Naif is a junior Management Consultant in Riyahd, Saudi Arabia. After feeling burned out on his work assignments, and getting moved to a less stressful role, he takes the time to stop and think about his future.
This story is a great example of how Persona’s are AWFUL. Listen in and compare this to Niky’s story in our 5th interview, and see if you can hear the parallels as you map out the Pushes, Pulls, Anxieties and Habits:
Watch the full interview below:
The Four-Forces Debrief
Here’s my Four forces analysis – how did it compare to your own?
Naif - Four Forces Analysis
Naif is a junior Management Consultant based out of Riyahd. He joined the EIV course (DIY tier) in late December 2024/early Jan 2025 after getting burned out and requesting a change of role.
In his new role he had more work-life balance, giving him free time to focus on his own hobbies. He had been connected to Janis for at least 12 months, as he liked the visuals and the ideas that Janis was sharing. He had downloaded Janis' free wallpaper for his phone/iPad previously and was aware of the courses, but never looked into them until the change in role.
He was exploring new topics and coming up with a new life plan, and wanted to embrace his creative side. He felt that he enjoyed the work creating powerpoints in his career and he had strong design skills. He also thought that creating visual ideas was "useful and purposeful" art/hobby, whereas just drawing a picture is a never ending process that he will keep trying to improve because he's a perfectionist.
At the same time he was trying to expand his network on LinkedIn and wanted to get something to express his thoughts on social media, explain and share the concepts he has explored (e.g. innovation, AI, UX) with others. He felt that his profile "looked like he was irrelevant" - and by sharing visual ideas he would be able to expand his network and interact with credibility. Building his network would get him more opportunity in the future, like events to participate in that he would enjoy, and maybe getting a career that he has both passion and can perform well in.
There is also a mental wellbeing side to this story - not just reclaiming his work-life balance, but also vs other hobbies:
- He quit instagram and Snapchat because of the dopamine hits and unhealthy nature of the algoritm - going to Linkedin because it was "more boring" and would give him exposure, plus retain the social connection to others that he thinks is only possible online these days. In addition:
- his other hobbies are gaming - which he then dreams about and feels it fuels the dopamine issue
- this is a hobby that is healthy for his mentality as he is creating not consuming, and the output might help him with his work objectives
He looked at the sales page and wondered about what he was buying and whether it was worth it - the money would be spent on travel or enjoyment, and he thinks the course is expensive (vs paying for a course that could be directly used for work/give you a certificate). However he could afford it and thought it would be fun, so he paid up.
When he signed up he was expecting live classes, and was relatively nonplussed by the videos - they were OK but he already knew a lot about the tools. What really added value were the feedback sessions - as this helped him see whether or not his ideas are clear and easily understood by others - without this he probably would not have felt the course was worth the money.
This isn't a lot of money but he feels like he would hide the true cost from others - it's worth it to him, but he's worried others would think he wasted his money as it's non-work related and doesn't help his career or give him a certificate
The money comes from a fun budget - he wants to spend it on something useful not frivolous
There's a social aspect to this - to prove to others that I belong and I'm worth listening to/connecting with
There's a mental wellbeing side of this too - this is a hobby he enjoys, that will help him, but it is also a creative outlet rather than something that drains him
The feedback sessions were where he really got value - but he only learned about this in the course itself. He was not very clear on what the course was and how it worked, and whilst the videos were "good" they weren't giving him the value he wanted until he got direct insights into whether his ideas were clear or not
He had been following Janis for a long time before deciding to join the course - he was aware of it for quite some time - based on the wallpaper Janis offered.
There's a challenge to turning ideas into visuals in a simple format that seems to be drawing him in - like solving a maths problem - which he enjoys
Up next is an example of a failure in our recruitment – an interviewee that “slipped through the cracks” and I believe gave us a fraudulent or made up story (to get the recruitment incentive).
I’m posting that for full transparency – so stay tuned and learn how you can spot “bad data” before it creeps into your own customer analysis.