THE LAW OF RASPBERRY JAM - Influence or Affluence? - Gerald Weinberg - 010

but that for the damnable law of raspberry jam we're finally here guys raspberry jam and what is this ironclad principle standing between me and the happy riches tip take a small jar of raspberry jam and a few loaves of bread with a bit of experimentation you'll soon observe that quote the wider you spread it the thinner it gets I've built many startups most of them the fasts of Bitcoin is exactly at the place that I like to be we're gonna end it right there [Music] I love reading reading opens up the mind to different worldviews different perspectives different experiences and can help fill in the gaps in your own thinking I was reading through one of my favorite books of all time the secrets to consulting by Jerry Weinberg published in 1985 I believe originally and I just I have a personal copy I have

it signed by Jerry Weinberg because I had an opportunity to meet him and to be to go to some of his his workshops and just speak with him have lunch with him it was a personal connection to me through one of my other consulting peers don don gray and so i want to give props where props or do and so i absolutely love this book now there's a particular chapter there's a particular section in this book around the 4th law of consulting and the law of raspberry jam in which I in which spoke so heavily to me this morning and today throughout the day that I just have to share it with you guys because it's it's it's a personal struggle that I'm having and something that I've gone through multiple times in multiple projects and multiple careers so let's just read through what Jerry

Weinberg says in the secrets of consulting around the fourth law in consulting and the laws of raspberry jam so let's jump right in here the law of raspberry jam stems from the fourth law of consulting from Jerry Weinberg and the fourth law of consulting is very simple if they didn't hire you don't solve their problem if they didn't hire you don't solve their problem this is something let me repeat this a third time if they didn't hire you the context is they have contracted you to do something to help them solve a problem if they didn't tire you don't solve their problem basically saying don't be givin out advice don't be giving out free consulting when you're not getting paid for it and in many ways we have to remember that consulting is the art of influencing people at their request among consultant is us

especially the most prevalent occupational disease right is offering unsolicited help it's bad for everyone bad for bankbook it doesn't work it just it just doesn't work and I know this to be true in my own life I for those who are close to me you know that most of the time all I want to talk about and all I wanted yes the only thing that I want to talk about is self programming and how to improve yourself how do you improve your life how to get to the next level you see one of the problems with being my friend and being close to me is I'm always on like I'm that guy and I always default to if you give me any type of you know inroad then I I just I want to default to man how can I help or how can I

to talk about is self programming and how to improve yourself how do you improve your life how to get to the next level you see one of the problems with being my friend and being close to me is I'm always on like I'm that guy and I always default to if you give me any type of you know inroad then I I just I want to default to man how can I help or how can I help encourage you to do that and some people don't it's it's fascinating in many of you guys know this to be true but many people don't actually want to improve they just want to talk about it and that that has been something that I have realized many many many many many many many times in my life when I realized that someone is telling me about something in

their life and I go into my default mode of hate let me see if I can help you improving and do this level up get to the next level make it happen and I realized very quickly that they don't want any of my help they don't want my advice they just want to talk about it they just want me to shut the [ __ ] up and listen this is a disease that I have a dizzy a personal disease that I have is if you ever give me an inroad into your life of somewhere where I feel like it's possible to improve it I will default to saying or asking questions to you or challenging you to improve that thing that's my that's a disease that I have in Jerri Weinberg in the secrets to consulting in the law of raspberry jam speaks to my

heart so clearly and I want to share that with you guys today the law of raspberry jam this is from the secrets of consulting Geri Weinberg he said I learned to pay attention to the fourth law of consulting because as a kid I had two clear goals remember the fourth law of consulting is if they didn't hire you don't solve their problem in my context that means Peter shut up stop trying to help everybody try and just shut up Geri Weinberg said this and this is so crucial this spoked speaks to my heart every time I read it he says I wanted to help other people and I wanted to get rich doing it Geri Weinberg says I wanted to help other people and they wanted to get rich doing it that's that's me that's 100% me I want to help people and you know

