the content. They walk away being like, I know the major points of of the argument. And because of that, all of a sudden people are like, oh, I like listening to Ken. It wasn't because I was the best. It was just because was clear about where I was going. Why do you feel like there's so many people who don't know how to be clear?
00:04:15
JESSE BARNETT
I think it's the curse of knowledge, honestly. And and I think you you brought up teaching and teaching is a great example. i I have some background in teaching too. I did some adult education and I think when you know When you know about a subject, it doesn't matter what it is, you you forget that other people don't know and you forget that there's things that you need to to break down into their simplest terms. And when you try to do that, it can almost feel too elementary.
00:04:42
JESSE BARNETT
And I think people struggle with that because they want to provide value to their reader or their listener or their viewer or whatever it is. but they forget that people often need to start with the basics. And so that curse of knowledge can hold you back from sharing your message in a way that is really, really helpful.
Crafting Messages: Tools and Tips
00:05:01
JESSE BARNETT
and And you hit it spot on. Like when, when you find a teacher who does that well, you lean in and it resonates because you, you feel like they get me, they understand what I'm going through and they, they feel like a trusted guide that can help me out of my own mess or confusion into some kind of a solution.
00:05:21
Ken Freire
So how do you help? Like there's, there's expert led business owners. There's a lot of future writers that we'll talk about here, right? Future authors, future coaches, consultants who are listening to this and they're like, i know I have a message. I know I have maybe a book inside of me, but I don't know where to start in clarifying that message.
00:05:40
Ken Freire
What are some ways, some practical ways you could help them?
00:05:42
JESSE BARNETT
Well, practical ways are having ah a brainstorming partner. And I've got a person that I've worked with, we've done three books together, and he says, you're the best brainstorming partner that I've ever worked with. And so a brainstorming partner asks questions of you and but doesn't just take the first answer. So they ask questions and they listen and they hold, I hope what you're trying to say, they poke some holes in it, they push it around, they say, well, have you considered it from this angle or this perspective? And they, they give you feedback on your ideas.
00:06:15
JESSE BARNETT
So People who, whether they want to write a book or whether they have a coaching business and they want to teach or train or whatever they want to do, you need somebody that's objective and can say, i hear what you're wanting to say.
00:06:27
JESSE BARNETT
i also know where you're wanting to go. So, for example, if a lot of people write books because they want to tie those books to a coaching program or they want to use it to get on stages for keynotes or something like that, that makes a difference in the type of book that you write. So knowing the objective beyond the book is very, very critical.
00:06:45
JESSE BARNETT
But I think a biggest part of it is getting getting the ideas and the stuff out of your head and into a place where that you can see it. So whether you're a whiteboard person and you sketch and doodle, that's what I do. or whether you have a notes app on your phone, or whether you jump on a podcast and just banter back and forth with somebody, whatever it is, if that idea stays locked in your head, it's only going to be shaped by your own perspective. And really, you need somebody else to at least shine a light on it and give you some different ways of looking at things.
00:07:17
Ken Freire
Okay, so one of the ways that I know has been pretty helpful for me, but it's also a double-edged sword, and that's AI. And the reason why I just want to say double-edged sword is because some a lot of times AI can be confirmation biased, right? Where they're like, this is the best idea, and really it's not.
00:07:35
Ken Freire
ah um But like, I'm curious with the rise of AI, how are you using that as a coach or like, you know, so about a sounding board? And how how should people be aware of the um negative proclivities to using AI?
00:07:51
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah, great question. and And I see that, you know, I talked a little bit before we started even recording this about I see two spectrums. I see some people who are very, very good at it and they know how to use AI well. Then I see other people who say, well, I don't really know how to say what I want to say, so I'll just let it clean it up for me. And so it's two very diverse ends of that spectrum. I think you have to remember that AI is designed to be helpful.
00:08:16
JESSE BARNETT
Like it wants to be helpful. And I run into this. I use it all the time for different things. Not not so much for writing, but just for clarification of ideas and running transcripts through and extracting things that I that i specifically have um am having it look for. But I think you have to...
