This is the first post in our live JTBD Case Study series with Janis Ozolins, founder of Explain Ideas Visually. You’ll see exactly how we kick off a project at Growth Exposed – from digging into goals and anxieties, to defining the research scope.
How we came to run this Case Study
Neil Burge (me – one of Growth Exposed’s founders ) joined Janis’ Explain Ideas Visually course earlier this year. The images on this site that are hand-drawn are a result of this – Janis helped me to change my visual style for this Brand. We are connected on LinkedIn and have worked together on 2-3 calls to help polish the visuals to make them clearer and more easily understood.
Janis and I were connected on LinkedIn, and in August, as I was preparing to launch, I notices this post:
I thought this would be an opportunity to achieve a few things:
- First, I could help Janis by using my skills and experience in the same way he had helped me
- Next, I have been looking for a way to publish an end-to-end explanation of what our service delivers (above and beyond this Ultimate Guide to JTBD Interviews)
- Last, I thought we could use the opportunity to Build In Publish – sharing what we discover and hopefully promoting both Growth Exposed and Explain Ideas Visually at the same time
Janis and I shared a few Whatsapp chats – to get an idea about where we would take this – and then we set up a Kick Off call to discuss the scope.
Note: the full, unedited Kick Off call is included as a video below, wrapped with some commentary from me to explain this (so it works standalone on YouTube, too).
What's in it for Janis?
As you watch the video below, you’ll see that – in spite of having run the course successfully for FOUR years – Janis still has core doubts:
- He feels like he’s been “Winging it” when making product and pricing decisions
- Both he and other creators in this space view each others’ courses – trying to work out what else they need to add or what they might be missing
- He ABSOLUTELY wants to maintain his reputation – other courses offer certifications, but he’s not going to put his reputation on the line UNLESS this drives more sales and he can guarantee the quality of outcome
- He has no confidence that the course and community are as good as they could be – not because he’s not trying hard, but because he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know
Currently it’s absolutely like I’m winging it. Yes, some sales are coming in, but I have no clue who’s buying or why.
An example kick off call for a Growth Exposed JTBD research study
The objective of the call is twofold:
- First, to let Janis understand more about the process and ask any questions to ensure he knows what he is getting into and what to expect
- Last, to help me answer the question “What is the scope of this research?”
Typically I need to get to the point where I can frame a question “What causes someone to say today’s the day I buy…?” – where the “?” best describes your product, service, or marketplace.
Watch the video below to learn how this works:
I sometimes feel like an idiot selling at the same price as others who give way less value.
As you can see at the end of the call we have:
- Clarified what is in and out of scope
- Identified some open questions about the research (e.g. which competitors should we review)
- Spotted some key areas Janis needs help with – pricing, course features and community support are key questions
Janis subsequently shared a Notion with further information that we used to refine this process. I’ll share more about that process in future posts – so subscribe to our Newsletter below if you want to be first to know about the next instalment.