what I want to be sufficiently paid I want to be sufficiently rewarded for the efforts that I put into helping other people I think that's a fair equitable and fair trade Gerry Weinberg goes on he says throughout my life I've struggled to achieve balance between these two contradictory goals amen amen brother preach on one of my first Jobs was dishwashing a good way to change a dirty world into a cleaner world I've always enjoyed dishwashing jobs although the pay wasn't outstanding there was always a sense of accomplishment when in the end I would triumph over some sticky raspberry jam not so unfortunately in the other attempts to change the world as a consultant trainer lecturer and author there the law of raspberry jam had been my unrelenting nemesis washing dishes promotes a satisfying intimate relationship with the object of my work whatever my hands do

world into a cleaner world I've always enjoyed dishwashing jobs although the pay wasn't outstanding there was always a sense of accomplishment when in the end I would triumph over some sticky raspberry jam not so unfortunately in the other attempts to change the world as a consultant trainer lecturer and author there the law of raspberry jam had been my unrelenting nemesis washing dishes promotes a satisfying intimate relationship with the object of my work whatever my hands do is reflected immediately in a clean fork a broken saucer a sparkling goblet if my son discovers a peanut butter encrusted in the handle of a coffee mug I take full blame if my mother-in-law admires her face in a gleaming bottom of a frying pan I take full credit although I suffer from the defeats I learned to achieve more victories and that's the essence of job satisfaction as

a dishwasher no as a dishwashing consultant I lose this immediate satisfaction if my client is having problems with encrusted peanut butter I can render advice or even demonstrate an improved technique of removing the peanut butter but in spite of my best efforts the peanut butter may remain encrusted because it's up to my client to implement the ideas so guys you're gonna see a pattern emerging here as a dishwasher you can get immediate satisfaction of achieving results as a dishwashing consultant you have to wait to see the results and hope that your client takes your advice and execute upon what you said now as compensation for losing the intimacy of dishwashing a consultant gains the satisfaction of a much wider effect in the world's gunk grease and grime in time it would take to wash 100 mugs I can advise to other people on how to

do the job in my absence what I lose in quality I gain in quantity as a dishwashing trainer okay so there's the dishwasher a dishwashing consultant now we have a dishwashing trainer as a dishwashing trainer I intensify the quality quantity trade off because training is merely cheaper form of consulting and I knew this because as a certified scrum trainer I trained over 16,000 people guys so I know what he's talking about it's a cheaper form of consulting instead of giving one client my undivided attention I design a workshop that could handle 15 or 20 each participant gets a little bit less but the cost goes down so the market for my message expands sure a couple of people may miss some essential point they may leave their dishes actually grungier than before but isn't it worth it to spread the word no as a dishwashing

lecturer right so we have the dishwasher a dishwasher consultant a dishwasher trainer now we have a dishwashing lecturer I can spread my consulting advice even further reaching several hundred avid clients at a time true some of them may be sleeping with their eyes wide open if you might even think I said rub peanut butter on the cups rather than off but I shouldn't think of a greater good for the greater number right but why stop there through the miracle of the printing press I could reach hundreds of thousands of clients with my sterling voice if if my book on dishwashing is a best-seller I might even reach millions and earn millions yes what about the money at the going rate for dishwashers around here it's about $9,000 a year in contracts is that it consultant mate might make $30,000 a year a trainer fifty thousand

good for the greater number right but why stop there through the miracle of the printing press I could reach hundreds of thousands of clients with my sterling voice if if my book on dishwashing is a best-seller I might even reach millions and earn millions yes what about the money at the going rate for dishwashers around here it's about $9,000 a year in contracts is that it consultant mate might make $30,000 a year a trainer fifty thousand a lecture eighty thousand and an author better than me one hundred and fifty thousand in each case the wider at the audience the more you can make I absolutely understand this guy's as a trainer consultant twelve years as a published author international international speaker guys I get this my message was all over the world let's get back to the reading here the implications are obvious nobody gets

richer washing dishes okay period no one gets rich washing dishes no matter how much you enjoy the immediate satisfaction of seeing someone eat off of your dish and say wow that's super clean and although consultants may live well they don't retire early the way lectures and authors sometimes do so keep your hands out of the dishwasher and on the keyboard you're not only getting rich but you have vast influence on wealth on health and cleanliness of the nation or so it would seem but that for the damnable law of raspberry jam we're finally here guys raspberry jam and what is this ironclad principle standing between me and the happy riches tip take a small jar of raspberry jam and a few loaves of bread with a bit of experimentation you'll soon observe that quote the wider you spread it the thinner it gets the wider