00:08:35
JESSE BARNETT
Ask it to push back. So you have to ask it to say, don't just say, yes, this is an amazing idea. Like give it something to consider, give it something to look for, give it something to say, hey, poke holes in this. Where am I not thinking clearly? What are some other things you need to know to give me better outputs? What are some things that I'm not seeing? What are my own blind spots as I go into this? And so it's You can use the tool well when you do that, when you ask it to not just agree with everything that you have to say. The other thing that is a a danger, maybe that's too strong of a word, but ah a challenge is AI can bombard you with more than you know what to do with.
00:09:15
JESSE BARNETT
And that's really tricky because it all looks good. You see it and you're like, this is amazing, great ideas. And and it starts the creative juices flowing. And then you come back to it and you're you're drowning in that content.
00:09:27
JESSE BARNETT
So I think you need to know You have to have a clear picture of where you want to go when you use it before you ever start using it or else it's almost addictive. You just keep asking questions and it keeps spitting out stuff and you're like, oh, this is all great. And then, you know if you're going to try to write a book or do something else, it's just bloated. It's just too much.
Content Creation: Simplicity and Focus
00:09:44
JESSE BARNETT
And again, you lose your reader or your your audience in that way.
00:09:49
Ken Freire
You know, it sounds like it goes back to that, the curse of knowledge, where if an expert already has that knowledge, but then they supercharge it with AI, it almost becomes even worse because now they don't know, they're trying to compress everything together.
00:10:02
Ken Freire
And it what right what I'm hearing you say is simple is better when it comes to content creation.
00:10:09
JESSE BARNETT
Absolutely. Absolutely. You need to know, you need to know, like in a sentence, who you are and who you help and what the problems they're dealing with and how you help them.
00:10:20
JESSE BARNETT
Like that needs to be the way to do it. You need to know, like a center of the audience, like who is it that you serve? And then a little bit out from there, you know, are there bullseye like rings like that are other people that could benefit, but really who's that core person.
00:10:34
JESSE BARNETT
You need to know what are, I call it the coffee shop question. So if if I sat down from you, Ken, and I said, hey, I have a problem and I think you're the guide that can help me serve or solve that problem.
00:10:41
Ken Freire
Bye.
00:10:47
JESSE BARNETT
We're going down to have coffee. What are the steps I take? How do I walk through? Well, first, you need to do this. Next, you need to do that. Third, you need to do this. A lot of of creators never really think about it in that way.
00:10:58
JESSE BARNETT
And so that is a very simple way that you can map out what your problem, what what your solution is to their problem. And then that becomes sticky and repeatable because you know I've got the five steps or I've got the three principles or I've got the the pillars or the cornerstones or whatever the thing is that's your IP. That's how you actually make it sticky, both in your own mind and then for the people that you serve.
00:11:21
Ken Freire
And this is huge for people who have a business right now, are trying to grow a business, because they're like, sometimes i get a lot of these people. They're like, I'm just a coach. I'm just a consultant. And I'm like well what do you coach about? it And they're like, well, I'm a business coach. a productivity coach. I'm a sales coach. I'm ah i'm like an everything coach. And I'm like, well, what do you stand for? And it's really hard. And you're coming in and you're saying, no, no, be clear about the message of who you work who you want to work with, what you solve. Because if you don't, it's actually going to really hard to get the ideal client that you want.
00:11:52
JESSE BARNETT
Absolutely. And I think that's where there's some strong similarities between you and I, like you were talking about, because I really have a heart for that person, for that coach that is getting started, because I know that the frustration of that place of, I know that I know how to help the people I want to help.
00:11:59
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:12:09
JESSE BARNETT
I know I've got the experience of fitness or, you know, finance or entrepreneurship, whatever the thing is, but there's that block. I don't know how to communicate it well.
00:12:19
JESSE BARNETT
And so you tend to just chase everything and you tend to just throw everything out there and see what sticks. And you frustrate yourself because nobody responds and you frustrate the people, if they even find you, that you're trying to serve because i don't even know you exist because they're not clear on what you do and how you help them.
00:12:37
JESSE BARNETT
So that that that emerging coach, that person who has a heart to serve, who wants to make a difference in the world, but just doesn't quite know how to put their thoughts together, that's the person that I'm really passionate about helping.
00:12:50
Ken Freire
Yeah, one of the struggles I know about that um person is that they have a lot of passions. I think part of the issue is that they're like, I want to do all those things because they see all of it as equally as important in their lives.
00:13:03
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah.
00:13:04
Ken Freire
How do you help them filter through it and say, actually, no, this is the core message and everything else is you know subservient to that? That might be a strong word, but...
00:13:12
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah. No, it makes sense. and And I think the best analogy to to think about this is with writing books. So like you mentioned, I've i've worked on a lot of nonfiction books and I see this a lot where it comes down to a member or it comes down to the audience is a first place to to start. And so, for example, say you're wanting to write a book on helping fathers of young men, you know, grow in in their depth and their maturity and discipleship and all of that.
00:13:46
JESSE BARNETT
there's a There's a audience that's maybe older men that could get a benefit from that. And there's little bitty kids that could get a benefit from that. But if you know that you want to help, you know, dads who have kids that are 10 to 17, say,
00:14:00
JESSE BARNETT
you have to put your message to that dad of a 10 to 17 year old. If you try to do it to a dad of a 38 year old or a dad of a two year old, is it going to help? Yes. But you, you end up deluding and confusing yourself.
00:14:14
JESSE BARNETT
And then if you say, oh I'm also really passionate about Fitness for for middle-aged dads, I'm going to put that in the book too. And marriage, and you start to you just get it confused, right? you gotta get everything you got Everybody is not going to be intrigued in that book.
00:14:32
JESSE BARNETT
So you have to kick figure out who you want to serve and start there. There's no reason you can't write other books or do other keynotes or share other things, but you have to have the passion around the thing that is the core cornerstone part of your content, And let that be the driver of what you want to create, not everything that you have a passing fancy to talk about.
00:14:53
Ken Freire
You know, ah I'm going to put myself in the hot seat because right now I'm writing my own, my own another book. It's a solo book. And it used to be this curriculum I used to do years ago, helping young adults discover their God-given purpose and calling, you know? And I have like 20 hours worth of content easily on it.
00:15:12
Ken Freire
And I'm reshaping it, rewriting it. But now I'm rewriting it for young men, young married men between the ages of 25 35. And the struggle was exactly what you just said. It's like, oh, well, what if I add this? What if I add that? And I have to remind myself constantly. I'm like, I have to be ruthlessly critical and eliminate the stuff that, you know, just destroys the core principle that I'm trying to have them walk away with.
00:15:38
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah, well, and that's a principle like Shakespeare said, brevity is the soul of wit, right? and And a good editor, you think about movies, right?
00:15:43
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:15:46
JESSE BARNETT
Movies are good because they cut certain things and the pacing keeps going. And so there's great scenes that end up on the cutting room floor, but it doesn't advance the story.
00:15:57
JESSE BARNETT
And I think that's the thing that you have to remember is I think I understand why it comes from the right place because you want to serve people well and you want to make sure that you help as many people as you possibly can.
00:16:06
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:16:09
JESSE BARNETT
I think the fear comes in and says, well what if it's the only book I ever write or what if it's the only thing I ever do? If you want to be really clear on your message, Create a holding doc of, hey, this might be great stuff if we go expand it to other people. Like, don't lose the thought.
00:16:24
JESSE BARNETT
Don't lose the creativity. Just put it in a different place until you can either bring it in to what you're working on, or you can have it in a separate place and use it at a different time or for a different project.