you spread it the thinner it gets that right there has been in so many parts of my career multiple careers multiple projects multiple endeavors in my work life this right here has been the tension that I have struggled with personally and professionally because my personality and the character Who I am demands that I help people demands that I give demands that I help improve things around me but yet the wider I spread it the thinner it got when I was a traveling consultant traveling all over the world traveling to cities a week going to conferences speaking at a lecture series speaking at keynotes doing book read tours I could there's videos of me doing book tours guys I know there's several videos of me on YouTube with like doing book reviews with local that's just like guys when I was an author and international speaker

and international consultant thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people heard what I had to say about how to make software better how to improve software and how to build software faster but did I really help the thinner my message got moving into this project of cryptocurrency allowed me to go deeper with community the place where I really enjoyed the problem is is that I invest so much time in a very small niche community that it's really thick but then the wider audience the global opportunity it's constrained right so this is the tension that I wrestle with the tension that I wrestle with guys is the law of raspberry jam the wider I spread myself the thinner it gets the value of the message what I love about this channel as it stands right now is its small I have a very small following you guys

time in a very small niche community that it's really thick but then the wider audience the global opportunity it's constrained right so this is the tension that I wrestle with the tension that I wrestle with guys is the law of raspberry jam the wider I spread myself the thinner it gets the value of the message what I love about this channel as it stands right now is its small I have a very small following you guys care you guys love listening to this stuff you might say well Peter the world needs to hear this way I don't know if it the world does hear it will they have the context that many of you guys have listening to me because you learn many of you guys who turn into this tune in to this show turn into this this podcast turn into my videos you

know who I am personally and so you know where this comes from from a contextual standpoint from a relationship standpoint but the world won't know that they'll only see what they see with zero there zero historicity is your experience your context to Who I am alas for those of us who would want to change the world and get rich doing it the law of raspberry jam is a true law of nature as solid as the first law of thermo-dynamics you would just as easily build a perpetual motion machine as you can make the gym both thicker and wider at the same time another way of expressing this law is this guys for taking notes listen up influence or affluence take your choice influence or affluence take your choice every would-be helper must bow before the law of raspberry Jim and that's where I am reminded

again today that I must bow before the law of rasberry Jim shout through a megaphone or talk into a microphone train a disciple or create a church teach a class or build a university none of these methods will thicken the message by so much as a single qubit guys if you are out there and you are naturally inclined to help the world help people let's just put it that way help people then you will invariably buck up against the law of raspberry jam which merely asks you the question do you want to be go deep and be impactful and in many ways be relatively poor but have a fulfilling life and receive immediate gratification for the results of your work or would you like to be affluent and rich but have your message of giving be thinned to a point where people misconstrue your message

they lack context they believe that you're somewhere else going somewhere else they believe that your message is wrong they believe that you're coming from the wrong place there's so many assertions and assumptions and perceptions and all these different ideas that they put into you because your message is now broad it is thin it is no longer thick in many ways the message has been thinned so much that the value of the message has been bled out and so that's when I struggle with my friends the wider use for the law of raspberry jam the wider you spread it the thinner it gets another way of putting this guys is the law of raspberry jam influence or affluence influence or affluence I think you guys know where I stand in my life today I think you guys know what matters to me and I'm sure many

that the value of the message has been bled out and so that's when I struggle with my friends the wider use for the law of raspberry jam the wider you spread it the thinner it gets another way of putting this guys is the law of raspberry jam influence or affluence influence or affluence I think you guys know where I stand in my life today I think you guys know what matters to me and I'm sure many of you not many of you but many of you listening here because I don't have that many know which one I would choose influencer affluence I'd rather be part of your story I'd rather be a part of your story and where are you saying you know what maybe just maybe back in the day there was this Korean guy named Peter he said a couple things that helped

me in this way and that made a difference for me that's where I want to be let me know in the comments section below guys let me know in the comment section below influence our affluence is the law of raspberry jam too strong it is is it impossible to overcome I can think of different ways but I think it's still worth wrestling with especially if you have the heart of giving if you like this guy's smash the like button share with at least one person today and I'll see you tomorrow subscribe to [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music]