Frameworks and Balance
00:16:35
Ken Freire
Yeah. You know, yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine and we were talking about the book Range by David Epstein. And the whole book is about like, how do you how generalists will overcome the world or or triumph over the world?
00:16:40
JESSE BARNETT
Mm-hmm.
00:16:47
Ken Freire
Right. Versus specialists. And I was and the him and I had the same issue with is that it's really good, but it's kind of meaty and over some people's heads when it comes to the content.
00:16:57
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:16:59
Ken Freire
You're like, how do I train this to young adults? And I was like, man, I wish this book was for young adults, like the stories and stuff like that. Lo and behold, as I was like Google Googling his name and the book to remind myself about some of his stories.
00:17:13
Ken Freire
Last fall in 2025, he came out with the book, you know, range for young adults. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. And like right away i went and bought it because I was like, I want to know what it talks about. Yeah.
00:17:24
Ken Freire
And it's that same concept that you were just saying, like, sometimes you just need to put it in a holding pattern because you may come back to it and write the same book, but just for a different audience.
00:17:33
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah, and I think this is an interesting, a little bit of an aside, because this is why I get so excited to help people come up with their core intellectual property and their core teaching framework.
00:17:45
JESSE BARNETT
And what's cool about that is when you have that locked in, like you are the person who is the expert on this framework, right?
00:17:45
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:17:55
JESSE BARNETT
that's the cornerstone of your message. You can expand that in a lot of different directions. And you've seen brands do this, right? Like the five love languages. Then there's the five languages of apology or five love languages for teens, right?
00:18:03
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:18:08
JESSE BARNETT
You take that cornerstone content that you're known for, but you, You address different audiences with it. And if you can, that that's where I think a lot of people don't pause to get that core message of who they are and who they, you know, their, their unique process for something. They don't do that. And so then it's just, let's throw it all out there and see what we can come up with.
00:18:30
Ken Freire
Yeah. So Jesse, you mentioned I think you and I could talk about creating a message, writing books so much. And hopefully this is I think it's going to really helpful for those listening to it because think you resonate really well on on how to communicate this stuff and seeing the need.
00:18:46
Ken Freire
um Even as you were talking about the core message, I was like, oh, what's the core message through my next book? And how does it, what's the through line to my other book? You know, like that thought just came to my mind, making sure it's got to be clear.
00:18:58
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah.
00:18:58
Ken Freire
um But I want to shift a little bit with the time left that we have and talk about your business. And as you have a full time job, you grow in this ah side hustle, what are you doing to make it grow? Because that's the struggle that a lot of people have when it comes to growing their business.
00:19:16
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah, it's it's tricky. You know, you sent me some questions like, where what is the biggest struggle you're facing right now? And i was like, well, how long, how much time do you have? up But here's here's how I'm doing it. so Basically, what I'm building is on the side and what I'm building is that idea built around that core message. So what is it that you want to, what do you want to be known for?
00:19:39
JESSE BARNETT
Who do you want to serve? How do you want to help them? And I love having calls where i where I extract this. Like I love meeting new people. I love helping them extract that. I'm also intrigued with AI and wanting to help position both of those together. So you've got the human element.
00:19:55
JESSE BARNETT
And then you've got the technological element, the tool that helps you accelerate the direction that you have your message go. And so, but the way I'm doing it, like I love LinkedIn. LinkedIn is is my home.
00:20:07
JESSE BARNETT
That's where I live.
00:20:07
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:20:08
JESSE BARNETT
And I love it because you meet so many interesting people there. And like you and I can, like we you make this connection because people, um, you're not, it's not harsh. It's not critical. It feels really helpful. And I think the people that, that I want to serve are there.
00:20:24
JESSE BARNETT
So I'm just trying to to add value. Like I'm just trying to get out there and add a lot of value. My posts are meant to be helpful. I, like I mentioned, I do sketches and things like that. I'm going to start adding more video to it because I want people to see my face as a coach and hear my voice and and go, Oh, okay. I want to talk to that guy. So that's really my my method for doing this. And again, it taps into the gifts that I have to write. It taps into the gifts that I have to just share and teach and and have that.
00:20:53
JESSE BARNETT
um I don't know. i just, I want to be a voice when people see it. When I have calls with people, i always ask at the end, was that helpful? did Did that serve you well? and ah And I want to do more of that in my business. I want to serve people well so that when they walk away, they're excited because they can take their message and make an impact with it.
00:21:12
Ken Freire
Yeah. And I'm sure you love that, like when they get really excited, when the light bulb clicks and they're like, oh my gosh, this is finally me.
00:21:22
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's, you know, as a teacher, it's that aha moment. And i was on a, on a phone call yesterday with a, with a guy we're working on a book now and he's a,
00:21:26
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:21:33
JESSE BARNETT
he's primarily in the leadership business space and he's written other books about that. This current book he's on is a departure from that. It's a, it's a broader book. It's, it's really about um how do you shape the direction you want your life to go and things like that.
00:21:47
JESSE BARNETT
But he was feeling the pressure to put a, I'm putting air quotes, a leadership chapter in there. And we worked the chapter in, it was like chapter nine out of a 10 chapter book.
00:21:53
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:21:57
JESSE BARNETT
And I told him, He's like, how do you think the book goes? And I said, I'm go to be honest with you. I said, it's great, but i I lost interest in that chapter nine because it felt like a departure from where you had taken me the rest of the way. And he's like, I am so glad you told me that because I was struggling with it. My heart wasn't in it. And so we made the decision. going to put the book, the chapter at the end of the book so that the core message goes all the way through. And then if you are that person who needs that, you can self-select and go read the chapter or you can leave it alone.
00:22:28
JESSE BARNETT
But having that, the ability to say that to him and him to trust me to say that was very rewarding for both of us. Because again, I want the book to be great for the reader. I want it to be awesome for the reader. I don't want the reader to go, oh you had me until now and I put it down.
00:22:44
Ken Freire
You know, Jesse, this... this brings up an excellent point why before you go out and self-publish, having someone like yourself coming in with either fresh eyes or who's been with you throughout the whole time to be like, hey, actually that chapter doesn't fit or that's not great or hey, you need to expound on this more is going to be immensely helpful.
00:23:06
Ken Freire
um I know with our last book, We used AI for it and I co-authored it. So we had two people, we were going back and forth, constantly looking at it and poking holes in it.
00:23:16
Ken Freire
But as you were talking about it, even in my mind, I'm thinking, oh man, I wonder if Jesse looked at this, if there was a chapter he would have taken out.
00:23:24
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah.
00:23:24
Ken Freire
In a good way.
00:23:25
JESSE BARNETT
Sure.
00:23:26
Ken Freire
you know like i'm i'm not I'm not disparaging myself, but like, oh, having someone with that type of expertise is invaluable is what I'm trying to get at.
00:23:30
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah.
00:23:33
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah. No, you're you're right. And I think i think it's a it's a fine line because I run into this a lot where people want to get feedback. like They get excited and they want to share it with somebody.
00:23:44
JESSE BARNETT
And I always say, If you ask somebody for their opinion, they're going to feel obligated to give it to you, whether it needs to be there or not. And so like a book cover, like what do you think about this? Well, what about if you did it this way and change this color? Like people are gonna feel obligated to give you their opinion. if You gotta be careful whose counsel you seek, right? And you you want somebody whose counsel is gonna make things better. But at the same time, you you read something you wrote that you're really proud of in two years, and you're a different person,
00:24:15
JESSE BARNETT
You've grown, your your mind has expanded, you've learned more things.
00:24:15
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:24:18
JESSE BARNETT
And now you see things and you say, oh, I should have done it this way. I would have done it different now. And and like I don't think you can fall into that trap because anything you create, it's based on what you know now.
00:24:29
JESSE BARNETT
And yes, there's probably going to be things better, but the world moves so fast. You know, I would counsel people, don't hold yourself back from getting your message out there because when you do, you're robbing the people that could benefit from that message. They're never going to see it if you wait to make it perfect.
00:24:46
JESSE BARNETT
So sometimes it's better to get it out there. Yes, absolutely. Have somebody that can give you good feedback, but don't hold it back and and rob the world of what makes you brilliant.
Consistency and Goals
00:24:57
Ken Freire
And going back to that emerging coach consultant, they're probably the ones who need to hear that the most right now because they're like, oh, man, I got to hold back even more. And they've been holding back for years. So I'm glad that you brought that up because they're the ones who'd be like, no, just go, just publish, just post the content, create the blog, create the podcast. Just do it because the more you do it, the more you actually get clarity.
00:25:19
JESSE BARNETT
Absolutely. And, you know, it's interesting because I that's probably a blind spot for me. Like I started writing a blog in 2006. It was just a Christian blog. I'd hear a message and I'd write some inspirational something.
00:25:28
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:25:31
JESSE BARNETT
And so I just practiced for years and I run into people. I meet people. that people that work with me on LinkedIn that are scared to hit publish. They just are worried about hitting publish.
00:25:42
JESSE BARNETT
And it's it's an eye opening thing for me because I don't think twice. I just throw it out there. I know the new cycle moves fast and it's like this isn't always going to be great, but I'm going to keep making noise.
00:25:49
Ken Freire
yeah
00:25:52
JESSE BARNETT
And I think it is a good reminder if you are an emerging coach, if you're listening to this, the best way first of all, most people are going to want you to succeed. So if you're a decent human being and can like, if they're part of your audience, like you got the values, you got the faith, you got this direction, people want you to succeed.
00:26:09
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:26:11
JESSE BARNETT
And so there's going to be some trolls that give comments and all of that. That's just part of doing business. But, don't Don't sleep on the fact that that little post that doesn't seem like any big deal still has the power to help somebody.
00:26:26
JESSE BARNETT
and And try it. Put your work out there. Learn and just keep moving forward.
00:26:31
Ken Freire
Yeah. You know, the other day i was thinking about that that exact same thing for those who struggle with posting. And like there's some posts that I've been getting that only hit like 150 impressions. and Then there's other that hit like 500. And I'm like, what's wrong with those 150? And fifty and my my problem analytical side of my of me is trying to solve the problem.
00:26:51
Ken Freire
And I actually just felt like the Holy Spirit the other day was like, hey, if there was 115 people that you were talking to, in an audience or read that and were impacted, would you be okay with that?
00:27:03
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah, that's a great perspective.
00:27:04
Ken Freire
And it and i was like, oh, you're right. And even if it wasn't 150, because it's just an impression, they might have gone through the whole thing, but what if there was 50 or 10? Would I still be okay with impacting 10 people at a time?
00:27:13
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah.
00:27:16
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:17
Ken Freire
And I'm like, okay, I'm keep posting.
00:27:19
JESSE BARNETT
That's good.
00:27:20
Ken Freire
And you know sometimes it hits, sometimes it doesn't. That's okay. That's part of the the crazy journey of social media algos.
00:27:25
JESSE BARNETT
Well, and you can't predict either, right? Like the things that you think are like, man, this is going to be lights out and do awesome.
00:27:27
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:27:30
JESSE BARNETT
You don't know. that here I'll tie this to this. If you're building your business, The vanity metrics sometimes can derail you from what's accurate. So again, the purpose of your content, yes, you want to make an impact. Yes, you want to help people. But if you're a coach and you're running a business and you're trying to actually tie this to getting on stages or your coaching program or something like that, your aim is to get people to begin to know, like, and trust you and say, this person's message could help me and i want to work with them.
00:28:02
JESSE BARNETT
So if if that's your goal, other than just, I just want to put stuff out there to put stuff out there, like you out of that 150, if one or two or five become a coaching client or have a connection that gets you on a stage or you can collaborate, that's that's the metric that you want to measure more than just did somebody put a thumbs up on my post.
00:28:23
Ken Freire
Yeah, 100%. Jesse, you and I could probably talk for hours, dude. And I'm like excited because I was like, we could just, I'm like, we should just start our own podcast and talk about everything we want to.
00:28:33
JESSE BARNETT
Great.
00:28:34
Ken Freire
um But I want to wrap up here because there's a lot that we can address, but there is a a struggling coach right now trying to figure out what do I do with all the information I just heard?
00:28:48
Ken Freire
You know, they're like, they can be a little bit excited. they're like, I know I have a core message. I know there's stuff in me, but I just don't know where to start. And you talked about brains stump brainstorming, having this, doing that, just posting.
00:29:02
Ken Freire
Can you just give that person a little bit words of encouragement before we go into our expert led business trend report segment?
00:29:09
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah, absolutely. Well, first of all, let me just encourage you, and and I'll say this from a place of faith, because before we even got on this on this podcast, I was just praying, and i was just thinking through this, and i and I thought, God gives each of us a message that we are meant to share, and He gives us a perspective. He gives us um highs and lows, ups and downs in life. He gives us people in our life. And if if you feel like you have a message to share, don't ignore that. like Like, follow those promptings. Keep going till you figure out what it is and you figure out how to share that.
00:29:49
JESSE BARNETT
So don't like stay the course. I'll say that. I mentioned that I'm on LinkedIn. There's a link on my thing to just book a free call just to like chop it up, like have a conversation with it. And so, you know, go there and I'll hop on and let's, I promise I will add value to you if you talk to me and we just, you know, no those strings. Like, let's just go through and see what your idea is and and see what that looks like. And then the last thing is put it out there, like find somebody to share it with. And this can be as simple as,
00:30:18
JESSE BARNETT
and encouraging text with something that you want people to consider. It can be a LinkedIn post or whatever social media that you're on. It can be like a article that you write on your website. Just something happens when you take what's in your head and put it out into the world.
00:30:33
JESSE BARNETT
And so do that. Don't let fear hold you back. Do that. And the the right people will resonate. The right people will find you and you'll start to build some headway around that message.
00:30:45
Ken Freire
That's a good word, man. All right. I want to switch gears for the last few minutes that we have together. And I've been doing asking this, every entrepreneur, the same five questions. And as you know, I got a, my goal is to interview 110 entrepreneurs this year.
00:30:54
JESSE BARNETT
Okay.
00:31:00
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah.
00:31:00
Ken Freire
So I got a lot that I'm doing, a but same five questions.
00:31:02
JESSE BARNETT
You got lot to do
00:31:05
Ken Freire
So I'll start. You don't have to answer. it doesn't have to be a long answer, 20 seconds.
00:31:09
JESSE BARNETT
do.
00:31:09
Ken Freire
So question number one, what's something in your business you're experimenting with right now?
00:31:15
JESSE BARNETT
I am experimenting with a hybrid model of serving people. And what I mean by that is I don't just sell a product and I don't just sell myself. I blend the two together.
00:31:31
JESSE BARNETT
So it's access to me. It's a discovery call and then a a product that you can take away with it versus just, hey, buy my digital course or, hey, let's work together for the next year and and co-write a book. So it's it's that hybrid way of doing business. I'm really excited about that because I think it taps into my gifts and it is a I think it's going to serve people really well.
00:31:53
Ken Freire
So question number two, what's part of the, uh, what part of your business feels the most influx or keeps you up at night the most?
00:32:03
JESSE BARNETT
I'd say the feast or famine of it. when you When you work for yourself or when you're an entrepreneur, um you would love to have every two weeks or every 30 days, a new dose of business coming in.
00:32:15
JESSE BARNETT
You'd love to have, ah you know, like, Hey, great. We're going to start this project. That's never how it works. It was like that when I was doing carpentry work and it's like that doing writing work.
00:32:20
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:32:23
JESSE BARNETT
Like you get three jobs at once and you say, how in the world am I going to do this? I don't want to say no to any of them. So I guess I'll figure it out. And then you go through a grind season and then you go through a little bit of a fallow season.
00:32:35
JESSE BARNETT
And that's, that's just the nature of it.
00:32:37
Ken Freire
Yep. um Question number three, what's a goal you're building toward this year that you're really excited about?
00:32:47
JESSE BARNETT
I feel like this should have specific metrics. I feel like I should have a smart goal in mind that I don't necessarily have. um What I'm excited about goes back to that hybrid way of doing business. Like I i really want to help I'll pick 100 because you've got 100 podcasts. I'm going to name it. This is it. We're going live. we're going public now. I would love to help 100 people get clarity on that message and and build them this AI tool that I'm working on so that they aren't frozen. They can actually go put their message out into the world. And I'm i'm all in on that.
00:33:18
Ken Freire
Sweet. Question number four, where do you see the industry shifting? And you're you're in a hybrid of like the book industry, the coaching industry. Where do you see the industry shifting and how are you preparing for it?
00:33:31
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah, well, I mean, the big one, and this goes in with why you're doing all these podcasts, obviously, is AI. Like, AI is a huge disruptor. um my day So the day job that I mentioned is...
00:33:43
JESSE BARNETT
I work with authors for usually at least a year to extract and collaborate and create a ah really a custom book. It's very relational. It's a white glove.
00:33:54
JESSE BARNETT
You know, I'm going to pull out all your stuff. I'll do the writing for you. And, you know, we work on it together. So it's it's like ghostwriting, but I don't love that term because I collaborate with people. And so it's much more two voices.
00:34:07
JESSE BARNETT
AI is a huge disruptor in that because as I mentioned, there's people who are getting better at using AI and then there's the whole integrity thing. Am I allowed? Can I do it? Is it is it cheating? All of that. And then there's people who don't know how to use it well and just I think what everybody's afraid of is like just garbage books or garbage messages being out there. And so I think if you're a business or even just an individual, you have to figure out how to use that effectively and then also keep growing, right? Because it's not going to look the same in six months as it does today when we record this podcast.
00:34:41
Ken Freire
Absolutely. All right, last question. What's the legacy you want to leave behind?
00:34:46
JESSE BARNETT
Man, I've been married. i celebrated 25 years last year with my wife. I got two adult kids that are amazing. And i mean, that's my legacy is my family.
00:35:01
JESSE BARNETT
My faith and my family are are top of top of mind. But beyond that, I think God has given me a gift to be able to help people with the message to pull out and extract it and get excited around sharing it. And there's a lot of noise in the world. There's a lot of junk in the world. And if I can help people share messages that make the world a better place, that impact people, that that influence in the best way possible, that's a legacy that I'm very proud to have accomplished.
00:35:33
Ken Freire
Praise God, man. Jesse, for those who are like, I need Jesse's collect clarity, brainstorm dumping, soundboarding guy, and get that free call. What's the best way to get ahold of you?
00:35:44
JESSE BARNETT
Yeah, I would say find me on LinkedIn. Like that's the best way to go. LinkedIn, it's just at Jesse L. Barnett, so my middle initial, as is the best way to find me. um I have a messageaccelerator.com website that probably needs to be upgraded, but but LinkedIn is where all the freshest thoughts are. And there's a link to book that clarity call if you want to do that and just learn more about my style and the way I teach and train.
00:36:08
Ken Freire
Perfect, and that's Barnett with two Ts. And I'll put that in the show notes just in case for everybody to to find him. Jesse, thank you so much for being on the podcast. Thank you for everything that you're doing and helping other people and for all the authors that you've been helping to actually get their word out. Because you said it earlier,
00:36:26
Ken Freire
That message is supposed to help someone and make them better. And that's what you're still trying to do now at mass with as many coaches and consultants as possible, man. And I'm excited for what you're doing in the future.
00:36:39
JESSE BARNETT
Thanks so much. i appreciate you having me.